From Religion to Relationship: A Step-by-Step Guide to Knowing God Personally
If you desire to develop a personal relationship with God you will need to give up or sacrifice some things in your life for that to happen. First and foremost you need to invite Christ into your heart and accept Him as your Lord and Saviour.
Secondly, you need to find a home church where you can go to build up your faith in God and get the support you need from other believers.
Thirdly, you need to make a public confession and commitment to God through water baptism. This is a way of denying yourself and leaving worldly things behind. The moment you accept Christ into your heart you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You are now a new person in Christ. You are now officially a child of God. This is where other believers would say welcome into the family of God. You no longer belong to the world, you belong to God now. Your journey with God has now begun, congratulations!
However, to develop a deeper relationship with God means that you need to be intentional about it, it’s not just going to happen on its own. Or just wish your way through it, you have to willfully set aside some time to learn about God and who He is and what He wants from you.
That means you have to make some space for God and sacrifice your time, limit the amount of time you spend on social media, and watch TV. Or playing games etc.. It’s not hard to do these things, it just takes discipline, commitment and consistency. God uses these actions to grow us.
James 4:8 states “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” To develop an intimate relationship with God we must draw close to Him. So how exactly do we draw near to God? We draw near to God by reading His word and going to Him in prayer daily. We do this consistently.
God speaks to us through His word which is the Bible. To nurture our relationship with God we also need to talk to Him daily through prayer.
This is how you grow your relationship with God, through daily prayer and reading His word. Think of reading the word as your food only that it is your spiritual food. Most of us eat a meal at least three times per day and sometimes in the middle, we go for a snack.
That’s the amount of time we need to feast on God’s word so that His word will dwell in us. When you read the Bible you are eating spiritual food for your soul. Psalm 119:11-16 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
The more time you spend in prayer and reading God’s word the less sin you will commit. The more time you spend with Jesus the more you become like Him, and the more fruit you will bear. The less time you have with Jesus the more sinful your life will become, and bear less fruit.
In John 6:35 Jesus called himself the bread of life. He said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Now Jesus compares himself to bread.
Why? Because bread is an essential food it’s a very basic food. Bread sustains and keeps one full for a long time. In other words, Jesus is saying those who come to Him will never die but gain eternal life. Jesus is the way to eternal life.
Those who believe in me will never be thirsty. What does water do? Water quenches thirst. Are you thirsty for God? Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
When you believe in Jesus He will give you living water. He will fill you up so that you will never thirst again. Those who come to God will have eternal life.
7 Powerful Steps to Deepen Your Relationship with God
- First thing first make space for God and create a schedule 📆 write do all the important things you need to get done for the day including your Bible study time with God. Have a set time when you’re going to do them. And as you accomplish a task cross it off. You will feel good knowing that you have accomplished something. If making a schedule is not your preference then you can set a reminder on your phone along with a time in mind to remind you that it’s Bible study time. If that still doesn’t work for you, you can download Microsoft To Do on your phone. There are so many different ones you can choose from.
- Find a quiet area where you can read God’s word and pray. We need to follow the example of Jesus. Oftentimes Jesus went off to a solitary place by himself to pray. You need to do the same if you want to deepen your relationship with God. Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Also, see Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
- Meet with God: Meet with God at the same place at the same time every day. You’ll be surprised to know that God is looking forward to meeting with you every day.
- Study the Bible: Now it’s time to open up God’s word and read. When you open the Bible to read, treat it as if you are a student and you are reading the Bible to learn. Bring along with you a book and pen so you can take notes and allow the internet to be your resource so you can look up a word that you don’t understand from Google or the dictionary. While God speaks to us in many different ways. Reading the Bible is the number one way He speaks to us.
- Prayer is a very vital part of building your relationship with God. God wants to hear from you. Building a daily prayer life is very important; it’s a way of nurturing your relationship with God. You are talking with Him every day making your relationship with Him a very intimate one. Payer is also a way to connect to God and once you stop praying you will ultimately lose that connection. So stay on the prayer line to be in tune with God. Don’t ever get disconnected from God, talk to God everywhere, at school, work etc… take God with you everywhere you go.
- Listen to God’s voice and practice obedience to his word. …when you read his word don’t just be a hearer of his word but be a doer as well. God wants us to read His word with understanding and put it into practice in our day-to-day walk with Him. That is called being obedient to the word of God.
- Be Willing to Trust Him with your heart. Every relationship is built on trust. If you can’t trust the person that he or she will love and take good care of you it doesn’t make sense to enter into a relationship with that person. To develop a personal relationship with God you have to be able to trust him with your life, your desires, and dreams. Trust that God has your best interest at heart and he knows what’s best for you. He won’t always give you what you want, but he will give you what you need. Trust Him to lead you, and when He tells you to do something do it without questioning His wisdom. Do it even if it doesn’t make sense to you. 1 Corinthians 1:27 God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.