Growth

“Growing in Your Relationship with God”


When I think back to the days when I was dating and experiencing love for the first time, I can not help but smile when I remember how I longed to hear “his” voice. There were days that I could not stand not being around him, waiting by the phone hoping he would call, and of course, anxiously waiting for my work day to end so that I could see him and spend time with him. The sound of his voice, the touch of his hand, caused my heart to race. Just knowing that soon, I would be able to spend time with him again, filled me with much excitement and anticipation. Those were days filled with the discovery of loving and being loved.

When I think of my growing relationship with God, I can see that in many ways, it resembles the relationship that couples in love share. We want to spend time together so that we can learn more about each other. When we can’t see each other, we miss each other, our hearts long for that other person. Lovers spend many nights and hours just talking about nothing in particular because they want to be close, connected with the one who makes their heart race. They just can not get enough of each other. This is the relationship that God desires with us.

The Creator of this universe desires nothing more than for us to desperately miss him when we are apart from him. His heart longs for us to spend time with him. He wants our thoughts to be filled with him. He wants us to feel as though we just can’t get enough of him, because in reality, he just can’t get enough of us. He wants to know us intimately and in turn, he wants us to know him intimately.

How then do we grow in our relationship with God when it seems like everything else is calling out for our attention? Communication is the key. Communication is vital to each and every relationship. If I am in a relationship with someone and I do not communicate whether it be by phone, letters, or in person, that relationship will never grow, never mature, there would never be a time of deep, personal intimate love. The relationship that doesn’t communicate person to person, heart to heart, is doomed to failure on many levels.

Growing in God means that we get to know him and as we grow in the knowledge of Him, we fall more in love with him each and every day. Because of that love relationship we have with him, our hearts desires become the desires of God. If we want to grow in our relationship with God, we must make it a priority to communicate with him each and every day. Ask yourself these two questions:

1) When was the last time your heart really missed God?
2) When was the last time you felt as though you couldn’t get enough of him?

If you find it hard to answer these questions, you need to spend more time with him. As you spend time with God, your heart draws closer to him and in turn, all you can do is think about him and desire nothing but him. Matthew 22:38 (MSG) says, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. This is the most important, the first on any list.” The God of this universe desires our love.

It is like someone who is married, who carries a photo of their spouse around. That person, can show others the photo, speak about their spouse, confess their love for their spouse to all, but if that person never goes home, never spends time with their spouse, never speaks loving, intimate words with their spouse, in fact acts as if their spouse were not even in the same room with them…would you really expect that the spouse would feel loved? Appreciated? Would the relationship ever grow, becoming more united, sharing more intimacy? Or would that “relationship” slowly cool, would it eventually break down?

In this world of fast cars, fast food, and instant messaging, here are some practical ways that you can communicate with God which in turn will allow you to grow in your relationship with Him:

Prayer. When we spend time in prayer with God, it gives us the opportunity to share our hearts with him which is what he desires. It’s a time to tell him about our day, our happy moments, our discouraging times, our worries, anxieties, hurts, joys, etc. Philippians 4:6, 7 (MSG) says; “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
Can you believe that? God wants us to communicate with him through prayer. He wants to hear us talk. He wants to hear about our day. He wants to laugh with us, cry with us, rejoice with us, and be with us. Just like you spend time with your family and friends talking with them about what’s happening in your life, God also desires that time with only you, no one else will do, no one else can take your place in his heart. Carve out time in your day to just talk with him. Isn’t that what prayer is all about? Maybe the next time you step into your car, instead of listening to the radio, just spend some time talking with God.

Another aspect of praying is listening. When you communicate with others, you take time to talk and you also take time to listen. God desires the same thing. He not only wants to hear about what’s happening in your life, he also wants to talk with you. When you pray, make sure to take some time to just be silent. Let your thoughts be on the things of God and wait patiently for his thoughts. If you have difficulty keeping your mind focused on listening for his voice, tell him so. He understands. Ask him to sharpen your ability to stay focused on listening for him to speak to your heart.

Reading/Studying the Bible. Another part of communication with God is reading and studying God’s word. If we want to grow in our relationship with God and really know who he is, we must read and learn his word which is his message to us. John 1:14 states (NIV), “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” When we spend time reading and studying God’s message to us, we grow in our relationship with him. We learn about the heart of God and what it is that he desires of us and we also learn about the things that make his heart sing. The Bible is his message of love to us.

Fellowship. God never intended us to be lone rangers. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) states: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the day approaching”. When we surround ourselves with people who have a heart for God and desire nothing more than to draw closer to him, we will find that we not only learn more about who God is, but we also desire him more. Being around like minded people encourages us in our own walk with the Lord. We are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Without real fellowship we can not grow in our love and knowledge of God, because in other believers, we experience relationships that teach us how to love God. How can we learn to love Him, if we can not love others?

What steps will you take this week to grow in your relationship with God? Maybe instead of listening to the radio on your way to work or as you run errands, spend some time just talking with the Lord. Or maybe you should start journaling and writing love letters to the one who created you. Also, take some time to read God’s message of love to you. Surround yourself this week with those who desire God like you do. If you take these steps, you will soon come to realize that you are no longer the person you were a few months ago and you will find that your heart is filled with the one who loves you, cherishes you, accepts you, and finds you to be amazingly beautiful.