Forgive. Realize that you can’t truly be close to God if you’re at odds with people. Be willing to pursue forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration with every broken relationship you have. God expects you to forgive others because He has forgiven you, and you can count on Him to help you through the process.

Pray often. Keep in close contact with God through frequent prayer. Be assured that God accepts every sincere prayer, whether you’re uttering a few brief phrases on the run or pouring your heart out to Him in an extended prayer vigil. But when you pray, don’t just talk to God; be sure to listen to Him, too. Write down important insights He gives you. Obey what He tells you to do. Expect that as you listen more to God and respond more to what He says, it will become easier for you to recognize His voice.

Intercede for others. If you sense God leading you to pray for others, do so in humility. Never presume that you know what’s best for them, but be willing to help them by presenting their needs to God in prayer, trusting that He will answer according to what’s best.

Guard against deception. Discern whether or not messages you hear spiritually are truly from God by: judging the fruit of those messages (they should move you closer to God and more loving toward people, rather than leading to self-aggrandizement, manipulating others, or actions that harm or deceive), staying under spiritual authority and in fellowship (such as by respecting a pastor you trust and being accountable to other mature Christians), making sure the messages are consistent with the Bible as a whole (God-given messages never contradict His Word), remembering that God often confirms His thoughts in more than one way, and learning to recognize counterfeit messages.

Invite God to pour His love through you. Trust God’s love to fill up every empty space inside your soul, overcoming every longing, unmet need, and loss. Welcome His love into your life fully, so that it transforms you and flows through you out into the lives of other people, transforming them as well.

Adapted from Closer Than Your Skin: Unwrapping the Mystery of Intimacy with God, copyright 2008 by Susan D. Hill. Published by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., Colorado Springs, Co., www.randomhouse.com/waterbrook/. 
Susan Hill is an award-winning feature writer and a leader of interdenominational women’s groups, where she frequently hears of the common longing for authentic Christian faith. She also serves on the board of the Uganda Orphans Fund, a non-profit Christian relief organization. Susan and her husband, Duncan, have three children and live in Montana.