4 Ways to Grow Closer to God This Christmas

Are you desiring a closeness with God you haven’t yet achieved? You can develop a friendship with God this Christmas like you’ve never had before!

At Christmastime, we tend to put greater focus on spending time with friends and family from near and far. Even those you haven’t seen in years will likely get a Christmas card from you, wishing them the best and letting them know you’re thinking of them during this special time of year. Friendships can come and go in our lives, but they are still of great value!

Relationships take effort, desire and an investment of time. They don’t just happen by accident! The same is true of our friendship with God. Maybe you’re feeling a desire to be closer to Him—to hear from Him more, learn from Him more, and have a greater confidence and boldness in His Word. There’s good news for you—you can be as close to Him as you want to be by following these four ways to grow closer to God this Christmas.

1. Pray

Even in the natural, developing a friendship is simple—spend time together. Spending time with God means taking the time to pray (and listen!). Don’t just pray randomly—pray boldly. Pray His Word, pray with thanksgiving, pray in faith and pray in the spirit. The more you pray, the closer you’ll be to God.

Find 3 Prayer Secrets from Gloria Copeland here.

2. Fellowship With God

There’s a difference between prayer and fellowship. Many people will pray as a ritual or very formally, without any sign of a true relationship. But fellowship with God comes when you approach Him with confidence and share your inmost thoughts and feelings. He wants you to tell Him about your concerns and then leave those things in His hands. He tells you to cast your cares onto Him because He cares so much for you (1 Peter 5:7).

3. Meditate on the Word

When you spend time getting to know God’s Word, you’re getting to know Him! The more you know Him, the better your friendship will be—the closer you’ll be to God. When you know Him the way you would know a good friend, you’ll have confidence in Him. You won’t have to guess what He is thinking, desiring or saying to you—you’ll know. Get to know Him by mediating on His Word—you’ll never again have to ask, “Is that me, God, or is it You?”

4. Praise

If you want God to come hang out with you, there’s one sure way to get Him to come over—praise! He inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3), so when you praise Him, you are drawing near to Him and that’s when He draws near to you (James 4:8). To really praise God, you have to know who He is and what He has done for you, and that comes from No. 3—spending time in the Word.

Spend time praising God. Praise Him while you’re driving, praise Him while you’re cooking, praise Him while you’re wrapping gifts. When Christmas comes, you’ll find you feel much closer to Him than you ever have.

God wants to be your best friend. He wants to listen to you, speak to you, encourage you, correct you, guide you and give you the most amazing gifts you could ever imagine. Don’t hesitate to reach higher and draw closer to Him this Christmas. You are a friend of God, and being His friend is always to your advantage.

Listen in as Kenneth Copeland shares how to activate your ability to hear God.