Last week we talked about what it meant to take it to the next level. We acknowledged that sometimes we advance in our relationship with the Lord, and then sometimes we retreat. Today I want to share with you how we can keep our relationship with the Lord strong and how we can keep ourselves from slipping to a lower level.
FIRST, I think we need to stay in the WORD… let it speak to us on how we are to live; what we are to do. 2 Timothy 3 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Reading the Bible will help us live life to the fullest….keep us on the right track and help us to know what God’s will is for us.
SECOND I think we need to obey the Lord. JOHN 14: 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” This verse really struck me. Christ will SHOW himself to us!!! If that is happening, then we must be at a pretty good level of relationship!!!
THIRD We MUST pray….. I Thessalonians 5 17: pray continually, this short verse pretty much says it all……If we are praying all the time, doesn’t it make sense we will be in touch with Him? Keeping our relationship, FRESH, STRONG, and ALIVE…… to go to the next level….our prayer life must be improving…if we want to keep from slipping, our prayer life cannot be taken for granted.
FOUR. To keep our relationship with the Lord at high level; to take it to the next level; we must go to church, stay in touch with brothers and sisters in Christ….Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.