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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Developing a closer relationship with God is an admirable goal and reflects a heart that is truly reborn, for only those who are in Christ desire a closer relationship with God. We must also unders...
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Billy P Eldred
Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart". I have heard this verse misused so much. When many read this verse they see the phrase "desires of your heart" and envision that God will give them everything they want. That is not what the verse says. It says Delight yourself in the Lord. In other words, make the Lord the desire of your heart and he will give you that desire, HIM. Therefore, just by asking this question, you are going in the right direction. The next thing you need to do is to ask Him to help you. Pray that God will help you love Him better. Pray this every day. You are much closer to those you love. God is no different in this regard. As your love for Him grows, you naturally grow closer to Him. Finally, spend more time with Him. Reading His Word. Praying. Listening. Do these things for the next 30 days and you will be amazed at how much closer you feel to God! Then make it a lifetime habit and peace, joy, healing and much more will follow.
Dorcas Sitali
Through communion in prayer and personal bible study. Paul in 1 corinthian 14:18 told that Church that he thanked God that he prayed in tongues more than them...from this statement i see the secret to paul's courage and strength to pass through all he passed through and still be closer to God. Also in the life of Jesus He constantly withdraw from the crowd to pray and have alone time with His Father. From these examples i see that a personal a relationship with the Holy Spirit Is important, for He is our helper in prayer and everything thanks to Jesus.
James Kraft
There is another way in which we separate ourselves from God. Pride and self-righteousness are in the heart of every man. These two can come from obeying extra biblical rules to make ourselves more righteous than others. We tend to see the good we are doing and look down on others because they have different faults than we do. None of us are perfect. We all have our faults. There is a verse in Ecclesiastes 7:16. It says, be not righteous over much, neither make thyself overwise. Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? We are to love each other warts and all. It comes in when we think we are walking so close with the Lord in our religion, but are hearts are far from Him. Oh yes, we are obeying all the commandments, or we think we are, but we treat others unfairly judging them by our own standards instead of God's standard. We can have our own convictions about doubtful things, but we cannot play God and raise them to the level of "thus saith the Lord." Pride comes when we think we are living a perfectly righteous life. We do not need Jesus any more. We can walk to heaven on our own righteous shoes. If you say you have no pride you are automatically prideful. Pride, conceit, and self-righteousness all work to together. They destroy relationships and churches. Lord, keep me from pride. Only you Jesus can keep me from the sin of satan. The truth is we become a child of God by faith alone, and our relationship can not be broken. Our fellowship can, but not our relationship. We should try to stay in unbroken fellowship with the Father by confessing our sins. As some one once said it is good to keep short accounts. When we do something that we know is wrong, picking on our wife for some little thing she does, we should ask her for forgiveness and confess it to God. Just an example of how we ought to live. When someone asks us to go a mile with them, go with them two. Give to those who need help, and be kind one to another in the spirit of grace. We are not all perfect so do not judge others unfairly. God has forgiven us all our faults and we should forgive the faults of others.
Samuel Joseph
My opinion is that as a believer in Christ, cultivate habits that are godly, occupy your mind with His word and speak in line with His word. Humility as a result of God's fear will constantly draw one closer to God. Your life will only go where your mind goes, so guide what you permit in your mind, then closeness to God will become a daily experience.
Jay Saunders
The best way to know God is to study His word. Start in John read it until you understand completely what it means. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you in the understanding of God's word whenever your get confused or perplexed. God will and has promised that the Holy Spirit will lead us in all understaning of the scriptures. John 16:13 Pray for Him to come and lead you and guide you in all truth. God's word is truth. It will save you and sanctify you. John 17:17 Jesus is and was the living word. Read: John chapter one for proof. God the Father will always make known the meaning of His word when you seek him with all your heart, mind, soul and body. Deuteronomy 4:29 God the Father does not lie and His only begotten son is and was a perfect reflection of the Father. Hebrews 1:3
Reinhard Illig
Wow. That's one of many things that I so love about being a Christian. God is so faithful. He prepares our steps, He knows what we need. We could not even desire Him unless He placed that into our hearts. If we want a closer relationship with Him it is because He has put that into our hearts. Just like when He first called us to receive Christ; aside from God's calling us we would have no desire to receive Christ as our Savior. That's what Christianity is all about... it's a personal relationship with Jesus. Just as we first received Him we must embrace that which He has placed in our hearts because it's exactly what we need to get to where He wants us and can best use us for His glory. Heading down that road walking in the Spirit and resisting our fallen selfish flesh. By His Grace being a living sacrifice. It is such a personal and wonderful thing to know that God loves us and wants a closer relationship with us. His Grace is sufficient for all that we encounter. He has already equipped us with His Grace to overcome everything in our path we just need to count on Him for everything like a babe needs it's mother. As Christians we are fully dependent on our Savior and can regard our independence as navigating a slippery slope.
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