Getting Closer To God Series Part 11
Getting Closer To God Series Part 11
This is the eleventh and final post in a series to help you get closer to God. If you missed the previous posts scroll down to the bottom for links to those.
This topic seems never-ending to me. I had a hard time choosing how to finish this off… I encourage you to keep on going with this subject on your own…but not so much as study it but to live it…
Final Thoughts
It’s all about relationship!!! You can study the Bible, study spiritual disciplines, pray, read about prayer, try to “practice” different disciplines and any number of various things to get closer to God, but the bottom line is that it is all about relationship.
Does your relationship with God look at all like a relationship? Is there give and take? Is there communication back and forth? Is there time spent together?
Go on a “retreat”
A “retreat” can look like anything you want it to!! Does everyone’s vacations with their spouses look the same? No. Does everyone’s get-togethers with friends look the same? No.
The main idea here is that you need to spend time alone with God. You need more than two minutes a day to have a real relationship with your spouse, right? You need more than two minutes a day to have a real relationship with your best friend, right?
Same idea—you need more than two minutes a day with God to have a real relationship with Him. I get it. Everyone is busy. But you simply must find some extra time to spend with God in order to get closer to Him. Just like marriage ministries recommend weekly dates with your spouse or quarterly weekend get-a-ways in order to help marriage intimacy, I encourage you to do the same with God!
More on disciplines
Spending time with God is crucial, but spiritual disciplines can help people get closer to God. The key here is to use these as a means to an end and not the end or goal itself. The end or goal is to get to know God better, not to get better at any particular spiritual discipline. They do have their place as helpful tools so with that in mind I would like to recommend a few books if you are interested in pursuing your own personal study on that topic.
Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul’s Path to God by Gary Thomas–explores different worship temperaments or personalities which is helpful to find your own preferred way of connecting with God , but I really encourage you to try things which you’ve never tried before—who knows, something new may end up being your favorite thing!!
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Pilgrimage Growth Guide) by Donald Whitney— explores such disciplines such as serving, worship, fasting, silence and solitude, stewardship and journaling and more
Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
by Richard Foster— explores such disciplines such as service, worship, fasting, simplicity, solitude, submission, confession, and celebration and more
Important note: Technically, if you are a born again Christian you already are close to God. The Holy Spirit is living inside of you. How much closer can He get? But there is a place of feeling closer and of getting to know God better. That is what these posts are really all about.
Please share how you put into practice some of these final suggestions around getting closer to God.
Join the conversation. Share your ideas or questions in the comment form below.
For earlier posts in this series go to these links:
(c) 2012 Cheryl Cope
Cheryl Cope on Google+