Once you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He does not want you to stop there - He wants to have a personal relationship with you! He wants you to have a close relationship with Him and to know Him in a real way - like you know a human friend!
Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with" - what? - "ALL of your heart." (emphasis added) It is when you make the Lord your #1 priority and seek for Him with all of your heart that you will truly find Him - THAT is when you taste Him, know Him, and can’t help but love Him!
#1 Priority:
~ Make the Lord and knowing Him your #1 goal and priority.
~ It involves choices! He comes BEFORE anything else. Everything else must line up with knowing Him! This means time with Him comes first before hanging out with others, you read His Word before you check your e-mail, you choose things that will help you in your walk with Him, etc.
(You know you do this because you know that your relationship with the Lord is what you were created for, the only place you will find true fulfillment, and the way you will bring glory to God!)
~ The more you do this, the more you will know the Lord and see that it is so worth it!
Seeking Him with ALL of your heart:
~ Ask yourself what the things are that decrease and increase your love for God.
Here are a few things that you have helped me come up with:
~ Decrease: sin, wrong friends, tv, self, internet, distraction with boys, laziness, things in wrong priority*
*Idols - Remember that things that stand in God’s way (or take His rightful place) are really idols. Get them out! They can even good things taking priority over God.
NOTHING is worth standing in the way of the most important thing in the world - your relationship with the Lord!
~ Increase: time with Him, reading His Word, worship, being with others who love Him, remembering what He has done for you, prayer...
Pursue those things that you know increase your love for God and help you grow in your relationship with Him! Every step you take, minute you spend, and choice you make to follow Him will bring you closer in your relationship with Him!
~ Look at your life, accept God’s grace to remove the things are decreasing your love for Him and to pursue that things that increase your love for Him!
As you do this, you will know Him more and when you know Him, you find He is the best friend you could EVER have!
"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." Phil. 3:7-8
