From Knowing to Doing: Practical Steps to Deepen Your Connection with God
Yesterday, I wrote about why it’s so important to move beyond just knowing about God’s plan for our lives and truly understanding it in a deep, personal way. But today, I want to get practical! If you've known me long enough, you will know that knowledge means nothing, if it's not turned into action.
I’m sharing some of the steps I took, to connect with God on a deeper level after years of just going through the motions and trying to find my purpose.
1. Spend Time in Worship
Engage Your Emotions: Worship isn’t just about singing songs; it’s about connecting with God on an emotional level. Choose worship music that speaks to your heart and allows you to express your love, gratitude, and awe for God. And please, let's stop the debate of which worship is correct and which worship is wrong. Worship is not about you, it's about God.
Use Your Body: Incorporate physical expressions of worship, such as raising your hands, kneeling, or dancing. This engages your sensory and motor systems, helping you experience God more tangibly.
Create a Worship Space: Set aside a specific place in your home where you can worship without distractions. Light a candle, play soft music, and focus your heart on God.
2. Practice Stillness and Silence
Set Aside Quiet Time: Dedicate 10-15 minutes each day to sit in silence before God. Turn off your phone, close your eyes, and focus on His presence. This activates your Default Mode Network (DMN), which is crucial for spiritual awareness.
Meditate on Scripture: Choose a short passage or verse and meditate on it. Repeat it slowly, letting the words sink into your heart. Ask God to speak to you through His Word.
Breath Prayers: Practice simple "breath" prayers (breathing exercise while praying), such as inhaling while thinking, "Be still," and exhaling while thinking, "and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Breathing helps calms down your nervous system and prayer centers your heart on Him.
3. Remember His Faithfulness
Keep a Journal: Write down answered prayers, moments of God’s provision, and times when you felt His presence. Reviewing these entries strengthens your hippocampus and reminds you of God’s faithfulness.
Create a Gratitude List: Each day, write down three things you’re thankful for. This shifts your focus from what’s lacking to what God has already done.
Share Testimonies: Tell others about how God has worked in your life. Sharing your stories reinforces your memories and encourages others in their faith.
4. Trust His Timing
Pray for Patience: Ask God to help you trust His timing, especially when you’re tempted to take matters into your own hands (like Uzza did). Pray, "Lord, teach me to wait on You."
Study Biblical Examples: Reflect on stories of people who waited on God, such as Abraham, Joseph, and David. Notice how God’s timing was perfect, even when it didn’t make sense at the time.
Surrender Control: Identify areas where you’re trying to "help" God and consciously surrender them to Him. Pray, "Not my will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Here's the catch - you should meditate on this too and remind yourself about the decision consciously. When you do that enough times, it will become a subconscious habit to direct your thoughts toward God's thoughts.
5. Engage in Relational Prayer
Talk to God Like a Friend: Instead of reciting formal prayers, talk to God as you would a close friend. Share your joys, fears, and struggles. This builds emotional intimacy with Him.
Pray Scripture: Use the Psalms or other prayers in the Bible as a guide. For example, pray Psalm 23 when you need comfort or Psalm 51 when you need forgiveness.
Listen for His Voice: After praying, spend a few minutes in silence, listening for God’s response. Write down any thoughts, impressions, or Scriptures that come to mind.
6. Serve Others
Practice Compassion: Look for opportunities to serve others in your community or church. Serving activates your sensory and motor systems, helping you experience God’s love in action.
Volunteer: Join a ministry or outreach program that aligns with your gifts and passions. Serving others deepens your understanding of God’s heart for people.
Reflect on Jesus’ Example: Study how Jesus served others—washing feet, healing the sick, and feeding the hungry. Ask God to help you follow His example.
7. Immerse Yourself in Scripture
Read with Curiosity: Instead of rushing through your Bible reading, ask questions like, "What does this reveal about God’s character?" or "How does this apply to my life?"
Memorize Key Verses: Choose verses that speak to your current season of life and commit them to memory. This helps you internalize God’s Word and recall it in times of need.
Study the Context: Use a study Bible or commentary to understand the historical and cultural background of the passages you’re reading. This deepens your intellectual and emotional connection to the text.
8. Practice Gratitude and Joy
Joy isn’t just a feeling—it’s a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and a key marker of a believer. True joy engages all our senses and reflects our trust in God, even in difficult circumstances
Count Your Blessings: Each night, reflect on the day and identify moments where you saw God’s hand at work. Thank Him for these blessings.
Choose Joy: Even in difficult circumstances, choose to focus on God’s goodness. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and a powerful way to connect with God emotionally. Joy is contagious! Share laughter with others, and let your joy point them to Christ.
Celebrate Small Wins: Acknowledge and celebrate the small ways God is moving in your life. This builds a habit of noticing His presence.
9. Connect with a Faith Community
Join a Small Group: Surround yourself with believers who can encourage you, pray for you, and help you grow in your faith. Relationships with others can deepen your relationship with God.
Participate in Corporate Worship: Attend church services and engage in communal worship. There’s something powerful about experiencing God’s presence together with others.
Seek Mentorship: Find a spiritual mentor or accountability partner who can guide you in your journey of knowing God more deeply. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. And by the way - "listening to TBN" every morning is not seeking a mentor.
10. Embrace Vulnerability
Be Honest with God: Don’t be afraid to bring your doubts, fears, and struggles to God. He already knows your heart, and being honest with Him deepens your emotional connection.
Confess and Repent: Regularly confess your sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. This keeps your heart tender and open to His Spirit.
Share Your Journey: Open up to trusted friends or mentors about your spiritual journey. Vulnerability fosters deeper relationships and accountability.
You will notice that all of these actions have one thing in common - engaging your senses and your body. Whether you listen, see, speak or move. The more "systems" (or biological mechanisms) you use, the better.
When we engage our senses in worship—through music, visuals, touch, smell, and movement—our brain activates multiple regions, including the auditory cortex, visual cortex, somatosensory cortex, and limbic system. This sensory engagement releases neurotransmitters like dopamine and oxytocin, fostering feelings of joy, peace, and connection. The limbic system, responsible for emotions and memory, helps create lasting spiritual experiences, while the Default Mode Network (DMN) promotes introspection and spiritual awareness. Over time, these practices leverage neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to rewire itself—by strengthening neural pathways associated with worship, prayer, and spiritual connection. By involving our senses, we not only deepen our emotional and relational connection to God but also train our brains to more readily experience His presence, transforming worship into a holistic, transformative practice that engages mind, body, and spirit.
Conclusion: Moving from Head to Heart
Cultivating a deeper knowing of God—a yada' that engages your mind, heart, and spirit—is a lifelong journey. It requires intentional practices that go beyond intellectual understanding and tap into the emotional, relational, and experiential aspects of faith. By spending time in worship, practicing stillness, remembering God’s faithfulness, and trusting His timing, you can move from merely knowing about God to truly knowing Him.
As you take these steps, remember that God has already wired your brain and nervous system for this kind of connection. Many times when I speak to people, they think they first need to "feel" a certain way before they take action. They first need to "feel" motivated, before they take action. That's a lie from the devil. Yes, you can get into action through emotion, but most people don't know how to do that so that it's actually effective. You still have to do the work - create the emotion yourself, but that's a discussion for a different day.
Remember God's promise - You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), and He longs for you to know Him deeply. So take the leap—move from head to heart, and experience the transformative power of yada'.
Ready to discover how God has uniquely wired you? Take the Motivational Gifts Survey and uncover your spiritual gifts!
