In today’s blog post I’d like for us to look into some practical ways we can deepen our friendship with the Lord.
So, let’s begin with the first way.
Way #1: Prayer Journaling
Prayer journaling is a beautiful way one can connect more deeply with the Lord!
It can be as simple as just writing down your prayers to the Lord in a simple notebook.
If you’re struggling with what to write on the first page of your prayer journal, here’s a list of ideas:
- Write down the blessings you thank God for
- Write down all the joys, blessings, trials, and struggles you faced that day (compare with Psalm 62:8)
- Write down the things you want–or even are struggling–to surrender to God
Now, let’s take a look at the second way to deepen one’s friendship with the Lord!
Way #2: Study Scripture
Before, my devotions would often feel like a boring chore.
Until I learned about something called “inductive Bible study.”
Precept.org defines inductive Bible study as “a method of studying the Bible that allows you to discover for yourself what Scripture says, what it means, and how to apply its truths to your life.”
Now, after learning this type of Bible study method, my devotions have literally never been the same!
If you’d like to learn more about the practical principles behind inductive Bible study, I wanna highly recommend this seminar series that Sean Neblett and Natasha Dysinger did that covers this form of Bible Study.
But in a nutshell, inductive Bible study involves basically reading Scripture, studying the meanings of the original Hebrew and/or Greek words within the passage (a good tool for this is Blue Letter Bible), and applying the lessons one gleans from the study to their own life.
Now, having said that, this now leads me to the third–and most essential–way to cultivate a deeper friendship with God.
Way #3: Let The Holy Spirit Lead
Friends, as useful as the two above tips may be for a deeper friendship with Christ, they really are worthless when the Holy Spirit is not involved.
Zechariah 4:6 puts this key truth this way:
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
(Zechariah 4:6)
We CAN’T have a genuinely deep friendship with Jesus if the Holy Spirit isn’t in the driver’s seat, directing our minds to His truth.
We NEED to PRAY and ASK for The Holy Spirit to lead and guide and teach us as we step into our devotional time with the Lord, that both our hearts may be impressed with His truths and that our minds may gain a deeper understanding of Who God is.
And the same thing applies to not only our vertical relationship with God, but also to our horizontal relationships with others.
And we’ll unpack that lesson a little more for our next blog post!
Stay tuned! ?