First and foremost, you have to UNDERSTAND WHO HE IS. Are you avoiding intimacy with God because you feel guilty? Maybe you’re hesitant to get real with Him because You feel like God is only there to make rules for you to live by and to judge you when you fall short. I’m here to tell you that that’s a LIE that so many of have fallen prey to believing. Here’s what He REALLY wants us to know: 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:6-8
SET ASIDE TIME IN YOUR DAY FOR HIM. Even if this is just 10 minutes when you first start out, I promise you will begin to notice a difference when you INTENTIONALLY set aside quiet time to BE STILL and invite Him to speak to your heart. Unplug from your devices, close the door, do whatever works for YOU to focus.At first, this might feel awkward or unnatural, but if you do this CONSISTENTLY, you’ll find yourself longing to turn that 10 minutes into an hour (yes--actually!).
Find a DAILY DEVOTIONAL. Daily devotionals are the dream for those of us who need babysteps in the beginning. They usually take about five minutes to read and are a less-intimidating way to start diving into the Word because they highlight specific topics and paraphrase verses that might be hard to understand or apply to your life when you’re first starting out in your faith walk.
Start With the NEW Testament. I’ll be writing an entire blog on this topic to explain my thought process behind this, but I recommend reading the New Testament FIRST when you’re searching to know Jesus. While Jesus is pointed to throughout the Old Testament (more on that later as well) His WORDS SPOKEN ON EARTH are documented in the New Testament.
JOURNAL. Journaling is just like, cathartic. You will be amazed how much comes out of your heart when you have to articulate it onto a piece of paper. Think of it as writing a letter to Jesus. This will help you to start getting into the headspace of thinking of Him as a REAL PERSON--because guess what--HE IS! And He isn’t some beam floating around aimlessly in the cosmos. He is a person who sees YOU. And He is always available to chat. Give it a whirl peeps.
Xx
Haplous