Are you feeling disconnected from God and craving a deeper, much more personal relationship with Him?
I’ve known the Lord since 2014 and as a new believer or a spiritual infant, I didn’t have anyone that came alongside of me to help guide me and point me in the right direction. I wasn’t told about or even warned about many things. I basically really wasn’t discipled. Because of this, I have this burning desire to share the Lord with others and like to put a strong focus on discipleship. I know that this world can be a dangerous place and the enemy wants nothing more than to see you fail.
James 4, the beginning of verse 8 says: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” If we are moving toward God, He moves closer to us. When we align our priorities, our desires, our thoughts, and our actions with His will, we find ourselves drawing closer to Him.
Here are 7 ways to draw closer to God.
1. Get To Know Jesus
If you want to draw close to God, you have to know Jesus in your heart and receive the Holy Spirit. In John 14:6, Jesus mentions that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus is the way and the only way. God calls us to believe in Jesus. He wants us to acknowledge that Jesus is His son and that He died for all of us so that we may be saved. He also wants us to affirm that Jesus rose from the grave and is now seated at His right hand. Not one person can deny Jesus and claim that they know God.
God wants a pure heart so that is what you have to give Him. In order to accept Jesus, you must believe in your heart that He truly is the Son of God. You must also admit that you are a sinner and with God’s help, you will turn away from each and every single sin. So how do you get let Jesus into your heart? While on your knees with your eyes closed and arms open wide, verbally invite Jesus into your heart. Ask and thank Him for forgiveness. Also say to Him that you believe that He died for you and that you trust Him to lead your life down a much more promising path. Tell Him that you are ready to make Him Lord over your life. Just simply talk to Him and let Him know the confessions of your heart.
Doing this with a sincere heart, without a doubt, will draw you closer to God.
2. Get In The Water
As a follower of Jesus, your journey should include baptism to continue to draw closer to God. If you have truly accepted Jesus, you have already been baptized with the Holy Spirit but there is also a water baptism that should take place. This process represents death, burial, and resurrection…just as Jesus did. Immersed in the water, you die to your old self and leave behind your dark and sinful past when you come up. Baptism provides you with the opportunity to publicly confess to others about your decision to follow Jesus. Leave it all behind in the grave and commit to live obediently to God!
As a follower of Jesus, your journey should include baptism to continue to draw closer to God. If you have truly accepted Jesus, you have already been baptized with the Holy Spirit but as a public proclamation, there is also a water baptism that should take place. Baptism marks your first steps towards obedience to the Lord.
The process of baptism is throughout the Bible and Jesus gives us specific instructions about this:
Matthew 28:19 – Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
This process is symbolic and represents death, burial, and resurrection…just as Jesus did. Typically, baptism is done in front of others. Immersed in the water, it represents you dying to your old self and leaving behind your dark and sinful past when you come up. Baptism provides you with the opportunity to publicly confess to others about your decision to follow Jesus.
It was the exact day after that I gave my heart to the Lord when I got baptized and it was such an exciting time. I remember coming out of the water with my hand up in the air!
If you have said yes to Jesus and have not yet gotten baptized, now is the time to do it. Baptism is a perfect way to draw closer to God.
3. Get To The Word
Be certain to get a Bible in your hands and read it daily. Reading your Bible is one of the best ways to grow closer to God so make time to read it often. Did you hear what I said? I didn’t say take time, I said make time. You have to make time or else excuse after excuse will start coming up…believe me, I did it for years. I referenced the Bible quite a bit, but I really wasn’t reading it. Over the past year, I’ve been reading the Word every single day. In the morning, after my shower, I go into my prayer/reading room and spend a few minutes reading through a chapter or two. The time varies but I found that by starting my day with God’s Word makes it so much better and I truly feel closer to Him.
So if you want to start reading the Bible, you actually need to have a Bible. Some people prefer using an app on their phone or tablet which is ok but for me, I found that all the notifications can be bad distractions and there goes my focus and attention. I’m a techy guy but there’s something about holding a Bible and flipping through real pages.
There are thousands of different types of Bibles to choose from which may seem overwhelming at first. Don’t worry, it’s ok to be picky! When searching for a Bible, try making a list of wants such as preferred translation, print size, cover color, tabbed index, red letters…the list goes on. For my very first Bible, I thought that it would be really cool to own a white one so I quickly found one online. When the Bible arrived, it unfortunately had a feminine, floral design on it and the translation was really difficult for me to read! Since then, I’ve chosen a new, manlier, Bible that I am much more comfortable with. Again, take your time to choose a Bible because you are going to read and keep it for a very long time.
Reading the Bible, without a doubt, will help you draw closer to God.
4. Get To Praying
Prayer is your opportunity to talk with God and should not be avoided. How can you get close to someone if you don’t communicate with them? In giving instruction about prayer, in Matthew 6:5, Jesus begins by saying “And when you pray…” He didn’t say if you pray, He said when you pray. Praying is simply talking to God. You don’t have to use big words and try to impress Him…just talk to Him. You don’t have to pray like others either.
Many of us struggle to have a decent prayer life. It can be difficult for us because it’s easy to focus on the act of praying itself instead of focusing on the Lord. God cares less about our words to Him and more about the place where the words came from.
Think of prayer as transparent dialog. There are four types of prayer that can be summarized by the acronym: A.C.T.S.
• Adoration: Appreciating God for who He is apart from what He has done for you
• Confession: Acknowledging to God our specific sin and seeking His pardon
• Thanksgiving: Appreciating God for His benefit to us
• Supplication: Interceding for ourselves our others according to God’s will
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “pray without ceasing”.
I personally talk to God all day long. Whether I need strength for a certain situation, or thankful for another. In that same room that I just talked about reading my Bible in, that is my prayer room. Just me in peace and quiet, talking to the Lord. He wants to know your thoughts, your desires, your concerns, your thankfulness, and so on. Make and spend time alone with God, without distraction. Create a prayer room and go there for absolute peace while talking with the Lord. Again, praying is simply talking to God.
Whether you are asking Him for something or thanking Him for everything, pray to God in the name of Jesus and this will help you draw closer to Him.
5. Get To Church
I actually don’t like using the word “church” as a physical place. The church is the body of Christ which means you and me. I like to call to call it a “place of worship”. That has so much more depth to it doesn’t it?
Attending a place of worship gives you an excellent opportunity to learn more about God and also to surround yourself with other believers. It is important to be around other followers of Christ that have a strong desire to grow and to walk with Him.
God has shown me something early in my walk that: If you are at a place with a bunch of religious zombies that are there just to go through the redundant motions of mundane Sunday services, that isn’t the place for you.
Find a church where you feel the Spirit fresh, alive, and moving through the leaders, music, and congregation. Be certain that it’s a Bible-based church that believes that the entire Bible is God’s unfailing word and is the final authority on everything. Be sure to stay away from churches that are focused on meaningless traditions and religious rules. Pray, seek God’s counsel and let Him lead you to a church where He wants you to be.
When you seek God beyond just a Sunday morning, Jesus becomes someone that you know and not just a place that you go.
Attending a church will not only give you a great opportunity to fellowship with other Christians, but you will also have plenty of opportunities to serve the Lord. Use your God given talents and skills for Him. God calls us to serve everywhere we go and a church is a very good place to start but don’t let it end there.
Attending, worshipping, and serving at church will certainly draw you closer to God.
6. Get Fed And Stay Hungry
In addition to a weekly sermon at church, you need to be constantly fed the Word. Try not to rely on others to feed you, this is something that you need to seek for yourself.
You can do this by joining a small group, participating in a Bible study, watching trustworthy sermons online, visiting cool Christian websites like Draw For God.com, listening to Christian podcasts, and even reading daily devotionals.
This also goes back to what I mentioned in tip #3 which is regarding reading your Bible every day. So don’t settle for just a small portion once a week. This should be go beyond just a Sunday morning.
Seek to know the Lord on a much deeper level daily and this will bring you much closer to Him.
7. Get Going And Stay Focused
We live in an age of distractions. Cell phones, TVs, computers, sports, money, addictions, life issues…the list goes on. I’m not saying that these are bad things to have but if you are choosing them over spending time with God, that’s a big problem. Satan has a plan and has many traps to keep us away from God. One of his goals is to make you become complacent and lazy in your walk with the Lord. If he can get you there, it becomes easier for him to pull you away.
1 Peter 5:8: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Be aware of the devil’s schemes and how he might try to pull you away. When you hear a moving moving message or learn something new through His word, apply it to your life! Don’t just hear it and let it evaporate. You’ve got to fight back!
Constantly ask God to help you to stay focused on Him and put Him first in every single thing that you do or else this world is going to consume you. When distractions come, go to prayer right away and God will help you overcome them.
Seek His face first all of your days and you will indeed draw closer to God.
Conclusion
We hope that these encouraging tips will help you to grow closer to God. Most importantly, start with Jesus first. If you haven’t given your heart to Him, right now is the time to do that. All the other things that were mentioned in this article will follow but you have to start with Jesus if you want to get closer to God.
If you want to draw close to God, you have to know Jesus. And not talking about just in your head but also in your heart.
In John 14:6, Jesus mentions that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus is the way and the only way. God calls us to believe in Jesus. He wants us to acknowledge that Jesus is His son and that He died for all of us so that we may be saved. He also wants us to affirm that Jesus rose from the grave and is now seated at His right hand. Not one person can deny Jesus and claim that they know God.
If you have read this through this article and need help, please send us a message so that we may pray with you and help you draw closer to God.
[…] within us. Have you allowed Christ to come dwell in your heart and receive His gift of restoration? Come alive and get to know Jesus! Have a talk with the Father, He will let you know exactly who you are in […]
Amen I needed that inspiration in this quarantine
I agree with you Judy, and more so ever today.May the Lord give you his strength to rise up, and be the conquerer you are.
Awesome! True! Well said. This IS what the world needs NOW!
Thank you.
John
Please pray that I would use more and more common sense so that things will get better and better for me. Please pray that all of my loved ones (my Precious Mother Gail Ballard, my Precious Earthly Father Rick Ballard, my Precious Blood Brother Joshua Enoch Ballard) and myself and everybody that I care about only experience what is eternal and Heavenly when they die physically. Please pray that GOD would give me favor with GOD and favor with every human being and favor with all of my loved ones mentioned above and favor with every person that I feel like I have lost favor with. Please pray that I would make good choices from now on.
We just prayed for you brother!
I’m blessed with this message
The greatest desire of my heart is to get close to Christ. He did so much for me, and I want to get to know who He is and what He wants me to do. Thank you for letting me know that when I go in my room and pray and ask for forgiveness that God will be able to give me direction easier. I’ll need to look into a good place to worship as well. I haven’t been to church for a long time.
Am visiting this site for the first time
I always have difficulties in being prayerful by myself,I feel it’s much easier for me if there is someone taking me through the whole process till I can stand on my own.
There was a time I started praying with the help of my colleagues at work,I could feel that I was getting better but all of the sudden i kinda backslided.
Now I feel so far away from my spiritual life
Remember that prayer is simply talking to God. Some people make their prayers lofty and meaningless because they are praying to others and not God. God wants to hear you from your heart so try not to overthink it. Be confident and know that God loves hearing from you.
Hi Lillia. I hope you have found a church home and truly the word of God is taught. I am a teacher at the congregation where I attend and often I say, “Have you ever been to worship and left there thinking it was a complete waste of time and wished you had not gone?” The response is always, “No!” A Christian needs to fellowship with those who are likeminded and have the same goal of doing God’s will and desiring an eternal home with Him.
I really want to take this opportunity to thank the author for the great work and advice that she has given unto me. I have been feeling cursed and felt bad luck lately but I thank you so much for this encouraging information.
[…] If you have not received your gift of salvation, please visit this page for more info: How To Draw Close To God […]
I’m blessed with this message
I really want to draw near God but i have a great limitation which is masturbation…..It comes at moment where i have really done all the preceeding article is talking of, then makes me feel not of worth being next to God…..
You are worth everything to God! The next time temptation comes to you, replace it with prayer. In that time of prayer, ask God to help you get past it with the strength to fight it. Keep replacing that temptation with prayer each and every single time and you will find that with the Lord, that fight can be won! I prayed for you and may the love of God fall on you where you know that you are indeed walking next to Him.
Go to JESUS and tell HIM that you cannot stop by yourself,tell HIM to change you and make you new and to deliver you from masterbation….come to HIM just like that and HE will deliver you from it,don’t try to do it without JESUS,just come like that …HE delivered me from alcohol,I was an alcoholic for 24 years and JESUS came in and changed me,I kept trying to stop drinking on my own and couldn’t,so I brought the liquor with me! I haven’t had an alcoholic beverage in years!! I pray EVERYTHING GOES WELL FOR YOU IN JESUS NAME!
Need to know God deeper
We hope that this article has helped! If you need further help, please send us an email and would would be happy to chat with to you.
I am very impressed to have read these tips. My major problems are:
1. I am a divorced, and constantly fall into fornication and masturbation. My attempts to establish a family keep failing constantly. What must I do? How can I faithfully wait on the Lord to grant me a godly wife without falling into the mentioned sins?
2. Each time I feel and try to draw near God, I find myself falling into sin. How can I overcome this problem?
I feel like the biggest thing is to recognize and to be fully aware of the temptations. When the temptations come, go straight to God and pray for strength. You will soon start to see that prayer and leaning on the Lord for help will become more of a first reaction other than falling right into temptation. He will bless you in His time and I encourage you remain patient and give everything to Him. Thanks for your comment and we will pray for you to overcome!
My main problem is pornography and masturbation.whenever am about to fall and want to pray,i feel very lazy to pray.
It is good that you know to pray and the Spirit is prompting you. It comes down to you taking one more step forward to become obedient to actually go into prayer. That time of prayer is going to break the temptation of watching porn and build a much stronger relationship between you and Jesus. As your relationship grows, you will see how only He is the one that break addictions. I’ve prayed for you and confident that with help from the Lord, you will break the cycle and be able to help others that are going through the same thing all for His glory!
Loving others helps us become more like Christ as we learn what real love is and how to love. We learn to put others’ needs before our own, to forgive an offense, to encourage rather than envy, and to compassionately bear each other’s burdens. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us,” Ephesians 5:1-2.
I deeply appreciate God Almighty through his Oracle sent to not only I but us all being inspired greatly about Drawing close to God. All is perfectly true together with the comments of my brethren all much inspired..while on earth as a believer nothing can be so sweet like he who is always close to his father,espcially Almighty God(example John 10:30,Jesus said I and my father are one,,wow what a relation,,same us children of God we ought to confess so,byso we can be sure of living in sufficiency in all things through God and heaven atleast with him for ever..Amen..
Was truly a blessing
Hello World!
I am a reborn Christian- woman of faith and has been in a relationship with the Holy Trinity over different seasons:
First Jesus Christ – I connected at the age of 10 during a bible study at elementary school;
I then connected with the Holy Spirit at the age of 36 when I read the book by Evangelist Bennie Hinn, called GOOD MORNING HOLY SPIRIT.
I drew closer to God when I joined Bible School at my then church, Rhema Bible Church a year later at the age of 37.
I also work and interact with my angels…. the word of God days that we each has an army of angels to serve us.
Imagine my life at this stage being 61 with so much holy resources 🤗💥😇👌
There is a holy strategy that is necessary for us as Christians to orchestrate and apply in our lives to get the best out of life. When God crested is, It came with the territory- a PLAN (blessing – treasure). But He did not say it would be easy… as a matter of fact, He sent Jesus to teach us His ways and purpose for our lives .
When Jesus died on the cross – the disciples were distraught, because they had a different idea and thought Jesus was the gene in a bottle – and that He would just snap and save the Jews.
All the these steps that our writer shares to know God better , are some of the strategies to live a purposeful life.
Don’t rule out the Holy Spirit, He is a key benefactor!! He is the one who lives in us to convict us all the time when we need to make choices. This you will experience once all these steps that are shared by the writer are solidified within you.
Wishing you well and I pray that the Holy Spirit guide you into all truth….
Shalom
I really like this. Ok
Nice tips there. Thanks for sharing
I’ve been a strong Christian from infancy, I am 24 years now but for the past 2 to 3 years now, I’ve been down. I don’t feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in me again, I can’t pray , I can’t fast , hmm I don’t know but I need revival
Hello and thank you for commenting. We just prayed for you and are hopeful that you become reconnected with the Lord. Be sure to ask Him what may be causing the feeling of distance. It could be a sin pattern that you are stuck in or possible something else. Seek Him with your heart and He will hear you for sure.
I must say right now i am blessed with these, they seem to be familiar points but they are powerful thanks for the word.
The word read really touch me deeply an inspiration for believers today. Get a Bible u r comfortable with and God will speak to u the more
Thank you so much for these recommendations. Very helpful and most appreciated. God Bless You.
That is awesome to hear! All glory to God!
Thank you, for the encouraging and helpful suggestions.
I am glad that you are encouraged! All glory goes to God!
Such a awesome message
Thank you and all glory goes to God!
Thank you for the message and I pray to be given courage as I struggle to draw closer to my God through Jesus Christ.
What a great site! Just what I was looking for.
I have been blessed by a personal relationship with Jesus through a Bible Study a friend was relentless in getting me to. Even though I had attended church, I must say I did not really know or have a personal relationship with God till Bible Study.
Always looking for more ways to draw closer to Him, The more you love Him, the more you want to love Him more it seems.
Thank You
Praise God, that is so awesome to hear! So glad that you are drawing closer to Him and all glory goes to Him!
[…] Reading the Bible is a lifelong journey. There is no one right way to do it. The most important thing is to find a method that works for you and to stick with it. The more you read the Bible, the more you will learn and the closer you will grow to God. […]