July 2025
Issue 232

How to get more of God

That should draw us to God, a being who is pure love. The older I get, the better I understand that the times I've been disappointed with God were when I wanted things that were not good for me. You can only learn that in retrospect. You can't perceive it in the moment.

The Bible says "God is a refuge," and today that's more important than ever. The world around us can be crazy, cruel, discouraging and even sickening. God is a refuge to escape to, a hiding place of comfort and compassion.

I want more of God. How about you? I want to know him better, and I want to spend more time with him. I desperately need more God in my life.

I've been thinking about this for years. Recently I put my thoughts together on some of the things that have helped and others that didn't. This is a lifetime quest. We learn as we go, but the good news is that at the end, we'll be rewarded with knowing God fully, as we never could here on Earth.

See if this helps you get more of God.

He is for you

When fear is at your doorstep,
and you don't know what to do.
He will stir your heart with courage.
He is for you.

When all your friends desert
He's the one you can turn to.
He is closer than a brother.
He is for you.

He is for you
when trouble floods your soul.
He is for you
to comfort and console.

He is for you
when all your hope is gone.
He is for you
like the sun with every dawn.

He is for you
when you fall into sin's mud.
He is for you,
to cleanse you with his blood.

He is for you.
He is always on your side.
He is for you,
The Savior Crucified.

~ Jack Zavada, www.inspiration-for-singles.com, 2025 ~

Finding God where you don't want to look

And then it does, and we don't make use of it.

In our desire to get more of God, we avoid the one place he draws closest to us: suffering. Nobody likes to suffer, but we all do because it's unavoidable in this life. Everybody has to go through pain, from babies to billionaires.

I was ill for a couple months this spring, and there was God in the middle of it with me. I couldn't do much except lean on him, and that's what he wants us to do, all the time. I'm no saint or guru. I'm just a regular person looking for answers, like you.

We singles suffer. When we do, God gives us the gift of himself. We don't have to suffer alone. Jesus understands. Jesus cares and brings comfort. Here's how to find him.

Why singles hope in everything but Jesus

The problem with Jesus is that he wants to be first place in your life. That kind of both-feet-in commitment to him is scary. No matter how hard we try, we can't manipulate him, and what's most frightening is that Jesus may not give us exactly what we want.

We get it wrong. The Christ-centered life doesn't require you to live like a monk or be a missionary in Africa. You can still have a career, family, nice home, and vacations. We just need to place those priorities lower than Jesus.

Hope for Hurting Singles. is a good place to start. It makes the case, first of all, that nothing matters more in life than Jesus. Nothing.

Second, it proves, from the author's lifelong experience and observation of others, that Jesus can be trusted. That's a big hurdle when it comes to somebody you can't see.

Hope for Hurting Singles. doesn't just reveal the absolute necessity of hope; it reduces it down to hope in Christ alone. Everything else can derail. Christ can not.

Whether you need to refocus your hope or resurrect it, Hope for Hurting Singles. is for you. It's real, it's practical, and it works.

For $10.99 for the paperback edition, it's like an alarm clock for your priorities.

July QOTM: Blunt truth

What's at the center of your life? Your phone? A significant other? Your career? Your car? Your leisure activities? Your worries and fears?

We gravitate toward those things that give us the most immediate hit. They push a button in our life by meeting some need. Too often, those needs are implanted in us by society, peer pressure, or what the Bible calls "the flesh."

Sooner or later, we each have to decide whether we're going to go all in with God or go all in with the world. We can't do both, and as the First Commandment says, God is a jealous God, forbidding us to place false gods before him.

Things can't love you back. No person on earth can love you like God does, always faithful, always forgiving, always powerful. Joshua said it well:

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, NIV)

Intimacy with Jesus: What does that mean?

That's relatively straightforward with another human being, but what does it look like with the God-Man who lives in heaven? We can't see Jesus or hear him audibly. How do we build intimacy in a situation like that?

Two keys to intimacy are openness and honesty. When we relate to Jesus, trying to hide things from him and being dishonest are a waste of time, because he knows us better than we know ourselves.

What I do to build this closest of friendships with Jesus may be very different from what you do. We're two unique persons. But for some further thoughts on pursuing this goal, try this article.

You, that bold adventurer

You don't wear a superhero costume. You've never climbed Mount Everest or explored the Amazon jungles, yet you do things every day that would make most people tremble in fear. You're a sincere Christian, and you live by your faith.

On the surface, that doesn't sound very daring, but when you do it right, being a Christian is an adventure that makes flying into outer space pale in comparison.

Each day you go against the powerful but wrong standards of our society. You stand up for the truth despite discrimination and ridicule. You do the right thing.

You do the right thing at work, even though it may cost you a promotion. You do the right thing in your social life, even though it may cost you a relationship. Part of the adventure is making hard decisions then counting on God to bless you, somewhere down the line.

You know the scary thrill of telling someone about Jesus, never knowing how they're going to react. You're familiar with the painful adventure of loneliness because you're stubbornly loyal to God.

Finally, you have the great courage to bet your entire life on the promise of heaven, made by a God who cannot lie. You stand against the atheists and skeptics and instead trust the word of the One Who Died to save you.

Yes, YOU, my friend, are a bold, great adventurer!

Independence Day—from the slavery of sin

I don't often address Inspire-O-Gram readers who are not Christians, but if that includes you, I invite you to check out the link in the P.S. of this newsletter and investigate Christianity.

I don't gush about Christianity here every month because it's weak sauce. It's a way that revolutionizes your life forever, especially after you die.

But as I pointed out in the article above, it's not for sissies. It's for adventurers. Are you one?

Say, if you want to zing me an email, it will get right into my personal inbox through our secure contact form. You'll get a reply from me in a few days.

That is your newsletter for July, fellow singleton. I enjoyed preparing it for you and hope you found something helpful in it. Thank you for allowing me to visit you again.

Until August, I leave you with the words of C.S. Lewis:

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

PS: Not a Christian yet? Find out how to become a Christian.