Do you ever find yourself feeling distant from God, but you’re not sure why?
Today we’ll go over 3 questions you can use to get back on track when you’re not feeling close and add four more questions in my next post.
1. Are you making anything more important than He wants you to make it?
The other day I asked a friend how she knows if she has an idol in her life. She said, “I watch what I’m thinking about in my down time—when I go to bed, when I wake up in the middle of the night, when I wake up in the morning. If it’s always the same thing, I know I have an idol.”
“When that happens, I know I need to make some boundaries on both my thought life and my work life.”
The truth is, it’s easy to make life about things other than God. When that happens, we need to keep going back to Him again and again until we give up our idols. Brilliantly, the very act of going to Him to work through those issues brings us close to Him again.
2. Why are you spending time with Him?
Think of your closest relationship. What if you only spent time with that person because you felt obligated? Would you enjoy your time together, or would you try to make it as short as possible so you could get on to other things?
If you’re not at a place in your walk with God where you enjoy Him yet, try to find something to do with Him that you’ll look forward to. Something that will either get you into the Word or help you have a conversation with God.
When I was in that spot, I looked for good topical Bible studies to go through. I also spent a lot of time truth journaling.
Truth journaling was a way for me to visit with God about my problems. I felt like He was counseling me as He poured truth into my life and I grew to love my time with Him.
God also used truth journaling to help me fall in love with the Bible. I began to search the Bible with a purpose – I wanted to know the truth.
3. Do you need to confess a sin?
Think of that close relationship again. What happens when you argue with that person? Even though you still love each other, it affects your relationship for awhile, right?
The same is true in our relationship with God. Even though He doesn’t demand perfection, our sin affects our fellowship with Him.
I often do a “closeness” check at the beginning of my quiet time. If I don’t feel close to God, I examine my heart. Is there some sin lurking in the background, making me feel distant from God?
Almost without fail, the answer is yes. Usually it’s a heart sin because those aren’t as easy to notice – judgment, selfishness, anger, an ungrateful spirit, etc. Something I’m holding onto that I need to confess and let go. When I do, I feel closer to God again.
If you’re not feeling close to God today, I hope you’ll give these questions a try.
Click here for the next 4 questions.
P.S. One of these days I’ll try to get some truth journaling examples up that aren’t about food! Here are two examples of truth journaling on other subjects:What if You Can’t “Just Get Over It”? and If He Loved Me, He Wouldn’t Say Those Things.
Man, that first part about idolatry hit me hard. I love the comment about how we know we have an idol if we think about it in the cracks of our day. That’s a great way to diagnose our idols – I know I’ve caught myself living like that quite often.
The boundary part is the tough part. What boundaries would you recommend – and how do you recommend implementing them?
That’s a great question, Loren – maybe I’ll attempt a post on that some time. For me, it depends on the idol. My current struggles are with blogging.
I’ve recently made boundaries that 1) I can’t work in the evening. 2) I renew my mind after I’m through writing for the day so I’m less likely to think about it at night, 3) I get up and renew my mind in the middle of the night if I wake up thinking about it. 4) I only check my stats and app sales once every 2 weeks and 5) I’m trying to not even get on the Internet until after 10:00 each morning.
I’ve also at different times made it a point to renew my mind once a day about some aspect of writing and that’s helped enough that I have the self-control to stick to my boundaries for the most part.
So for me it’s a combination of making whatever boundaries I think will help me with the idol issue and then combining that with the regular renewing of the mind (for me, it’s truth journaling or my app questions) so that I have the ability to stick to the boundaries I make.
you have to know what’s best for your inner soul.
This is fantastic to keep near when I find my mind wandering! Love “why are you spending time with Him”!!! Thank You!! (((HUGS)))
Thanks, Elizabeth. Hope you are doing well!
Barb, all three of your points are well taken. Although I’ve been guilty of all three at some point, #2 (sense of obligation) can rob me of an awareness of Hid presence. I’ve been in both places of obligation and it’s not good…certainly don’t want the Lord to see that in me. .
I’ve also been there at different times in my life – not a good place to be, especially since I wasn’t ever very good at following through with my “obligation” to have a quiet time. Since it didn’t seem urgent, I usually put it off.
I’m so glad you shared your friends words on identifying idols. Very wise.
It’s something I’m going to pay more attention to.
Thanks for this post.
I thought it was wise too – this friend often says wise things to me. Lucky me!
:)
Excellent, helpful stuff, Barb. I learned some years ago that it was foolish to spend time with God if it was just out of obligation. Love your truth journaling post! Shared it on the Inspired Day’s FB page.
Thanks, Melanie!
I really needed to read this today. The past few days I’ve not seemed to be connected with God like usual. I realized today that the busyness of life has caused me to spend less time with Him. I’m working on changing that this week.
Great post Barb!
Thanks, Dan. Glad it came at the right time.
Thanks for this Barb. These are great questions to ask ourselves. I really like what your friend said. It’s something I need to watch out for :)
Me, too. I could relate to what she said since the same thing happens to me when I’m making things other than God too important. I’ve had a lot of middle of the night time with God sessions – since I can’t sleep anyway, it’s a good time to meet with Him!
Idols, relationship, and sin. If this were a boxing match and that combination, I’d probably be down for the count. Thanks to our Father that He uses these truths to lift us up and protect us instead. Very eye opening and heart opening post, Barb. Anytime we ponder where we are with our Father we find truth and fellowship. Thank you.
Love the way you put that, Floyd. And I like your thoughts on truth – that God uses it to lift us up and protect us. So true! Thanks so much for your thoughts.
Soooooooooooo glad I found your blog, I am enjoying it.
I love all those o’s, Stacey. Thanks for your encouraging comment. I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog!