John 15:15 ~ I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.
Having a friend is something I cherish beyond words. A true friend is beyond any worth to me. Someone who can lift your spirits, make you laugh, and commiserate with you in times of trouble: That's a true friend. People who are your friends have your best interest at heart, they walk with you down the long and hard roads. They celebrate with you in the joyous times of your life.
I don't have to worry about who I am when I am with my friends. I can be myself. I don't have to put on a show. My true friends know me inside and out. They know when I'm upset and when I'm trying to hide the fact that I don't want to talk about being upset. They know what questions to ask and what things to say and do to make me feel better.
Many people see God as just an umbrella of love and protection. The umbrella covers us yet there is no real connection. If I am carrying an umbrella and the wind starts to blow I'm still going to get soaked by a pouring rainstorm. There's not much I can do. Having a relationship with Jesus is like having a waterproof rain suit. You can walk out into the biggest storm, and you will be protected from the rain. Its not like being in a bubble where God doesn't even allow you to get wet, because the outside of your rain suit will be soaked from the storm, but inside you will be completely safe and dry.
Jesus prepared our way for friendship with God. In the verse from John Jesus is telling his disciples, those who had walked closely by him, and learned from him daily that he called them friend. Jesus explains that because he had told them everything that the Father had told him that their relationship had changed. Jesus trusted them because they had proven themselves to be faithful learners. The disciples trusted Jesus because he had not left them and had continued to teach them.
There has to however be a healthy fear of God. Being a friend of God does not make you equal with him. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, God is not your friend. Too many people miss this. God loves all of us. But when people do not chose his son, not only is he still angry with the sins that we have committed, but we are also spitting in his face by not receiving the most precious gift he could give. We can not be friends with God without the blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross, and without getting to know his son in a personal relationship. Jesus loved the masses of people he preached to, or he wouldn't have shared with them the gift of salvation, but he didn't call them friends. Jesus saved that title for only a select few. A select few that walked with him and learned from him and daily lived their lives as he had called them to.
As believers we have to realize that a friendship with God is only possible if we put forth the effort. If we truly love the Lord, are grateful for our salvation, and have a healthy fear of him, we will want to spend time learning from him, praising him, praying to him. and sitting quietly listening to him. I don't know of any person on earth I would say you was my friend if they only had talked to me once in my life. Is that how our relationships with the Lord are, or are they sweet personal friendships.
We are accepted by God and we are his friend if we are true believers in Jesus Christ. My prayer is that you know for a fact that, you know you have this kind of friendship with the Only one who can make an eternal difference in your life. Once you are sure of that relationship I pray that you would learn from him , and seek him for help with your struggles in life, and most of all LISTEN. :)
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