Hey sis! Ready to improve your relationship with God but stuck on exactly how to do so? If you are, keep reading.
“How is your relationship with God lately?” It’s been such a long time since I asked anyone that question. But this year that we are in, I truly believe that our relationship with our Heavenly Father is the most important relationship we will ever have.
If we have a thriving, healthy relationship with God where we communicate daily, and where we talk to Him even when we’re just saying hi, this bleeds into every other relationship in our life.
Have you ever seen a loving husband and wife who just ooze love, adoration, and respect for each other on a whole other level? Chances are that each spouse’s relationship with their Creator is thriving even more than their relationship with each other.
As Christians, we should strive to consistently improve our relationship with God, and in this post, I want to give you 10 wonderful ideas for how to do just that. Use these 25 great habits to improve your relationship with God today.
10 Great Habits To Improve Your Relationship With God
How do I start a relationship with Jesus?
This is actually a really good question. Many of us, when we are new Christians, believe that there is some step by step, foolproof way of developing an intense relationship with Christ, but that’s not always true.
There are many ways for us to connect with God. The most important step in connecting with God is surrendering our hearts and lives to Christ, and accepting His free and wonderful gift of salvation.
When I was younger, I used to believe that Christianity was a complicated, unnecessary “thing” because it involved too many steps and seemed impossible for me, a sinner who enjoyed lying (among other things), to do.
After I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart at the tender age of thirteen, though, I realized that we overthink things. God doesn’t want us to have a set routine where we pray for ten hours daily or wear long dresses that brush the ground.
He wants our hearts. He wants our attention. And He wants our commitment.
God wants to see that in all we do we choose to glorify Him because we understand that without His son’s sacrifice on that cross all those years ago we would be condemned to die in our sin and shame.
10 Great Habits To Improve Your Relationship With God
-Prioritize God in your schedule
First and foremost, we must learn how to prioritize God in our daily schedule. If we want to steadily grow in our relationship with the Lord then we must prioritize God in our schedule.
Finding ways to prioritize God in our life can be as simple as putting God first when we wake up each morning, consistently praying to Him throughout the day, and meditating on His word before we go to bed at night.
All important relationships in our life grow when we place the other person in the relationship high on our list.
When we put God first, and when we place our complete trust in Him to direct our day, it gives our Heavenly Father the opportunity to bless us beyond our wildest dreams.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
-Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul
Loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, and soul means to love Him in every situation. It means to love God even when our questions and prayers aren’t answered as we hoped they would be.
In order to improve our relationship with God, we need to take God with us everywhere we go.
We need to interact with other people in such a way that brings all glory and honour to His name.
In order for our hearts to truly treasure God as we should then we have to treasure Him with our thoughts, our actions, and our lives.
Matthew 22:37-38 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
-Love your neighbours
The bible commands us as Christians, in various books, to love our neighbours as ourselves. I believe that some of the best ways to truly show love and grace to others are through tangible (outward) actions.
Some tangible ways that we can love our neighbours are:
- Pray for them
- Offer to support them in tough times
- Let them know that you care about them
- Offer an ear to listen and a shoulder to lean on
- Show grace to others
When we show love and compassion to other people it does something to their hearts and gives us the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus with them; which could change their lives forever.
Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”
-Read the Bible
A great relationship with God involves getting to know Him more through His word. In the same way we spend time learning more about our teachers, friends, and loved ones, we can learn more about our Heavenly Father by reading the word of God.
Improving your relationship with God means getting to know all you can about who He is. You can know and understand God on a much deeper level by reading His words and teachings in the Scriptures.
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
-Get up early and pray
If you want to deepen your relationship with God then you need to get up early and pray. I know it can be intimidating to pray, but prayer doesn’t have to be rehearsed or scripted. When we pray to our Heavenly Father, what’s important is that we say what’s been on our hearts. Riley Clemmons gives a great example of how simple and heartfelt prayer should be in her song “Broken Prayers.”
As she states in her song “God is not afraid of how we feel, so why are we afraid of being real?” Whether we truly realize it or not, our prayers are the kinds of encounters God’s thirst with us. If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is “thank you Lord”, it will be enough.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”
-Love your family
You can improve your relationship with God daily by loving your family. When we are seeking to strengthen our relationship with our family, it requires us to pray continuously and draw closer to God as He shows us how to strengthen those relationships.
When we place importance on loving our family as God commanded us to, whether that includes loving our spouse as Christ loved the church or loving our kids, we are able to practice forgiveness, selflessness and so much more.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”
-Attend Church Services regularly
In today’s day and age, we hear many people saying that organized church or organized religion hinders more than helps us as Christians. We also hear that we don’t need to attend church regularly in order to strengthen our connection with God, but I disagree. It is so important for us, whether we are new or more seasoned believers to attend a bible-believing church.
Find a church that preaches and believes the word of God, and join the community there. The church is far from perfect and has its flaws, but churches also nurture young Christians, help us to find support as we grow, and can be the hand we need to keep us going when we feel like we’ve fallen down and can’t get up.
The bible calls us to gather together as believers because not only does it provide support, but it also helps us to draw closer to God.
Romans 12:4-5 “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
-Memorize scripture
If you’ve been struggling to deepen your relationship with God lately, and have been feeling distant from God, memorizing scripture is a great habit to start doing. When I was younger, I didn’t really know much about God and wasn’t very close to Him either. However, as I became more involved in Bible Quizzing, I started understanding who God was, what He was doing in my life, and the great plans He had for me.
Memorizing scripture on a regular basis fills our minds with the word of God. It widens the gap between us and the devil while strengthening the relationship between us and Christ. Go beyond just reading the bible. Try to study what it says, and remember the scriptures you come across.
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness he was able to stand firm against temptation because He knew the word of God. When we want to strengthen ourselves and draw closer to our creator, the scriptures should be an integral part of the process.
Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
-Obey God’s commandments
Strengthening or reviving our personal relationship with God means knowing Him better and understanding what He desires for us. When we obey God’s commandments, not only do we develop a deeper relationship with God, but it’s also an act of worship. Obeying the bible’s commandments sets us apart from others.
It shows God that we are dedicated to Him and His kingdom. God gave the commandments that they might be obeyed and if we are truly God’s people then this is something we should strive to do daily.
I’m not saying that we should be perfect, because, as humans are flawed and sinful. However, as we experience a deeper relationship with God, it becomes easier for us to do what He commands of us.
Deuteronomy 11:1 “Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws, and his commands always.”
-Worship God
It is so important for us to have a personal relationship with God. Guarding our relationship with God is also important. A wonderful way to do this is to worship God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength. Express your love for God today through regular worship.
As we worship the Lord, we surrender ourselves to His will. The more we spend time in God’s presence, the more we show God that just as worship matters to Him, it matters to us as well.
Our worship should take the focus off of ourselves and place the focus on our creator. When we worship, we have to sacrifice our own feelings and fears so that we can give God what He truly deserves. Worshipping our God is one of the most intimate things we can do to maintain a good relationship with God.
Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”
How Can You Strengthen Your Relationship With God In This Pandemic?
So many of us are panicking during this pandemic because things are uncertain or things have changed. We as Christians, however, have an amazing opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with God. If you have a desire to strengthen your relationship with God during a time when so much has changed, you have to keep it simple.
During these times I find that my habits have definitely changed and I have to adapt accordingly. Whether that means attending an online service, communicating with other believers on a regular basis, or blasting gospel music in my apartment, there are ways I have found to stay connected to God.
It hasn’t been easy, of course, because I used to think that there was just one way of truly connecting with God and that meant that I had to connect with other Christians physically, at church. But that’s just not true.
God wants to speak to us whether we’re in our apartment or in the front pew at church. He wants us to hear from Him and in a world where we are constantly running around, this pandemic has given us a chance at silence. A chance to really dwell in His presence.
I think this pandemic has given Christians an opportunity to practice their faith, draw closer to God and bring them closer to God.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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HOW CAN YOU GET CLOSER TO GOD?
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All my love,
Hey Dee! So excited I found your blog! This is the exactly the type of encouragement I’ve been looking for. Can’t wait to read more of your posts!