Building A Relationship With God

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The Fine Print

I  want you to know that I’m not telling you that I think if you are doing, these things that I stopped doing that I think you are less of a person or that I am in any way better than you.  I’m not saying that if you do x then you are a horrible person and aren’t worthy to be a Christian, or that I am against x, y, or z.  I’m just putting this out there to let you know what I did to build my relationship with God.  This isn’t the end-all answer to getting you a relationship with God.  Understand?

I read a post over on the blog, Halfway to Normal, and started to leave a comment for the author, Kristin.  About 15 minutes and 200 words or so later, I decided that I would take my comment and turn it into a post of my own.  So, this is my comment to the post “When I’m not feeling very faith-full”.  Oh, you should really subscribe to her blog.  Really.  I’m not joking.

All of what is below here has helped me during my times of struggle.  From dealing with my issues with back-pain that is so over-powering at times, to dealing with past cravings, to dealing with just life in general.  Doing these things have kept me as close to God during the bad times as I am during the good times.  It has kept me on the straight and narrow during all 4 of the bold items that is listed at the end of her post.  Stress, out-of-routine, starting to lose sight, and when I’m just tired, I know that God is right here and I’ve not forgot him for 1 second.

So, Kristin, here ya go (and the rest of you guys and gals too)

So, how did I build my relationship with God?  Well, how do we build a relationship with people? For me, I used the very same building materials to build my relationship with God.  That’s right, Facebook and Twitter.  No, totally kidding.

Time

Not just time when it was convenient for me, but all the time I had and could. And sometimes even more than that.

Watching

I started out with one of the hardest things for me to do. I turned off my TV at a set time per night.  It really depended on which night it was and what show was on that determined at what time I would be turning it off. 

My “favorite” shows I watched while they were on.  Mostly because that was what my selfishness wanted to do.  Secondly because the shows were something that we talked about in our leisure time at work.

Seems like there was at least one hour nightly that I just “had” to watch TV.  The remainder of the night was usually just shows that I enjoyed and had watched since they premiered, but it wasn’t too much of a sacrifice for me to record them and watch them at another time.  Nights that I didn’t have a favorite show coming on is when I would watch the shows that I had recorded, but only for an hour.

During the time that I would normally be watching TV, I went into a completely different room and I started praying. I would then read my Bible. No particular order of reading at first, but then I found a schedule to complete the Bible in a year. It gave me more of a plan and made it easier to sit down and read.  Praying and listening to God is without a doubt, the most important tool I have used to build my relationship.  I’ll talk about that more shortly.

Because of the closeness to God I was feeling while doing this, it wasn’t long before I started recording all of my shows and spending 3 or 4 hours a night in scripture, tweeting or talking to some fellow Christians that I had found.  Also praying, and reading spiritually uplifting books by such authors as Lucado and Yancey.

I looked through my DVR the other day and it is now out of recording space, or very, very close to it, and I had deleted the “not favorite” shows from the device and the schedule in the past to make room for my favorites.  It is now full of almost an entire season of Lost, House, Heroes, The Office, and another one that I can’t remember now.  I haven’t watched those shows in a very long time. 

Guess how much I miss my “favorite” shows?  Absolutely none.  In fact, if I watch something now while doing other chores, I begin missing my time with God.  And I miss him way more than I ever missed watching the TV.

What’s that?  Oh, yeah, Now that I’ve got this amazing relationship God, I do turn the TV on every now and then.  I may catch something on Discovery or The History Channel or something while doing laundry or vegging.  But, it’s not on for very long before I start desiring to be in my bedroom reading, praying, or listening to God, then the TV goes off or I just leave it on and head back. Many nights at 7PM have I locked up the house, turned the lights off in the front of the house, and spent the remaining time in devotion or talking with fellow Christians.  I can’t imagine doing anything else really.

Praying

I love talking to God.  Praying and having a conversation with God is very rewarding.  And just like you can’t build a relationship with me without talking to me, you can not build a relationship with God without talking to him.  I mean talking to him.

This took some getting used to.  Sad to say that, I know, but it’s true. 

Like you probably already do, I was praying morning and night.  First thing up, last thing before going to bed.  But, as I spent time with him and not the TV, I wanted to spend more time with him during the day, at work, at play, wherever I happened to be.

I began having little prayers at lunch, little prayers between jobs, and it soon became as natural as talking to you, to talk to him just sporadically throughout the day.  I mean, he is God, and he is always there, right?  So, like I would with anyone that I was around that I had a relationship with, I talked to God. 

If I was frustrated I would tell him and ask him to help.  If I was feeling good about something that I had just completed, He would know about it first.  He would get the thanks for helping me through it. 

He was and is my Father and became my best Friend.

Listening

What I chose to listen to has bounced around quite a bit.  I may have gone on a stretch where I could listen to just about anything, except country. Yuck!  Then there were times when I didn’t like any of the music that was out there and I would listen to talk radio.

For the past several years it was talk radio.  Not all the time, but a majority.  I didn’t realize how that even affected my day.  I was getting a constant fill of the world and it was so depressing and aggravating.  I had to change.

I changed back to music, but changed to Contemporary Christian or to the heavier Christian Rock.  It was a little bit like worship, all the time. The music made me feel better.  There are songs that I can sing while driving or whatever, and sing them to God and I can feel it in my soul. 

No more of the worldly stuff.  I’m out of touch with the news.  I have been for a while.  But like the TV, it’s not really affecting me in any way.  At the same time, the music in it’s own way, is building up that relationship.

I also download several Podcasts from different churches and listen to those quit a bit.  Again, it’s healthy for my Spirit which keeps me in touch with God.

Reading

I’ve also really started reading, a lot.  I told earlier of a couple of the authors that I read.  But there are tons more.  I went through the bargain bin at Family Christian Bookstore one day a month or two ago and purchased 15 books.  Good books with uplifting words and thoughts.  Varying subjects on building faith, building self, other’s who have struggled with God only to turn their life over to Him.  Not the violence or language that I don’t need going in my head, dragging me down.  I still have 7 of those to read, 2 of which each contain 3 different books.

Even the reading has helped me in my relationship building.  Makes my mind think.  It puts different ideas in the ol’ noggin about certain things that I had always thought of a particular way.  Sure, I had to use discernment, but We grew from those books.

Morning devotions also really starts the day right.  I’ve been missing out on those because of all the sleep/pain/mess issues that I’ve been having.  I can really tell a difference in my day too.  These devotions are just praying, reading, and thinking (meditating) on God’s word.

Conclusion

Do I do all of this, perfectly?  Not a chance.  There are days that I’m off, but I still know that God is there beside me.  If I need him all I have to do is talk to him. 

There are nights that I will spend too much time doing chores and oh, yeah, watching TV.  But there aren’t many. 

Let me say this then I’ll hush.  I can almost hear you saying, “Scott, there is absolutely no way I can do that.”  We like our schedules the way they are.  I know. I was there too.  I’ve heard others talk about this ‘”stuff” in the past and I thought the very same thing.  I’m telling you that If I can do it, you can do it.  It won’t take long to get your schedule re-arranged.  I promise you that you will feel so much closer to God.

It will just take time.

Because of HIM

SC