Getting Closer to God Series Part 5
Getting Closer to God Series Part 5
Spend time thanking and praising God
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Ps. 100:4 KJV
I typically like to start my “formal” time with God in thanksgiving—simply thanking God for anything and everything that He has given me or done for me.
After spending a few minutes thanking God then …
Try praising God for at least 15 minutes straight
I can tell you the first time I did this, years ago now, 15 minutes felt like a really long time!! But I can also assure you that it only took a day or two before I broke through some sort of barrier and not only did the time whiz by, I wanted to keep going longer! I’m sure you will find the same thing happens to you, too.
You will want to plan on implementing this suggestion for at least about a month.
For some people praising God for 15 minutes straight may take an incredible amount of effort. It is worth it!
How to praise Him? A good way to start is to use the Psalms. There are so many scriptures in Psalms that are verses of David praising God. Find some of those to get started. If that doesn’t appeal to you, you could find some lists of the character names of God to praise Him by. I’ve used both.
Check out my previous blog post on names to praise Jesus by here. (Jesus is All)
For reasons WHY to praise God check out my Jesus is Worthy post.
Other things to try for extended periods of time
If praising God didn’t appeal to you, then try speaking in tongues for an extended period of time. You can do this while doing other activities so in reality you can do this one for hours. (Note: I am not trying to start an argument. I am well aware that lots of people do not believe that tongues are for today. If that is you, then simply skip over this suggestion.)
You could try singing worship songs…
I’m sure there must be other things that are similar to what I suggested…find one that works for you. (Prayer and meditation and other disciplines will be discussed later in this series.)
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 it worked out for you after praising God for at least 15 minutes straight.
Join the conversation. Share your ideas or questions in the comment form below.Other blog posts you may like:
(c) 2012 Cheryl Cope
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