How to Get Closer to God This Year! Becoming Rooted in Christ
Have you desired a deeper relationship and wanted to know how to get closer to God but feel like you don’t know how to get there? You may wonder how to draw near to Him but feel so distant in the midst of life and its trials. You may feel stagnant in your faith and wonder if that is how you will always feel.
You CAN begin drawing closer to God starting today! Read on to learn how to begin growing in our relationship with the Lord by examining our roots!
How to Get Closer to God – Growing Deep Roots in God
A few years ago, when living in South Carolina, we went through Hurricane Matthew. I never dreamed going through this Hurricane would result in a life lesson on how to get closer to God, but God has some unique ways of teaching us what He feels we need to learn when we need it.
This Hurricane frightened me quite a bit.
For one, my husband was mere inches from being killed when a tree fell right next to the spot he had been standing in seconds before when he went outside to pull a loose shingle off the house before it could fly off and break a window.
When they say “stay inside” during a Hurricane, take it seriously!
That tree hit the house but thankfully didn’t do much damage (and didn’t hit my husband!).
On top of some other damage (minor really) that our home went through, our driveway started to buckle.
We had a very old, VERY large oak tree in front of the house and its root system ran under the driveway.
When the strong winds and torrential downpours pulled the tree slightly to one side, it pulled on the roots under the driveway and made them burst through some of the concrete.
The tree was still standing, mostly due to the fact that, at its age, it had a substantial root system keeping it from toppling.
We appreciated that fact as it was right in front of the house.
Building a Relationship With God – Become Rooted in Christ
But looking at this driveway and seeing the roots underneath made me think about the roots of our faith.
It made me consider how to get closer to God and become rooted in Christ.
We are called to produce fruit. There is much written in the Bible about the fruits of the spirit but also about our production of fruit as believers.
Matthew 7:17-20 is one such verse. It says:
Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.
TLV
You see, in order for a tree to produce fruit, it has to be healthy. A tree that is unhealthy will not produce good fruit, or any fruit at all.
In order for a tree to BE healthy, it needs to gain sufficient nourishment.
It needs water, it needs healthy soil, it needs food (which it gets from the soil) and it needs sufficient light based on the needs of that particular tree.
Everything, except the light, is provided to the tree by its roots. Without a viable root system, the tree will not gain what it needs to produce fruit.
It will likely just continue to exist without fulfilling its intended purpose or it may wither and die.
To learn how to get closer to God you have to learn that, like that tree, if we do not have a strong root system, we cannot bear fruit and be a light to the world if we are not well rooted (in our case rooted in Christ, rooted in our Messiah Yeshua).
Matthew 13:3-8 says:
And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went out to spread some seed. As he was scattering the seed, some seeds fell by the road; and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil. They sprang up immediately, because the soil wasn’t deep.
But when the sun came up, they were scorched; and because they had no roots, they withered away. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out. But others fell on good soil and were producing fruit. They yielded a crop—some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
TLV
This parable that Yeshua shared demonstrates the importance of developing strong roots thereby showing us how to get closer to God, building a relationship with Him and deepening our relationship with others.
He said “since they had no root, they withered away.”
Yeshua made it clear; the lack of roots caused this withering to occur.
How to Get Closer to God – The Deeper the Roots the Greater the Fruit
Have you ever heard the saying “The deeper the roots the greater the fruit”?
Well, we too, like the seeds that fell on rocky ground, will wither away without producing fruit because we lack those roots.
So how do we ensure our roots are like that big old oak tree that was in my yard, resisting wind and rain and the storms of life through the strength of the Holy Spirit, walking with God every day?
Ephesians 3:17-19:
…so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to grasp with all the kedoshim (holy ones) what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled up with all the fullness of God.
tlv (parentheses mine)
Being rooted and grounded in love!
1 John 4:8:
Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love.
CJB
God is love! Knowing God is knowing love!
How do we know God? His Word!
How do we develop our relationship with God in love?
We become rooted and grounded and produce fruit when we know His Word and do it, showing love to others!
We become rooted and grounded and produce fruit when we know His Word and do it, showing love to others! Click To TweetRooted in Christ Through the Word
His Word is the light that gives us growth as the sun gives the tree the light it needs!
Yeshua is the bread of life! He is the living water! He fills us, through His Word just like the tree gets its nourishment through the soil!
The more time we spend in the Word, the deeper our roots run and the more fruit we will produce.
As God’s love takes root in us, we will do that which He desires of us!
Yes, producing fruit is important for the believer in pursuing how to grow closer to God and in being a light to others, but cannot be achieved without healthy roots.
Focus on the roots…being rooted in Jesus…and we will overflow with fruit!
Focus on the roots and we will overflow with fruit! Click To TweetHow to Get Closer to God – Practical Ways to Become Rooted
- Read the Word – You know the Lord best by reading His Word and seeing what it says about Him AND about you!
- Pray – Speaking with anyone will help you to know them better and will help you to deepen your relationship with them. Speaking with the Lord is no different. Spend time telling Him your hopes, your fears, your struggles.
- Do For Others – Spending time in service to others, simply because they are God’s children, will help you see people through His eyes. This will help you to draw more on His love for people and His love for you.
- Spend Time in Praise and Worship – When we love on our spouse, it helps deepen our feelings for them. While we should not rely on “feelings”, spending time in praise and worship helps us “feel” connected to Him. Aside from the fact that we should be praising Him just for who He is, it does have a very real way of making us come away from the world and focus solely on Him and His goodness.
- Don’t Forsake the Assembling of Yourselves Together – These are wise words from Hebrews 10:25. Attending church or synagogue can help you not only learn more about the Word but joining together with others in fellowship helps us to feel connected to Him in family.
- Confession and Repentance – Make sure that when you do make mistakes (and you WILL) that you confess them to the Lord and repent of them (turn away). Carrying sin around with you will not only burden you with a feeling of guilt but it will keep you from going to Him in prayer and the Word because of it. Sin separates us from Him.
- Have a Thankful Heart – Recognize that every blessing comes from the Lord. The fact that you got up this morning is a blessing worthy of gratitude. Thank Him for everything, even the trials because they build endurance, and be sure to express it. Keep a gratitude journal so that you can find things throughout your day to thank Him for.
Have you discovered other ways to draw from the living water, deepen your roots to help you learn how to get closer to God? Share what you have learned in the comments!
And be sure to get your FREE 7 Day Devotional on the 7 Sayings of Yeshua From the Cross below as my gift to you!
CJB – Taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.
Post updated from 1/20/2019 and 8/28/2020
