How to Have a Personal Relationship with God (Christianity)

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

If you are a believer, making God known by establishing a personal relationship with him is the most rewarding thing you can do. God offers his friendship to everyone freely, but many people reject it because they think this means "religion". Having a relationship with God is simple, just as any friendship should be. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16) - then you and your friends can know enough to prove that the Lord is real to you and, therefore, bless the whole world with the Love of God.

Steps

Step 1. Read and study the Bible as if it were a personal book and private correspondence, all between you and God

To make God known, you must first listen to what He has to say. Start from the beginning with the book of Genesis and gradually continue your reading path up to the Apocalypse of John (or Book of Revelation). Alternatively, you could start from the book of John to understand the story of Christ and the way he foresaw your life in God, carrying out the plan of salvation so that no one is lost or left alone, but continues on their path towards a new life in Christ.

Step 2. Trust and believe in God

Understand that God loves you with all His being and that He wants to help you on the path of life, accompanying you daily and spiritually.

Step 3. Love God and put His Will above all else

The greatest commandment of the law is to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22: 35-38). Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5: 3). So we know him if we keep his commandments. “Whoever says 'I know him' and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him; but whoever observes His word, in him the love of God is truly perfect. From this we know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in Christ must behave as he did”(1 John 2: 3-6). Also, Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). “Whoever accepts my commandments and keeps them, he loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father and I too will love him and show myself to him "(John 14:21). "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love" (John 15:10).

Step 4. Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18)

Jesus said that this is the second greatest commandment, after the first which is to love God, and on these two commandments all the Law and the Prophets depend (Matthew 22: 39-40). Strengthening our relationship with others means strengthening our relationship with God.

• Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you (Ex 20:12).

  

• Thou shalt not kill (Ex 20:13).

  

• Do not commit adultery (Ex 20:14).

  

• You will not gather the scraps and you will not gather the fallen grapes; you will leave them for the poor and the stranger (Lv 19:10).

  

• You will not steal (Lv 19:11)

  

• nor will you use deceit (Lev 19:11)

  

• or lie (Lev 19:11).

  

• You will not swear falsehood by using my name, because you would profane the name of your God (Lv 19:12).

  

• You will not despise the deaf, nor will you stumble before the blind (Lev 19:14).

  

• You will not commit injustice in the judgment; you will not treat the poor with partiality, nor will you use preferences towards the powerful; but you will judge your neighbor with righteousness (Lv 19:15).

  

• You will not go around spreading slander among your people (Lv 19:16).

  

• You shall not take hatred against your brother in your heart (Lv 19:17). According to Jesus, it amounts to murder (Matthew 5: 21-22).

  

• You will not take revenge and hold no grudge against the children of your people (Lv 19:18).

  

• Do not desire your neighbor's house, his wife, his servant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey and everything that belongs to him (Ex. 20:17).

  

Step 5. Repent of your sins, ask Him to forgive you of all your sins and do so with the right intention

Repenting means feeling authentic suffering for the sins committed and wanting not to do it again. If you continue to take pleasure in doing sinful acts, it is not sincere repentance.

• "All have sinned and are deprived of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
• According to Christianity, Jesus as Savior is considered a gift from God and allowed himself to be crucified and died for you, so that you could receive the Comforter, who is the gift of the Holy Spirit: "Now I tell you the truth: it is good for you that I go away, because if I don't go, the Comforter will not come to you; but when I am gone, I will send him to you”(John 16: 7, see also John 14:26).

Step 6. Be prepared for prayer and to gratitude when you pray to God and every time you bless others.

Step 7. Ask God to give you the Holy Spirit, change and shape yourself according to who you want to be

Receive baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).

Step 8. Receive the Holy Spirit

You need to know that when you receive the Holy Spirit, you are His child and that you will go and live with Him forever, when one day you leave this earth.

Step 9. Entrust your path to the Lord, let Him guide you along your path and continue in that direction

Make things happen God's way and time, not yours. To begin with, be patient in learning and service and your faith will grow.

Step 10. Talk to others about God

“First of all, go in search of his Kingdom and all the rest will be added!”. Spend your time with God, reflect on Him and His things, and seek His will - putting it into action. You are the light of the world. A city located on a mountain cannot remain hidden (Matthew 5:14).

Step 11. Renew your mind, as a Christian does by conforming to God's will (Romans 12: 2)

You must renew it with the Word of the Lord. Dedicate your time to God by reading the Bible every day or in the evening before falling asleep - for example, read these verses: 2 Cor 5: 7; Jn 13: 34-34; Jn 14: 6, 23, 26, 27; Joh 10:10, Phil 4:13, 19, Eph 1: 3, 1 Jn 2:27, Is 24: 3; Jn 6:27; Eph 6:10; Heb 10: 16-17. Meditate and reflect on God's word and pray regularly to guide you in daily life.

Advice

• Find other believers who have this same religious conscience, to join.
• Trust and obey God - the key to a happy and fulfilling life.
• Gratitude is the best attitude and God will bless you in making yourself a blessing for others.

• Spend your time meeting God alone on a regular basis.

  Note: Make an effort first to do things in the name of God and for others, then to do things that are not strictly about God. God's will should be above all else

• Those who give their time in search of God will find it in the Bible and in daily life.

• Sometimes God speaks to those who seek him through their conscience, to others through religious texts, sermons, preachers and teachers,

  • but above all through the Holy Bible, so it is very important to read it. Watch out for lines that touch sensitive strings or that make you jump.
  • Everything else can be a confirmation of what we read in the Bible.
• Fasting and prayer are part of another spiritual discipline that allows believers of Christ to relate to God on a personal level. It is a relationship and not a mere routine activity (Daniel 1: 8-12).

• Ask God to fill every single day with His love, His peace, His patience, His kindness, His goodness, His loyalty, His grace and His discipline.

  • Don't hold a grudge and ignore rudeness and mistakes, as if you were a judge.
  • Clear your mind of self-pity and worry more often about the needs and interests of others.
• Be consistent, but not rigid about discipline and spiritual duties. Love and serve "only one of these brothers of mine".
• Forgive: do not judge, but forgive and love others; so pleases God.
• Keep a clear conscience by confessing every day in prayer.

Warnings

• He always loves people, as Jesus said: "Every time you did these things to only one of my younger brothers, you did it to me".

  • Therefore, do not be critical or inclined to make hasty judgments, as there is already a judge;
  • You are no better than others, but saved by God's grace.
• Beware of religious-like movements, which present themselves as a source of truth, without being in accordance with the word of God communicated in the Bible.
• Know that God is loving, but holds a sacred fear (respect) for Him.
• We must breathe our faith in life, because "faith: if it does not have works it is dead in itself" (James 2:17). Enriching faith with grace deepens your relationship with God, just as it deepens your relationship with others around you, because "by works that faith became perfect" (James 2:22), but "Without faith but it is impossible to please him [to God]”(Hebrews 11: 6). Therefore, we place ourselves in the faith to cross our gates and go into the world.
• Christians should always follow God, and if they do not, it is their duty to seek to glorify and honor the Lord and the high value of the commandments of their creed when he adheres to the gospel message of Jesus Christ as presented in the Bible..

• "An adulterous generation seeks a sign". Apparently he has no faith or "need" of a sign.

  • However, Jesus told the faithful: " And these will be the signs that will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons, they will speak new tongues […] Then they set out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked together with them and confirmed the word with the prodigies that accompanied it."(Mark 16: 17-20).
  • God is greater than any sign and wonder. For this, faith is needed to know that God is here and that he will reward those who seek him diligently.
  • He can send signs, but you don't lose your faith in the absence of amazing miracles.
• According to Islam, obeying God and living a righteous life will protect you from hell. Christianity says that “By this grace you are in fact saved through faith; and this does not come from you, but it is a gift of God; nor does it come from works, that no one may boast of it”(Ephesians 2: 8-9). Heaven is reached by the grace of God, not earning it. In fact, your faith and God's grace are gifts from the Lord. It is not possible to simply believe that by virtue of our power or actions, heaven opens up to us.
• Beware that even those who can propose signs and wonders - and when the announced sign and prodigy happens - are false prophets who attract you to follow other gods (Deuteronomy 13: 1-5). Refuse to listen to anyone who teaches you the reverse of the Bible, even if it offers great signs and miracles.
• Use your discernment in choosing the ecclesial community to attend. A church that scales biblical teaching and interprets the Holy Scriptures to the liking of its promoters, or one that focuses on profits and politics, or yet another that claims to be the one true church, demonizing the others, may not be the one to follow.

• Consider that there are different possibilities of choice to serve others in respect of what God says: "Religion pure and without blemish before God our Father is this: to help orphans and widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself pure from this world" (James 1:27).

  • If you are converting, welcoming God and faith for the first time, look for simplicity.
  • Make sure you move closer to a faith that best reflects your understanding of the Bible, the spirit of truth, and God.
• Try to understand the context, reflecting with your head; do not assume that you have grasped it, because you risk misunderstanding the scriptures that God has entrusted to your good use. Look for passages that are similar to each other - not a single quote, out of context - so that your understanding is as close to the Bible's message as possible.