Walking with God in your everyday

One of the biggest things I’ve learned in my faith over the last 10 years is that walking with God isn’t about following a religion, it’s about having a relationship!

And this I think is where a lot of people can get stuck. I know I did!

When I first became a Christian, I didn’t really understand how to actually walk with God. It kind of felt more like just go to church, read your bible, follow these rules and I’m going to be honest, because of that, it took me years to step into a proper personal relationship with Him.

But that is what it’s all about.

It’s a relationship and it starts with intimacy. If we want to truly know God and build a relationship with him we need to actually spend time with him.

So where do we start?

Truth is, how we start will look slightly different for everyone, depending on your personality, your work/life schedule, the season of life you’re in, these things will all impact on how and when you spend time with God … and that’s ok! What matters though is that it happens!!! Whether it’s 10 minutes a day or 2 hours a day, the aim is to have regular consistent daily connection with God.

And the reality is like with any relationship, the more time we spend investing in it, the more it will grow and the more we will experience and walk in His peace, joy and freedom.

One of the best ways I have found to begin building a relationship with God is through picking up His word! You can do that through the touch of an app on your phone or if you’re like me and love a paper copy you can pick up a hardback copy from most bookshops or online. Side note I’m obsessed with the beautiful Bibles from https://hosannarevival.com/. I have the NLT note taking Bible - Marlow theme (https://hosannarevival.com/collections/best-sellers/products/nlt-notetaking-bible-marlo-theme)

Once you have your Bible, it’s about figuring out where in your day you can schedule in some time. For me I like to keep things simple and just bring it in at the start of my day. The truth is the longer I leave it, the more excuses I end up making and then I struggle to get round to it. So one thing I’d really encourage you to do is actually look at your morning honestly.

Could you set an alarm for 10-15 minutes earlier? Could you swap scrolling on your phone or checking emails first thing for spending a few minutes with God instead?

One thing I always say is: word before world!! Because when we actually take time to connect with God before stepping into the world, we start the day more aligned to His truth instead of immediately being pulled into all the noise, stress and distractions. The world is constantly trying to shape the way we think , live and see ourselves. But God wants us to live differently. It says in His word that we are to be ‘in the world but not of the world’ which is really difficult to do when we’re not staying connected to Him.

What if you struggle to read the Bible?

Now, if you’re anything like me, for the first 8 years of my Christian walk I honestly had no desire to pick up the Bible. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

And one thing I wish someone had told me sooner was to pray for the desire! Seriously … ask God to give you the desire to know Him through His word. Ask Him where to start. Ask Him to lead you to a scripture or a book of the Bible. Ask Him to speak to you through it because the Bible is called the living word for a reason!!!!

Religion can make it seem like it’s just this boring dusty book full of rules and regulations but honestly, it’s so much more than that.

There is so much healing in it, so much wisdom, so much freedom and transformation.

God genuinely speaks through His word and when you begin reading it with an open heart, things start to change.

Other ways to stay connected

And if you still feel stuck with where else to start, that’s ok too. There are so many other ways to begin connecting with God.

For me, for years a lot of the word came through listening to people online like Joyce Meyer.

You can listen to teachings, podcasts, worship music, devotionals, blogs, whatever helps point your heart back towards God. The important thing is that you are intentionally making space for Him in your life and over time that relationship will naturally start to grow.

Another really powerful way to connect with God is through prayer, which is honestly a lot simpler than you might think.

Prayer is literally a conversation with God. It doesn’t need fancy long words, you don’t need to worry about getting it right, you just need a bit of honesty and vulnerability!

One simple prayer model I sometimes like to use is:

P - Pause and Praise

R - Reflect and Repent

A - Ask

Y - Yield

Start by pausing for a moment and just thanking God. Gratitude changes your heart posture so quickly.

Then reflect honestly on how things are going, bring anything heavy before Him, ask for guidance, wisdom, help, peace, whatever is on your heart. And then finally just be still.

Listen.

That doesn’t always mean you’ll hear from God straight away but it gives you an opportunity to just be in that space of stillness which is how we most often hear from God.

For me personally, God often speaks later, in quiet moments throughout the day. Sometimes when I’m doing the laundry, or cleaning or just pottering around the house, I’ll suddenly feel prompted about something I prayed about earlier.

It might be a scripture, a thought, a sense of peace or clarity, a conviction or encouragement.

Over time the more you do this you will begin to recognise His voice more and more.

Walking with God daily

Walking with God is really about just bringing him into your life everyday.

It’s worship music in the kitchen, it’s praying when you feel overwhelmed. It’s talking to Him throughout your day. It’s surrounding yourself with other believers, it’s finding a church community that helps you grow, it’s choosing again and again to keep Him at the centre!

Because the reality is we live in such a busy digital distracted world, it’s so easy to drift!

But the more time we spend with God, the more our relationship with him grows and you begin to experience more peace, more wisdom, more joy and more freedom. It’s like those fruits of the Spirit slowly begin growing in your life naturally as you stay connected to Him.

And honestly, it’s beautiful!!!!!!