Three Ways to Grow Closer to God

Do you make New Year resolutions and goals?

Many of want to become more organized, thinner, healthier, happier, and the list goes on.

No matter what your goal, you have to implement a plan or steps to get you to your end goal. If you say you want to run a 5K marathon, but don't specify how many times a week your going to workout, then chances are, you'll never get there.

As Christians, we may say we want to devote more time to God and following Him.

In fact, I hope this is something everyone strives for, including myself.

But, unless we set some sort of plan or guideline into motion, we'll most likely quit in a week or so.

In order to grow closer to God there are three things we must do.

1. Find the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus returned to Heaven, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we have no connection to God or Jesus while we're still in a sin filled world. If you seek the Holy Spirit, God promises we will find Him.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:8

2. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Once you've asked God to reveal His Holy Spirit to you, you must listen to Him.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. John 16:13-15

Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit only speaks what He hears from God's own mouth.

3. Spend time in God's word. You must read your Bible. The Bible is God's most precious gift to us other than the sacrifice of His son. It tells us how we are to find Him, how to live, everything about Him is inside the Bible. When we read it with the help of the Holy Spirit, verses will take on special meaning and relevance to things we are going through.

Have you ever been struggling with something, opened the Bible, and found a verse that fit your situation exactly? That is the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been dealing with something and a snippet of verse came to mind? That is the Holy Spirit and God speaking to you through His living word. If you don't know His word, or spend time in it, then you make it very difficult for God to speak to you. And you can't know someone if you don't converse with them.

So pray this with me.

Dear Jesus,

Please fill us with your Holy Spirit. May this year be one where we are overflowing with your presence. May nothing stand between us and you. Lift the blinders from our spiritual eyes and unplug our spiritual ears so that we may see and hear you like never before. In Jesus name, Amen.

How have you experienced God's presence in your life?

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