Theology & Life

“Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance…a deeper trust…a deeper knowledge of thyself…a deeper power in private prayer…[and] deeper holiness.” (Valley of Vision)

I want to go deeper; I desire to have more robust communion with God. That’s the struggle for all Christians, isn’t it? Or, at the very least, it should be. We should all want deeper fellowship with the Lord. Every single one of us should sincerely desire to have a more profound experience with God. Deeper communion leads to deeper sanctification.

And yet, this is something that is so difficult to obtain for one reason or another. But it starts with us. God’s not the problem—we are. I don’t say that as a slight against us, but more as an affirmation of God’s character and holiness. God is perfect; we are not. God isn’t the one who struggles with sin—we are. If we desire to go deeper with the Lord—to have richer communion with Him—then we must look in the mirror. We must fess up: we’re the problem. Though God has made us one with Christ (Gal. 3:28); though we are no longer His enemies, but friends; though the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we are still broken. We are still broken because we are still in our flesh.

So what can we do?

Deeper repentance. To repent is to make an about-turn from sin and to God. Timothy Keller once remarked, “Even our repentance needs to be repented of. Our heart motivations are never pure.” This shouldn’t send us in a downward spiral of dreaded despair, but remind us how frail and broken we are. Our repentance, you could argue, is never perfect.

God desires true repentance. Gone should be the days of double-mindedness—which we are commanded not to be (Js. 1:8)—when we are halfway repenting of sin and halfway giving excuses for it. If we desire deeper fellowship with God, our repentance must be more pure, more rich, more true. Our hatred of sin must become bigger, and our love for the Lord larger.

Deeper trust. Our trust in the Lord must grow if we desire to have richer fellowship with Him. We must take God at His word. The only way to go deeper with God is to increase our trust in God. Part of trusting the Lord means ensuring we become less (Jn. 3:30). No more trying to do things on our own; no more attempting to figure things out ourselves. If we want to have deeper communion with God, our trust in Him—and all that He is!—must grow. We must place all our weight on Him.

Deeper knowledge of God. Mere knowledge of God will only get one so far—but it still matters. Christians should want to continually know about God. Of course, we cannot trust God more if we do not know Him more. Our understanding of God—who He is, what He does, etc.—has to increase. We cannot have a vibrant relationship with someone we don’t know!

Take this as an opportunity to learn theology. Not for its own sake, of course; not to make your head swell up with pride. But to know your God more intimately. How can you know God more if you don’t put in the time and effort to do so?

Deeper power in private prayer. This one is a struggle, isn’t it? I know it is for me. Some don’t necessarily struggle with their prayer lives, but I do—and I know I’m not alone. The thing I like to do to enrich my prayer life is to be intentional about what prayer is. When I begin praying, I say something to the variation of, “Father, I believe you are inclining your ear to me; I believe that Jesus, your Son, is interceding for me; and I believe that the Spirit is helping me as I pray.” I remind myself of those truths and of the fact that the entire Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—is involved.

Being intentional about how prayer works has truly helped me with not only what I pray, but how I pray. It helps me understand the brevity of prayer.

Deeper holiness. In the end, our communion with the Lord will be stifled if we do not increase in holiness. Shed off more sin. Become more like Jesus. Learn to kill your sin. More than anything else, the best way to grow in holiness, generally speaking, is by beholding more of the glory of Jesus in the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4). To be sure, we do that through the reading of Scripture, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines. But if we want to grow in holiness, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

We must understand that to pursue deeper holiness doesn’t mean we are grumpy all the time. God has changed our hearts to pursue Him, so holiness and happiness don’t contradict each other. “The essence of holiness in redeemed humans,” David Mathis wrote, “is the heart that regards, loves, and delights in God according to his worth.”

Go deeper. Friends, if we want to go deeper with God, we must be active. Things won’t just happen. As children of God, we have to put in the work. We have to work from our salvation, not for it. That means cultivating areas of our walks with Jesus that need enhanced. If I wanted to grow deeper with my wife, but didn’t put in the work to do that, it’s mere lip service. The same is true with God. Let’s go deeper.