To develop a friendship with God;
I must choose to be honest with God
-Complete honesty about your feelings.
-God isn't bothered by frankness, he encourages it.
-God allowed Abraham to question and challenge him.
-God listened patiently to David's many accusations of unfairness, betrayal and abandonment.
Moses and Job both challenged God.
-What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity.
-God always acts in our best interest, even when it's painful and we don't understand it.
I must choose to obey God in faith.
-Every time you trust God's wisdom and do what he asks, even if you don't understand, you
deepen your friendship with him.
-You are my friends if you do what I command.
-We are friends with God, but not his equal. He is our loving leader, and we follow him.
-God is more pleased with us when we do small things, out of loving obedience.
I must choose to value what God values.
-The more you become God's friend, the more you will care about the things he cares about,
grieve over the things he grieves over, and rejoice over the things that bring pleasure to
him.
-God cares the most about the redemption of his people.
-To be a friend of God, you must care about all the people around you that God cares about
-Friends of God tell their friends about God.
I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.
-The truth is-you are as close to God as you choose to be.
-You must intentionally seek his friendship.
-Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you intimately.
What I'm reading in this chapter is that in addition to reverence and prayer, I need to be honest with God about my feelings about him. It's easy when it's a beautiful day and I can see his glory surrounding me. But, if I'm irritated with him, angry with him, or troubled by what I perceive he has done, I need to talk to him about that also. I have not been doing that. I think that choosing to obey God is choosing daily to follow his word. It means with each failing, each missed opportunity, that I pick myself up, dust myself off, apologize to God and try harder the next time. I do want to be more of a friend to Jesus.
Today I read about different ways to develop my friendship with God. I have been a Christian for most of my life and always thought of God as my friend, but after reading the past several chapters of PDL, I have a perspective on God that I've never had before. He now seems so much more personal to me, more reachable. Not God, the master of the universe (even though He is) who is so above me that it seems my prayers are lifted up vertically. He is now someone who is beside me and my conversations with Him have taken on a different feel. It's no longer a "formal" prayer. Because He is God, I respect Him, reverence Him, worship Him and acknowledge who He is, but the verse "draw close to God and He will draw close to you" puts it on a very personal level. Talking to God more as a friend would and reading more scripture will help me grow closer to Him.
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