Listen to the audio version of this article here: https://youtu.be/u6A9N4felFA
Matthew 6:33:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
In our last go-round, we explored some of the benefits of developing a relationship with Christ.
Something Feels Wrong?: The One Relationship You May Be Neglecting | (How to Grow a Church – Part 2)
If these sorts of questions have been lingering on your mind….
– How to deal with anxiety or depression
– “What do I do with my life?”
– How to find a Godly husband or wife
….God’s got you covered.
Mental health struggles, how to get over heartbreak, a desire for change in an area that matters most to you; whatever has been occupying your cognitive real estate, there’s an answer for it.
Once you understand the role your connection to God plays in maintaining peace of mind and finding joy and satisfaction, you can dodge many of the mistakes that trip so many of us up.
Whatever your “Why?” is, you can grow your relationship with God immediately.
But how do we build a relationship with God? How do we hear God’s specific direction for our lives?
Three habits to bring that to reality:
1) Run From Darkness
2) Train Your Spirit Like You Train Your Muscles
3) Join a Church
1) Run From Darkness
Flee from darkness and seek the light.
How do you get out of financial debt?
You don’t need to be a Dave Ramsey or “Rich Dad” Robert Kiyosaki fan to know this one.
Sit down, take a hard look at what you’re spending your money on, and decide what needs to stay and what needs to go. it’s an easier-said-than-done process, but not difficult to understand.
When you’re stuck in a hole, shovel in hand surrounded by dirt, your first move is to stop digging.
Fix what feels wrong by taking stock of what’s going on around you.
Admittedly, this isn’t easy to do. Our flesh—the physical part of your being from which many of our urges, impulses, and idiosyncrasies originate—is the chief culprit that keeps us mired in the good-looking, just-a-little-bit-will-not-hurt-much habits that drive a wedge between us and a position that amplifies our capacity to hear God’s direction.
Contact me if you need help tackling some of these anchors.
Galatians 6:7-9:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
One of the very first directions that God will give anyone listening is to stop running away from Him if you sincerely desire to get closer to Him. God is light; there is no darkness in Him.
The choices and activities He hates? Steer clear of those. Evil cannot exist in His space and God tolerates it not.
Because He’s merciful, He allows us to falter and not suffer immediate destruction. He is a just being though, so He may allow the consequences of our decisions to stand.
Sin is like the Venom Symbiote (If you’re familiar with the Spiderman cartoons of the ’90s); when you give it a foothold in your life, it conceals the wisdom and lessons you’ve gained that are critical for helping defeat challenges you’ve already bested.
You forget what you already knew.
And what are some of the activities and thought patterns that God hates? You can learn what those are by…..
2) Train Your Spirit Like You Train Your Muscles
1 Timothy 4:8:
“Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming.”
Your spirit, the indelible, formless part of you that exists in perpetuity, is the part of us that hears God most clearly.
Practice makes perfect and to get better at hearing God’s direction and how to get closer to Him, you’ve got to put the work in. It’s no different than someone wondering how to lose weight or relieve back pain; the right training will carry you where you want to go.
No, Weightlifting Will Not Turn You Into A Monster
Some tools for enhancing your spiritual muscles:
– Consume the word
Read the bible.
Spend time regularly reading the word and listening to commentary online. In today’s world, with access to podcasts and YouTube, there’s no shortage of places to hear voices that can supplement what you learn from reading scripture.
God has already provided a manual for living and understanding how He moves and what he wants from us. All you’ve got to do is dedicate time to consume it.
Establishing periods of silence is imperative there.
“I Don’t Know What to Do”: How to let Peace (and the Holy Spirit) Be Your Guide
– Pray in tongues
1 Corinthians 14:14:
“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.”
This is a tricky one, but I have to include it here.
Praying in tongues—a language that is indiscernible to our human minds, but edifies us in the spiritual realm—is an exercise that pays big dividends in ways one cannot quantify. It builds up your spirit in a manner distinct from any sort of prayer or thinking we employ using our conscious minds.
Unfortunately, much of what you may have seen in a church or in some video, purported displays of men and women speaking in tongues, is performance art. They are just making noises in a bid to impress others and put their “holiness” on display.
It’s a game of Telephone with Nth-degree imitations of what they saw someone do in the past.
Praying in tongues is too nuanced to cover in this post. I’m just introducing it here as something to look into and feel free to contact me if you would like to learn more about it.
– Control Your Mental Space
Proverbs 18:21:
“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Visualization and speaking what you want to see into existence.
If you control your thoughts, you control your reality.
Check out this article for more details on this:
Control Your Emotions and Control Your Reality: 5 Keys To Getting It Done
If the spirit realm is the war room where the plans for your life are decided, your mind is the battleground over which those battles are fought.
Visualization and understanding the power of the tongue are allies that are criminally-underutilized.
3) Join a Church
Proverbs 27:17:
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Hebrews 10:24-25:
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The Hebrews scripture is often cited incorrectly as a mandate to attend church. If you read the chapter in full context, what’s being encouraged is intentional, thoughtful fellowship. We’re not being called to sit in a church, hear the word, and then let the wisdom we (may or may not have) heard that day fly in one ear and out of the other.
God is imploring us not just to mindlessly gather with others, but to put in the effort to check in and care for the people around us.
We are what we repeatedly do and who we repeatedly spend time with, so any serious interest in growing a relationship with God will entail prioritizing fellowship in Christ-focused settings. No different than someone who is looking to improve their health will expedite that process by joining a fitness class or getting a gym membership.
If you’re trying to grow closer to God, spending time amongst others seeking to do the same is of great benefit.
Just placing yourself in that sort of environment is fertile ground for serendipity—you never know what you might encounter that could benefit your life. Maybe you find yourself some new friendships, supporters of goals you have, or just begin to hear direction from God that’s the missing piece of a puzzle you’ve been befuddled by.
Church attendance is an act of worship, a reminder that God is the source of everything good in your life. You’re devoting a fraction of the time and energy He has gifted you to spend dedicated time with Him.
So, how do you find a good church?
Some tips:
– Walk into a local one – it can be awkward to show up once and leave, but you’ll survive.
– Ask someone you know for a recommendation
– Questions to consider: Do you feel comfortable? Are the people inviting? Are you actually hearing scripture that edifies you, challenges you to grow and confronts sin? These are marks of a church where you can grow
– Signs of a “bad” church: The messaging is all about making you feel good; very carnal; pastor is all about self-aggrandizement; politically-correctness rules the roost, instead of scripture and common-sense dialogue.
Bad churches are like junk food; may look good and taste good, but they do very little to enhance your person and propel you towards the long-term goals that matter for quality-of-life satisfaction.
And you don’t have to go to church every Sunday, just on Sundays. Many churches offer weekday small group meetups, themed interest groups (e.g. divorced mothers, 20 and 30-somethings looking to get married, Christian entrepreneurs) and bible studies that fuse biblical learning with an opportunity to connect with other like-minded peers.
Forsake a church community at your own risk.
Let’s summarize those three steps again:
1) Run From Darkness
2) Train Your Spirit Like You Train Your Muscles
3) Join a Church
If you commit to these courses of action, the purest, best form of yourself will emerge, unlocking the combination to some surprising results.
These aren’t one-off moves, either; if you want to receive God’s best for you, you have to give Him your best.
1 Samuel 13:14:
“But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.”
This verse is part of a conversation between Israel’s spiritual leader (Samuel) and its first earthly king (Saul). After a series of events that see Saul rebelling against God, he is informed that the kingdom that was his will be given to another. This is a couple of chapters before we are introduced to a teenage David, who would go on to slay giants and become one of the most famous men of all time.
Just providing some context so we can understand how this relates to our connection with God.
To be clear, this isn’t pushing a works-based rewards system, where God loves and promotes you based on your level of piety.
There exist no perfect (wo)men walking this Earth. God cares most about our heart, intent, and willingness to truly develop a relationship with him—the way we would with a close friend or spouse—not about any contrived sense of righteousness and perfection.
Moses, Samson, the early disciples and apostles—the bible is littered with stories of how flawed characters achieved feats extraordinary when they sought God’s face with passion.
Nowhere on this earth are you rewarded for mailing it in. Not in sports, not in business, not in relationships—-nowhere where there’s any competition to snatch the best for yourself.
And our relationship with God is no different; He will meet you at your level of commitment.
The same way that one can watch a plant blossom by ensuring it receives the water, sunlight, and attention it needs.
Lean on God. Understand that pain and discomfort is only temporary and that God always has something better for you in store—if you commit to seeking Him.
Condition your heart to be sensitive to His direction by flooding your mind with the word and thoughts of Christ. Think back to some of your proudest achievements–and some of your how-did-I-escape-from-that? moments and you’ll find His hand in all of it.
As you learn how to hear and abide by His instruction, your connection to God will go stronger and triumphs over uncertainty and adversity will mount.
I’d love to hear from you:
- Anything in your life encouraging you to get closer to God this season?
- What are some of the moves you can commit to deepen your own relationship with God?
Comment or shoot me a message.