The relationships in your life are constantly evolving. As time goes by, some of those relationships become stronger while others often fizzle out over time, and people who were once key components of your life become acquaintances. In order to keep a relationship thriving, it’s important that you work to constantly take it to deeper levels. Your relationship with Christ is no different. If you’re ready to go deeper with Him, this is how.
New relationships are exciting. Whether it’s a new romantic relationship or a new friendship, the newness of a fresh relationship brings about levels of excitement and joy that are hard to replicate. When you enter a new romantic relationship with someone, it’s not uncommon to want to spend most of your free time with the person. When you have a new friend, it’s normal to want to spend a lot of time with them, enjoying the things that you have in common with this new person in your life. However, over time, that excitement can wear off, and the relationship may suffer.
Do you remember how it felt when you first accepted Christ as your Savior? The level of excitement that you experienced was second to none. You probably looked for opportunities to attend church multiple times a week, you spent hours reading your Bible, you sought opportunities to spend a few extra minutes in prayer, and you couldn’t wait to tell others about your newfound faith in Christ. However, as time goes by, it’s just as easy to start taking that relationship for granted, and settling into a routine that can make the supernatural seem mundane.
In the same way that you need to nurture the human relationships in your life, looking for ways to constantly take them to a deeper level, you need to look for ways to take your relationship with Christ into a deeper level. If you’re ready to take things with Christ to a deeper level, this is how to go about it.
Achieving Spiritual Intimacy
Psalm 42:1-2 (TPT)
So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you have your life intimately joined to mine.
In this portion of Scripture from Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus spoke on the profound power of having an intimate relationship with Him. Our relationships can typically be divided into two categories: intimate and casual. While society has taught us that the term “intimacy” in relationships refers only to those of a sexual nature, that’s simply not the case. Ultimately, an intimate relationship, whether it be with Christ or another person, is about being in a relationship with someone who knows every detail of your life while you seek to know even more about them.
God wants to have an intimate relationship with Him. Obviously, He already knows everything about you. The God who you are in relationship with knows every action you take, every thought that you formulate, and hears every word that comes out of your mouth. However, He doesn’t want that intimacy to only flow in one direction. God wants you to know everything about Him, and the best ways to do that are through committed Bible study and prayer.
If you’re going to have a deep, intimate relationship with another person, communication is the key. Talking to them and actively listening when they talk to you are key components. You can achieve greater intimacy with God by communicating with Him through prayer and actively reading your Bible to understand even more about Him.
Stay Thirsty
Psalm 42:1-2 (TPT)
I long to drink of you, O God, drinking deeply from the streams of pleasure flowing from your presence. My longings overwhelm me for more of you! My soul thirsts, pants, and longs for the living God. I want to come and see the face of God.
David was a man who walked with God. From the time that he was a young man watching sheep in his father’s field, God and David had an intimate relationship. The depth of their union was realized by everyone when God sent Samuel to anoint David as the King over Israel. While everyone else thought that God would look for a great military leader, God instead opted for a young man who lived his life in a constant search for a deeper relationship with Him. Thirsting for more of God’s presence in the way that David wrote of in Psalm 42 wasn’t a concept that was limited to the Old Testament. Christ spoke of the same principle during the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:6 (TPT)
“How enriched you are when you crave righteousness! For you will be surrounded with fruitfulness.”
Spiritual thirst or hunger is rooted in an insatiable desire to know God on a deeper level. When you experience thirst on a physical level, you grab something cold to drink, and the thirst is quenched. Depending on your personal habits, you may not think much about thirst again until your mouth is dry, and you need another drink. That’s not the way that God wants us to thirst after Him.
According to scientists, the average human needs to drink somewhere between 2.7 and 3.7 liters of fluid every day, depending on their gender. In most cases, that means that you need to drink something, even when your body doesn’t seem to be thirsty.
Don’t wait until you’re in a spiritually dry place to seek God the way that David did. Instead, allow yourself to live in a state of perpetual thirst for more of Him. Instead of treating Bible study, prayer, and church attendance as things you have to do to stay spiritually alive, view them as something that you crave throughout every day of your life.
Freshen Things Up
Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
When you take any relationship, even the one that you have with Christ for granted, it’s easy to settle into a mundane cycle of repetitiveness. This may sound sacrilegious, but it’s actually possible to become bored with your relationship with Christ. However, it’s important to understand that if your spiritual life has settled into a state of boredom, it’s because you need to make some changes. Jeremiah wrote that the mercies of God are new every morning. That means that there are new things for us to discover in our relationship with Him every single day.
Let’s look at this in the natural sense as well. Let’s assume that you have a friendship with a person who you always do the same things with. Once a week, the two of you meet up after work, go to the same restaurant, order the same meals, and have the same conversations about your workweek. Over time, the process becomes more of a habit than a relationship.
If we’re not careful, our relationship with Christ can become the same thing. That’s why it’s up to us to constantly seek a new level in that relationship. This doesn’t mean that you constantly look for a new home church that comes across as more “exciting,” or that you start looking to other religions to fulfill your needs. Instead, it’s as simple as asking God for a fresh revelation of who He is and what He wants you to know.
The Bible promises that if we ask God for deeper wisdom about Him, He will give it to us (James 1:5). If your relationship with Christ feels mundane, ask God for a fresh revelation, and commit yourself to seeking it.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I want to enter into a state of deeper intimacy with You. I know that You know everything about me, but I want to know even more about You. Help me to know Your will, Your Word, and everything else about You. In Christ’s name I ask these things, Amen.