You know guys,
I have to say that reading this article has totally refreshed some thoughts I had forgotten. Isn’t so amazing that we get caught up in many years of work FOR GOD that we forget what it feels like to BE WITH GOD?
I have just awakened this morning to the fact that I have gotten into a routine and have forgotten the relationship. Over the last months I have found Poppa slowly, but surely drawing me back to a close friendship. It’s so easy to read the Bible, have a prayer time, do ministry and even see GOD working through the miraculous. It really doesn’t TAKE a relatioship to do any of these things. Now, hear me, this sounds very strange, but it’s true.
The special relationship of “Friend” takes much more than simple service or right standing as son or daughter. It requires the onus of care, concern and forethought to be on us.
Read the below article by Henry Blackaby and think about the following:
When you are in a relationship with a husband or wife, you do the following:
1 – Think about what they love.
2 – Think about what they don’t like.
3 – Anticipate their needs.
4 – Anticipate their thoughts.
5 – Serve, give, listen to, and spend time with them.
6 – Inside of that serving, giving, listening to and spending time with them, you actually have a give and take going on with true interaction and life giving and life receiving for both parties.
7 – Ask yourself pertinent questions about the one you are in relationship with related to the above, ex:
– Would __________ love this?
– Would this hurt _________?
– Is this something that will fulfill _________’s needs?
– Is this going to set _________ up for success?
– Is this going to build ________ up?
– Is this going to raise ________ up in others’ minds?
Do we do this for Poppa? I wonder what would happen if we actually CARED what HE thought and how HE felt? I wonder if it would change our services, our music, our writing, our ministries, our lives, our activities if we actually took a moment and said, “Poppa, what do you want me to sing to you today?”
“Poppa, what do you want to do today?” “Poppa, is there someone you want to reach today?” “Poppa, how do you want me to spend time with you today?”
I wonder how our lives would change if we actually had relationships with Poppa GOD?
pd
Friends of God
“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
You do not choose to be a friend of God. That is by invitation only. Only two people in the Old Testament were specifically described as “friends of God.” Abraham walked with the Lord so closely that God referred to him as His friend (Isa. 41:8). Moses spoke to God face to face as a man speaks with his friend_(Exod. 33:11).
By His very nature God is a friend to us. He loves us with a perfect love and reaches out to us with salvation when we can offer Him nothing in return. It is quite another thing when someone has a heart so devoted to Him that God initiates a special friendship. David’s heart was totally devoted to God (1 Kings 11:4). Although David was not sinless, he loved God. David hated sin (Ps. 103:3); he loved to worship God (Ps. 122:1); he took genuine delight in God’s presence (2 Sam. 6:14); he loved to speak about God (Ps. 34:1); he was keenly aware of his transgressions (Ps. 51:3–4); and he delighted in offering gifts of song, thanksgiving, and praise, asking for nothing in return (Ps. 100). So closely did David walk with God that his words were on Jesus’ mind as He hung upon the cross (Matt. 27:46).
Jesus called His disciples friends. He said He would disclose to them things that the Father had shared with Him, because they were His friends. There developed such an intimate friendship between them that He would share what was on His heart with His friends.
If you cannot describe yourself as a friend of God, commit yourself to seek after God with all your heart.