How to Grow Closer to God

One of the biggest questions I receive all the time is, "How can I strengthen my faith?"  It makes me chuckle because I did not grow up in the church and I too, remember years ago looking at others wondering how they know so much scripture and wanting to pray like them.

If these are thoughts you have, one of the most beautiful aspects about where you are is that you're actually wanting more.  That alone is enough for me to start dancing and screaming about how great God is!!!!!  Now, the true answer to this question with regards to growth in any area in life simply comes down to taking baby steps.  You cannot try to read the entire Bible and BOOM now you're a Preacher.  No, the scripture is not read, it's lived.

I've learned that my daily walk with Christ can be broken down into four steps:

• Intentionality
• Sensitivity
• Obedience
• Boldness

When you love someone you want to be with them.  Spending intentional time with Jesus is key to growing with Him.  In the early stages I would read a quick, short devotion in Jesus Calling and go on with my work day.  Over the years, I found myself wanting so much more of Jesus and sometimes spending hours in my devotion time.  I find myself reading the Bible, circling and highlighting scriptures.  I read inspirational books, listen to different pastors and tune into their teachings.  Sometimes I may even simply sing worship music.  I set intentional time to be with the Lord.  For more ideas, I encourage you to purchase my book, Uniquely Qualified.  There we'll dive into more detail and even learn about setting intentional time throughout the day with prayer alarms.

Now sensitivity may be hard to relate to initially because this too, grows over time.  However, I learned that you must be sensitive to the spirit.  The spirit I am referring to is the Holy Spirit.  When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there to guide you.  Over time you will develop an ear and a sensitivity to knowing your Spirit intimately.  You will know when you need to call someone, pray over them or give.  You will feel a conviction over choices you make.  Again, for clarity on some of these things I suggest you read Uniquely Qualified.  Sensitivity is learned and strengthened.

Obedience is still a hard step for me at times.  What this means is, when God tells you to do something you must do it!  Many times you will learn that what you're being called to do is so hard and you're not comfortable with it, or no one else is doing it.  This makes being obedient difficult.  Saying "yes" to God can be hard but its extremely rewarding.

The last part to the formula is boldness.  You must be bold in your faith walk.  There will be times you find yourself at a fork in the road to test your boldness in Christ.  I highly recommend to always choose Jesus!  He makes what looks impossible very possible every time.  Be bold!

I hope this helps you a little bit.  I go into more detail in my book and I also post daily devotions of encouragement on my instagram page @JustJacinda. We're all in this together!




You are Uniquely Qualified for the call!

With Love,
Jacinda