Just to inject my thinking into the subject, about discussing the subject, and avoiding throwing scripture back and forth at each other the way enemy soldiers throw spears at each other, (everyone here seems to already have a decent understanding of it to start with):
We all believe -or should- in God, his presence on earth as a Man born of woman, and his crucifixion as the perfect sacrifice to perfectly pay the wages of sin for us so we can be made sin free at judgment. We should believe in God present in us as the Holy Spirit that gives a direct and personal relationship with God.
And now most importantly, we should recognize that we are not what God intended us to be back when he created us (Gen 1:1 from my POV), either as people in general or as individual persons, and that if we truly desire to be closer to God and more of what he wants us to be and less of what we nave made ourselves into we must look at ourselves and what is standing in the way of that.
So this becomes the question: How do we do this, how do I do this?
For me it comes down to the wide road and the narrow road, which am I walking at any given moment and why? One thing I know, you cannot walk both roads at once, with one foot on the one and the other foot on the other. I also know that you can't just step from one onto the other as they are divergent paths, not parallel ones.
It is said that when you find you've dug yourself into a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. It's the same with walking the wrong road, the first thing to do is stop walking (which may take some slowing down time first instead of happening instantly).
This, at least for myself, involves acknowledging the barriers I've built up between myself and God and removing them as best as I can one at a time as the Holy Spirit guides my understanding and gives me the power to do it. I do know that you will never be able to perfect yourself on your own, and only through the power of the Holy Spirit can it be done.
So here's a practical, albeit non scriptural, way of doing this. Simply use a paper, chalkboard, whatever you want, and divide it into two sides, one labeled 'narrow path' and the other 'wide path' (or whatever labels you feel appropriate for yourself). For each important activity (to you) you engage in list that activity under one of the two headings. Do this one thing at a time, not all at once which just defeats you with its magnitude before you start.
Now the question is: OK, in real life how do I do this? What real world actions do I take?
This is where discussion can become really diverse with no right or wrong way to go about it readily apparent. Each of us will have something different, but not so different that we cannot talk about our individual experiences and we should always remember that what we do does not have to be something great and mighty but a very simple little thing that is pretty much meaningless. Everything is interconnected and when you change one thing you change all things even if it is so small of a change that you don't realize it, But one thing I can absolutely assure you, if you do nothing nothing will happen.
So what barriers can you find in your life that are actually preventing you from moving closer to God and intensifying your relationship with him?
FWIW only, use anything you find of value and ignore anything you don't.
