How To Be Connected With God
Psalms 42:1-4
1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
INTRO: Ever feel disconnected with God? Spouse? Family? Friends? Life in general? Ever feel like you do not belong? Why is that? What happens? Ever have the attitude, "My wife does not understand me." or, "My parents are too old." What about, "No one understands me." Why do we feel like that?
Let me ask you some questions. What is important in your life? The answer does change somewhat with age. But, things that are important to most people include, family, God, church, country, possessions, job, health, goals, friends, goals, and maybe if we are honest, it is old number one…SELF.
Today I want to start a short series, How To Be Connected With God. Do you want to be close to God? I mean, really close to Him? Do you want to be connected with Him? Let’s start.
As we see in the Psalm, in order to be close to God we need to have a special…
Desiring God for our lives
This desire is…
Inborn, but, not limitless
Important, but, can be limited
Instilled (by parents and others), but, can be let go
Induced (by the Holy Spirit), but, can be lessened
The good news it can be…
Increased, but, selfishness cannot last or linger
Consider these statements:
I need to be more connected with God. □ Yes □ No
I have the desire I need to help me have a close life with Him. □ Yes □ No
Not only do we need to have a great desire in our lives to be connected with the Lord, we also need to ask ourselves if we know how to be closer to God? To do this, we need to be…
Directing our life toward God.
We do this in…
Our thoughts – allowing Him the time of day
Our prayers – talking to Him during the day
Our growth – learning from His Word day by day
Our devotion – worshipping Him as part of our day
Our desire – wanting to do our best every day
Would you carefully consider these statements:
I need to be more directed towards God. □ Yes □ No
If I have Him on my mind more often, I can be closer to Him. □ Yes □ No
My life can be better if I spend more time in prayer. □ Yes □ No
My spiritual growth will increase if I study God’s Word. □ Yes □ No
I often get too busy to approach God with a worshipful attitude. □ Yes □ No
I want to do my best for God. □ Yes □ No
We can be connected with God, if only we are willing to continue to seek Him with a humble attitude. Seeking Him with a great desire and trying to direct our lives towards Him and all He has for us.
Gary Marcum – New Beginnings Church – 010503am