GoDEEPER WITH GOD
Practical, beginner friendly guides for the spiritual disciplines — Bible study, prayer, fasting, and cultivating a real relationship with the Lord.
How to Study the Bible
- 1.Start with prayer. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you into all truth. Trust Him to be your ultimate teacher. The same Spirit who inspired the Word is the one who unlocks it.
- 2.Start with one book in the Bible. The Gospel of John is a great first stop — Jesus shows you who He is in His own words. You can also study by topic. Open Bible lets you search scriptures on a particular topic so you can study what God says about whatever you are walking through.
- 3.Read slowly. Do not feel pressured to read a lot. God can reveal a lot in a little. One verse sat with in stillness will outweigh ten chapters skimmed.
- 4.Read in proper context. The Bible was written hundreds of years ago and the time period was different historically. You may need to look things up. Enduring Word is a good resource for solid commentary.
- 5.Look up word meanings in the original Greek and Hebrew. Blue Letter Bible is a great free tool for this. The original language often opens the verse wide.
- 6.Ask questions of every passage. What does this reveal about God? What is the message that God wants me to learn? How does this message apply to my life?
- 7.Keep a notebook. Underline. Write the date next to verses that hit. The Word becomes alive when you treat it like a conversation, not a checklist.
Scriptures to Stand On
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth."
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."
"Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path."
"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night."
How to Pray
- 1.Prayer is not a performance. God is not measuring your prayers up against anyone else's. He wants you to speak to Him. Be honest. Use your own words, the way you actually speak.
- 2.Know that God also wants to speak to you. Prayer is not just conversation. Prayer aligns you with the heart, mind, and will of God, and it is something to prioritize.
- 3.When you pray, you are creating an altar. Your prayers bring down the fire of God. Do not let your fire go out. Tend it daily.
- 4.Be intentional. Same chair, same hour if you can. Consistency builds intimacy and trains your spirit to expect Him.
- 5.Try the ACTS pattern. Adoration, praise Him. Confession, be honest about sin. Thanksgiving, thank Him for what He has already done. Supplication, bring your requests.
- 6.Pray when you do not feel like it. That is usually when you need it most.
Scriptures to Stand On
"Pray continually."
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
"The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."
"When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen."
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
How to Fast
- 1.Biblically, fasting is abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose. That is the fast we are talking about. It is laying down what your body craves so your spirit can press in to what God is saying.
- 2.Start small. Skip one meal and use that time to pray and read the Word. Build from there as the Lord leads. Some fast until sundown. Some fast for a set number of days.
- 3.Pair every fast with prayer and Scripture. An empty stomach by itself is just hunger. Hunger that turns toward God becomes a doorway.
- 4.Drink water and seek wisdom. If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor. The point of the fast is your closeness with God, not punishing your body.
- 5.Do not perform it. Jesus said fast in secret. Tell only the people who genuinely need to know.
- 6.Expect God to move. Fasting is where strongholds break, where direction comes, and where the enemy loses ground he thought he had.
Scriptures to Stand On
"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting."
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?"
"Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
"However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day."
How to Cultivate a Relationship With God
- 1.Talk to Him constantly. In the car. In the shower. While you wash dishes. Make Him the running conversation of your day.
- 2.Worship out loud. Songs put words in your mouth when you do not have any of your own.
- 3.Get in a Bible-teaching church. You cannot grow alone. The branch needs the vine and the vine grows in a garden.
- 4.Obey the small things quickly. Obedience is the language of love. Jesus said so. The closer you walk, the more He speaks.
Scriptures to Stand On
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit."
"If you love me, keep my commands."
"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life."
"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together."
Spiritual Disciplines That Sustain You
- 1.Daily time in the Word, even ten minutes.
- 2.A weekly Sabbath, one day to rest and remember you are not God.
- 3.Generosity. Give, even when it is small. It breaks the spirit of fear.
- 4.Confession. To God always, and to a trusted believer when needed. What is hidden controls you. What is brought to the light loses its grip.
Scriptures to Stand On
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."
"God loves a cheerful giver."
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."