I was seventeen years old when I began to realize for the first time that I could no longer rely on the faith of my parents to carry me forever. I remember sitting on the grassy field at school when a friend of mine said for the first time that once we left home and went off to college, we wouldn’t have other people pulling us along to church anymore. We could either grow in our faith or fall away from it completely. Our relationship with God could be a make or break.

For the seventeen year old me, that was an incredibly convicting thought to think about. In fact, it made me feel downright uncomfortable.

I came from a background of a very habitual ‘relationship’ with God… where going to church, reading the Bible and saying prayers were all just something that needed to done and not something that came from an earnest, heartfelt desire to get to know my Creator. So it didn’t matter how many services I attended or how many prayers I said, my relationship with God was far from a deep and personal one.

Does this relate with you?

If so, then this blog post is dedicated to showing you a) what a personal relationship with God really looks like, b) the real reason why we can even have a deeper relationship with God and c) what we can do to have a personal relationship with our Lord.

So let’s keep moving to find out more 💕

Click the image below to grab your FREE devotional: Overcoming the Lukewarm Walk with God and learn how to have a personal relationship with God in the way He originally designed! 👇👇

His Sacrifice Means that You’re Allowed the Chance of a Personal Relationship with God

Chances are, if you are reading these words right now, you are deeply desiring a personal relationship with God. We all want to grow closer to something or someone that we care about. And there is nothing in our lifetime that we should care more about than the One who not only created us, but sacrificed His only Son just so that we could be in right relationship with Him.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. — Hebrews 4:16

Christ’s sinless sacrifice resulted in our reconciliation with our Creator because His sacrifice allowed God to justify us. And to be justified means to have all our sins forgiven and wiped clean so that we can live life being in right relationship with Him. Our Heavenly Father so clearly wants us to have a personal relationship with Him that He has sacrificed His only Son to make that happen.

He is the reason why we can even have a personal relationship with Him in the first place. He has extended His invitation and has made the first move… are you going to accept and reciprocate?

What Does it Mean to Have a Personal Relationship with God?

We have relationships with everyone we meet. From the cashier at the counter to our best friends, we have relationships with each and every person. However, we don’t have a personal relationship with every single person that we meet.

The difference between the cashier at the counter from our best friend is that we deeply care about the other person. We want to invest time into them and grow closer to them. It’s not enough for us to simply say hi and goodbye. We want to have meaningful, heartfelt conversations and we are more than willing to come running to them when they need us.

It is true that God can’t be like our best friends on earth where we can just pick up the phone and message Him asking Him to join in for a Netflix movie night. And we also can’t exactly invite God over for a sleepover, but God is there. God is there and He wants to develop a relationship with you and be there walking right beside you through the thick and thin.

So to be able to experience fellowship with our Creator and be in a close, personal relationship with Him is what we were created for!

Click the image below to grab your FREE devotional: Overcoming the Lukewarm Walk with God and learn how to have a personal relationship with God in the way He originally designed! 👇👇

How to Build a Personal Relationship with God?

#1 Understanding God: Diving Deep into Scripture & Reading the Word

With every personal relationship, comes understanding. There is nothing personal about a relationship where there is absolutely no understanding. After all, do you know what it felt like to be in a relationship/friendship with someone who just didn’t care enough to understand you? It created an unspoken distance between the two of you that couldn’t seem to go away.

God is infinite and He is beyond our earthly comprehension (See: Isaiah 55:8-9). But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to establish a closer relationship with God by understanding His truths and character through the words in scripture. And by diving deeper into scripture, we will be able to have the type of relationship with God where His Words can have a profound impact on the way we live our lives.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17

If you are interested in resources that will help grow your knowledge and understanding of the Bible, check out the following… S.O.A.P. Bible Study Templates (8 pages), the Chapter Summary Templates (3 pages) and the Verse Mapping Templates (3 pages) from the Truthfully, Michelle Online Printables Shop. Currently all on special from $25 to $9.99. Limited time only.

#2 Recognising God: Learning to Discern God’s Voice and Practicing Obedience

I have been reading Matthew 24 lately and oh my, that chapter is completely filled with warnings against false teachers. Jesus warns us that these false teachers will be there to lead believers astray… even the elect: For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time. — Matthew 24:24-25

Knowing this, in order to have a personal relationship with God, it’s important to begin recognizing what is of Him and what isn’t. For example, if you were on the other end of a phone call, it is so easy to recognize your best friend’s voice. You know it because of the tone and nuances that they use. You have grown familiar with it.

It is so easy to get distracted by things of the world such as social media, our friends and the latest news. But when it comes to our Father, learning to discern God’s voice from the lies the world (and even our own selves), comes from spending daily time in the Word and being grounded in biblical truths.

However being grounded in biblical truths isn’t just simply ‘knowing’ about these biblical truths but actually obeying and living them out. The Pharisees knew HEAPS about these truths but they failed in living them out. If it is a true, genuine and personal relationship with God that you seek, then it’s important to live a life obeying His Words.

The fact is, we obey who we trust and we do not obey who we do not trust. We often choose to try and keep control over our own lives and refuse to let God be the author of our story because we trust ourselves more than we trust Him. However, trust is an important component in a personal relationship. So, begin exercising that trust and begin practicing obedience to Him.

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. — John 14:15-17

Click the image below to grab your FREE devotional: Overcoming the Lukewarm Walk with God and learn how to have a personal relationship with God in the way He originally designed! 👇👇

#3 Spending Time with God: Talk to God Everywhere and All the Time in Prayer

I used to love talking to myself. 😂

Fact is, I still do.

One of the best things that I have learned over the years is to swap out speaking aloud to myself to just speaking aloud to God.

Let Him be the ‘best friend’ that you run to for all things. Let Him be the one you invite to listen to your joys and your sorrows because He is always there. Bringing absolutely all of your negative and positive thoughts to God so that He can be a part of every single aspect of your life is a wonderful way to grow closer to Him.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. — Psalm 46:1

The reason why we have a deeper and closer relationship with our best friends is because we share everything with them. We tell them the highs and the lows and we connect with them by bringing to them everything that we are going through.

So begin building your relationship with God by inviting Him into every single area of your life. Don’t let your only communication to Him be half-hearted prayers you say out of habit because He wants to be a part of it all and He wants to be the One you turn to in all things… all the time.

Sometimes getting into a prayer routine can be hard. Work gets in the way. School gets in the way. Kids get in the way. LIFE gets in the way. That is exactly why sometimes staying practical and creating new systems to keep you on track can help with a well-disciplined prayer life. This is where the Daily Prayer Journal printable comes in handy. Deepen your relationship with God through regular prayer by making use of the practical accountability of a prayer journal.

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#4 Standing Firm with God: Anchor Yourself to the Unflinching Creator

The whole world around us is unreliable and ever-changing. But the one amazing thing that we can do is to anchor ourselves onto the God that never changes. It isn’t always easy to learn how to let go of control and let God do His thing. That is a fact. But while we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. — Hebrews 13:8

So in this life where we know that we cannot predict everything that will happen, inevitably face struggles, scars from the past, witness and experience heartbreak, face death and sickness and feel rejected and lonely, the only thing that can keep us standing firm is the unflinching Father who gives us strength in all things.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. — Isaiah 40:8

We grow closer to our Creator and develop a deep, personal relationship with God when we allow Him to be the central point in our life. When He becomes the sun and we dance around Him, we will be helping to build the type of relationship with Christ where we go through the thick and thin of life together.

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It doesn’t matter where you are, whether it is at church, home group or by yourself, this bundle offers a template for every situation!

#5 Live Out Your Love for God: Stopping that Lukewarm Life

Have you ever experienced someone trying to half-heartedly get to know you? For example, you might be trying to have a deep, heartfelt conversation with them, but you notice their eyes scanning the rest of the room … almost as if they’re waiting for something or someone more exciting than you to come along.

Did you notice that their half-hearted, lukewarm efforts to get to know you created this unspoken barrier between you and them?

When we are trying to build a relationship with our Creator, it is time to give up that life of lukewarm Christianity and begin picking up our crosses and living a life completely for Him. It simply isn’t possible to build a personal relationship with God when we are getting distracted by the world around us. This is because these two things are enemies and the complete opposite to one another.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. — 1 John 2:15-16

If you want to grow your relationship with God and begin walking with God daily, it is time to stop that lukewarm Christian life and begin living for the One who hung the stars ⭐️ in the sky and calls you by name 💕. He doesn’t just want another Christian who shows signs of lukewarmness to add to His list. He wants you to be all in for Him.

Click the image below to grab your FREE devotional: Overcoming the Lukewarm Walk with God and learn how to have a personal relationship with God in the way He originally designed! 👇👇

Hope You Liked This Blog Post on How to Build a Relationship with God 🙂

Don’t Forget to Drop a Comment Below!

Let me know your story of how you want to/have been building a personal relationship with God! I’d love to hear all about it!

Here are Some Other Relevant to Resources You Might Like…

If you liked this blog post on how to build a personal relationship with God, you might also like…

—> 10 Signs of a Lukewarm Christian (+ what you can do about it!)

—> How to Stop Being a Lukewarm Christian (+ FREE eBook!)

—> How to Find Your Identity in Christ (+ FREE devotional!)

—> 5 Creative Daily Quiet Time Ideas with God

—> 5 Biblical Truths for Finding God in Hard Times (+ FREE downloadable devotional!)

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