What do you want for your relationship with God? If you are a disciple of Jesus, it means your every desire is to live a life that looks like Him. You want each day to be a little closer to the Father than the day before. You want to leave the world behind and bask in God’s presence. Obedience will be your default response.
I believe true followers of Christ would agree having a relationship like that with our Creator would lead to a more than satisfying and worthwhile life. The problem is if we don’t plan for that kind of relationship, it will never happen. So what’s your plan?
My pastor recently challenged our congregation to spend the next forty days growing closer to God than we have ever been before. Without a doubt, that is a worthy goal, but like all things in life, it won’t just happen as a result of wishful thinking. If we want to grow closer to God, we’re going to have to make some changes. As Jim Rohn once said, “For your life to change, you must change”. So what would have to change in your life in order to grow closer to God? What changes are necessary for your life to look more like the life of Jesus?
I’m not certain what the plan looks like for you, but I have some suggestions. We need to read our Bible more, and we need to read to learn, not just to check it off a list. Take notes. Think how what you read can be applied to your life right now. Pray through the Scripture and watch for what the Holy Spirit will reveal to you.
We all need to pray more and to pray less selfishly. I know too many of my prayers are about me, and I’m guessing yours are as well. Fill out a calendar with the people you’ll pray for that day. Don’t just pray off a list of names, pray something specific for each person. Pray for our world. Pray for our nation and our leaders. Pray for your next door neighbor and the cashier at the grocery store. Focus your prayers on everyone other than yourself.
A final part of the plan is we need to do more. How can we serve God better? In what ways can we be His hands and feet in our world? We are far too passive – I know this because of the state our world is in. We need to live out His love and demonstrate His character to the darkness that surrounds us. Write down some tangible things you can do for Him, and then do them.
Create your plan for spiritual growth. If you just sit around and hope you’ll grow closer to God, it will never happen. You need a plan and you need to act on it. Satan will tell you that you don’t need a plan, to just wing it. Of course that means you will then be living according to his plan. Don’t fall for it. Make a plan. Make the changes. Draw closer to God. Begin right now.