A truth from the Hemorrhaging Faith Survey – Young people who are engaged in the church today are far more likely to say that they have personally experienced the love and acceptance of God, as well as answered prayer, as those who are disengaged. Connection is important.
We are all different, thank goodness. Just as we look different, and have various personality types, we have different ways we connect with God. This is incredibly freeing to know because you may be wondering why others keep talking about about how they love worship services, or love preaching, and you are thinking, ‘Those things are putting me to sleep’.
Throughout scripture we see people who connected with God in various way. For David there was a connection through worship. Some saw God in creation. Some of the gospel writers were scholarly and had a deep theology. We have lots of examples of people running after the presence of God. Others seem to connect to God through prayer. For some it is through serving others.
So it is ok that some people have a leaning towards one of these or perhaps another connection point. It is also ok if you have trouble connecting to God in some of these too. It can obviously be a bit tough if you are part of a group which only focuses on just one of these while you excel in another.
So what can you do? A simple exercise, which someone taught me, can help you out a lot. Simply think back over the last year or two of your life. When did you have your biggest ‘God Moments’. Write them down.
For you, it may have been at a retreat, a camp, when you were listening to worship music, after being challenged by a message, reading the Bible, when you helped at a soup kitchen, or perhaps alone sitting under the stars. If you think about your own experiences and times of growth you will likely notice a few trends.
This will serve two purposes. First, for you to remember that you actually had God moments yourself. Just because we are humans we forget. We will have days that are tough. We will have trouble. Sometimes remembering that God has met us before, gives us enough faith to believe He can again. It is also quite a thing to acknowledge that the God of the universe interacted with you personally. Quite a crazy, but cool, thought when you get down to it.
Second by doing this, you may recognize that you have some obvious connection points with God. This does not mean these will be the only ones you ever have, but they are important to you. Now here is the important part. If you recognize you have ways you connect to God a lot, put yourself there again. Sow into your relationship with Jesus.
For example, if your greatest spiritual growth was while attending a Bible Camp, make plans to go again. Do everything you can to get there. If you connect to God every time you are surrounded by nature, then put yourself there again. This does not mean you should forsake all the ways people connect to God. It just means you recognize that in your uniqueness this is how God is speaking to you.
If you want to be a follower of Jesus, chase after Him. Experiencing God is so powerful and life changing, He is worth running after. Find your connections.