Over the years, teaching and equipping people to succeed spiritually, I’ve noticed something. Yet, most people are completely unaware of this very alarming fact!

Last September, I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Israel with a few family members, some company staffers and several faithful clients. As soon as we landed in Tel Aviv, I asked every single person what they wanted to get out of this experience. Most of the answers had something to do with getting closer to God, learning to hear His voice better and strengthening their relationship with Him.

This is a very common desire among believers. However, for years I’ve witnessed people saying they want to be closer to God, but they’re not willing to put in the work it takes to get there.

That’s what made this Israel trip so awesome for the group, because they got to see and experience the dedication and absolute devotion of the Jewish people to God. They know the Word of God and it shows in their actions and lives. Several among the group listed this as one of the most profound parts of the trip, seeing what it takes to actually follow God and keep His commandments. And they became more inspired, encouraged and determined to fully follow God and put in the effort to get close to Him.

This realization put these people on their own, individual, path to a deeper personal relationship with their Father. Unfortunately, these days our culture teaches us to depend on other people for our faith. We have been taught to “outsource” our faith. We rely on a person inside a church to read the Bible to us on Sunday morning, instead of opening the book and diving in for ourselves. Or, we read other people’s commentaries, instead of reading His actual Word and discovering what it holds for us.

The problem is, when you depend on other people for your faith, you get a watered-down version of someone else’s beliefs. When we rely on someone else to teach us the Word of God, instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us, we can so easily make that person our god.

It takes time, effort, dedication and work to truly get to know God. I know this idea may seem totally foreign to you. And if that’s the case, don’t feel bad. You’ve probably been taught something completely different your entire life. Or perhaps you haven’t been taught anything, regarding spiritual matters.

Building and strengthening a relationship with the Most High God is like building a relationship with anyone else. It’s not effortless. It doesn’t just happen. Your best friend didn’t become your best friend overnight. You spent time with them, got to know them, learned what they like and dislike. You like to be around them. You celebrate when they celebrate, and you cry when they cry. You put time and energy into the relationship and that’s how you strengthened the relationship with your best friend.

It works the same way with God!

So today, make a decision to really get to know your Father in heaven. Focus on building and strengthening your relationship with Him. Spend time with Him, get to know Him. Learn what He likes and what He doesn’t like. Celebrate what He celebrates, and hate what He hates. And guess where you can find ALL of this information? His Word! It’s all right there, in black and white, just waiting for you to discover!

Don’t depend on another human being to bring you closer to your God, your Father. When you pursue Him, you will find Him and you will know Him!

I would love to know your thoughts on The Daily Fix today. How do you spend time with your Father? How do you strengthen your relationship with Him? How do you get to know Him better? Let me know below!

And don’t forget to tune in for our weekly Spiritual Equipping episode of The Dani Johnson Show today, for more biblical insights and inspiration. You can find the show on your TV and radio and please remember you can always stream today’s show right here on our website.

In great faith,

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