Four Ways to Draw Nearer to God

It's not what I say but what you hear. That's the spirit. 

I have spoken to many people unsure if they can hear God's important revelation. This revelation is essential for us because who knows us better than God? 

What's good for somebody else is not necessarily good for you. 

There's a lot of noise in the world.

I was in the fitness space for a very long time. 

I can't tell you how confused people are. 

When they came to me, I was like, what is your body telling you? They were like, I don't know. 

It's telling me it doesn't like being overweight, that I overeat, and that I'm tired. 

It's like, well, yes. It's never wrong. It's you're right.

When it feels good, you know it. It's like you do good, you know it. 

Nobody has to tell you you're doing a good job. Right. 

Listening to your inner guidance system is the same thing. It's listening to what you are telling yourself. 

We dismiss it because we're like, Oh, fad diet. Oh, you know, thought leader. Oh, and we're outside of ourselves. 

We're constantly listening to family members and friends. 

It's nice that they have good advice, but it's not necessarily what you need to hear. 

It's important to dive in and do the work. When I say that, people say I have dove in, I did the job. 

It's probably to a great extent, but we will not know how we're hearing God in all the different ways. 

There are so many ways to hear God talk to us. 

Sometimes, it's your curiosity, sometimes it's an inclination, sometimes you're just following an impulse, and sometimes it's just a good idea that you thought was yours.

Let me also say that you feel yucky when you're not being guided. 

You feel lost. You feel completely untethered. 

Terence between not knowing what direction to go and just being like, hmm, I'll take a shot in the dark. That's fine. 

If you really don't have guidance right then and there, you know it. 

You feel completely in the dark, like dark, dark. Just know you are being guided. 

You are being guided when you are inclined to do this or that. 

If you use your emotional guidance system to draw closer to God, you do it very well; there's more of a deliberate intention there.

To separate things here. I just want to separate. 

When you use your internal guidance system, you do things that take you in a good direction. 

You feel good because you're doing good. Does that make sense? 

Let me just give you an example. 

When I was unfit, it was because I was doing things that were undoing what I wanted, which was to feel good. 

When I started doing things that were more like what a fit person would do, I felt good; I felt fit. 

When you're doing things like God, you feel him more.

There might be an unpopular opinion stated here in the next minute or two because a lot of people believe Satan can tempt you to do wrong.

It's tough to be tempted or led astray when you're doing good. 

You're just not in the realm. 

I always say that the emotional guidance system is you on a sliding ruler. 

You're either sliding towards God, or you're sliding away from God. 

It just depends on where your mental focus is. 

If your mental focus is on somebody else doing something you don't like, you're sliding away from God because now you're frustrated. 

You're disgruntled, unhappy, fearful, or feeling like justice isn't being served, whatever it is. 

You are sliding away from what you want to feel better about if it's a negative emotion.

Can Satan tempt you down there? Can he tempt you to keep going in that direction? I think so. 

But if you're sliding in the upward direction, let Satan be down. 

If you're sliding in the upward direction, you're doing things; it makes you feel good. 

You're like, I said my prayers today. I was in meditation today. 

I was drinking water today. I was doing things that made me feel good. You're sliding closer. 

I always say that God is truth, and truth feels good. 

Truth means nothing is missing. That's the actual Hebrew translation of truth. 

When you're sliding towards God, God feels like truth. 

Does that make sense when you're sliding away from God because the truth is missing? 

If you follow the sliding rule and are the one moving, God's not moving. 

He's steadfast and immovable. He's not like sliding all over the place in indecision and losing focus. He's not doing that. We are. So it's us; it's always us. 

God is here at the end of this upward ruler, and let's call it Satan down at the other end. 

We either go in one direction or another and do that using our minds. 

Our emotional guidance system is actually helping us move closer to God because we feel good—good in God; the difference is one O—or we're feeling less good. 

Most people do not always feel the full spectrum of negative emotions. They tend to slide somewhere in between. 

Your way of thinking indicates that you're either sliding in the direction you want to go or in the direction you don't want to go. 

How this all comes together in prayer and feeling closer to God: When you're doing the things that bring God into your life, it just feels good. 

You're on track. 

You're doing what you said you wanted to do: draw closer to God. 

You have to challenge your mental beliefs. 

Are your beliefs taking you closer to God or further from them?

If you hear a personal revelation and then don't act on it, you go back to old thought habits and do what you used to do that didn't; it pulls you off track, throws you into a triggered state, your nervous system's off, and you're just, ugh. It's not going well. 

Maybe your ADHD is high, and you're all over the place, and the squirrels are everywhere.

Whatever is happening, it's not the intention you had when you said your prayers. 

Please help me do X, Y, and Z. Please help me feel better, as you say in your prayer. 

We're always asking for more because having more makes us feel good. 

I want more patience, kindness, money, or whatever. 

Moreness will make us feel good, or at least we think so. That's why we ask for it. 

If your thoughts are not going towards the moreness of what you're asking for, then you're probably sliding in the other direction, and you're not hearing or acting on your inclinations, your little thoughts. 

Let me just tell you a little story. 

I needed a job really badly back in 2009, and all I could hear from people was that no one was hiring. However, we would be homeless if I didn't get a job. 

It was necessary, and I was mad and in a really poor state of mind. 

I took time to pray because I needed to feel better—better that I could get a job. 

It had been 18 years since I'd had a job. My resume had nothing of worth on it. 

I worked at Wendy's when I was in high school. 

I faked the resume and put a smile on my face. 

I set out to find a job, and I had a few rules around it: I wasn't going to do some boring work in some back office; it was going to be meaningful, teach me something new, and allow me to bring something new home to share with the family. 

I went and just got in the car, praying in my heart that I would find this job, trusting that God knew where there was one when I wouldn't have. 

I would have no idea. The internet was barely a thing. 

It wasn't where we would typically go to find a job. Not everybody was using it. 

I started to drive out of the driveway, and this thought was in the back of my head. Now, who was talking? Was it me? I don't think so. 

The thought was to go check out the gym at the end of the street. I was like, oh, wait a minute, we are renegotiating. 

There's no way I'm going to the gym at the end of the street, but that's where the job was. 

That was the first place I could get hired. 

I could have money start coming in quickly. 

It was a great entry-level starting point for me and my fake resume. 

But all the answers were in my ability to say yes to a prompt from God directly related to my question: Please, please help me get a job. 

Now, my attitude could have been better at the time.

I was sliding away, but I followed through. 

That's an important element of receiving personal revelation and sliding toward God using it. 

Is that what I was going and doing anyway, even if my attitude wasn't great yet? 

Because after I was hired, I was like, ah, paycheck, I mean, it's going to be okay.  I was hired to work in the nursery at a gym, and I was like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? 

I am watching other people's kids for a paycheck and not spending time with my own. 

No, this is not the high-exciting job that I was looking for, but it only took two weeks before an opening at the counter came open. 

I was able to start making commissions on sales. 

That turned into me watching because I could be out on the floor a little bit. 

I watched the personal trainers, and all their clients were slightly bored. Why wouldn't you have fun with your clients? 

That's what it just turned into —one thing turned into another. 

I was in the right place doing the right thing, but I never would have thought of that. I was thinking of going to an office. 

I was not thinking of working at a gym, not even close, because I was way too exposed in a gym. 

When you ask, believe that the answers you're getting will be better than you expected. 

That is one way to check your mental space.

Can I do what the prompting tells me to do so that I can receive the gifts I asked for? This is important. 

That's just one way. 

A second way is to make sure your nervous system is regulated. 

When I say that, I'm talking about triggers.

I have a podcast episode on triggers, which was three or four episodes ago. It's number 28 if you like. 

In these trying times, in our interactions with our family members and our interactions with our friends, everybody believes a little something different. 

There are many untruths in the world, and we're all trying to sift through them to find the truth. 

We can be triggered. We can be triggered in our relationships with people; we can be triggered in our experiences around other people.

For some reason, it's the people. It's not necessarily just the experiences. 

It's usually related to interactions with other people. 

You are usually in a negative emotional state when triggered, depending on how negative it is triggered. 

You might be in fight or flight. You might be in fawn. Fawn mode is I'm just going to be a chameleon. 

I'm going to be what you need me to be. I'll just change my colors for you. 

That's fawn mode. That's a that's a learned trauma response. 

Then there's freeze where you're like, I don't even have a game plan for this particular situation. Another word for that is blindsided. 

When you are in fight or flight, like you're super defensive, that's a fight, right? 

When you're like, I want to run away, that's flight, right? 

Then fawn is people-pleasing, and freeze is I don't have a game plan, and I will die. 

You're frozen in that, like a statue. Like, I can't even process this.

When your nervous system is dysregulated, you cannot draw closer to God at that moment because everything is kind of stuck, including your energy.

You need to take a second to reset. 

One way you can reset is by lacing your hands behind your head. 

This is super simple, right? Whether sitting up or lying on your back with your knees and feet flat, just hold your head straight and look to the right. 

I reset easily on the right side. 

You either yawn, swallow, or sigh, like two breaths and an exhale. 

Then, reset your eyes forward and just look in the other direction. 

For those of you that are not watching this video and you're listening to the podcast episode, I have my hands laced behind my head. 

My head is in a forward position, and I'm just making my eyes go as far to the left as possible. That's all. That was a swallow for me. 

That's how you can reset your nervous system. It works in your amygdala, the area of your brain where your memories are. 

It's an effective way to escape this deep state of nervous stuckness and energy and return to a space where you can move again. 

Your energy can move. You can find God. You can go back to prayer. 

You're not fighting the goodness of God, if you will. 

Sometimes, we just resist. If you're resisting, reset—reset your nervous system. That's super important. 

Another way to draw nearer to God using your emotional guidance system is to establish your spiritual compass.

You must know what you want and where you're going. 

Where is due north for you? What are your goals? What's your divine plan? What path should you be on right now? That's important. 

Let me also add this caveat: You are on your path and can't get off. But sometimes, that path can be bumpy. 

Sometimes, it can have scary downhills, and sometimes, it can have forever uphills. 

If you want to even things out and get more balanced in your life, you need more direction, focus, understanding, and clarity about where you're going and why. 

Your why will take you there. It's straightforward. 

You become a creator, somebody who loves to have fun, and you just love the life you're living; that is an emotional compass that's set and unwavering. 

But if your emotional compass is spinning, like here at the North Pole, where there is no polar north, it's essential for you to just get in a place where there is. 

You're writing. Writing it down gets you clarity. 

Most of the time, when you start writing and you're not clear, you'll just write about everything you don't want. 

I want this to stop, I want this person to change, I want this to be easier. 

Whatever it is, you'll probably write about what you don't want, but take those as prompts because then you can go back and write the opposite. 

Writing the opposite changes your compass and emotional guidance system and points you toward where there's action now. 

You can take action, like I said. 

If you want to be fit, you should do what fit people do and act like you're fit every day by practicing fit eating habits, fit resting habits, and fit exercise habits. 

Next thing you know, you're fit. That's how you get fit. 

You act like a fit person even when you're not. 

If you've got these goals—you want to intentionally feel a certain way, be a different person, or acquire a new skill—you must do what the goal requires. 

In an emotionally regulated state, you're watching your thoughts that they're not going downhill; they're going in an upward direction towards God. 

You will find yourself in a place you want to be. 

Just leave the habit of doing what you would do in that situation. 

Also, the fourth thing that I want to bring up here is making room for yourself. 

You are assessing how you're spending your time, especially if they are in non-productive ways. 

Where is your time being spent? Are you doing those things that would lead you to do what you want? 

Now you've got clarity, you've done the writing, you've assessed what you don't want so you can decide what you do want. 

Where are you going with this, and what are you doing with your time? 

Assessing how much time you spend doing something and thinking about what you don't want wastes energy. 

Most people feel exhausted because they're spinning their wheels all the time. 

It usually involves a mental and emotional connection, and your spirit is like, okay, I'm just going to twiddle my thumbs; I'll be over here when you finally make a decision. 

Your spirit's like, let's go, play, have a good time, have a good life, be creators, and have fun. 

Let's enjoy this ride. That's your spirit all the time. 

Love and light will not change. They can't change. 

Your spirit does not change. It is what it is. 

ControlZilla, your brain, and your emotional guidance system are not in sync. 

Your brain is doing one thing, and it's just running wild, running amok, and no one's reining it in. 

Your emotional system is like, woof, this feels terrible. 

We're moving, and the negative emotion says you're moving away from your goal. 

The goal is what your spirit says: let's do this, learn a new skill, see what more feels like, play with the big boys, have a good life, and create memories. 

That your spirit is asking for that. Your brain's like, oh, we can't because of this. Or, here's my limiting belief. Or I will focus on my neighbors and why their yards are a mess, reflecting poorly on me. 

Whatever your brain's doing, if you have a negative emotional reaction to it, your brain is not in agreement with your spirit. They are at odds. 

In your emotional guidance system, how you feel is letting you know. 

There's a lot to sift and sort here. You can feel it. 

But just giving the idea, the gist of this, without practicing, and I'm going to say it, this is the unpopular opinion again: it takes nothing less than a year to practice these principles over and over and over and still over and over and over. 

It's just that life will provide you with many opportunities.

Every time you get to decide, am I going to let my brain go and just run wild and burn down houses, or am I going to rein it in and make it focus on the things that I want, the direction I'm going in, and all the fun that awaits me out there for the rest of my life? 

I don't care how old you are; remember, this is not an age thing. 

I have a friend who has lost her heart. 

She has decided she's too old, like life is over, and we're the same age, and I'm like, no, no. That's not true. If it's true, it will make you feel good. 

Remember, we're thinking about our false beliefs, right?

If it makes you feel good, there's a lot of truth involved in it. 

It may not be the whole truth, but there's a lot of good truth. 

If it doesn't make you feel good, your brain and your spirit are at odds because that's not true. 

It does not hold the fullness of the meaning of the word truth, which is nothing is missing.

When you are ready to truly draw near to God, you will use your emotional guidance system, which includes four tools: You will check your mental thought patterns, regulate your nervous system, establish a spiritual compass, and decide which direction you are going to take. 

You will also make room for yourself, assessing your time and where you spend it productively and unproductively. 

If you don't have time for yourself, built-in to be productive, meaning pray, read your scriptures, meditate, do the things that bring you closer, and slide you up that scale towards God where he is, then it's no wonder that you feel tired. 

The level to which you invest yourself in those good ways that help you find more truth, light, knowledge, love, and agreement between your head and your spirit. 

When you invest your time in doing those things and become focused and clear, you will be less tired. 

But your nervous system is dysregulated if you're just under stress, running around like a chicken with your head cut off, doing everything, trying to please other people. 

You're triggered all the time. 

You're like those things—absolutely exhausting, and it's getting you nowhere. 

So assess, check yourself, see where you're at, and make those little adjustments and improvements. 

It's going to be the best thing that you ever, ever do for yourself.

Note: You can access the full blog content in audio versions on Spotify and YouTube. Happy listening! 🎧 

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