4 Simple But Spiritual Ways To Deeply Connect With God Without Going To Church
Connecting with God along with others makes a difference in your faith.
Ben White via Unsplash Religion and spirituality have always been connected. You want to deepen your own belief and your spiritual bond with God.
However, you don’t have time to go to church or you just haven’t found the right faith community.
The good news is that there are many ways to still be religious and stay connected to your faith in God without going to church.
No matter what faith or religion you believe in, the reality is that God is all around you. God is in the plants, trees, animals, people, insects, water, air, and more.
God communicates with you when you quiet your mind and when you open your heart and feel the Spirit’s presence in your body. It may seem at times that God has abandoned you, but God has never left your side.
Here are 4 simple ways to deepen your spirituality and connection with God.
1. Quiet your mind
If God is going to get through to you, it is essential to quiet your mind. There are many ways to find inner peace.
Daily prayer is a powerful way to relax your mind. You might like to try a simple Centering Prayer. When praying, you come up with your sacred word or phrase, which you will use to quiet your mind whenever it gets busy.
Ideally, Centering Prayer works best when you give yourself a minimum of 20 minutes of silence once or twice a day. Quiet yourself down with prayer and three deep breaths. Once settled, stay quiet for the allotted time. Every time you get stuck in thought, focus again on your sacred word.
Your goal is not to rid your head of all thoughts. It is more about letting them flow by without getting stuck in any of them.
If you have never meditated before you will want to start slowly, you might want to try for at least five minutes a day. As you get more comfortable with meditation, lengthen your time until you get to 20-30 minutes.
There are many resources available to help you meditate. My favorite App is called Insight Timer, which you can get from the App Store and Google Play and access it for free.
There are many other ways to quiet your mind, including walking, gardening, cooking, listening to music, and anything else that helps to quiet your mind other than drugs or alcohol.
2. Remember to breathe
Thankfully we don’t have to think about breathing. We do it without thinking.
You are probably like most of us and don’t always breathe deeply. Under stress, you are more likely to take shallow breaths. When you are not breathing deeply, you are more likely to feel exhausted, overwhelmed and anxious.
Why is something like breathing properly so hard? You would think it should be easy. The good news is that the solution is not hard.
Throughout your day, check your breathing and make sure you are breathing deeply.
If you take time to meditate daily, this will help you build better breathing habits. With practice, you will notice a big difference.
Life will seem to flow easier because your body, brain, and heart are getting all the oxygen they need.
3. Notice
You have a busy life and there is always something to do.
You live in a world whose motto is "More is always better." But, God has a different plan. He desires you to slow down and notice what is going on around you and within you. God requires you to take time to do nothing.
The Spirit requires you to learn to live in the moment so you can pay attention to the Holy. It is hard to stay focused on God when you are stuck in the past and future.
When you live in the moment, you can pay attention to your three energy centers, the head (quiet mind), the heart (emotions) and the body (sensations).
God provides a wealth of wisdom through these God-given gifts.
When you are open in your three energy centers, you will know without struggle what God is calling you to do.
4. Risk
God will speak to you! The only question is, will you have the courage to follow through on God’s call.
With practice, you will know the difference between the voice of God and the voice of your ego. Your ego is usually loud, condemning and hard while the voice of God is quieter, calm and loving.
The voice of God will lead you into new adventures, experiences that you never dreamed of having. Your life will be changed.
All you have to do is say, "Yes!" Faith helps you to risk doing the work of God. With time you will learn to trust this inner voice. But, the only way to overcome your fear is by moving ahead and taking a leap of faith.
You will probably not hear a clear message. But, you will discern God’s will through the wisdom of the Spirit coming to you through your mind, heart, and head.
The more you risk your faith, the closer to God you will become.
You can do all this without going to church, but you will always need a community founded in family and groups such as churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples.
You need your family, friends, and colleagues to help you live a good life. You need others just as much as God needs you.
Remember, there is no one way to connect with God. An excellent place to start is to learn what your faith tradition offers.
If you come from no one faith tradition, learn about some of the religions of the world and try out different rituals and prayers to see what is meaningful for you. It is always best to learn from people who are familiar with the rituals and beliefs.
If you meet a person who wants you to be obedient to their beliefs, be careful. Remember, God gave us a brain for a purpose. For a healthy relationship with God, you need to question beliefs and actions if your intuition is telling you something isn’t right.
Keep your mind quiet, breathe well, notice what is going on in and around you. Take the leap of faith when called upon, and you will build a strong bond with God.
If God keeps speaking to you in ways that uphold the great commandments which is to love God with all your heart and soul, love yourself and love your neighbor as yourself, you will know you are on the right path.
Roland Legge is a Life Coach who offers coaching through REL Consultants for individuals, couples, families, and executives to help them to be the best they can be. For more information, please arrange for a free 30-minute discovery call by sending an email.