Having a personal relationship with God is something believers should seek above all else. Believing that God wants to spend each day with us allows us to experience His love, in both good and difficult times, regardless of what mistakes we may have made.
A personal relationship with God teaches us that He is always ready to encourage us and show us mercy when we slip and fall, not to punish or condemn us. We enter into this relationship when we get born again and strengthen it by deliberately focusing on God instead of on all the things that happen around us.
Faith in God’s love allows us to know Him the way He wants us to. We have the opportunity to have a personal relationship with a perfectly loving Father who calls us His children.
James 1:17 reminds us that our Heavenly Father is a ‘gift giver,’ saying, every good thing given, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights . . .
But there is one thing we must remember about God – a characteristic no different from any parent’s; He does not want us to love Him only for His gifts.
Having a personal relationship with God begins when you make Jesus your Savior and Lord. The moment you surrender, and give your life to Jesus, that is the moment your relationship starts.
Philippians 3:10 says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (NIV).
Paul had a hunger to know for a relationship with Christ, this speaks of a deeply intimate personal relationship, like the relationship a husband and wife have with each another. Part of what kept Paul joyful in spite of being imprisoned as he wrote the book of Philippians was his intimate relationship with Christ.
As believers, Jesus has given us the opportunity to spend eternity with God if we trust in Him. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
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What Does the Bible Say About a Personal Relationship with God?
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 (NIV)
God never intended to send Jesus so that we could live like kings and queens in the lap of luxury, treating Him like a genie or cosmic bellhop. No, God sent His Son so that we could know Him, share an intimate relationship with Him and commune with Him.
The more we walk with God and mature in our relationship with Him, the more we will discover that we need God, not His gifts. We were created to know Him, to commune with Him and to worship Him. Until we discover the joy of Him and Him alone, we will never be satisfied or fulfilled in life.
Having a personal relationship with God is one of the most important relationships you will ever have. The moment you ask Jesus in your heart, begin your personal relationship journey.
How to Have a Relationship with God?
We see lots of different people every day. Some are closer to us than others. For example, we are usually very close to our family and friends. We talk with them and share our thoughts and feelings.
The same is true with God. We can believe that He exists (and we should, because He has given us all the evidence, we need to believe in Him). But we also can come to know Him personally—and when we do, we know He is with us all the time, and we can talk to Him in prayer and listen to Him speaking to us through His Word the Bible.
How can you know God personally? Only one thing keeps us from Him, and that is our sin. But Christ came to erase our sins by His death on the cross, and as we open our hearts to Him, He comes to live within us. By faith ask Christ to take away your sins and come into your heart today—and He will.
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14).
We all have a purpose here on earth, and that is that God can use us to glorify him. If you are asking how to do this?
First, you get to know Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “To all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them” (John 1:12 TLB).
Those who receive him into their lives and hearts. God wants you to establish a relationship.
You grow a relationship with God the same way you grow any relationship—through time and conversation. You make time in your schedule for him. One way to make him the most important part of your day is through a daily quiet time.
You get alone with God and worship him and learn from him. You spend regular, significant time with him. The second thing you can do to have a relationship is to talk.
In a relationship with God, this means prayer. There are many ways to be more intentional about your prayer life. Maybe you need to start a prayer journal of requests and answered prayer.
You will never regret investing your time, your energy, and your life in getting to know God better. Take the first step in getting ready to be used by God by spending time with him and talking to him today.
- Check your life by asking yourself:
Is your relationship with God the most important one in your life? What evidence in your life shows that this is true? - What do you need to change about your schedule so that you can be more consistent in having a daily quiet time with God?
- Think of two practical ways you can increase or improve your conversations with God. How can you put those ideas into practice today?
God proved his goodness through his Son, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 CSB).
A relationship with God is as simple as asking Him into your heart to guide you and confessing that you are a sinner in need of Christ’s salvation. The Bible says that God sent His only son to be the Savior of the world in John 3:16. Jesus Christ is our perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.
Without Christ, we would be lost and unable to attain a relationship with our perfect heavenly Father God. Christ living His perfect life as a sacrifice for our every sin allows us to have a relationship with our perfect God.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Romans 5:6-10, ESV
Why A Personal Relationship with God is Important?
God should be the most important person in our lives and His word can help guide us on how to love and respect others. Through deepening our relationship with Him, we can better care about those around us.
The most important calling on your life is not to something you do. Your most important calling is not to a role. It is not to regulations, rules, or rituals. It is not even a religion.
Your first call, above all else, is to a relationship with God.
Romans 1:7 says, “I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people” (NLT).
God wants you to be a part of his family. He wants you to be his child.
The most important thing that will ever happen to you is not something you will do. It is something God will do. He will call you, his child! He wants you to know him and love him and be his beloved son or daughter.
The Bible says it like this: “What an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would be named and called and counted the children of God! And so, we are!” (1 John 3:1 AMP).
As you follow God, you do not have to check off all the things you think you should do with your life. Focus on your relationship with God, and he will not only reveal your unique calling, and qualities, he also will show you how to do what he wants you to do.
God created each one of us to have a personal relationship with him. We were created in his image, for the purpose of fulfilling the specific plans he has for each one of us.
Those who have a personal relationship with God include God in their daily lives. They pray to Him, read His word, and meditate on verses to get to know Him even better. Those who have a personal relationship with God pray for wisdom (James 1:5), which is the most valuable asset we could ever have. They take their requests to Him, asking in Jesus’ name (John 15:16). Jesus is the one who loves us.
A personal relationship with God is the foundation. All the saints, of the Bible, all who have left their mark on history, spent time with God.
Moses climbed the mountain and spent forty days with God. Moses was a man who regularly separated from other people to be with God.
The Psalm of David and everything we read about him in the Bible testifies that David had a personal relationship with God. Many of the psalms are the psalms of David, and they show how David put his relationship with God into praise and worship.
When important issues had to be decided, he asked for a cape to be brought to him. He spent time with God and received God’s guidance.
Daniel, a brilliant, anointed, and strong personality, a victor who could not even be touched by lions and burned by fire, fell to his knees three times a day in the upper room with windows facing Jerusalem and regularly spent time with God.
Paul, hungered for a personal relationship with God. As is true of many of Paul’s letters, the overall purpose of his letter to the church in Philippi (a city in Macedonia) is to quiet disruptions and quarrels within the membership and call the followers of Jesus Christ to put aside unimportant differences for the sake of the larger, common goal.
He cites Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples of staying focused and committed, and then offers himself as another example.
He is writing from prison, and he has “suffered the loss of all things” (3:8), but none of that matters compared to the one, central goal of “knowing Christ”—of following the example and call of Jesus Christ to fully express our own Christ nature as Jesus expressed his—to dissolve the illusion of death and limitation and transform this life experience.
Nothing else matters—not the resentments of the past nor the challenges of the future—compared to this overriding possibility. We may have different opinions, different experiences, different beliefs. But we will find our innate unity if we stay focused on “pressing on toward the goal.”
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:10-14).
Abraham is the only biblical character singled out as a type of God the Father. He is also the only one to be called ‘friend of God,’ and is a good model.
We do not mean that Abraham merely believed in God. (To believe in God means to believe that he exists). Of course, that is essential to receive anything from God (Hebrews 11:6). However, even the devil believes in God (James 2:19).
Abraham believed that God would carry out his promises. He trusted God to do these things even when they seemed impossible (4:19-21). That attitude is called faith. That faith was the reason God considered Abraham righteous. Therefore, Abraham’s righteousness did not come from Abraham himself, but from God. It was God’s gift to Abraham when Abraham acted in faith.
Jesus came at the same time as God and a man. He needed to either climb the mountain or go to some other solitary place, either at night or in the morning, as in any case, and spend time regularly with His Father.
Even before His death, He separated himself from the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and spent time with God. There He received the power to do what He was called to do.
Related: How to Develop a Personal Relationship with God
How to have a Closer Relationship with Jesus?
To have a closer personal relationship with Jesus, say, “Open your life and heart to him and say, “Jesus Christ, I want to get to know you. I want to learn to love you the way you loved me, even before I knew it. I want to have a relationship with you.”
You were made for a relationship with God—not a religion of fear, rules, regulations, and rituals, but a relationship where you talk to God all the time and he works in and through you.
A personal relationship with Jesus can be comparable to your relationship with a close friend, though it is way better than that! Like earthly relationships, a relationship with Jesus involves love, trust, and commitment. Jesus is perfect, unlike humans, God’s love is everlasting, God’s trust is unbreakable, and God’s commitment is eternal. God is God, for that alone He deserves all the praise and glory!
Pray to God
Just like any relationship, communication is key! Prayer is your personal conversation with God. How would you grow a relationship with a friend? Yes, from communicating and spending time with each other. It is the same thing with God. Being available for God in those moments of free time help to grow you closer to Him. The most important thing you can do to grow closer to God is to pray to Him daily.
Prayer does not have to take a lot of time. Pray regularly and continually. The more you pray, the more it will become a natural habit.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV
God loves to hear from you! There are also times that He wants to tell something to your spirit, so do not be surprised if you feel like sitting in silence to hear Him. God speaks to His children in different ways.
Read the Bible
The Bible is God’s Word, written by man, but inspired by God. God’s Word is inerrant and authoritative. Through reading the Bible, you learn more about God’s character and sovereignty. God’s Word is a guide for you too. It will teach, correct, reproof, and train you in righteousness. So, do you want to know the way to live your life? The Bible will reveal that to you. God can speak to you through His Word.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV
It is important to apply what God’s Word says to your life. A relationship with God leads to a new, changed life. The more you grow closer to God, the more you will want to live by God’s commands and do what His Word says. Obedience to God and His Word is not an easy process but God will bless you so much as you walk on the path that He has for you. Interested in learning about God’s Word and how to study what it says.
Find Other Christian to Fellowship With
Just as praying and reading the Bible are important source of your relationship with God, fellowshipping with other believers has utmost value as well. Surrounding yourself with like-minded believers is a great way to deepen your relationship with God.
Also, having a church home is a place of growth and fellowship. Think of it as your support system, especially if you do not already have any friends in your life who are Christians.
The Bible says in Proverbs 27:17 (ESV), “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Surround yourself with friends who will sharpen your relationship with God, not people who will tear it down. God has a great community in store for you.
Pray that God will lead you to the right church to help you grow closer to Him and form relationships with other Christians.
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” —John 17:3
God loves to take with us. You doing all the talking is not a conversation. But talking and listening is a conversation. You have to learn to listen if you want to grow in your faith and your relationship with God.
Make sure you are listening to what He has to say. The more you do this, the more you will get used to listening to His voice.
I talk to God about everything, and you should too. He is a loving Father and even though He knows everything; He wants to hear it from you. He loves to hear your voice, talk to him.
Talk to Him while you are getting ready for work, at home, while you make dinner or while working, driving alone in your car. You can talk to Him all the time; God always listens to our prayers and always answers.
Prayer
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I believe Jesus Christ is your Son. I confess I have sinned, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died to take away my sins and that you raised him to life. I want to trust Jesus as my Savior and follow him as Lord from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do your will. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”
Now! Are you ready to get serious about spending more time reading the Bible. Let’s get started. Free Printable Bible Reading Plans are a great way to dive into Scripture in a more intentional way so you can get the most out of the time you spend reading the bible verses.
