The world we’re living in right now looks pretty different to the world of two months ago. But one thing that hasn’t changed is God.
God still loves us, He still has a plan for our lives, and He wants us to draw closer to Him during this crisis. Here are 5 things you can do to improve your relationship with God during COVID-19.
1. Constant Communication
Think for a moment about your best friend. Now imagine that the two of you never spoke. You didn’t celebrate moments of success together or turn to each other in times of need. Chances are, your relationship would fizzle out pretty quick.
Because solid relationships need solid communication – and the same is true for our relationship with God. If we want to improve our relationship with God, we need to communicate with Him through prayer.
If you’ve never really carved out time in your day to pray before, start small. When you wake up, invite God into your day and ask him to bless it. When you go to sleep, reflect on the day and thank God for it.
Try to find at least 10 minutes sometime during the day to just talk to God. If you’re not sure how, just tell him what’s on your mind – share your worries, your uncertainties, the areas of your life where you really need his grace.
2. Find Silence
God wants to speak to us, but often, our lives are too busy and too noisy to hear His voice. What we need is silence.
For thousands of years, men and women called “hermits” have left their ordinary lives and journeyed into the desert to find solitude and silence. With everything shutting down because of COVID-19, suddenly we can find that same silence right in our homes (as long as we remember to put our phones on do-not-disturb!).
Try to make a few minutes for silence each day. It might feel a bit uncomfortable – we usually aren’t used to silence in our day-to-day lives! But God is waiting for us in the quiet.
3. Read the Bible
While God speaks through silence, the other big way that He communicates with us is through His Word, the Bible. No matter what’s going on in your life right now, no matter how you’re feeling, God has something to say to you.
If you’re struggling with fear or anxiety, read John 14:27 “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
If you’re lonely, read Hebrews 13:5 “God has said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
If you feel like you’re not strong enough for whatever life has thrown at you, Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
If you want to improve your relationship with God, open your Bible every day. Again, start small, and just spend a few minutes each day reading a particular chapter.
4. Attend a Church Service Online
For the first time in many of our lives, we can’t attend church in-person each Sunday. There’s no more crowded pews, no more worship band, and no more catching up with friends afterwards over lukewarm tea and biscuits.
But that doesn’t mean that we can’t attend church at all. Many churches have quickly made the move to online services. Even if your church hasn’t, you can definitely join with another congregation that has.
Even though watching church through a screen isn’t quite the same, try to join in as much as you can. Stand up when you normally would to sing and worship. Bow your head in prayer. Listen and take notes during the sermon. We might not be able to be together in person, but we can still worship together in spirit.
5. Find Ways to Connect with Your Community
The author John Donne once wrote that “No man is an island” and that’s definitely true in the context of our faith. We aren’t meant to do faith alone. We need a place to go to share our successes, to get support when we are struggling, and to pray together. We need a community.
While we can’t gather together in person at the moment, we can still find other ways to connect with one another.
Recently, the Real Talk team gathered over a Zoom video call to pray. We read a passage from the Bible, we listened to some worship music, and we shared any prayer intentions we had. It felt pretty different to our usual in-person team prayer, but it was still are great to connect with each other and with God.
Conclusion
In the midst of everything changing right now, our one constant will always be God. He wants to draw close to us, through all the uncertainty, stress and even boredom. The best thing we can do right now is invest in our relationship with Him!