Mostly people have their own idea of religion. For many, these are rituals, rules and prohibitions, teachings and sacred books … But all this is so far from the Lord. This is what the general understanding of religion looks like - a kind of human knowledge, designed to get closer to any particular deity. In general, these representations include everything but genuine relationships.
Basic concepts
To understand how to get closer to God in Orthodoxy, you need to consider that you will need to build relationships with him. There are a number of texts in the Bible that show that God is with us, He wants to have fellowship with man. He speaks of some as old friends, and he speaks of all Christians as his children.
Answering the question of how self-confident people come to God, priests advise considering that you will have to see His love in many ways, but first of all in the fact that He himself solves the main problem of man - the problem of sin. The Son of God - Jesus Christ - is the highest proof of God's love for people. He went through the path of suffering to atone for the sins of men. His proposalconcerns everyone. He loves all people. It becomes easy to come to God if you understand that Jesus died for all people.
The way to God
The facts that govern our fellowship with the Lord are called spiritual laws. The main way to come to God is to learn about them and acknowledge them. It is important for anyone who wants to get closer to Him to get acquainted with the facts. They are found in the Bible. The first of these is that He loves mankind. The second fact is that it is sinful.
Although today we can come directly to the Lord Himself, the layman no longer wants to. In their place they send intermediaries, priests, preachers. They do not want to meet Him in person.
In ancient Israel, a person could come to Him only through a priest, and always with some kind of gift. This practice still exists today. This is common in today's society. Instead of the townsfolk thinking for themselves how to gain faith in God, how to go to Him, they go to church, and divine services are held there, when someone prays instead of them, reads the Bible - but they themselves do this only as formal ritual. And they listen to sermons, read interesting information, they sing songs that someone else has composed, but in fact, in this way they avoid direct contact with God.
Why? That they don't feel "worthy" enough? Or is there no time for God and they are not really interested in it? At the same time, they believe that God is needed for life - for example, in order to save us, so that in life wehelped, blessed, gave success, he alth, and also so that God finally came to death and raised a person to heaven.
A priest is not an intermediary
We do not live in antiquity. Because the innocent Christ sacrificed himself, no other sacrifices are needed. Through faith in Him, we can come to God without intermediaries.
Come to God yourself
It is not enough to rely on someone else that a person will receive the favor of the Lord, that he will be led to faith, this is a delusion. The question of how to come to God, you need to deal with yourself. After all, it was not in vain that He made a huge sacrifice in giving His Son to death, and people do not accept it.
Today everyone should turn to the Lord personally. He forgives those who believe in Him and confess their own sins. You can and should communicate with Him personally.
He who wondered how to come to God does not need human intermediaries. In Christ, people opened doors directly to God, and everyone can talk with Him about everything. About lies, about your limitations, about joy and success, but also about the ideas of life.
Necessity
Man was created to live in fellowship with God. However, he decided to be guided solely by his own ideas, regardless of the will of the Almighty. Human attitude is characterized by active resistance or passive indifference to Him and is a manifestation of what the Bible calls sin.
If man is sinful and God is holy,that is, a huge gulf that separates man from God. People sometimes wonder how to come to Him and achieve a full life in their own strength, such as right deeds, philosophy or religion. None of this, however, can solve the problem of their sin.
Tips: how to come?
Jesus Christ man must personally accept as Savior and Lord. Then he can know and experience His love. Sincerity is also important. It should be borne in mind that priests consider faith to be the original property of a person. It is worth repenting and talking with the Lord.
Take It
To accept Jesus means to admit that a person is a sinner, turn to God and repent of their sins. Repentance means not only regretting your misdeeds, but also eventually coping with them. It is not always easy, but God sees the human heart, sees if he thinks it is serious, and He Himself helps to overcome the things that lie between man and Him. The believer can trust Jesus to take his life into his own hands, to forgive his sins, and that God will make the person the way He wanted to be. And it is not enough just to realize with the mind that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for human sins. One must accept Christ by faith and by the decision of one's will.
Be reconciled to God
What does your current relationship with God look like? You can turn to Him at any time - in he alth and sorrow? If not, then there are some obstacles. It's like talking to people. If a person has a cool relationship with someone, and he does not have free timefor their development, so he understands that there are some obstacles. If he wants to restore communication with the same person interested in the same person, it will be necessary to remove the obstacles - to forgive and apologize.
The Bible states that between every person and the Lord lies an obstacle in the form of sin. And Christ became a "bridge" across the gulf between God and people. Each of us has done many things that are in conflict with God. Thus, if we follow Him, we must recognize that the obstacles in our relationship with Him must be removed so that we can live with Him. For example, the fact that we still lived in our own way and did not consider God.
Prodigal Son
Beginning a relationship with Him is best compared to the return of the prodigal son home. The Bible (from Luke) tells the story of a young man who left his father to enjoy life according to his wishes. When he gradually lost all his property that his father gave him (inheritance), he realized that he was best in the house. After all, his ideas about life led to complete ruin.
He went to his father asking for forgiveness and that he would be glad if he was given the opportunity to be one of his workers. He knew he didn't deserve to be a son because of what he had done. After all, he left his home. However, his father accepted him. Never for him did this prodigal son cease to be a son. He was glad that he returned home.
How to come to God?
How to get to the Lord at all, if you admit thatIs there a barrier of sin between man and Him? Christ opened the way to Him for man. We ourselves would not have been able to reach Him. After all, we have broken God's laws so many times in our lives in relationships, words, and thoughts that we cannot stand before the Lord. Christ, however, offered a sacrifice for human sins. The fact that He took our sins upon Himself allows us to come to God and ask him for the forgiveness of our sins. Of course, the fact that Christ died for our sins does not mean that our sins are automatically forgiven. God forgives what He is asked for.
Build a relationship with God
The beginning of a relationship with Him comes from the fact that you need to return to Him - to your Creator. This requires forgiveness. Thus, a relationship with the Lord begins with prayer. It may look, for example, as follows: "Lord God, I thank you that Your son - Jesus Christ died for my sins. I ask You to forgive me my sin. Please forgive me that I have not considered You until now ". Keep in mind that He Himself proclaimed: "Draw close to God."
When the prodigal son returned home, he again returned to the relationship of son and father. Again, he respected his father's authority. Therefore, it is important to continue further with a prayer: “Lord God, I ask You to accept me. I want to follow You.”
Building a relationship with Him takes time. And instead of watching the program “Thank God you have come” with the choir, you need to spend time talking with the Lord.
There is a big difference between being a modern-day slave of someone and beingto belong to someone who, by his death, saved a person from hell. The next part of the prayer, therefore, may look, for example, like this: "Lord God, thank you that Your son, Jesus Christ, paid the ransom for me. I want Him to be my master, and I - the one who will listen to Him".
You can pray alone, but it's much better to pray with someone from the faith. This can help a person in the beginning of communication with God, and at the same time the second person present will be a witness to a new decision.
God gives freedom
Any person has the right to decide the issue of reconciliation with Him. He is always happy to receive everyone, like the father of the prodigal son. And this should be remembered by everyone who has thought about how to come to God. You need to understand that you need to turn to the Lord not only in sorrow, but also in he alth. Often the path to God lies through many pains and sufferings.
