The Importance of Intentional Faith
In today’s fast-paced world, it can be easy to lose sight of what’s truly important in life. In caving to societal pressure to obtain good grades in school, earn an impressive salary, and achieve the perfect body, we sometimes allow our faith to take a backseat.
Over the years, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that the best way to build your faith is to be intentional about spending time with God. Growing up, I attended weekly church services, Sunday school, and the occasional bible study, but my time for God was limited to that.
Eventually, I began to promise myself that I would set aside a special time for God. Yet, I always ended up disappointing myself because I let my busy lifestyle take precedence over my desire for a more intimate relationship with God.
It wasn’t until I was a freshman in college, hundreds of miles away from home in a very difficult relationship, that I truly understood the importance of having intentional faith. Although I often found myself feeling like things were never going to get better, I ended up learning the value of going through the trials that God puts each of us through. Notably, I learned that experiencing challenges can be spiritually rewarding because they give us a reason to turn back to God and look for answers - which is exactly what I did.
In my time of need, I started to be intentional about my faith: I read my Bible during the week, prayed multiple times every day, and read my devotional with a renewed focus. Even though God didn’t take away the problems I was going through, He gave me peace about the tough decisions I had to make during that time. In the end, I was left feeling that God truly knew me as a person and what was best for me. Since then, I’ve learned to take comfort in knowing that everything I go through, from the highs to the lows, is a part of God’s beautiful plan for my life.
As I learned firsthand, the road to an intimate relationship with God is not always easy to navigate. Yet, there are several steps that you can take to transform your spiritual life and grow closer to God. I have highlighted them below.
1. Go to Church
Take a moment and think about how you spend your week. You might find that you spend more time on your phone in one day than you spend with God in an entire week. While it’s easy to scroll for hours at a time on Instagram, TikTok, or other social media sites, it’s equally as easy to spend just one hour worshiping God at church each week. God gives us twenty-four hours in a day, seven days per week. What do you give Him in return? The least we can do is spend sixty minutes attempting to grow closer to Him at a weekly church service.
2. Build a Christian Community
Going to church not only allows you to strengthen your relationship with God, but it also serves as a place to meet like-minded people. Regular churchgoers are those who choose to be intentional about how they spend their time, and it’s much easier to build a relationship with God when you surround yourself with people who are also working to build that relationship. Simple ways to make friends at church include introducing yourself to the greeters and ushers, sitting near someone new, and complimenting the pastor on his sermon after the service.
3. Be Accountable
God loves you and wants you to know Him intimately. However, it’s your responsibility to take the initiative and put in the work to foster that connection. God’s given you the tools, resources, and people you need to grow spiritually, but only you are accountable for actually putting them to good use. My advice is to start small: pray before you go to bed. Then, introduce Bible reading into your routine a couple of times per week. These simple, yet powerful measures will help you build the habit of making intentional time for God and conquer your personal trials with confidence and peace.