A friend once asked me; “How do you know so much about God?”
My response was; “How do you know so much about your best friend?”

Not that I know everything about God; there are things I don’t even know that I don’t know about God! But really; how do we get to know someone? Checking out their Facebook page or Instagram feed is only going to get us so far. We can read about God in our bibles and books and texts, but we’re probably not going to get to know Him any better than we would get to know Abraham Lincoln if we read his biography.

Having knowledge about something or someone is totally different than having a relationship or experience. Not that there isn’t a place for book-smarts about God, but that is only going to take us so far. We obviously can’t sit with Abraham Lincoln and ask him questions and get to know him because he died a hundred and fifty years ago. Beside that, one day we’ll have read everything there is read about him, so then what? But praise be to God that there is a fountain of knowledge of Him that never runs dry; because Jesus is alive!

So how do we get to know someone? We would spend time with them, ask them questions, watch their reactions. So why should God be any different? If Jesus is always here and present with us (as He claims and promises in Matthew 28:20), then why would it be absurd to believe that spending time with Him one-on-one would allow us to get to know Him better? He says in Jeremiah 29:13 that if we look for Him with our whole hearts, we will find Him.

But how do we spend time with Him? Here are 5 ways I spend time and get to learn and experience Him.

1. Bible Study

Whether it’s digital or in person, I’ve found that engaging in bible studies allows us to get past the black-and-white text of the bible. The thing I love most about bible study, and something I think many people miss when they don’t engage in bible study, is context. Learning the context and background of the time the scripture was written allows us to get past the literal writing and more into understanding where the author is coming from.

When I say “digital” bible study, I mean the type where we would download or buy the lecture of the study, while we follow along in our study guide. A couple studies I’ve done are Beth Moore’s “Esther” study and Priscilla Shirer’s “Discerning the Voice of God”. We could do this on our own or with a group of friends. There’s usually about a 30-45 minute lecture we watch or listen to, then go home to work on our “homework” of questions based on the lecture and application to our life.

“In person” bible study can be a small group setting, or kind of a lecture. In a small group setting, we could pick up a study guide from a Christian book store and go through the bible to answer the questions. I’ve also done a bible study in a small group setting where it was more of a book club; we would read a chapter of a Christian book (like Crazy Love by Francis Chan) and got together every week to go over what we got out of that week’s chapter. There was also an accompanying leader’s guide for that book to ask some thought-provoking questions as well.

Another type of larger lecture formats are groups such as the Bible Study Fellowship. As far as format, there’s a lecture, then we break into small groups to go over questions, and a study guide that we’re sent home with every week to read and complete to come back and discuss again the following week.

The beauty of the in person and small group studies is that because we all come from different walks of life with different life experiences with different backgrounds, we all bring something to the table. One person could answer a question in a completely different way than another person could have read the passage, and neither of them are wrong. Being in a small group allows you to get a broader view of God, He’s so much bigger and complex than just us.

2. Meditation

I do this a lot when I’m traveling solo and there’s a couple different ways to go about this as well.

When I travel, it’s usually solo so there is a lot of quiet time for me to sit and reflect. We could do this in our own town though. Just take a look around at all of the beautiful things God makes; the trees, the grass and flowers. How perfectly the eco-system works. We can reflect on our friendships and other relationships and think about the fact that we’re even capable of feeling positive feelings, and what those feelings physically feel like. Just sit, be still and praise God for His works. We can pray that He reveals more of His creativity and beauty to us (although, He still hasn’t explained to me the existence of mosquitos and cockroaches).

Bible journaling is another method I use to meditate. I purchased a special journaling bible with extra large margins to draw and color in, but you could do this in any bible. I’ll usually read the scripture on the page (with context from the page before) and ask God to reveal a verse to meditate on. When He’s shown me that verse, a verse that pops out to me, I bust out my coloring pencils and start to sketch; whether it’s just re-writing the verse or drawing a picture of what it represents to me, and just meditate on that verse.

We could also do this in a regular journal/diary, which is always fun to look back on to see how far we’ve come. I like to use the SOAP method:

• S – Scripture. I have a devotional a friend of mine had gifted me which I got my ‘S’ from for this exercise. A lot of people have a devotional called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, which might be helpful to prompt us with the rest of the exercise.
• O – Observation. What is God trying to show us in this scripture? What’s the overall message He has for us with this message? Think about the events of late or of events  that are coming up that apply to this scripture and write them down.
• A – Application. How does this apply to us? Get personal. Is it a word of encouragement from God? Guidance? Correction?
• P – Prayer. Prayer is two-way communication with God. We pray about what we’ve learned today from this, and ask Him to reveal more to us. Then wait expectantly for Him to respond.

3. Small/Community Groups

Birds of a feather flock together. Living in community and spending time with other Christians who are devoted to their walk can help inspire us to get to know God better, and get to see how He has changed their lives and what He continues to do. By building a community or group of like-minded friends (those who are pursuing God at full speed), we build a system of accountability. Often times, God will use these friends to speak to us, through them. I think we can agree that life is already difficult enough, so why not have that foundation of friendships that will show us God’s love when we’ve screwed up, and that will encourage us in the difficult things to keep on walking on the right path? We need friends that are going to jam us up and (lovingly and fairly) correct us. If we are only surrounded by people that tell us what we want to hear, or encouraging us to do or act in a way that we know isn’t right with God, we need new friends.

4. Listen to Worship Music

This is pretty straightforward. Sometimes when we can’t find the words, there’s always a song that expresses exactly what we’re feeling or thinking. So while we’ve got background music on while we’re doing chores, commuting to work or maybe homework, we can listen to worship music. Sometimes, a little nugget slips through and there’s a phrase or a line that we can meditate on. For me, it’s often a reference to scripture that leads me to Google the line to help me locate it in the bible to meditate or marinate on.

5. Mentorship

Mentorship is a relationship where a person with more experience or knowledge helps guide another person with less knowledge or experience. We see it in the business world or more popularly, the Big Brothers/Big Sisters programs. Our walk with the Lord is a lifelong journey, and I have found that having someone who has been there and done that, help me get through life with advice that is biblical and Christ-based, has been incredibly encouraging and and insightful to me. I meet with my mentor twice a week and always leave with some new insight or encouragement that God drops on me during my coffee dates with my mentor. If you don’t already have someone in mind, you could go to your pastor at church and ask him to help you find one.

These are all methods I use or have used that have worked for me. Spending as little as maybe 30 minutes every day outside of Sunday church service will make a world of change in our spiritual lives. God loves us and is waiting open arms for us, so it’s impossible for us not to get to experience Him if we really want to.

What are some other methods you use to get to know people or to get to know God?