Why Being Consistent With God Feels So Hard (and How to Overcome It) — Part 2

"Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always." —Psalm 105:4 (NIV)

Why is it so hard for us to be consistent with the Person who loves us the most?

In the first part of this series, we learned that the first step to be consistent with God is to have a strong reason to relate to Him. If you haven’t read it yet, here is the link to part 1.

Today, I’ll share the remaining reasons why building a consistent relationship with God can feel difficult and how we can overcome them.

Reasons Why It Feels So Hard to Be Consistent with God

Getting closer to our source of inner strength and faith, God, allows us to live well and overcome any life challenge.

If we know the great outcomes of living a life closer to God, why does it seem hard to have a consistent relationship with Him? Why do we keep postponing or forgetting to have intimate moments with Him?

Reason #1: We Don’t Have a Plan in Place

To keep a consistent relationship with God, we need intentionally to draw closer to Him. Having a guide on how to do this will help us manage our time and resources better. 

How can we determine the best plan for spending consistent time with God? Here are two strategies.

⏰ Find the Perfect Time to Connect with God

Each one of us has a time when we’re most receptive to process, receive, and learn new information. For me, it’s any time in the morning. How about you?

What’s that time in the day when you’re most receptive to nourish your faith? Do you concentrate better when reading or listening to a Bible chapter in the morning, afternoon, or evening? When in your day can you spend quiet time in prayer?

Once you've answered these questions, decide how much time you're going to set aside for your time alone with God. You can start with five or ten minutes and then gradually increase the time.

✅ Get Ready for Your Time with God

Now that you've identified the right moment to spend with God, it’s time to prepare.

First, choose the space where you’ll meet God every day. Second, place your Bible, devotionals, or any other resource you’d like to use in this designated area for your alone time with God.

These actions will train your brain to create the habit that, at a certain time, you’ll automatically need to go to this designated place to meet God.

Where is the best place to be alone with God? Is it in your bedroom, at the dining room table, or in the living room? Is it in your car, parked somewhere quiet? Is it in a corner of your children’s bedroom?

Reason #2: We Prioritize the Task Over the Relationship

During our spiritual journey, it’s easy to treat our alone time with God as just another checklist item. Over time, this transactional mindset causes us to lose interest in the Person we’re trying to connect with.

Operating from a "checklist" mindset blocks us from the things we need most: the inner peace, strength, clarity, forgiveness, transformation, wisdom, and certainty that only come from true intimacy with God.

To move beyond a transactional mindset, I encourage you to keep the following in mind: 

1. Your time alone with God isn’t a performance review. God isn’t evaluating you on how much time you spend in prayer or how many chapters of the Bible you read. God will always be interested in quality over quantity.

2. Sometimes we feel tired, distracted, or frustrated and don’t have the energy to pray, read, or praise. In those moments, be honest with God and tell Him how you feel.

3. Mix up your environment and format. Even in your designated space, routine can lead to a transactional mindset. Keep things fresh: go for a prayer walk (I do this one often 😌), listen to an audio Bible, memorize a single verse, or pray with a friend.

Reason #3: We Stop Showing Up When Unexpected Things Happen

There’ll be days when unexpected situations disrupt our planned time with God. 

Instead of adapting and giving Him whatever time we do have, we often give up entirely because we can't do our usual routine. 

What can we do in those days to keep showing up to be consistent in our relationship with God?

During these days, let’s choose to have “micro-moments”: short but very intentional actions. One example of this is saying a short prayer.

A short prayer (I love to call it “a simple prayer” 🙂) is a concise but intentional plea, based on what we want and need to share with God at that moment. One or two sentences will be enough for this purpose. Let’s remember that the goal is to be consistent with God no matter what.

Here are six examples of short prayers.

1. “God, today I wasn't able to spend time with you as I had planned. But I still want to draw closer to you. Thank you for being with me.”

2. “Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice.”

3. “Lord, thank you that I can praise you wherever I am.”

4. “God, You are always on my mind.”

5.  “God, I’ve missed our time alone, but I want to tell you that I praise you because You are good.”

6.  “My Lord and Savior, I love You.”

If, for any reason, you can't spend time alone with God as you usually do, take a deep breath. Not every day will be the same. Then, say a short prayer. Two minutes can have a positive impact on your relationship with God.

Final Words

Nourishing our spiritual life is key to becoming the best followers of Jesus Christ we can be. Consistency plays a vital role in this process. It's through our daily actions that we're able to remain consistent in our relationship with Him.

Take a Leap of Faith

Which of the four reasons mentioned in this series of posts do you relate to? Try one or more of the suggested strategies to help you overcome it. Let us know in the comments how it went for you. 🤗

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