The Lord is good to those who on Him depend, to those who search for Him to be their friend

 

“And this hope [when we run into problems and trials] will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” (Romans 5:5, NLT)
Paul goes on to speak of Christ dying for us and making us right with God, while we were His enemies, sinning against Him, and not walking according to His law.  He goes on to write in Romans 5:11, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” 

 

What does it look like to be friends of God?  In this verse, other translations say, “we have now received reconciliation.” 

 

We have accepted and lay hold of what He gives us as a free exchange for our penalty for sin and guilt of complete restoration and divine favor.  He reconciled us to God and made us His friends.   In James 2:23 it says that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness as he was called a friend of God.

 

Here the word friend is the Greek word philos, Strongs #5384 and it means, to be dearly loved, prized in a personal and intimate way, a trusted confidant who is held dear in a close bond of personal affection.  This is how the Lord feels about each one of us. 

 

In John 15:15, the Lord says that He no longer calls us as servants, for servants do not know what their master is doing; but He calls us friends, for all that He has heard from His Father, He has made known to those disciples following Him.

 

Both Abraham and Moses were examples of friends to God.  About Abraham, 2 Chronicles 20:7 says, “Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?” And, about Moses, Exodus 33:11 says, “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

 

We see what it looks like for God to make friends as He did with Abraham, Moses, Joshua and others. They were all in on what was going on.  They knew what the Lord was doing and He partnered with them on completing His will.  They got to share and participate in it. 

 

We also see that they partnered with God on what He was doing.   They made it a central priority over all else they could be doing.   Abraham listened and obeyed by faith, leaving all he knew behind to enter the Promised Land.  Moses led the people out of bondage and into freedom despite the risk to his life from the Pharaoh (who he could have ruled with). And Joshua led the people into battle in the Promised Land.   

 

None of these were easy assignments.  So what you see with friendship is that it is mutual.  Proverbs 17:17 says that “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  Our friendship is tested and tried in the fire.  Do we trust the Lord and continue to obey Him?   Do we still love Him and serve Him when it is hard? 

 

What does it look like to be His friend when things are not going your way?  Like with John at the Island of Patmos, he was pushed off where they were hoping he would not have any influence because they could not kill him. Yet, it was at this place that John wrote Revelation – the picture of what these ‘last days’ or ‘end times’ look like from the unseen realm perspective.  He not only heard the Lord, but heard Him as the roar of a lion and as seven peals of thunder from heaven and the voice of many waters.  How powerful were his revelations as a friend of the Lord.

 

John had a deep and intimate relationship with the Lord. He called himself the one that Jesus loved and would be found clinging close to His breast at every occasion.  Yet John was not perfect like the rest of the disciples.  He argued about being greatest, he pushed the little ones out of the way when he thought they were an interference, he hid with the other disciples and discussed going back to fishing. 

 

But then when the power of the Spirit came at Pentecost, it gave him the strength to endure.  He performed many miracles, endured persecution and even being boiled in oil.  John ordered his life and ministry around Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel.

 

I deeply admire his friendship with the Lord and the courage.   Another one that I admire from a distance is Brother Lawrence.  While he was not boiled in oil or put on an island where he couldn’t influence others, his life spoke powerfully of the intimacy and friendship he had with the Lord.

 

He wrote in one of his letters, “By the practice of the presence of God, by steadfast gaze on Him, the soul comes into the knowledge of God, full and deep, to an unclouded vision.  All its life is passed in unceasing acts of love and worship, of contrition and of simple trust, of praise and prayer, and service; at times life seems to be but one long unclouded practice of His divine presence.” 

 

I have this posted on my wall to remember this.  When I first became a Christian, I went on a spiritual retreat.  I don’t remember how it came about or who might have mentioned to do it or if it just came to my heart.  I found in the phone book a Christian retreat center that was Catholic, called them up, and they said I could come.  They said I would be staying with the nuns and doing the liturgy of the hours with them.

 

I remember that I was sick the day I was supposed to leave and thought of cancelling but something in my heart so hungered for more of the Lord that I came anyways.  And on the way, God healed me.  It felt like scales falling off and I was totally fine.   When I got there, they gave me a book or I selected a book, called “The Prayers of Teresa of Avila.”  It was an amazing book and I sobbed the whole time I read it.  I hungered so deeply for the friendship that she had with the Lord that I just couldn’t’ stop weeping.  

 

This is one of those poems that seemed to stick with me:

 

Then later in my life, I was at a softball game, I was praying for a young girl that was playing.  When I got home from the game, I felt overwhelmed with a burden to pray for her.  I went down in my prayer room and prayed that she would be a friend of God’s and walk with Him all her days.  I prayed that she would not even accomplish anything significant but would have this deep intimate friendship with the Lord.   As I was praying this over her, I started sobbing uncontrollably again like when I read the book at the retreat of the prayers of Teresa of Avila as I realized that I wanted that so deeply for myself. 

 

All that to say that deep calls to deep.   Each one of us have a special place in the Lord’s heart and get to choose if we answer the call to have a deep and intimate friendship with the Lord.  We have an invitation to be close to Him and an opportunity to choose this lifestyle. 

 

One of our Chaplains where I work has this kind of friendship with the Lord.  As I deeply admire His intimate friendship with the Lord, I quickly invited him to disciple/mentor those participating in our leadership development program for the organization I work at.  And when I get an opportunity and he has an unexpected opening in his schedule, I slip into meet with him myself. 

 

So how do we cultivate a deep friendship with the Lord for ourselves?  

 

Spend Time in Prayer Daily   We need to spend time daily with God to cultivate a friendship with Him.  Like a married couple, we don’t’ always have words, but our hearts need to be connected in commune with the Lord.  

 

Spending Time in the Word Daily

In spending time in prayer, this is also spending time in the Word.   The Word of God will speak life into us.  When we are weak, it will give us strength.   When we are disappointed, it will comfort us.  When we don’t know how to deal with a situation, it will give us godly solutions.  The Word is God and has something to say to us.  

 

The practice of Lacto Davina is a great way to not only read the Word but stop and listen to what it is speaking.  It is taking a verse and meditating on it as you read it over more than one time.  Then it is pausing and letting God speak to you through it.

 

Let Our Weakness Create Dependence

I love that Brother Lawrence was a clumsy guy and walked with a limp as it seemed to create such dependence for him.   He had to count on the Lord fore even simple things like going out to purchase something from the market. 

 

Seek Him with Our Whole Heart

It is sometimes easy to get caught up in doing things for God that we can lose being with God.  Many of my friends have incredible ministries.  I can look at them and what they are doing and feel like I have to have something to show as well. I start thinking that I have to start some sort of ministry when I know He isn’t calling me to this. 

 

Cultivate Sabbath Rest

Besides having some time daily to come away and be with the Lord, we need a full day that is set aside weekly as dedicated to the Lord.  This should be protected time.  Do we let things encroach on our time with the Lord? Do we put our time with Him first or last?  When we have a big project to complete, do we skip having Sabbath time?  Our disciplines matter as they make room or crowd out the Lord.

 

What stands out about this practice of Sabbath to me right now is that not only does one come away from regular duties and ordinary responsibilities, at certain times, like the Festival of Trumpets, you are to “present special gifts to the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:25)

 

Special Gifts

Do we give the Lord special gifts?  Cultivating intimacy with Him it sounds like a great place to start in offering Him special gifts. What might these look like? At the time, this was offerings made by fire.  It was taking a provision given to us by God and burning it up in thanks back to Him… spent on Jesus.  Do we pour out our Alabaster Jars? Do we give Him everything we hold onto for the greater privilege of loving Him?

 

Denying Oneself Through Fasting

It is the same with the Day of Atonement.  It was not only a day of rest, but to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord.   Leviticus 23:32 says about this day of Atonement, “This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves.”  Here it is speaking of fasting as a form of humbling oneself, repenting and denying desires for the greater gift of Him. 

 

One thing I have noticed over the years with fasting, is that it seems to curb desires.   When I come off a fast, I no longer am struggling with craving or want if I had it before.  I just don’t have any desires for food outside of the nutrients.  At the same time, fasting seems to open up this deeper place of connection.  I never regret fasting as the delight is in the presence of the Lord.   When I break into this place of intimacy in it, I find myself saying in my heart that I never want to leave that place.  I just want to live there.

 

Where I struggle is desiring to fast all the time every day.  I would love to live like Reese Howells the intercessor and fast every day and just have a cup of soup once a day.  But I struggle with maintaining this approach as either my heart starts getting hard and self-righteous or I am weak and tired, having a harder time maintaining my duties (and my memory) as I have become older.

 

There are many other ways to deny oneself besides fasting food, however.  One can deny a bad habit, speaking or some favorite food.  Fasting sweets or meats is sometimes a great way to practice self-denial.  

 

My first pastor fasted frequently and she had this incredible intimate relationship with the Lord that was undeniable. I wanted to be around her just because I felt like I was talking directly to the Holy Spirit when I spoke with her.  She fasted chocolate over many years as it was once an addiction for her.   As I came to know her, I gave up chocolate.  It was just my way of saying to God, I want that kind of intimate friendship too, please. I never eat chocolate because of it.  Ironically, it seemed to work to an extent so I never touch it.

 

Cultivating Dependence by Open Hands

How do we deal with disappointment?  Are we able to release the things that we love and enjoy?  God wants us to have open hands in all things.  He gives and sometimes He takes away.  We need to be able to receive things with joy and at the same time give them back with the same joy.  It is not what we do, but who we are becoming that really matters.

 

Walking in Holiness

The Lord loathes those who insist on being headstrong, even in trouble, they don’t get that their wrong.    But He is a faithful friend to the upright of heart, the ones who look to Him at the new day starts. The curse of the Lord is on the house those who choose to do wrong, they will struggle and not know for what they long. But blessed is the house of those who do right, He will bend to meet them in their plight.  He mocks at the mockers and gives grace to the grace-filled, the wise given honor while shame to those self-willed. (Proverbs 3:33-35)

How we live matters to God.  It grieves His Holy Spirit when we walk in sin.  Ever notice this?  You go into worship and you have sacrificed for God all week and when you enter, you have this incredible encounter with Him in worship.  And another time, you are unkind to someone, then come into worship and all you feel is an overwhelming sense of conviction.  You want to crawl back out and make amends.

 

It says that if you know someone has something against you, leave your offering, go quickly to them and make amends, then come back to His altar to make your offering.   It also says in Ephesians 4:30-32, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, outcry, and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ God forgave you.”

 

The Holy Spirit is like a dove that rest on you.  If you grieve Him, you will not have the same sense of His presence.  It will take a time of repentance before you begin to sense His presence again.  The key to walking closely with Him throughout the day is having conversation with Him, thankfulness to Him, and not grieving Him.

 

While being hurtful and unkind to another person is clearly grieving His Sprit and will cause you to lose a sense of His presence, a few that may not be as noticeable of sins that cause Him grieve are complaining, grumbling and also outcry against someone.   Ever have someone really hurt you and go to God with an outcry against them?  It is the Greek word krauge, Strongs #2906. While the Lord may very well vindicate us for someone causing us harm, our immediate response should be to forgive and not hold a grudge.  We should desire the best for them and not for God to punish them for their sin.

 

Loving Others Well

As we cultivate depth with God, His love and presence flows through us.  One of the things that my first pastor did really well is not only all of the above practices but she used great care with others.  She constantly denied herself and made room for others.   She went out of her way to build up those around her, especially those who were wounded and hurting.  She encouraged them and made room for them in her ministry.  She treated others with such value that many women (especially the broken) where just drawn to her like a bee to honey. 

 

It says that what we do for the least of these, we have done onto Jesus.  He really cares about those who are least.  At different times in my career (in working for my current organization as a non-profit and a prior one), the Lord gave me dreams and spoke to me about the needs around me and how they could be met. They matter deeply to Him. I notice that a lot of the folks I work with are super passionate about what they do, but so is Jesus—passionate about what they do.  It matters deeply to Him.

 

Being Led by The Lord in All Things

 Sometimes I find that as the Lord speaks to me about pressing in to a certain area or is in something with me, I start building it in as a habit.  For instance, I had this incredible encounter with God on December 27th, 2000 at Pacem of Terrace and I kept coming back there every year for twelve years over that same time frame.  

 

In the same way, if I start seeing fruit from doing something, I will do it over, and over and over again.  Sometimes this bears good fruit in my life and I may have continuous regular connections with the Lord through following this discipline.  

 

However, sometimes it results in me following a process and a habit over God.  One thing I noticed lately is God seems to be switching things up on me.  One week He wants me to go to this extra church service to support the people there and pray and the next week he does not.  I start going consistent because I saw Him bless me in it but then notice one week, he seems to communicate differently.  Then I go and find out why it didn’t make sense for me that week to be there.  Then I stop going for a time only to realize he wants me there again.  

 

All that to say that it is important to be in tune with the Lord and not let habits overtake being led by the Lord.  While habits can work in our favor or our detriment, God wants us to listen and follow in all circumstances.   We see with Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist and others, they had good habits in their lives but they were also very careful to follow the Lord’s leading. They listened and followed.

 

Lord Jesus, more than anything, we want to be close to You.  We want to be Your friend.  Help us to establish practices in our lives that cultivate friendship and walking closely with You.  At the same time, help us to be led by the Lord in all things.   Help us to live with open hands, and open heart, and in listening closely rather than doing what we have always done in the past.