How incredible that you and I have been called to BE FRIENDS OF GOD.  And, not just friendship with God but intimate friendship.  A deep and lasting relationship that comes out of knowing Him both personally and experientially.    John tells us that “our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” and Paul reminds us that “…we have been called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ.”

I just love the thought that we can know God and yet never stop knowing Him. He is from everlasting to everlasting, eternal and immense in love for us.  There is a deep longing in the Father’s heart to spend time with us, having our undivided attention and to pour out His affection upon us.  It is no wonder that David the Psalmist cried out,  “Give me an undivided heart, that I might fear you…”

There is also the delight of the fruitfulness of such intimate friendship.  “But you, O God, are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love, and you never, never quit.”

Dear friends, we are called to this relationship by the Father who longs for and has provided a way for us to experience daily intimacy with Himself.   He has cleared the way for us to know the immensity of this unique relationship.  Jesus has removed every obstacle in our lives and poured Himself into us.  He has whet our appetites by giving us a taste of what’s ahead.  There is nothing more important than to desire Jesus and enjoy the promise of  intimate fellowship with Him.  Best of all it is not for a select few……..

“I’ll be their God, they’ll be my people. They won’t go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God In Five Easy Lessons. They’ll all get to know me first hand, the little and the big, the small and the great.” [Hebrews 8 The Message]

Jesus shows us the Way

Jesus takes the lead in showing us what friendship is really all about. He models it for us in such a way that there should be no doubt in our minds what it looks like. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” And yet sadly, for many Christians, their world can be  one of the loneliest places to live and friendship with things rather than people becomes a priority. It doesn’t have to be like that. Jesus speaks plainly to us. “You are my friends if you do what I command.” He later says, “This is my command: Love each other.”

He sets the pace and then pours out his grace

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” This is the standard that Jesus sets for true friendship. Laying down our lives for our friends! Impossible for us, but, doable with his help. Jesus, knowing exactly what is in our hearts, looks us squarely in the eyes and says I want you to know how much I value your friendship. I want you to know just how much it means to me when you take the time to be alone with me. I desire to be with you more than anything else. You are always in my thoughts.

His Church is a family of friends whose hearts have been captivated by a higher affection and who are learning to lay down the unimportant things. May we be deeply encouraged and mindful of our calling to walk this way.

I know we know these things but as Peter says, “I have written them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.”

What does it mean to live in Him and to make our home in the God and Father of Jesus? It may be   difficult for us to understand how He can assure us, “…just as I do in you.” That the God and Father of Jesus chooses to live within me is a seemingly unreasonable statement which only makes me feel even more honoured, privileged, blessed, encouraged, amazed and awestruck at His master plan. How good He is!

He knows me

He knows me just as I am – and He still loves me unconditionally because He has purposed to reveal Himself to me out of  His nature  of  pure love. His longing is to share fellowship with us and this happens most when we are relaxed with Him and open and available to His company. Jesus longs for us to be like children with him -  receptive, utterly dependent and totally reliant on His power and grace.

Because He knows me I can feel totally safe with Him, assured that in spite of where I am at He wants to be with me. Brennan Manning has said, “Adam and Eve both hid from the Lord and we use them as role models!” Our most natural inclination is to hide from him and yet  He seeks daily intimacy with us!

A personal question

I had felt that this was a personal question Father was asking of me. It was not a call for me to run off and study the scriptures and return with a pat answer. We may think that because we are Christians and read the Book and therefore know a great deal about God, therefore we know God. It is not so, for we need an experiential knowledge of Him. We do know much about Him but He calls us to Himself that we might know Him personally.  Learning to cultivate intimacy with Christ will not only become a joyful experience but will bring amazing freedom to our lives.

How do you see Me  in everyday life?

When we have people visit our home we often find ourselves saying, “Please make yourselves at home!” And we do that because it is in our hearts for them to feel relaxed enough to be themselves. When people feel relaxed and cared for they are far more able to share their lives with you. That awareness of being at home with someone is what Father calls us to. When I am at home I speak freely and honestly. I am relaxed and available to chat and listen! I want to be involved in all that is going on in the home.  All this of course is a simple picture of what Jesus is wanting us to experience with Himself.

Being at home with Jesus helps us to understand what He is like. What He enjoys! His care and concern for us as well as knowing what pleases Him is all part of being “In Christ!”  He in me and me in him. It may be that we need a shift in our understanding. We can ‘be at home with Jesus’ today without waiting for heaven as some believe! It was John Wesley who said, “Best of all God is with us!”

Encouragement

Look what David has to say, “I thank you, High God – you are breathtaking!” and “Your thoughts – how rare, how beautiful! God I’ll never comprehend them!”

Let us renounce our illusions of God and surrender to Him today because - “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”

Solitary Place

“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.” A.W. Tozer

There is a way to experience inner fulfillment and satisfaction each and every day because of God’s grace.   In the midst of global recession, heartache, fear and uncertainty Jesus declares that He is fully with us and longs to hear from us. As we choose to turn our eyes from the ‘waves’ of life we can focus with clarity on the One who calls us to Himself and know we are in good hands!

Jesus said to  the people, “…He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

He reminds us how utterly dependent He was upon his Father for everything. He lived out of this relationship with His Father and together they reveal to us that it is totally possible to live this ‘impossible’ life on earth.

Clearly, the key to this hidden intimacy is exampled to us by Jesus and this is the central act that helps cultivate this ‘dependency’ – “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

If this was the Jesus way then surely we should do likewise.   Our hearts can be joined in intimate affection throughout the day but there is a solitary place for each of us to draw from Him all that He longs to give to us.  Have we seen what the Father is doing?  He longs for intimate times with us so that He can reveal  His love and desire.  Let us allow our hearts to be drawn by our Lover King to a place of stillness and quietness away from the noise of the day. Too much of life has become blurred and distracted by listening to others rather than to our heavenly Father.

He longs, loves and delights in revealing Himself to us in a way that prepares our lives for living each day with a power not our own!  He is closer than you think …..and longs to hear from you!