10 daily habits that will help you connect with God: GET OFF YOUR PHONE

Howdy and welcome to the first ever {King}dom Minded blog series! In this series, we'll be talking about daily habits that will help you connect with God... obviously. (oh, and did I mention I get to do this for a GRADE?!? Wow, y'all God is so good!)

To be 100% honest with you, I almost titled this series "10 daily habits that will help you feel more connected with God," but having a relationship with God, just like any earthly love relationship, does not operate on feeling, but on choice. I have been a Christian since I was nine, and a true follower of Jesus since I was 17, and I often don't FEEL like following Jesus; spending time with Him in prayer, in scripture, serving in a church home, investing in Godly community, but I choose to do these things daily out of love for Him. If you are a Christian, it is God's desire for you to know Him and for Him to know you--- He wants to connect with you.

Jessica, back that up with scripture! Hosea 6:6-- one of my favorite verses in the Bible-- says, "I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." (New Living Translation). I love this because God is so straight forward: He wants a deep and personal relationship with you. Above rituals, above traditions, above service, above sacrifice, He wants to know you. He wants to connect with you.

This leads me to my next point:

Why is it important to connect with God?

Simply put: Until we connect with God through Jesus Christ, we can't know Him. We can look to the entire gospel of John to be evidence of this, but here a couple of specific scriptures to back that up:

• "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” John 14:6-7 (New Living Translation)

• "And this is the way to have eternal life-- to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3 (New Living Translation)

Okay, now that we've got an understanding of connecting with God, let's get into this thing!

Daily habit #1: Get off your phone

Jess, why did you choose this as the first habit? I'm glad you asked. Our phones, specifically social media, are helpful tools to keep us connected to the world, but it can also distract us from abiding in Christ, as we are commanded to do in John 15.

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5-6 (New Living Translation).

Why does Jesus tell us to do this? Two reasons: 1) Because relationships are a two-way street. In order to get to know someone you're in a relationship with, you spend time with them. It is not enough for God to simply know us, but we need to know Him, and 2) Because remaining in Christ is how we produce the fruit of the spirit, which is evidence to the world that Christ abides in us. Jesus models throughout the gospels how we are to abide in Him privately, alone, and without distraction:

• "After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone." Matthew 14:23 (New Living Translation)

• "Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray." Mark 1:35 (New Living Translation).

And it is in Luke 5:16 that we see Jesus make being alone with God (abiding) a routine:

"But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer." (New Living Translation).

Here's the point: In order to get alone with God daily, we have to step away from our distractions daily.

Testimony Time!

In these first couple weeks of school starting, I've scrolled and scrolled and scrolled through social media, seeing my friends join sororities, get plugged into a small group bible study, and make other friends-- things that, because I love my friends, should make me excited and overjoyed for them. Nope. Instead, I started experiencing deep feelings of comparison and FOMO (fear of missing out), that I haven't felt since my junior year of high school. But despite my frustration with this, I kept scrolling until one day last week, the Holy Spirit (which is the Spirit of God that dwells within me), convicted me of how much time I spent in the world (aka social media) before spending time in the Word each morning.

Immediately, I turned off my phone and went to Jesus in prayer. I wrote this in my prayer journal:

"Jesus, YOU ARE WORTHY OF MY HEART! YOU ARE WORTHY OF MY IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE! You are worthy, so please help me to remember that there is nothing of the world that I could be "missing out" on because You alone are the quench to my thirsty soul. THERE IS NOTHING I COULD MISS OUT ON!!!! You are everything I am missing."

Each morning this week, I have (not perfectly) gotten before God to connect with Him before I've gotten on my phone to connect with the world and you know what? I'm not missing a thing! There is nothing better in this world; there is nothing on social media that is better than knowing the God of the Universe. The comparison I have been feeling has been replaced with peace and confidence knowing that God has placed me at Texas A&M for a unique purpose and He has prepared a community for me that He will provide at just the right time. I am not missing a thing.

Call to Action

Over the summer, my pastor gave me (along with the church) probably the best piece of advice I've ever received. "If prayer is how we speak to God, scripture is how He speaks back to us."

Friends, we have to get alone with God to know who He is and what He has planned for us.

So, I encourage you: GET OFF YOUR PHONE and get to a private place with Jesus. This doesn't have to look like locking yourself in your closet and your bible for three hours. Your time with God can last for as little or as long as you want it to, but set aside time in your day to turn off the voices of the world and tune into the voice of God. This world has nothing to offer you that is greater than knowing the Lord of your salvation, but in order to know Him; in order to connect with him, you and I have to daily fix our eyes on Him first; giving Him our undivided attention.

Step one: GET OFF YOUR PHONE! The world can wait, you are not missing a thing.

XOXO, Jess :)