relationship with JESUS

Maintaining the relationship with GOD!

Hey, sweet friend.

If you’re reading this, I reckon that you have this deep desire in your heart to know God, to love Him, to serve Him, and to share His love with others.

You want to have a more intimate relationship with God. You want to believe what He says and not what the world says. You want to overcome your insecurities and your fear and the other 1,001 obstacles that are currently staring you in the eye. You want to completely live for God, pour out your life as a pleasant offering to Him, and follow Him through thick and thin. You want to show people who He is and love, serve, and minister to them.

You want to have an intimate relationship with God so you can lead others to have an intimate relationship with God.

Enter: Tephilla Joanna

In this post, I’m going to tell you 7 key things that you NEED TO BE DOING to know God, to please Him, and to have Him overflow out of you and into others

1.) READ OR LISTEN TO THE BIBLE

I know, so obvious. But, for reals, this is one of the most important steps.

How are you going to have an intimate relationship with God if you don’t listen to Him, if you ignore His Words to you? His Words are so precious, and His whispers of love and encouragement are exactly what your heart needs.

Get in the Bible, friend. Really.

To be honest, I used to never read my Bible. I honestly hated doing it because I thought that it was so difficult and boring. But once I started reading it, man, everything changed. I realized that the Bible is definitely NOT boring. It is alive, and it spoke to me in ways that nothing else ever could.

When I started reading my Bible daily, my heart changed, my mind changed, and my entire life changed.

Friend, I urge you with every fiber of my being to get in the Word every single day.

2.) STUDY THE BIBLE

There is a difference between reading and studying the Bible, and both are SO crucial to your relationship with God.

When you study the Bible, you start to see hidden gems in the text that completely rock your world. To really understand the truth of what God is saying to you, you need to know the context, the real meaning of the words, the author, the setting, everything.

2.) GET IN SILENCE & SOLITUDE

The world is loud, and often times we can’t hear God’s voice above the noise. We NEED to be able to be still with Him and hear His voice, recognize it, and obey it.

When we’re still with God, we know God more intimately.

3.) DECLARE TRUTH

Okay, you need to be standing on the promises of God and declaring truth, or the enemy will eat you for breakfast. For reals. He is a liar, and he will do everything in his power to knock you off your feet.

Those insecurities can be overcome when you believe in what God says and REMIND YOURSELF of it.

Those fears can be overcome when you stand on God’s promise of provision.

To go out into the world with boldness and live for God, you have to believe what He says. (P.S. How are you going to know what He says if you’re not reading or studying the Bible???)

4.) SURRENDER TO GOD EVERY MORNING

I have a tendency to wake up and immediately start stressing over everything that I have to do and what’s coming and OH CRAP I forgot about that. You, too?

One thing that I’ve started doing is waking up every morning and immediately start thanking God and surrendering my day and my life to Him. It realigns my heart with Him and with what really matters in the long run: pleasing God

5.) PRAY FERVENTLY

Don’t just ask for things. Don’t just ask for small things, although asking for small things is great! Ask for big things, too.

Pray passionately. Pray loudly. Pray with reckless abandon. Pray with tears and sobs and maybe even shouts. Don’t worry about offending God; He welcomes your heart and emotions as long as you’re willing to give them to Him.

POUR OUT YOUR HEART SO THERE’S ROOM FOR GOD TO POUR IN.

I used to wonder what the big deal about praying is. I mean, why do I have to pray if God has already decided and knows what’s going to happen?

Well, I learned that you pray so that your heart will be aligned with God’s, not the other way around.

You pray so that you will know God’s heart and your desires will align with His own

6.) SING PRAISES

We can so easily get stuck in a negative and selfish mindset because of the world around us. But when we take time to look at the beauty and goodness of our Father, our entire perspective changes.

Practice gratitude.and I love singing

7.) SERVE OTHERS

God is love. He invented it; He is it. When we love others, we are showing them His love and loving Him at the same time.

When we serve others, we are pleasing God AND impacting the kingdom for His glory. I mean, that’s kind of a win-win, don’t you think?

Friend, you are made for more. You are made for intimate relationship with our Savior, for building His kingdom, and for letting His love overflow out of your heart and into others.

It’s your purpose, and I want to help you pursue it.

MY KING, I PRAY FOR MY SWEET FRIEND READING THIS. SHE WANTS YOU, LORD. SHE LONGS FOR YOU AS A DEER LONGS FOR WATER. SHE WANTS TO HAVE AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND TO LOVE YOU FOREVER. SHE WANTS TO SURRENDER HER LIFE TO YOU, LIVE FOR YOU, AND SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH OTHERS. SHE WANTS TO BUILD YOUR KINGDOM. OH, FATHER, LET IT HAPPEN. POUR YOUR SPIRIT ON HER, HELP HER SEEK YOU AND LOVE YOU, AND TEACH HER HOW TO BUILD YOUR KINGDOM. BLESS HER, FATHER, AND USE HER FOR YOUR GLORY. IN JESUS’ NAME, AMEN.

Oh, hey, and if you’re super busy and don’t know how to have an intimate relationship with God when you’ve got 1,001 things to do, I wrote a post telling you a few ways that you can cultivate a relationship with God, even when you’re super busy!

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