“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8

“I have no time.”

We are all given 24 hours in a day. We can give God some of it. Every single day is a gift from Him. We all have busy schedules. We all have excuses. If you really feel squeezed, then start by giving God five minutes of your time. If you can take five minutes to text a conservation, tweet a message, upload a photo onto FaceBook, watch a funny video on YouTube, watch a show on TV, pick up the newspaper, or even to read this blog, then you have five minutes for God.

If you only talked to your friends a few times a year, you wouldn’t have much of a relationship with them, would you? You really wouldn’t know much about them. How often do you spend time with God? Would you consider Him to be a distant friend, close friend, or your best friend?

Here are a few simple steps to get closer to God and to let Him get closer to you:

Give Him praise and worship. Make time to thank God for who He is, what is has done, what He is doing, and what is yet to come. Acknowledge the great things He has done in your life. Sometimes its easier to do this when you have listened to or sung a song, or even played music for God. This will help you enter into the presence of God and help your heart focus on Him. Tell God how much you love Him today!

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” (Psalm 146:1-2)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” Psalm 100:4

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” (1 Chronicles 16:29)

“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:19).

“Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” (Psalm 149:3)

Say a prayer. Bow your heart before Him with an attitude of thanksgiving, and then lay everything on your mind and heart upon Him. You don’t have to use fancy words or pray in a certain way. The Holy Spirit helps us pray. Sometimes it is easier to think of prayer as just talking to God. Have conservation with Him today!

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

“…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)

Read the Bible. Make the time to read His Word either printed or electronically, whichever is most suitable to you. You could start by reading a small passage from Genesis and from Matthew until you read through the Bible. Choosing a particular book of the Bible to read is another approach. Perhaps a certain topic is weighing heavy on your mind. You could do a topical study. Sometimes God will even impress upon your mind a certain scripture. Look it up and then read it in context.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

Apply God’s Word to your life. Make time to think about it, memorize it, write it down, paraphrase it in your own words, keep a journal to write about how a scripture or passage is meaningful to you, personalize it, pray the scripture, and/or share it with someone else. Everyone’s application looks a little different. Experiment and see what approach is best for you. Try it today!