For a sincere follower of Christ, nothing can be more painful than falling away from their first love. Imagine experiencing the joy of his salvation after receiving Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and then losing the sense of delight it brings—losing your relationship with God. One can relate to David when he cried to the Lord, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”
To some, the reason behind this loss is an intentional turning away from God. To many, it could be laziness, indifference, or just allowing oneself to be choked by life’s worries.
Regardless of the reasons, the good news is that God’s mercy is limitless and that you can always rekindle your relationship with him after going through a dry season in your faith. Here, we present to you nine practical steps on how to rekindle your relationship with God.
How Can I Rekindle My Relationship with God?
There is no one formula for rekindling the fire of faith within you and reconnecting with God, but there are simple steps you can take to achieve this goal.
Pray
James said, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). As simple as it may seem, the first step to drawing near to God is to pray. It doesn’t have to be a sophisticated prayer composed of eloquent words. When his disciples asked him to teach them to pray, Jesus began with the words, “Our Father.” And that’s who God is to a believer. He is a father. That means you can approach his throne of grace with boldness in your time of need as a child would approach a loving father.
Read the Word
There’s nothing mystical or extraordinary about reading the Bible. There is no knowledge that you need to possess to be able to understand its basic principles. And yet, reading the Word is one of the most practical ways to “hear” God’s voice. The Bible contains the teachings and messages of God. It is a source of guidance, inspiration, and comfort for believers and can help you better understand and follow God’s will for your life. Most importantly, it’s one of the best answers on how to rekindle your relationship with God.
Attend Church Regularly
This is not to say that all who attend church every Sunday have a fantastic relationship with God. However, if there’s a surefire way to fall away from your faith, it’s by isolating yourself from God’s people. On the contrary, regularly meeting with like-minded people will breathe life into your dying faith. After all, Hebrews 10:25 encourages believers not to give up meeting together.
Serve Others
Whenever we feel frustrated with ourselves because of a lack of fire in our relationship with God, our first response is to introspect. We do it as a way to understand what went wrong. However, while it’s okay to examine one’s thoughts and feelings as a way to gain insight into the status of one’s relationship with God, often, it causes us to be self-centered.
To escape from this trap, you need to begin looking outwardly. You can do that by serving others. There is truth to the expression “Ministry saves.” While being involved in ministry doesn’t make God love you more, it does help you see the big picture and stirs up the fire of your faith. Learning how to rekindle your relationship with God takes time, but serving others can guarantee that you’ll get there.
Practice Gratitude
A prevalent reason why Christians backslide is offense toward God. Something happens that causes them to be angry with God and leave the church. It could be the loss of a loved one, a personal sickness, or unanswered prayers. If you sincerely want to rekindle your relationship with God, you might want to examine your thoughts and words.
Do you always grumble and complain when things don’t go your way? Do you unconsciously blame God for the negative things that happen in your life? Instead of grumbling, why not thank God for waking you up every day and giving you a chance to become a better Christian? When you practice gratitude, you will start feeling positive emotions, and when your gratitude is directed toward God, it will help you fall in love with him again.
Seek Accountability
Accountability is not only about giving an account on the day of the Lord’s return, from which he would base how he would judge us. In Galatians 6:2, Paul encourages us to carry each other’s burdens. If you have been doing your best to reignite your passion for God and have been failing, perhaps it’s because you’re doing it on your own.
There is no such thing as a “Lone Ranger” Christian. John Donne said it best in his poem ‘No man is an island’. As a Christian, you are a part of the main. You are a member of the Body of Christ, and you need to have a mentor or accountability partner who can encourage and support you in your spiritual journey.
Connect with Nature
Nature is God’s masterpiece. As a part of the natural world, we, in a sense, all belong to nature. In some cases, a quick trip to nature can provide insights on how to rekindle your relationship with God.
Why do you think Jesus withdrew to the mountains whenever he wanted to commune with his father? Where do you think David was able to compose some of his most beautiful Psalms? Scripture says that the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), so it only makes sense that spending time in nature may lead you to feel a sense of wonder and reverence and experience God in a unique way.
Practice Forgiveness
Forgiveness is foundational to the Christian faith. It is because of God’s forgiving nature that we have been translated from darkness to light and saved from impending destruction.
For many Christians, the unwillingness to release forgiveness to someone who has offended them is often the main reason they feel far from God. If you wish to experience the fullness of God’s presence and the pleasures of his love, you need to choose to forgive. We forgive not because we are afraid that God won’t forgive us. We forgive because God forgave us first (Ephesians 4:32).
Worship
The word “worship” originated from the old English word “woerth-ship,” which literally means “to give something worth.” As believers, we understand that no one in this world deserves the utmost worship than God.
When we turn our eyes toward other things and worship those things instead of God, we gradually lose our “appetite” for God. Conversely, when we worship God intentionally and delight ourselves in him, our “appetite” for him grows.
Don’t confuse “worship” with singing Christian songs or hymns to God. Of course, singing is one component of worship, but worship covers a broad spectrum of spiritual disciplines, including the ones on this list.
That said, let me end by saying that worshiping God is a prerequisite to having a vibrant Christian life. It’s the one thing you should do if you’re wondering how to rekindle your relationship with God.
Worshiping God means praying to him, reading His Word, fellowshipping with other believers, thanking God for his goodness, connecting with him through nature, and living a life of forgiveness. When you observe all these things, you can rest assured that your love for God will be rejuvenated, and the fire of your faith will not easily expire.
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