How Do I Deepen My Relationship With God?
No shade to Nuns, but have you as a Christian ever felt like you’ve had to be super conservative, prude, and religious to have a deeply satisfying relationship with God?
Have you ever viewed your relationship with God as a list of do’s and don’ts–a dead religion filled with a rigid menu of options to choose from? Church on Sundays (or Saturday), some bible reading, some abstaining from sin, attend midweek service or prayer meeting, conduct a Bible study, send up a quick “Our Father” prayer, then do it all again?
Or is your relationship with God full of internal conflict and chaos? You want to live right but you keep sinning; you’re full of lust and bitterness; you keep giving into people pleasing and being distracted by the wrong things.
Our walks with God, through Jesus’ beloved sacrifice, by the power of the Holy Spirit are meant to be dynamic! If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying. Jesus didn’t save you so that you’re bored to death or living in a perpetual cycle of sin. Let’s look at the word to receive some truth and encouragement.
What Jesus Has To Say
In John 6:57, Jesus shares spiritual truth on how to have a dynamic walk with him. He teaches us to how to Focus, Feast, and Faith (yes I am using Faith as a verb).
I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me.
John 6:57
Focus
The first truth Jesus shares in this scripture brings to mind the word “focus”. He says, “I live because of the living Father who sent me…” At one time in my life, when I was co-leading a small group in my church, I was desolate. A friend of mine noticed and shared with me “the reason why Jesus was able to do all he did was because he knew what God thought of him. He depended on God.” Jesus had perfect focus. He meditated on the fact that he had a living Father who sent him. We too have the same living Father. A living Father who worked and is working out His plan to save us. A living Father who sees, hears, answers prayer, corrects, guides, and provides. He is active! How often do you carefully consider these truths of God’s character? In my own life, I am learning to practice carefully considering the truths of God more often. One sin that God is calling me to repent of (daily!) is worry. It is a sin that has plagued my life for years and it hurts my living Father. Yet, when I meditate on the truth that God sees me–that he provides for me–the light of truth causes the dark of lies to subside and diminish. Jesus understood that he lived because of the Father–do you realize it? Do you praise him because of it? Is that your focus?
Feast
The second truth Jesus shares in this scripture is that we need to feast. When we come to Christ–believing in him for salvation, repenting of sin, being baptized for the forgiveness and washing away of our sin–we are invited to continually feast on him. I will be so bold as to say the depth and richness of our walks with God correlate with how much we continue to feed on Him after conversion. We feed on him by reading his word, meditating on it, connecting to it mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We feed on him by obeying and surrendering, prayer, fellowship, worship, and continuing to believe that he is both Lord and Savior. These are just some of the spiritual disciplines that God has provided for us in His grace. A wonderful book that helped me understand the spiritual disciplines in an emotionally healthy way is, “Draw Near To The Fire” by Terry Wardle which I highly recommend. He shares, “spiritual disciplines are activities we embrace that give room for God to work in our lives.” They are not a list of legalistic things to do. They are precious gifts from the hand of God that help us to grow deeper in our relationship with Him.
Faith
The third truth Jesus shares in this scripture is that we need Faith. Faith simply means to be persuaded by God. He is the source of our belief and our very lives. He becomes our reason for being–not other people and not even ourselves. Our lives become utterly dependent on him. Jesus says those who feed on Him will live because of him. Does that bring comfort to you? Our lives depend on God, not on ourselves, and as long as we are yielding ourselves to his word, to his voice, to his Spirit and obeying–what joy awaits us! I live because of Christ–not because I read my Bible, not because I pray, not because I’m super spiritual, not because I know how to evangelize or study the Bible with people. I live because of Christ not because I can perceive the Holy Spirit or have sound doctrine. I live because of Christ. He is the foundation, the persuasion, the one holding it all together. This is not to discredit these wonderful gifts I may possess (or that you may possess), but we can not allow ourselves to be deceived into thinking these gifts trump Christ.
The Take Away
So, if you are feeling dull spiritually, focus on the character of the Living Father by actively thinking on Him. Feed on Jesus by spending time practicing the spiritual disciplines. Be faithful by being persuaded by God through Christ that your life is held because of him and him alone.
My prayer for you is spiritual growth and ever-increasing glory like that of our Father.
Love and Light,
Kourtney Naomi
