Tips for staying in love with God (Are you struggling with your relationship with God?) Read!

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind

Matthew 22:37

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself

Luke 10:27

In the past when I have been in relationships where I was head over heels in love with the other person, I found it so easy to do almost anything sensible within my reach for the person. I found myself trying and doing my best to like the things my boyfriend liked. I remember going out of my way to listen to songs by this secular artist and intentionally like the artist just because my boyfriend at that time loved the artist. *rolling my eyes*

Things that I did, that I just shake my head and sometimes cringe at the thought of it- all in the name of love. In as much as this isn’t a perfect example of what love should be

I want you to picture a scenario when and where you really love somebody. You and I both know the extents we go to just show our affection and care for that person, right?

When man is in love with someone, he or she becomes the man’s delight said Pastor Kayode Ifebajo and I could not agree any less.

Likewise, man should delight in the things of God and desire to please Him always when he says he loves God.

But I realize that many may struggle with keeping a budding relationship with God and it is my hopes that with this blog post, you are encouraged in your walk it God.

Cultivate a mindset of a relationship with God:

First things first we need to know that God wants an intimate relationship with us, in Hosea 2:16 He says to us that a day will come when you will call Him “my husband” and not “my master”. This is a pointer to the kind of intimate relationship God wants with us and He has made that possible through Jesus Christ, He is so near to us that we can converse with Him regardless of our location on the surface of this earth.

Many may tend to look at walking with Jesus as following sets of rules and commandments that may be hard to follow but it really is having a thriving relationship with one who adores us, loves us fiercely, more so even endlessly and all he wants from us is to love Him back.

Cultivate a heart of gratitude towards God:

I find myself pondering, ruminating on things around me and I stop in my tracks to just thank God. I believe that every word of gratitude we express to God, draws Him near to us because He tells us that He lives in every praise of His people.- Psalm 22:3

And when He is near to us, it may be difficult for the enemy to sway us away with lies, deceits or distractions from the pits of hell.

Therefore my dear, cultivate the attitude of appreciating God for everything He does for you from sleeping and waking up, to every meal you are able to eat, to the air you breathe, to the water you drink and even more so to the bigger things He does for you. Let your heart be overwhelmed with gratitude towards God and express it in words or in actions or however best you can in the moment.

Do not let a moment you feel gratitude towards Him slip away without thanking Him and experience Him draw closer to you. ;;)

Spend quality Time in Worship, expressing your gratitude to Him:

This is something I love love love and enjoy! Basking in the wonders and glory for God as I worship Him in songs. There are so many spirit filled songs that can help you and lead you in expressing your gratitude to God.

Worship is so powerful, I may not exactly have the words to fully describe its potency. But Like I have said earlier, every word and expression of gratitude towards God draws Him nearer to us. Our worship of Him encapsulates His presence and in that moment His spirit fills our spirit afresh with His love.

I have heard people speak about rekindling love that is burning out, rekindling of God’s love in us happens in the space and moment of worship.

You just try worshipping Him for one hour everyday this week and tell me about it. Here are my playlists on spotify which may be helpful.

Great Christian artists I could recommend are : Bethel Music, Maverick City, Dante Bowe, Hillsong Worship, Calledout Music, David Omodunmiju,Cory Asbury, The Worship Initiative, Nathaniel Bassey, Pastor William Mcdowell, Citipointe and so many

Or you can compose your own songs of praises to your lover, there really isn’t any rule to expressing your love and gratitude to Him.

Look at God’s word as a love letter:

Is it really love if is there is no form of communication? God sets a great example for what love truly is and He pours it all out on the pages of the Bible. So much so that words from the bible inspire us, comfort us, makes our heart leap for joy, reassure us, direct us shines light into our souls, causes us to experience things inexplicable by my words.

I have experienced all these from reading, studying, listening, saying and confessing God’s words.

God’s word is called the living word for a reason! It brings life, hope and most importantly brings you face to face with God’s love.

So my dear the next time you pick up your bible, look at it in the light of God’s love words to you.

Something that may have helped me with making my bible more appealing to me is purchasing bibles in the colors I love – pink, purple, brown and then pink ;;) and also in simple English forms that I can easily comprehend.

Moreso, Youversion bible application is something that makes my reading so easy. There are so many attractive bible plans, the bible in many versions and the function to listen to the bible. You could listen to many chapters in minutes.

The beauty of the word is that as much as it enters your spirit man , it brings life – Psalm 119:130 , it bubbles up inside you and brings you to a place of comprehension of God’s love and you are able to respond to His love the way you should.

Therefore my dear, if it means listening to the bible as you work, do so ! Just ensure God’s word enters your spirit man.

Read His word with expectations to hear and see something new from God:

Now do not just delve into the bible just because…..

Have goals, have expectations of at least learning something or refreshing your knowledge of God. By doing so, you do not engage in futile reading of God’s love letters to you.

Reading it with no goal(s) is like reading a love letter from one you couldn’t care less about.

I remember going through texts messages, pictures, voice notes from boyfriends in the past just to bring myself to the euphoria of that moment when he was expressing how he felt about me. This is what I should have been doing with my letters from God but I am thankful I am able to do so now and you also should do so.

Read God’s words and allow yourself to experience His love poured out on the pages of the bible.

There are times I have great worship music playing in the background or plugged in my ears. I am all cozy in my room with my journal, reading and writing- It usually is bliss!

You could try that sometimes.

Ask the Holy Spirit Questions:

I am assuming that you are friends with Jesus already and you are trying to rekindle your love for Him. So if my assumptions are true, then there is a measure of the Holy Spirit in you since you invited Him in on the day you gave your life to Jesus.

If you are not friends with Him yet, you could say the prayers here and invite Him into your life today.

I recommend that you read in a quiet place, free of distractions to engage the Holy Spirit. Like I have pointed from the beginning of this post, it is a relationship with God and we can ask Him questions.

When you come across difficult verses or chapters you do not fully comprehend ask the Holy Spirit who lives within you to shine His light and explain it to you.

He sure will, you’d realize that comprehension comes to you in some way. Just pay attention to when He responds to your question(s)

Journal the new things you learn or look for someone to share with:

Writing things down may help express your emotions and how you feel in the moment as you read and this is also a way of communicating with God and developing the bond that you have with God. King David was one who wrote down almost all of His emotions, because He did so, we are able to read the psalms today. Who knows what book(s) your journals from your private time with God could spurr up. But that isn’t the main goal now, strengthening your bond with God is the goal and I have found journaling helpful. More-so there is the likelihood to easily recollect the things that your write down.

I understand that not everybody likes journaling as much, sharing your thoughts or something you may have learned with somebody or on your social media platform is also a form of strenthenig your bond with God.

You have experienced God’s word & love and in turn you share it with the world around you, what better way to show your love for God!

Endeavour to minimize all forms of distractions:

We both know in the hearts of our hearts the exact things that distract us from spending quality time with God. It may be social media, TV shows, work, the spouse, and so on.

I believe that we can have a fair dose of these things but whilst we enjoy them, let us map out set times to just be with God even if it is for an hour.

For example you can decide to meet with God everyday at 10pm or 6am and as you remain consistent in meeting with God, He sure will meet with you.

Pray that the Holy spirit keeps helping you:

As Christians, there is absolutely nothing we can do by ourselves, everything that we are and will become in our walk with God is through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus said to His disciples that, “I will send you a helper the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”- John 14:26

What we need to do is ask Him ( The Holy Spirit) for help. He doesn’t force Himself on us(how true love should be) but once we ask Him for His help, He sure will.

I pray that He helps us to rekindle our love and affection for God and bring us to the place of continuous worship of the Lord in Jesus name.

Delight in going all out to please God

Once we are able grasp this shift in mindset that we are in a relationship with God, we begin to come to a place where we are constantly falling in love with Him daily, then we begin to take so much delight in the ways of the Lord.

And when we delight in His ways, He blesses us abundantly with our hearts’ desires- Psalm 37:4