1. Your need for control.

You love when life falls according to your plan. You crave organization. You crave order. You obsess over having life work the way you want it to. When things make sense, when you can have or find the answers, or when you’re in complete control over what’s happening to and around you—everything is great.

Faith, to you, seems like a surrender of all that you’ve built your life upon and tried to keep together. Instead of seeing the truth—that giving God the control allows for freedom, you feel as if you’re going to lose out. What you fail to see is that when you let God take over, you allow for His plan to be fulfilled, for true happiness to be found, and for a loss of the stress and constant anxiety you’re plagued with as you try so hard to control what you simply can’t.

2. Your fear of the unknown.

You’re losing out on a deeper relationship with God because you’re afraid of what you can’t see, can’t know, or don’t understand. Instead of asking questions or searching for answers, instead of digging deeper, or praying, or learning more about faith to discover what you’re looking for, you push God away.

You treat God’s truth as fallacy simply because you’re scared of what you don’t know—but if you don’t search, you’ll never find.

3. Your love of all things material.

You put everything before God: your money, your clothes, your house, your phone, your car, your electronics. The list is endless. What’s truly keeping you from forming a healthy, deep relationship with your Father is the fact that you value everything over Him, leaving no room for anything deep or substantial in your heart or life.

4. Your focus on the impermanent.

God’s love is forever, yet you focus so much on things that will not last—material goods, human relationships, emotions, things. Instead of putting your love and obedience towards faith, instead of resting your heart on what comes after this life, you’re too tied to what’s right in front of you, which is fading as each moment passes.

5. Your need to look back instead of forward.

Your relationship with God is stagnant because you’re so damn stuck in the past. You’re always looking over your shoulder, beating yourself up over the past, thinking about what happened rather than what could. You keep neglecting God’s truth—that each day is new in Him. And there is always, always hope.

6. Your negative self-image, or self-deprecating thoughts.

Your negative self-talk is what’s keeping you back from God’s love. It’s not that He doesn’t love you, or doesn’t want to. It’s not that He’s keeping Himself away, or isn’t present. The truth is, you’re continually speaking with anger and cruelty to your own heart. You’re convincing yourself that you’re not good enough, instead of resting on His truth—that you are always more than enough in His eyes.

7. Your inability to trust what you know in your heart is true.

You know that God’s word is real. You know His deep love for you, and how He will forever be with and in you, no matter what happens. You’ve seen miracles and blessings all around you. You’ve been strengthened in Him. And yet, you’re scared to truly trust.

The reason you’re not able to have a deep relationship with Him boils down to this simple fact—you are doubting what you know is true.

8. Your desire for personal happiness, rather than God-provided happiness.

You can’t deepen your relationship with the Father if you’re so stuck on selfish or worldly desires. This life is temporary, and when you put all your passion and energy into pursuing the things and people of this world, you’ll forever miss out on all that God offers—unconditional love, forgiveness, hope, and eternal life.

9. Your nervousness over the possibility of change.

Truth is, you’re scared to have a deeper relationship with God because you don’t want things to change. You don’t want this life to all of a sudden be harder, or for there to be tests of faith. You don’t want to wake up and have to choose faith over a normal life. You don’t want anything remotely difficult, when you’ve gotten so used to the ease of your every day. But faith is challenge. Faith is choice. Faith is passion and love and commitment for the beautiful, and often unseen things of this world.

You’re scared to deepen your relationship with God because you’re too busy trying to have it all figured out, but deep down you know God is the answer. And you’re ready to stop searching.