Your Creator wants to connect with you. He wants to hear your honest questions. He wants to offer you understanding. He wants to hear your worries and provide comfort and hope.

But God can seem distant, remote and unconcerned with our daily troubles. What can we do to close the gap and connect to God?

Talk to God

Communication is essential. So, a great first step toward connecting with God is prayer. God appreciates the humility it takes to bend our knee and bow our head before Him. Humble prayer is an acknowledgment that answers are not deep within ourselves, answers only come from the Creator of life.

If you are not familiar with prayer, here are a few points to consider:

Approach God with respect, show honor for who and what He is. You can ask God even the hardest questions if you come before Him with the winning combination of humility and respect (Isaiah 66:2).

Expect answers (Hebrews 11:6). Follow up on matters you bring before God by reading your Bible.

Listen to God

A second important step toward connecting with God is to do what He says (James 1:25).

Connecting with God means communication that goes both ways, as in a conversation with another person. Prayer is you talking to God, reading your Bible is God talking back to you. However, If you only listen to what God says to you, but never act upon it, the conversation will die out. Communication and connection require active feedback!

Our Creator likes to begin by giving us simple things at first. He wants to see how we respond before moving on to more complex things. For example:

Responding positively toward God might begin with responding positively toward His commandments. The Ten Commandments are simple but life-changing. What makes the commandments complicated are the layers upon layers of human reasoning and manmade traditions we have built around them.

You might also find that reading God's Word might show you attitudes and harmful ways of thinking that you need to change.

Try to be attuned to what the Bible is saying to you and respond!

Acknowledge your blessings

Your Creator also communicates with you through blessings and answered prayer. Some prayers seek big picture understanding, but many prayers seek God's intervention and help with specific problems you are facing.

Try to be mindful of events in your life that are actually blessings and answers to your prayers. Notice the opportunities that come your way, troubles that unexpectedly resolve themselves or turn in your favor. These can be dismissed as coincidence or understood as answers to prayer (if you have indeed prayed).

If you have been blessed and helped in some way big or small, then go back to God and give Him thanks! Remember, in your ongoing conversation with God, prayers are you talking. So, just like you would offer thanks to other people in your life for the little things they do for you, offer your thanks to God. Thankfulness is a great way to build any relationship, including your relationship with God.

Successful, satisfying relationships involve two-way communication. Connecting with God is the same way. If you are willing to do your part, God will do His.

Learn more about listening to God through reading your Bible with this free study aid: How to Understand the Bible.