Through my years of walking with God, the one truth I discovered in my spiritual journey when I started searching for ways on how to get closer to God in the scriptures is that God also wants to get closer to me.
James 4:8a (NIV) says, “Come near to God, and he will come near you…” This is the pattern I discovered in scriptures, that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.
God wants to get closer to us, and as a matter of truth, God is the one that draws us closer to Himself, and He does this through Jesus Christ. So knowing how to grow closer to Jesus is equivalent to learning how to grow closer to God.
John 14: 6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. He also said in John 6: 44 (NIV), “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” by implication, the desire in our hearts to long for the knowledge on how to be closer to God spiritually, is the handwork of God and He does that through Jesus.
If you ever feel a void or emptiness inside as a Christian, either as a new believer or as an old believer, you are not closer to God spiritually, and your spirit yearns for that closeness.
It is one of the things that happen to us at conversion. Once we become born again, the desire to know how to be closer to God spiritually becomes a reality.
There is this profound yearning to have an in-depth spiritual intimacy and communion with God. We long to have the same intimacy and closeness Adam had with God before the fall in the Garden of Eden.
The kind of relationship that man’s spirit was in sync with God’s Spirit, and this becomes what occupies our desires. There is no age limitation to this; as a teenager, you desire to know how to become closer to God as a teenager; as a kid, you will equally want to know how to get closer to God, a kid.
It is a hunger far beyond what anything in this material life can satisfy. This desire can only be fulfilled by engaging in activities that will help you know how to grow closer to God and connect with God through scriptures.
What Does It Mean To Be Closer To God Spiritually?
To be closer to God spiritually goes beyond being born again, but it is rather what happens after repentance. When we repent and accept Christ as Lord and Savior, we are reconciled to God, God then gives us a new spirit (2 Corinthians 5: 17), and we then become synced with God spiritually.
But to get closer to God spiritually is to grow into having an intimate relationship with God. This intimacy is born out of complete reference, total submission, and total dependence on the sovereign will of God.
It is always to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, which entails yielding to the leading of the Spirit to always fulfill the desires of the Spirit as against the wishes of the carnal nature, and it is persistent without end.
It is an adventure, a spiritual adventure that lasts for a lifetime. It is a journey that broadens its scope daily, in that every end cracks open a new beginning, and every satisfactory moment or answer breaks open a much greater hunger for more.
So getting closer to God spiritually is an eternal spiritual journey. We don’t get to that moment where we say we are delighted with the status of our relationship with God. Notwithstanding the level of closeness, there will always be a longing for more.
Hence the need to always totally reference, submit, and depend on the sovereign will of God all the days of our life, which is what it means to be closer to God spiritually.
How To Get Closer To God Spiritually?
If you’re finding it difficult and wondering how to get closer to God spiritually, you’re feeling empty, like there is a big void inside. You know the only way to find fulfillment is to have a close spiritual union with God.
Hence you desire to grow closer to God. To get closer to God spiritually is to engage in habits that will shape and sharpen your spirit. It is to get yourself often engage in activities that will energize and elevate your spiritual mood.
Activities like having a quiet time to study and meditate on the word of God and always commune with God in prayers until the word of God is synced with your thoughts and comes alive in your lives, this means until the word of God is a part of your everyday living.
For instance, when one begins a new love relationship, there is this yearning to get closer to the person. The first step to take when trying to get close to the person is to engage the person in different activities that will give both of you time to engage in some deep conversations together.
You will make out time to let go of some other engagements, change your schedules, and spend time with the person. And the more you spend time together and get involved in different conversations and activities together, the more you get to know the person and the more you get closer together.
When it comes to getting closer to God spiritually, the same method is applicable, but in a much more significant proportion. We should first acknowledge that our relationship with God is a love relationship, and then we make every possible effort always to have close communion with God.
If we can make extra effort to get closer to the fellow humans we love, we should do it in a more significant proportion to grow closer to God.
When we continually do this, it helps us grow in God’s knowledge, and growing in the knowledge of God is one of the core ways to grow closer to God spiritually.
The knowledge here would not be mere head knowledge but empirical knowledge. It is about knowing God through experiencing His word, identifying with His word, and letting the word influence your every decision to manifest the character of God.
It is about knowing God to the extent that you start becoming like Jesus. Jeremiah 29: 13 (NIV) “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
How to get closer to God is to always occupy yourself with activities that will cause you to keep your gaze on Him, and listed in this article are 10 ways to get closer to God spiritually.
10 Ways To Get Closer To God Spiritually
1. Study Your Bible And Grow In The Knowledge Of Christ
We gradually become what we love to study because it is the knowledge that makes us who we are. It is the knowledge that forms our character. This is why studying the Bible and growing in the knowledge of God is an integral part of the Christian tradition.
God’s word is designed to mold us to be like Christ, shape our values and beliefs, transform us from the world’s ways, and get us reconnected back to God, hence helping us to grow closer to God. Hebrews 4: 12 (NIV) “For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” This is what the word of God does to us when we continually study it to grow in the knowledge of God.
We gradually become like Christ and becoming like Christ is causes us to get closer to God spiritually. For more explanation on how to study the Bible, you can check out the article on how to study the Bible – 15.
2. Meditate On Scriptures, And Make It A Part Of Your Lifestyle
Meditating on scriptures as a believer cannot be over-emphasized; it is a vital part of the Christian living and one of the ways to aid spiritual growth and get closer to God spiritually.
To meditate on God’s word demands spending a tremendous amount of time studying, pondering, and regularly reciting the term until the knowledge of God dwells richly in us (Colossians 3: 16) and fills our minds with the thoughts of Christ.
Again meditation takes a significant amount of time, so to meditate on scriptures implies spending a tremendous amount of time in the word, which is also spending a considerable amount of time communing with God.
Then when meditating on scriptures becomes part of our lifestyle, it now means communion with God becomes a part of our lifestyle, and doing this will cause us to grow closer to God.
We have an article on this site further titled how to meditate on the word of God effectively, this will help you to know how to meditate on the word of God effectively without distraction.
3. Believe In The Word Of God
We are known by what we say, the words we speak reveal the intent and content of our hearts, and it is an expression of who we are, this is also the same with God.
The word of God is an embodiment of all of God’s revelation, revealing the most profound content and intent of God’s heart, an expression of the nature of God.
To believe in the word of God means to believe in God. Contained in the Bible is the word of God, and Christ is the central theme of the Bible, hence Christ is the word of God.
Jesus says in John 14: 9 (NIV), “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” This implies that Jesus, who is the word of God, is equal with God the Father.
So to believe in Jesus is to believe in the word of God, and to believe in the word of God, is to believe in God, and this is one of the ways to get closer to God spiritually.
John 14: 6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. When we believe in and follow Jesus, we can grow closer to God.
4. Summit Ourselves Totally To The Word Of God
As we have earlier established that Jesus is the word of God, and the word of God reveals the most profound content and intent in the mind of God, and it is an expression of God’s nature.
We summiting totally to the Lordship of Jesus and following His precepts is equally summiting to God, and it is a way to get closer to God spiritually. What separated us from God and created a cavity between us, and God is sin, a sin committed by the first man Adam.
Through Christ’s righteousness, we are reconciled back to God. God now seeks after us, and He used His Word (Jesus) to call out to us, reconciling us back to Himself. So summiting ourselves totally to God’s Word is a way to grow closer to God.
5. Give Much Time To Prayer And Having A Quiet Time With God
Two things are eminent in the Christian faith; studying the Word and prayer. The place of prayer and having a quiet time with God can be equated with the oxygen we take in to live because prayer is our lifeline as Christians. It takes our mind into instantaneous contemplation of God’s character.
It is also the greatest of all privileges, an opportunity to commune and converse with the King of Heaven, come into His throne room, and have a one-on-one discussion with the creator of the whole universe.
Giving much time to prayer and having a quiet time with God has an enormous impact on how to be closer to God spiritually.
After all, when this is done with the intent of how to grow closer to God, God will reveal Himself to you and draw you closer to Himself because He also wants to be closer to you.
Hebrews 11: 6 (NIV) “…anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” When we earnestly seek after God in the place of prayer, He will reward us with the revelation of Himself, and we become closer to Him.
6. Crucify The Carnal Nature And Be Spiritually Minded
If you want to be closer to God spiritually, crucifying the canal nature and being spiritually minded is one of the ways to follow. It means dying to the desires of selfish material lust.
This means to not do what will satisfy your canal nature, that is if for instance if before you became a believer in Christ you used to be promiscuous, cheat, and tell lies. This kind of lifestyle has been a norm for you and you enjoy doing it.
When you become a Christian, you will have to crucify such a lifestyle, that you stop trying to do what your body desires.
You identify with the death of Christ on the cross and live a life of faith in the Son of God. Romans 6: 11 (NIV) “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
This text points out that to be dead to sin means to be alive in Christ, separating yourself from sin, separating yourself from those things you used to enjoy doing, and being in union with Christ.
Galatians 2: 20 (NIV) stated, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I live the life I live in the body by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Therefore, refusing to fulfill the needs of the carnal nature and yielding to the leading of the spirit is one of the ways to be closer to God spiritually.
7. Show Love To Fellow Believers
There is a command to love your enemies and to love unbelievers, but scriptures also emphasize showing love and being kind to fellow believers. Galatians 6: 10 (NIV) “Therefore, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers.”
Jesus succinctly made a criterion statement in John 13: 35 (NIV) “By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” By implication, He was saying, showing love to fellow believers is also a way to get closer to me.
To take it a step further, the church being the body and bride of Christ is in unity with Christ. Hence, whatever love and kindness you render to any member of the body means you are indirectly doing it to Christ, which is a way to get you to grow closer to God.
8. Manifest The Fruit Of The Spirit
One of the ways to be closer to God spiritually is to manifest the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5: 16 (NIV) “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Then verses 22 and 23 say (Galatians 5:22 – 23) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control….” These verses clearly show that manifesting the fruit of the Spirit is not by personal effort because (out of Christ) we don’t have such ability in us to live such a life.
So, we ought to keep depending on the leading of the Spirit to keep manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, and this will set us to be in the right tune with God, which is one of the ways to grow closer to God.
9. Remain Humble
The word of God has informed us that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (c.f. James 4: 6). This is to show how detestable God is to a proud person.
Pride causes you to be more selfish, only think and care about yourself, because you see yourself above every other person; hence you’re better than every other person and deserve the best of everything.
It makes you have a sense of self-entitlement. On the other hand, to be humble is the opposite of pride. It is like not having the ability to be proud. It is a spiritual virtue and one of the principal characteristics of Christians.
The book of proverbs is filled with instructions to remain humble and warnings of what pride could result. When you stay humble, you will be selfless and always put others first, and you will approach issues as one who is undeserving and pleads for help.
This is an approach God demands from us if we want to be closer to Him, a humble and appealing approach. If God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, it means to remain humble is also one of the ways how to get closer to God spiritually because when you stay humble, God will draw you closer to Himself.
10. You Must Hunger To Live Righteously
The Bible says blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5: 6). To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to desire always to do what is right in the sight of God. It is usual for Christ to use the people’s present condition to express a thought.
In this context, Jesus used to hunger and thirst, which was a common factor, to teach that authentic righteous living is born out of a desire and longing to live for God.
When we long to live for God, it draws us to grow closer to God spiritually. God will satisfy that hunger and thirst by drawing us closer to Himself.
Hebrews 11: 6 (NIV) “…because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” God’s reward to those who earnestly seek Him to satisfy their hunger for Him by drawing them closer to Himself.
Conclusion
God has never moved an inch away from His word; His promise was, I will be with you always, and His word is always sure and steadfast. Hence He is with us always.
Instead, we are the ones who sometimes move away from our place and line of duty by living to satisfy our selfish material lust. However, God is always there, ever-present, waiting with open harm calling us back to Himself through Christ.
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