We are each called to have a personal relationship with God. With physical relationships, we need to make the effort to spend time with the person that we are wanting to get to know. We speak to them, listen to them and hear their likes and dislikes. We make the effort when we want to get to know someone. When it comes to our relationship with God, can we say that we do the same?! In this post I am going to go over different scriptures and tips on how you can grow your relationship with God.
This post is all about how to grow your relationship with God.
1. Prayer And Seeking Him
Prayer is how we can directly communicate with God. What an amazing privilege! We have a direct line to speak to Him at any time we choose.
When we look at Jesus’ life in the bible, it often mentions Him waking up before the sunrise, and going away to pray to the Father. If Jesus’ life is a model for us to follow – and we can see how Jesus prioritized prayer, then shouldn’t we as well?!
The bible tell us to pray about our anxieties and to present our requests before God (Philippians 4:6). And 1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to “pray without ceasing”. God cares about us so much that He invites us to come before Him and pour our hearts out to Him and present our requests to Him all day, everyday.
2. Acknowledging Him Throughout The Day
Another way you can grow your relationship with God is to start acknowledging Him throughout the day. By doing this, we can train our minds to keep coming back to Him – and this can help truly make Him the center of our lives.
As a Christian woman, whether you’re single, a wife, a mother – we have so many opportunities every day to grow closer to Him. While we are doing the laundry. Or while we do the dishes. While we are cooking and serving our husbands and families. Talk to Him as you do it.
Whether we are praising Him for the amazing God that He is and how He has saved us. Or whether we are praying for each family member as we fold their washing, it is about inviting Him into the little moments of our day. For me personally, this has been a game-changer in my relationship with Him.
When you think about it, if God was a physical person who was right there with you in those moments – you would acknowledge and speak to them, right?! Well the Holy Spirit dwells in us – He is always with us. So why do we so often live as though He is not?!
3. Reading His Word
Another great way to grow your relationship with God is to read His word. There is so much to learn about Him and His ways in it. We can learn about His personality, who He is, things He has done. Also, things that He loves and things He dislikes.
Reading His word is essential for us to understand how He asks us to live.
You may even find that through reading the Word more, you begin to feel as though you understand Him a little better as you come before Him in your prayer time, which can help you to feel closer to Him.
Here are some bible reading plans you can follow if you’re not sure where to start reading.
4. Praise
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. – Psalm 100:4 –
The bible tells us how we can enter into His presence – with thanksgiving and praise.
As Christian women, it can be easy to find ourselves always coming before Him to ask for things we want and need – but this scripture tells us that He also loves it when we praise Him and give thanks to Him.
He is amazing! What has He done in your life that you can be thankful for? What situations can you now look back on and see His hand and how He got you through that? Praise Him for it. His creations all around us are magnificent – praise Him for it. He is the God of the impossible. His goodness is so much more than we could ever comprehend. Praise Him for it. Bless His name, friends.
5. Worship
What is worship? Worship is when we express awe, devotion and gratitude to Jesus. It’s when we come before Him in awe of His glory and just love on Him for His majesty and how absolutely wonderful He is.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. – Hebrews 12:28.
As we grow closer to God, when we position our hearts to meditate on all that He is – may our response be worship.
In the new testament, one of the commonly used words for “worship”, is the Greek word “proskuneó” (προσκυνέω). This word comes from the word “pros” which means “towards” and “kuneó”, which means “to kiss.” How interesting is that?!
6. Share Your Faith
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age – Matthew 28:19-20.
This is the great commission Jesus gave us.
Sharing your faith with others can help you grow your relationship with God, as it is an act of obedience.
Though it may feel a little awkward at first when you try to tell someone about Him – the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Speaking out loud who He is and what He has done in your life also produces a joy like you’ve never experienced – and you’ll find yourself looking for more and more opportunities.
7. Discipline
Discipline is incredibly important when it comes to growing closer to God.
While we are in our human flesh, we are not always going to feel like reading our bibles or praying. When we are led by those feelings and stop being intentional in our walk with Him, often people report finding themselves becoming more distant from Him.
This is where discipline comes in.
Discipline is when you just do the thing even if you don’t feel like it. Pressing in when we don’t feel like it. Reading the word when we don’t feel like it. Praying and worshipping even when we don’t feel like it.
Pushing ourselves to do these things can be the difference between us growing closer in our relationship with God, and slowly drifting away.
Making the conscious effort to grow closer to God is such a beautiful thing and you won’t regret it. As you grow deeper in your walk with Him your revelation of His love and goodness will grow greater and greater, and you will notice Him changing the desires of your heart to align with His.
If you have any other tips on how to grow your relationship with God, feel free to write them in the comments below. We would love to read them!