NWR: What do you do to feel closer to God?

sessionswedding · September 2011

FI and I have been discussing this the past couple of days. When you feel separated from God, what sorts of things do you do as an individual to make yourself feel closer to Him again? What do you and your FI/DH do as a couple to spend time with God together?

As an individual, I am lacking. I am working on greatly imporving my prayer life, and I am trying to remember to pray continually and let God be in control of my decision making.

As a couple, FI and I have a nightly "Bible time." We are currently reading through the New Testament and Psalms together, but sometimes we feel like we don't get much out of it. Unfortunately we don't pray out loud together, because FI feels awkward about it, but we do pray silently. Then we of course go to church together: college Bible study followed by "big church" on Sunday morning, and college worship and Bible study on Wednesday night.

The thing is, FI and I both feel - individually and as a couple - like we want more God, but we don't know how to get there.

sprtychick10 · September 2011

I would love for FI and I to grow closer to God as a couple. I am becoming more and more active in the church his family attends but with his work and school schedule, it's hard for him to get to attend church service and church related activities.

I feel closer to God by listening to contemporary Christian music and reading devotionals.

sessionswedding · September 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_nwr-feel-closer-god?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:227d0c74-be41-4c0b-bbcd-c5af9730d61ePost:90f50ab7-6f7f-4073-922a-8cab1b0cbb1e">Re: NWR: What do you do to feel closer to God?</a>:
[QUOTE]I would love for FI and I to grow closer to God as a couple. I am becoming more and more active in the church his family attends but with his work and school schedule, it's hard for him to get to attend church service and church related activities. <strong>I feel closer to God by listening to contemporary Christian music</strong> and reading devotionals.
Posted by sprtychick10[/QUOTE]
FI and I both keep the local Christian station on in our cars, at least most of the time.

RebeccaJac · September 2011

We're doing the Bible in 90 days program and go on silent retreats to get alone with God. We're pretty proactive in asking how each other is doing spiritually. I've found that unless I am really disciplined about quiet time and getting away with God I turn into a crap fiance and go lax on everything from patience to boundaries.

Someone advised me a long time ago that sometimes having that much spiritual intimacy can lead to places you don't want to go before you're married. I still think I need to guard my heart even at this stage of the game. We don't really do our quiet times together, I don't know if that will change once we're married. I kind of like my personal time with God.

I would reccommend a daily devotional though, if you're not connecting well wtih your plan currently. I have one from Beth Moore and FI has one he's going through with his guy friends. I don't remember what it's called.

ochemjenn · September 2011

We are struggling with this as well. We haven't even been attending church together lately. I was sick a couple of weekends ago and he was wprking, and this coming weekend he'll be gone for a bachelor party so I'll be going alone. Well, assuming I remember that the serivce time has changed. :P

fpaemp2011 · September 2011

If I don't keep up with my quiet times, I can feel it. I haven't been doing so great in that area lately and DH, as the spiritual leader of our home, has been challenging me to keep up with them and helping to keep me accountable.

We pray together before meals that we eat together and before bed. DH is usually the one who prays outloud. (The church/home/culture I was raised in taught that it was inappropriate for a woman to pray outloud in front of a man, so I struggle with praying in front of DH or in a mixed group). We only listen to Christian music, and play hymns while we're falling asleep.

We bought the Sacred Marriage book & devotional to go through together, as well as Night Lights by James Dobson but haven't started either of them yet.

Not going to church together wouldn't even cross my mind...mainly because H is a pastor, so we kinda have to be there. I am having a hard time adjusting to Sunday being a work day for him. Seems like everyone has something going on that can't wait until he gets to the office on Monday. And he's "just" a youth pastor...can't even imagine what it will be like if he ever accepts a senior pastor position.

iamjoesgurl · September 2011

I admit that I struggle with this too. I am terrible at quiet time. I really need to fix that.

When we have dinner together, we do a devotional where DH reads the Bible and I read the devotional or vice versa. But we haven't been eating dinner together much lately. (Things should slow down soon and we can have dinner more often.) We also pray together sometimes before bed - I always pray. (He says the meal blessing a lot but for some reason when we pray before bed, it's always me.)

We also go to church together each week. Before getting married, we decided this was really important to us. His parents never go to church together since his dad is Catholic and his mom is Baptist. I just felt that it was really important for us to share that time together and he agrees.

We also go to a lot of Christian concerts (about once a month) where we are always drawn closer to God. I think that some people experience worship primarily through music, some through teaching, others through corporate prayer, etc. We each feel closest to God when worshipping through music so I would say that concerts are important for that.

sessionswedding · September 2011

I wish I lived in an area where going to Christian concerts often was an option! We used to go to WinterJam every year, but we don't anymore. And unfortunately, I work days and FI works evenings, so we don't have meals together very often at all (maybe 3 or 4 times a week). I just continue to pray that we WILL get closer to God!

mrandmrsbrist · September 2011

Worship is huge for me. I'm not talking about just listening to Christian music, but I have had great worship times in my car listening to KLove. I actively seek out places that I can go for worship times...places outside of my usual body. I know where these palces are and when I'm struggling I find myself going to more of them than I usually do. I feel closest to God during worship.

naomikb · September 2011

We don't live together right now so it is hard to do things together. When we are together (maybe one weekend every 6 weeks) we go to church to worship and sing, and we pray before meals together. We attempted some daily bible study, but it didn't last more than a couple of days, it was hard to make time in the evenings.

I have a short devotional that pops up on my iPod every day, I don't read it every day but catch up on a few at a time sometimes. I'm trying to get into the habit of reading it before I get out of bed.

Other than that, I listen to contemporary Christian music on my computer/iPod/as my alarm clock. I haven't found a local station to turn into that I can find on my radio in the GTA though.

NWR: What do you do to feel closer to God?

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