Five Ways Elevate your Connection with God

Do you know how relational the Lord really is? The scriptures offer us so many clues as to how God moves in the lives of His children. I was listening to a sermon this week and heard an exegesis that took my breath away about how the Old Testament is like a shadow and the New Testament like the living presence of God (through the Jesus in human form) It moved me so because it downloaded this fresh experience of the ambiance and essence of Christ and how connected He truly is to us and desires us to become to Him. It is through this kind of relational experience with the Lord that we come to know Him so personally in our daily lives. Listen, God is sovereign, and His ways are above ours. We can’t reduce Him to the scriptures because a relationship with Him transcends the scriptures. What I mean by that is to enter relationship with the Lord means we enter an ongoing personal manifesting experience of His active presence in our lives. Encountering God this way is intended for each of us – not just spiritual leaders. I would go as far to say that there are many a Spiritual leader that may not have accessed this level of connection with God either.

So, to help guide you toward this kind of sacred space I’m sharing five simple ways to elevate your connection with Jesus Christ:

Slow Down, Reflect and Expressing Emotions

Jesus teaches us how to move through life spiritually and emotionally. When stress, exhaustion, or overwhelming circumstances and responsibilities consumed Him, he separated himself to connect with His father. Separating in this way is physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. God doesn’t bend to our saturated lives; we must choose to detach to attach to Him. It is through this detachment process we slow our minds, bodies and learn how to openly express our emotions before the Lord with honesty. God draws near to us in our truths not our pretenses.

Repentance

Repentance is not about being sorry for doing something wrong. It’s about living in a state of humility about how much we need God and how incapacitated we are left to our own devices. I may not have something specific to repent for each day, but my heart is open each day for the Lord to reveal things to me. The closer we draw to the Lord the more we see how wretched we really are. As our hearts becomes more sensitive, we are open for God to reveal hindrances in our hearts toward others and ourselves (attitudes, thoughts, negative emotions, unkindness, jealousies, unbelief, etc.) becomes an ongoing process.

Fasting

I could write a whole article on this alone. In short fasting is about desensitizing the flesh to sensitize the spirit. The strongest force of the flesh is our appetite. Fasting offers a specific way to draw closer to the Lord.

Nature/Creation

Nature offers a direct link to the heart of God. His creation glorifies Him. Each part of His creation has the capacity to pull us into the presence of God – He uses nature to teach us lessons about how to live and how he moves in our lives (i.e., reaping and sowing, seed time and harvest, etc.)

Spending time in God’s Word (last but not least)

God’s Word is the Him and He is His word. When we spend time with Him in His word, we are spending time with Him. It’s not only about reading the Word alone but being enlightened by the Holy Spirit while doing so.