5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Spiritual Life
A client once said that she can’t seem to connect with God and hear from Him in her life. While she really felt this and believed it to be true for her, it was clearly inaccurate. The reason that it was easy to point this out as a fallacy to her was that she was sitting in a therapy session with a Christian therapist who cared about her, and she was actually making actionable progress toward her goals.
The therapist response was something like, “You don’t think that God sees you, hears you, or is speaking to you? Aren’t you here? Haven’t you been looking for a therapist who can help you? Haven’t you said you consider this a divine appointment? Aren’t you healing?”
The woman was amazed as she heard those words. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. That’s true. God did bring me here to you, and this is helping.”
So, if you want to grow closer to God and see Him more in your life, the first easy step is to:
Open Your Eyes- His mercy and blessings to you are all around you. Focusing your attention on His provisions, everyday kindnesses from others in your life, from a sincere, joyful greeting from a cashier to the gentle laughter of a child, to the food you eat and the clothing you wear lets you to notice the evidence that God is real and all around you in your everyday life.
Noticing then can lead you to:
Give Thanks- Giving thanks to God for who He is and all of the many things that He has provided and done for you allows your mind and your heart to attune to His good nature. After all, the Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from Him, James 1:17. This ultimately lets us to see that God is our friend, and we want to spend time with our friends because they care for us and are enjoyable to be around.
Accepting that God is your friend can lead you to:
Accept that You Are Loved- This may seem like a basic church saying, but if you really believe and accept that God loves YOU, not a general you but a specific you, the one reading these words right now, it can change your walk with Him for the better. Knowing that God is a personal God who loves you as a unique and valued creation of His is so powerful for growing closer to Him. When you know this love is for you, you begin to realize that He has a specific plan for the ways He has created you, that you have a purpose in His kingdom, and that there are acts of service that He has already planned in advance for you to do. This is world changing stuff, and when you know that God wants you to work with Him to bring more of Him to the world, you can’t help but grow closer in your walk with Him. Imagine God or Jesus holding you or holding your hand, see Him in your minds eye as a friend who loves hearing your thoughts and being your friend.
Don’t Compare Yourself With Others or “Shoulds”- Knowing that you are a unique and wonderful creation of the living and present God, Creator of the Universe, then allows you to realize that you don’t have to compete with anyone else, compare your walk to the walk of anyone else, look like anyone else, talk like anyone else, or even engage in spiritual disciplines the same as anyone else. Sure, it could be great if you get up at 5am each morning and spend an hour in prayer and Bible reading. There can be benefits to doing this and reasons for doing this, but if you are then going to be grouchy, yell at your kids, kick the dog, and fall asleep at work, you may be better suited to do your Bible time later in the day. If you can’t read without losing focus, try an audio version of the Bible via a phone app. Go to church on Saturday night, pray during your time on the treadmill, or do something else that allows you to really connect with God’s presence rather than what you feel you “should” do based on what someone else does.
Lastly, to easily grow closer to God, realize that while He is God and His ways are higher than ours, He is also approachable in your everyday life.
Consider Worship the Whole of Your Life- Rather than compartmentalize certain tasks as holy or spiritual, realize that working as unto God in your day job is every bit a way of worshipping Him as singing to Him in church on Sunday. Showing your spouse kindness and love is putting the Bible into action. Even taking time to rest, is a reflection of something God first modeled for you. Viewing and offering up you every day moments and activities as acts of worship to God can also allow you to see that He is there for you.
As the Bible says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being,” Acts 17:28.
Written by Guest Blogger Michelle Croyle