The basic idea is summed up in St. John 14:23. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word: and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” W O W!! Jesus will come to me and make His home with me, IF I obey him. In order for me to obey Him, I have to love, respect Him, and know what He tells me to do. What other friend do I have who I would want to come into my home and stay with me indefinitely? Hhmmm. Just believe on His name and be saved. Naw. Satan believes and trembles! and believe me, they ain’t friends! Takes more than that.

I admit that I didn’t really understand “relationship” for the first 38 years of my life. I didn’t fully believe the truth that God could live in me through the Holy Spirit. I didn’t believe He would want to. There were secret sins that I had asked for forgiveness for, but had never accepted or recognized forgiveness. I was arrogant enough to think that I had to forgive myself first before becoming worthy of a true relationship with God.

Over two years ago, God revealed so many truths to me about His desire for a relationship with me and about His great love for me. This isn’t really the appropriate post for sharing all of that. So I’ll just say that for the first time, I really experienced the presence of God. I knew that He was with me. And I knew that I could talk to Him anytime. For the first time, I could really feel His love for me. And for the first time, I heard Him speak to me through the Scriptures. For me, relationship is about a connection. For the first time in my life, I felt connected to God. I became a part of His family.

I maintain my relationship with God by reading His word, by praying/talking to Him, by praising Him through singing (not well), and by meditating on the truths that He has revealed to me so that they become active in my life.

I hope that my ramblings make sense. God did not grant me the gift of eloquence, but simplicity. And it works for me

Our pastor, this morning, preached a message pretty much on this topic; and, he told me it was alright to copy his basic notes on this site.
7 Things That Accompany Salvation
Heb. 6:9 In life some things belong together.
They are 7 “C’s” of Relationship and Friendship The first 3 constitute a relationship: the remainder constitute a friendship.

1. CONFESS Christ publicly Two guys worked on a job together; when one retired, he said he was a Christian. His co-worker said he didn’t know that, but he was too. Now, could those two have been Christians and not shown Christ in their lives sometime or another on the job?
2. CHURCH attendance. Christians love to be in a church with Christ taught and talked about if they are genuine.
3. CONCENTRATING on the Word of God. The more a person knows Jesus, the more they want to hear the story of His love.
These things will provide a relationship with God.
4. COMMUNING daily with God in prayer. You don’t have to be on your knees with your eyes closed to have a conversation with God. He is in your heart, and can hear the most dear prayers of yours prayed in silence from the heart while in your daily activities. He doesn’t get distracted from us.
5. COMMUNICATE the Gospel to others. Jesus is the only friend you have who is Biblical okay to gossip about. To the neighbor over the back fence, or over the telephone to your children, or your best friend, tell someone who He is and what Jesus means to you.
6. CONQUER temptation and sin. (I Cor. 10:13) To conquer means to have total victory over whatever your battle is. Jesus came to save His people FROM their sins. We need to have total victory over any willful disobedience of His known law. Only by His Grace can we do that.
7. CONTRIBUTE regularly to the cause of Christ. Early in Old Testament times, God established the principle of tithing. He demands that 10% of our gain is His. Then, if you read in Genesis when God established all the sacrificial laws, you will find there were strict requirements as to how the sacrifices were to be prepared; how the different sacrifices had different requirements, and which ones were voluntary or demanded. In Matthew, He told a tax collector to render to Cesar what was Cesar’s and unto God what was God’s. The tithe still belongs to God. An offering above that shows our friendship with God. Isn’t it amazing how large a five dollar bill looks in church, and how small it looks when we are at the grocery store? It shows where our real love lies! Too often it is with our stomach!! When Jesus Christ came into the world, He did not do away with any of the Old Testament laws. He simply fulfilled the sacrificial ones. Then, since He provided a way for Him to live within our hearts, He strengthened laws on many of man’s actions, such as adultery. Before Jesus came into the world, His laws stated that if a man had relations with a married woman or a woman out of wedlock, he had committed adultery. After He came to live within our hearts, He said if a man looks with intent in his heart, he has already committed adultery.
The last four “C’s” point to a friendship with God. It is simple: we love Him or we do not. We are obedient to Him, or we are not. We either have a relationship and then a friendship with God, or we do not.
Let’s take a closer look at tithing, not including money. He has stated that the very breath we take He gives us. That makes the time we have not belonging to us until it is an increase for us. If you want a real friendship, let’s start to tithe our time. Let’s start out with tithing our time we are awake: call it the net. The average person should sleep eight hours a day. That makes 10% of sixteen hours, approximately one hour and thirty four minutes a day for Him. This should not include time for private devotions. Make those your offering of love. Your tithed time should be praying for family and lost friends you know need the Lord; for visiting the sick and absentees from your Sunday School, having a coffee break with your next door neighbor who needs to hear your gospel of your Savior! That is harder to do than dropping a couple of dollars into the offering plate, but it will make you such a close friend of Jesus, you will feel like your soul wants to burst to tell others more and more.
The seven points were from my pastor, most of the comments were mine, so don’t blame him if you don’t like what you have read. Just try it and see if it doesn’t work. I am just a layman who loves the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind.