5 ways I learned to be more influenced by God: Confession #68

Have you ever had someone ask you about the influences in your life?

I was asked this same question recently and gave a fairly typical response: my wife, my kids, my parents. And of course, at the end I said God.

But even as the words left my mouth, I doubted what I was saying. Are we really influenced by God as much as we think we are?

Often what we see as being influenced by God might more likely be influence from other things. Most of us are also affected by our traditions or by the expectations of the guy sitting in the pew behind us or by the preacher yelling at us.

Photo by Miguel Saavedra (Creative Commons)

Being affected by these other things is human nature, but here are 5 steps we can take to try to be more influenced by God.

1. Develop a relationship. In order for someone to influence you, there must be interaction between the two people. The best ways to get tighter with God are to read the Bible and pray. If you are like me, you have good intentions, but the implementation is difficult. Decide what works best for you and then do the work.

2. Don’t try harder. If your focus in your relationship with God is to try harder and be better, your relationship will suffer. You are not the little blue engine. Give up the efforts to please God. He loved you while you were yet in your sin, and even as a Christian, you are still a sinner. The law is there to help and guide you, but it will not save you. Only Jesus can do that.

3. Stop being right. Nothing will stifle God’s influence more than if rigidity that is brought about by someone who is unwilling to learn. If you think you have God figured out, then close the door for God to work in your life because it becomes about you and not him. Be humble and willing to learn new things.

4. Ask questions and try new things. This is the green egg and ham approach to church.  You will never know the extent to which your traditions direct you until you understand different traditions. Don’t be afraid to ask why you do the things you do. Unless your are willing to discover your true motivations, you will be unable to change what influences you.

5. Take risk. Struggling to completely trust God? Put yourself in a position where you have no choice but to trust him. Try something that you know that you are unable to do on your own and then watch your relationship grow. Trusting him will influence you more than singing songs in church.

The goal is to experience a deep, influential relationship from God more and more. You can share what has helped you be influenced more by God by clicking here.