One of my main goals for this year is to deepen my relationship with God. Usually when it comes to God its literally just Me, Him and my Bible. All my thoughts and ideas are poured out to Him. However, at the start of 2022, I kept feeling convicted to speak more publicly about my faith journey. It was a feeling that kept falling into my spirit a few times and I know when that happens, it is a sign from God. So, in obedience to His will, this year I will be sharing faith encouraging posts.
To start of my first Faith Post, I wanted to share ways I have improved my relationship with God. I chose to give my life to Christ some yeeaaarssss ago now. But if I am being honest, I was not fully committed. Due to lack of leadership and guidance, I only began to live a Christ Like life in 2015 and my devotion heightened in the past three to four years. As my wisdom, personal experience and encounter of God deepened. But that is a testimony for another day.
Now the things I am sharing are my personal experience. If your already on the walk with Christ you know each person’s journey, is different. So, although I list these things, only apply to your life what you feel convicted by God about. You will know this because there will probably be a change in your spirit of what you are reading, or the words read will sit with you during the day/night.
So let me share…
How I Improved My Relationship With God
1| Praying Regularly
Often times we find ourselves praying to God only when we are in need of something or feeling guilty about something. But prayer is a form of communion with God. Communication in any relationship is essential for it to be successful and to deepen your emotional connection.
How can we connect to God if we do not speak to him?
I realised that I was not in God’s presence enough. But would always wonder where is God? Why is He so far from me? But God never left me. He was waiting on me to be on the receiving end of the telephone line of prayer. As with anything you aim to do. You must do it with intention. Be proactive with the commitment you have chosen to do. For me that meant praying at least once a day to God. And I don’t mean the quick chat of ‘Heavenly father, I thank you for waking me up today. Please be with me as I go into this day’s journey. Amen’.
Actually, giving yourself time to be in Gods presence and soak in the atmosphere. For me this was not always with words, sometimes it was moments of stillness. I am a person whose mind is always on the go and it is sometimes hard for God to get through to me. So I decided to assign a time with God, where we can meet together. And when you make a date with God, He will always show up. The question is will you stand him up?
Never commit to something you cannot uphold. Be realistic with your intentions. I know for me, once a day was a commitment I could achieve. There is no point doing something because it sounds good or looks good, but your heart is not there on every occasion. Gods wants all of you before Him. Not half of you, whilst the rest of you is wondering ‘what you need to buy for dinner later’.
By being more intentional with my Prayer Life, I felt more enwrapped in Gods love and protection. It became more natural to just close my eyes and speak to my God. What initially started as a once-a-day communion, sometimes were multiple interactions. Some prayers were conversations, some were reflections, and some were intercessions. But the more I spoke with God, the closer I grew to Him. Having an active prayer life, is key in your walk with Jesus. We always need to refer to the Father in order to stay on a righteous path and ensure our hearts posture in on the Lord. So distractions of the world does not consume us.
This leads me on to the next practise that has improved my relationship with God.
2 | Fasting As A Way Of Life
For my walk with God, fasting is essential. It allows me to drown out the noise, so I can hear Gods voice more clearly. It’s a period where I can totally focus on God. Time is often taken up by life, whether it be work, school, activities for the kids. Our timeslots are always filled, and it can be hard to deepen your growth in the Lord. Life does not stop, so I decided to add God into my life plan. Just as I booked days off, I also booked days for God to enter in.
Fasting is not purely for breakthrough, this was my initial understanding. If I wanted something major in my life to change, you fast. But I grew in wisdom through Gods word and realised fasting is scared. You become submerged in God and your spiritual senses are awakened. I found that my flesh was no longer in control with its distractions. I was present and God was able to speak.
So much more is revealed to me during this period of supplication. I am able to really assess myself and connect to the Holy Spirit. It’s a time of reflection, edification and sanctification. I cannot emphasize enough how important fasting is as a Christian. It is embedded in the very nature of Gods disciples throughout history. And it should be a natural habit for us Christians in this modern life.
Fasting can feel daunting when you think of it in a physical sense. How will I be able to do it? This was my thought when I chose to complete my first fast. But I should not have been questioning How? But more so seeking God for guidance. For it is Him that enables our body to submit to the spirit. When your heart is fixed on God, trust me you will not hunger for anything but Jesus.
Recently I completed my longest fast, a water fast of 21 days. Was it easy no, but as I worshipped God during my quiet time and meditated on His word. Each day drew me closer to God and away from the pollution of my mind. I have never encountered God so deeply and intensely. Through that fast, I was able to move to a different level in my relationship with God. A key thing for me was to grow in spiritual maturity and really find out who God is. Sometimes we are caught up in our wants, that we forgot to seek God and what He needs of us in this season. No matter how long you have been on this walk, there is always something new to learn about God. It is important to know who your Father is, so we are not deceived by the many falsehoods that claim His name.
Remember fasting is personal and intimate. Consult God with your intentions, to know what type of fast is best for you in this period of your life. Don’t judge yourself to other people’s standards. Fasting is not something to boast in, it’s an act of sacrifice and commitment to your God. Denying self, so God can access all of you completely. The regularity of fasting enables you to be in tune with God and improves your sensitivity to the Kingdom Agenda.
3 | His Word Or No Word
His word is the staff of life. It took me a while to really understand what this meant. A few years back, I really struggled to read the bible. It felt like such a chore. As soon as I opened the bible, I was tired. I read the words, but they never connected. I would look at other people in admiration, for how they loved to read the bible, for how they could remember and recite scripture. I wanted to be able to do that. But stories read would always float over my head.
Now, I am not going to say that by divine intervention, I was able to love reading the bible. The change came through accountability. I had to look into myself and the things that I was doing, that prevented me from giving life to Gods word. As humans we don’t always like to take a good look in the mirror and call out our faults. But on this occasion, I had too. I was investing my time and focus on other things such as social media, fictional books, movies. But was not giving the same level of tunnel vision when it came to my bible study. That was wrong and I had to call myself out on it.
So, I made a commitment to read the bible on days where I knew, I would have no distractions and no excuses. I declared the days and times to the Lord, so that He could convict me on those days to follow through with my promise. And He did. As I rise on those days my first thought is ‘its bible study today’. I may sound like scratch record, but when we do things of ourself, it never works out. We must give all our issues to God. Once we give Him access to those things, He is able to show His majesty. God does not want to enforce; He wants our hearts to be willing to trust Him.
What transformed my quiet time in God’s word was firstly my shift in mind set. But more importantly setting the atmosphere to receive Gods message and truth in the scripture I was about to read. Something I did not do before. Stillness and prayer before I read my bible is a crucial process. I have clarity of mind and spirit. I am ready to receive, what God wants to release to me through His word.
Here is a little run down of how I like to study my bible. Firstly, I take my time and use I use bible commentaries and reference books/articles to give deeper context. I like to read out loud and I read the selected chapter two – three times. I make short notes in my bible and I have a notebook where I write down summarises of what I understood from the scripture and Gods Message. Sometimes I speak aloud to God about the scripture and the Holy Spirit will affirm what I have spoken. All of which I am able to do because I made a conscious decision to savour the word. Just as I started with prayer, when I have completed my bible study I end with a prayer also. Asking God to let His word be digested into my spirit.
The word is spiritual food. We need it to sustain our faith and teach people on the love God has for His children. I can recall many times, where God has led me to His word and it has smoothed me, encouraged me, enlightened me of His awesomeness. In all things God leads you to His word and the word leads you to the Spirit of God. You can never be lead astray when you stay connected to His Word. God’s words has power. They are a weapon and in order to use them effectively, we have to equipment ourself with the lexicon of God. This helped me improve my prayers of intercession and evangelism. The bible is not just to be read and kept to yourself, we read to spread the gospel and encourage souls to come home and find peace in Jesus.
Now these are the three main things that I have implemented to improve my relationship with God. I am still on a journey of deepen this, but I can say that this is the closet I have been to God compared to past years. I am excited to see what more I will discover and learn as I grow in spiritual maturity and God reveals more of who He is to me.
I encourage you all to address the things you know that are keeping you from being more committed to the walk you chose as a disciple of Christ. Don’t allow the devil to have any advance over you. Just as he creates obstacles, so you don’t reach the purpose God has for you. So should you counterattack and ensure there are multiple barriers up protecting you. Then the enemy will have little to no access to your life because your eyes, heart and actions are fixed on and pleasing to Jesus.
Sash x
