I’ve sat across from a lot of women in Biblical counseling and have discovered that there’s a shortage of teaching on how to grow in our relationship with Christ. I know that sounds surprising, perhaps even shocking.
Certainly there are a lot of great preachers and teachers out there, lots of great sermons, podcasts, Bible studies and blogs. Don’t misunderstand, those things do help us grow, but only if we’re doing more than just listening and gaining more head knowledge.
The only way I know of to go deeper in God is to be deliberate in pursuing Him, not just what the Word tells us about Him.
There are lots of ways to do that....taking 10 minutes on the back porch to just sit in His presence.....journaling our thoughts and feelings to God and listening for His answers....making our prayer life more like a continual conversation throughout the day...finding practical ways to apply what we learn from Scripture to our every day life....worshiping Him not only at church but on our own, when no one else is there.
Certainly, hard times and trials help us grow in our faith, too. You’ve heard the saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” To be honest, I stopped believing that a long time ago. It depends on who and what we turn to in those hard times. I’ve seen many become bitter or more fragile in the face of trials, even turning to substance abuse. It’s when we turn our attention to God that we grow in Him.
One thing is sure, going deeper in our relationship with Christ is going to require time and authenticity.
Sadly, I’ve been witness to many who want help solving their problems but don’t really want to invest the time or energy into a deeper relationship with Christ. They want the knowledge of God to be enough to satisfy.
What I can tell you is that pursuing an authentic, deep relationship with Christ is worth it. His love is the only sure thing on this planet. And His love always satisfies.
Carve out some time each day and invite Him to deepen your relationship with Him. It doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming if you’ve not done that before. It just has to be real. He’ll be faithful to lead you from there!
Blessings,
Leah
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