DAY 11 Becoming Best Friends preparing to meet him, we can now approach God anytime.

with God The

Since we were restored to friendship with Bible says, “Now we can rejoice in our wonderful new
God by the death of his Son while we were relationship
still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ
from eternal punishment by his life. has done for us in making us friends of God.” 3
Romans 5:10 (NLT) Friendship with God is possible only because of
God wants to be your best friend. the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. “All this
Your relationship to God has many different aspects: God is is done by God, who through Christ changed us from
your Creator and Maker, Lord and Master, Judge, Redeemer, enemies into his friends.” 4 The old hymn says,
Father, Savior, and much more.1 But the most shocking truth “What a friend we have in Jesus,” but actually, God
is invites us to enjoy friendship and fellowship with all three
this: Almighty God yearns to be your Friend! persons
In Eden we see God’s ideal relationship with us: Adam and of the Trinity: our Father,5 the Son,6 and the Holy Spirit.7
Eve Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant
enjoyed an intimate friendship with God. There were no does
rituals, not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you
ceremonies, or religion—just a simple loving relationship friends, for
between everything that I learned from my Father I have made known
God and the people he created. Unhindered by guilt or fear, to
Adam and Eve delighted in God, and he delighted in them. you.” 8 The word for friend in this verse does not mean a
We were made to live in God’s continual presence, but after casual
the Fall, that ideal relationship was lost. Only a few people in acquaintance but a close, trusted relationship. The same
Old Testament times had the privilege of friendship with God. word is
Moses and Abraham were called “friends of God,” David used to refer to the best man at a wedding9 and a king’s
wascalled “a man after [God’s] own heart,” and Job, Enoch, inner
and circle of intimate, trusted friends. In royal courts, servants
Noah had intimate friendships with God.2 But fear of God, not must
friendship, was more common in the Old Testament. keep their distance from the king, but the inner circle of
Then Jesus changed the situation. When he paid for our sins trusted
on friends enjoy close contact, direct access, and confidential
the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our information.
separation That God would want me for a close friend is hard to
from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct understand, but the Bible says, “He is a God who is
access to God was once again available. passionate
Unlike the Old Testament priests who had to spend hours about his relationship with you.” 10
God deeply desires that we know him intimately. In fact, he
planned the universe and orchestrated history, including the your schedule. He wants to be
details of our lives, so that we could become his friends. The included in every activity, every
Bible says, conversation, every problem, and
“He made the entire human race and made the earth even every thought. You can carry on a continuous, open-
hospitable, ended
with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after conversation with him throughout your day, talking with him
God, about whatever you are doing or thinking at that moment.
and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him.” “Praying without ceasing”14 means conversing with God
11 while shopping, driving, working, or performing any other
Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege, and being everyday
known and loved is God’s greatest pleasure. God says, “If any tasks.
want to boast, they should boast that they know and A common misconception is that “spending time with God”
understand means being alone with him. Of course, as Jesus modeled,
me. . . . These are the things that please me.” 12 you
It’s difficult to imagine how an intimate friendship is possible need time alone with God, but that is only a fraction of your
between an omnipotent, invisible, perfect God and a finite, waking hours. Everything you do can be “spending time with
sinful God” if he is invited to be a part of it and you stay aware of
human being. It’s easier to understand a Master-servant his
relationship or a Creator-creation relationship or even Father presence.
child. But what does it mean when God wants me as a friend? The classic book on learning how to develop a constant
By conversation with God is Practicing the Presence of God. It
looking at the lives of God’s friends in the Bible, we learn six was
secrets of friendship with God. We will look at two secrets in written in the seventeenth century by Brother Lawrence, a
this humble cook in a French monastery. Brother Lawrence was
chapter and four more in the next. able
Becoming a Best Friend of God to turn even the most commonplace and menial tasks, like
Through constant conversation. You will never grow a preparing meals and washing dishes, into acts of praise and
close communion with God. The key to friendship with God, he
relationship with God by just attending church once a week said, is
or not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward
even having a daily quiet time. Friendship with God is built by what you do. What you normally do for yourself you begin
sharing all your life experiences doing
with him. for God, whether it is eating, bathing, working, relaxing, or
Of course, it is important to taking out the trash.
establish the habit of a daily Today we often feel we must “get away” from our daily
devotional time with God,13 but he routine
wants more than an appointment in in order to worship God, but that is only because we haven’t
learned to practice his presence all the time. Brother be repeated to Jesus in one breath: “You are with me.” “I
Lawrence receive
found it easy to worship God through the common tasks of your grace.” “I’m depending on you.” “I want to know you.” “I
life; belong to you.” “Help me trust you.” You can also use a short
he didn’t have to go away for special spiritual retreats. phrase of Scripture: “For me to live is Christ.” “You will never
This is God’s ideal. In Eden, worship was not an event to leave me.” “You are my God.” Pray it as often as possible so
attend, but a perpetual attitude; Adam and Eve were in it is
constant rooted deep in your heart. Just be sure that your motive is to
communion with God. Because God is with you all the time, honor God, not control him.
no Practicing the presence of God is a skill, a habit you can
place is any closer to God than the place where you are right develop. Just as musicians practice scales every day in order
now. to
The Bible says, “He rules everything and is everywhere and is play beautiful music with ease, you must force yourself to
in think
everything.” 15 about God at different times in your day. You must train your
Another of Brother Lawrence’s helpful ideas was to pray mind to remember God.
shorter conversational prayers continually through the day At first you will need to create reminders to regularly bring
rather your thoughts back to the awareness that God is with you in
than trying to pray long sessions of complex prayers. To that
maintain moment. Begin by placing visual reminders around you. You
focus and counteract wandering thoughts, he said, “I do not might post little notes that say, “God is with me and for me
advise you to use a great multiplicity of words in prayer, right
since now!” Benedictine monks use the hourly chimes of a clock to
long discourses are often the occasions for wandering.”16 In remind them to pause and pray “the hour prayer.” If you
an have a
age of attention deficit, this 450-year-old suggestion to keep watch or cell phone with an alarm, you could do the same.
it Sometimes you will sense God’s presence; other times you
simple seems to be particularly won’t.
relevant. If you are seeking an experience of his presence through all
The Bible tells us to “pray all the of
time.” 17 How is it possible to do this, you have missed the point. We don’t praise God to feel
this? One way is to use “breath good, but to do good. Your goal is not a feeling, but a
prayers” throughout the day, as continual
many Christians have done for awareness of the reality that God is always present. That is
centuries. You choose a brief the
sentence or a simple phrase that can lifestyle of worship.
Through continual meditation. A second way to establish “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily
a bread.” 20 David said, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate
friendship with God is by thinking about his Word throughout on it all
your day. This is called meditation, and the Bible day long.” 21 “They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot
repeatedly urges us to meditate on who God is, stop
what he has done, and what he has said.18 thinking about them.” 22 Friends share secrets, and God will
It is impossible to be God’s friend apart from share his secrets with you if
knowing what he says. You can’t love God unless you develop the habit of thinking about his Word throughout
you know him, and you can’t know him without the
knowing his Word. The Bible says God “revealed day. God told Abraham his secrets, and he did the same with
himself to Samuel through his word.” 19 God still uses that Daniel, Paul, the disciples, and other friends.23
method today. When you read your Bible or hear a sermon or listen to a
While you cannot spend all day studying the Bible, you can tape,
think about it throughout the day, recalling verses you have don’t just forget it and walk away. Develop the practice of
read reviewing the truth in your mind, thinking about it over and
or memorized and mulling them over in your mind. over.
Meditation is often misunderstood as some difficult, The more time you spend reviewing what God has said, the
mysterious more
ritual practiced by isolated monks and mystics. But you will understand the “secrets” of this life that most people
meditation is miss. The Bible says, “Friendship with God is reserved for
simply focused thinking—a skill anyone can learn and use those who
anywhere. reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his
When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, promises.” 24
that’s called worry. When you think about God’s Word over In the next chapter we will see four more secrets of
and cultivating
over in your mind, that’s meditation. If you know how to a friendship with God, but don’t wait until tomorrow. Start
worry, today by practicing constant conversation with God and
you already know how to meditate! You just need to switch continual meditation on his Word. Prayer lets you speak to
your God;
attention from your problems to Bible verses. The more you meditation lets God speak to you. Both are essential to
meditate on God’s Word, the less you will have to worry becoming
about. a friend of God.
The reason God considered Job and David his close friends
was
that they valued his Word above everything else, and they
thought about it continually throughout the day. Job
admitted,
 Draw close to God, and God
Day Eleven will draw close to you.
Thinking about My Purpose James 4:8 (NLT)
Point to Ponder: God wants to be my best friend. You are as close to God as you choose to be.
Verse to Remember: “Friendship with God is reserved Like any friendship, you must work at developing your
for those who reverence him.” Psalm 25:14a (LB) friendship with God. It won’t happen by accident. It takes
Question to Consider: What can I do to remind desire,
myself to think about God and talk to him more often time, and energy. If you want a deeper, more intimate
throughout the day connection
with God you must learn to honestly share your feelings with
him, trust him when he asks you to do something, learn to
care
about what he cares about, and desire his friendship more
than
anything else.
I must choose to be honest with God. The first building
block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty—
about your faults and your feelings. God doesn’t expect you
to
be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty. None of
God’s friends in the Bible were perfect. If perfection was a
requirement for friendship with God, we would never be able
to
be his friends. Fortunately, because of God’s grace, Jesus is
still
the “friend of sinners.” 1
In the Bible, the friends of God were honest about their
feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and
arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn’t seem to be
bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it.
God allowed Abraham to question and challenge him over the
destruction of the city of Sodom. Abraham pestered God over
DAY 12 Developing Your Friendship what it would take to spare the city, negotiating God down
with God from
He fifty righteous people to only ten.
offers his friendship to the godly. God also listened patiently to David’s many accusations of
Proverbs 3:32 (NLT)
unfairness, betrayal, and abandonment. God did not slay complete honesty.said to Moses, ‘All right. Just as you say;
Jeremiah this also I will do, for I know
when he claimed that God had tricked him. Job was allowed you well and you are special to me.’” 4
to Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you?
vent his bitterness during his ordeal, and in the end, God Absolutely! Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. What
defended Job for being honest, and he rebuked Job’s friends may
for appear as audacity God views as authenticity. God listens to
being inauthentic. God told them, “You haven’t been honest the
either passionate words of his friends; he is bored with predictable,
with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. . . . My pious
friend clichés. To be God’s friend, you must be honest to God,
Job will now pray for you and I will accept his prayer.” 2 sharing
In one startling example of frank friendship,3 God honestly your true feeling, not what you
expressed his total disgust with Israel’s disobedience. He told think you ought to feel or say.
Moses he would keep his promise to give the Israelites the It is likely that you need to
Promised Land, but he wasn’t going one step farther with confess some hidden anger and
them in resentment at God for certain areas
the desert! God was fed up, and he of your life where you have felt
let Moses know exactly how he felt. cheated or disappointed. Until we
Moses, speaking as a “friend” of mature enough to understand that God uses everything for
God, responded with equal candor: good
“‘Look, you tell me to lead this people in our lives, we harbor resentment toward God over our
but you don’t let me know whom appearance, background, unanswered prayers, past hurts,
you’re going to send with me. . . . If and
I’m so special to you, let me in on other things we would change if we were God. People often
your plans. . . . Don’t forget, this is YOUR people, your blame God for hurts caused by others. This creates what
responsibility. . . . If your presence doesn’t take the lead William
here, call this Backus calls “your hidden rift with God.”
trip off right now! How else will I know that you’re with me in Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God: Why
this, would I want to be God’s friend if he allowed this? The
with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? . . antidote,
.’ God of course, is to realize that God always acts in your best
PURPOSE #1: You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure interest,
93 even when it is painful and you don’t understand it. But
God doesn’t expect you to be releasing
perfect, but he does insist on your resentment and revealing your feeling is the first step to
healing. As so many people in the Bible did, tell God exactly if you do what I command.” 7
how In the last chapter I pointed out that the word Jesus used
you feel.5 when
To instruct us in candid honesty, God gave us the book of he called us “friends” could refer to the “friends of the king”
Psalms—a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, in a
fears, royal court. While these close companions had special
resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, privileges,
praise, and statements of faith. Every possible emotion is they were still subject to the king and had to obey his
catalogued in the Psalms. When you read the emotional commands.
confessions of David and others, realize this is how God We are friends with God, but we are not his equals. He is our
wants you loving leader, and we follow him.
to worship him—holding back nothing of what you feel. You We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but
can because we love him and trust that he knows what is best for
pray like David: “I pour out my complaints before him and tell us.
him We want to follow Christ out of gratitude for all
all my troubles. For I am overwhelmed.” 6 he has done for us, and the closer we follow
It’s encouraging to know that all of God’s closest friends— him, the deeper our friendship becomes.
Moses, David, Abraham, Job, and others—had bouts with Unbelievers often think Christians obey out of
doubt. obligation or guilt or fear of punishment, but
But instead of masking their misgivings with pious clichés, the opposite is true. Because we have been
they forgiven and set free, we obey out of love—and
candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt our obedience brings great joy! Jesus said, “I have loved you
is even
sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you
with obey me,
God. you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain
I must choose to obey God in faith. Every time you trust in his
God’s wisdom and do whatever he says, even when you don’t love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy.
understand it, you deepen your friendship with God. We don’t Yes,
normally think of obedience as a characteristic of friendship; your joy will overflow!” 8
that’s Notice that Jesus expects us to do only what he did with the
reserved for relationships with a parent or the boss or a Father. His relationship with his Father is the model for our
superior friendship with him. Jesus did whatever the Father asked him
officer, not a friend. However, Jesus made it clear that to
obedience do—out of love.
is a condition of intimacy with God. He said, “You are my True friendship isn’t passive; it acts. When Jesus asks us to
friends love
others, help the needy, share our resources, keep our lives I must choose to value what God values. This is what
clean, friends
offer forgiveness, and bring others to him, love motivates us do—they care about what is important to the other person.
to The
obey immediately. more you become God’s friend, the more you will care about
We are often challenged to do “great things” for God. the
Actually, things he cares about, grieve over the things he grieves over,
God is more pleased when we do small things for him out of and
loving obedience. They may be unnoticed by others, but God rejoice over the things that bring pleasure to him.
notices them and considers them acts of worship. Paul is the best example of this. God’s agenda was his
Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small agenda,
opportunities surround us every day. Even through such and God’s passion was his: “The thing that has me so upset is
simple that I
acts as telling the truth, being kind, and encouraging others, care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning
we inside
bring a smile to God’s face. God treasures simple acts of me!” 11 David felt the same way: “Passion for your house
obedience more than our prayers, praise, or offerings. The burns
Bible within me, so those who insult you are also insulting me.” 12
tells us, “What pleases the Lord more: burnt offerings and What does God care about most? The redemption of his
sacrifices people. He wants all his lost children found! That’s the whole
or obedience to his voice? It is better to obey than to reason Jesus came to earth. The dearest thing to the heart of
sacrifice.” 9 God
Jesus began his public ministry at age thirty by being is the death of his Son. The second dearest thing is when his
baptized children share that news with others. To be a friend of God,
by John. At that event God spoke from heaven: “This is my you
beloved must care about all the people
Son, and I am fully pleased with him.” 10 What had Jesus around you whom God cares
been about. Friends of God tell their
doing for thirty years that gave God so much pleasure? The friends about God.
Bible I must desire friendship with
says nothing about those hidden years except for a single God more than anything else.
phrase The Psalms are filled with examples
in Luke 2:51: “He went back to Nazareth with them, and lived of this desire. David passionately
obediently with them” (Msg). Thirty years of pleasing God desired to know God above all else; he used words like
were longing,
summed up in two words: “lived obediently”! yearning, thirsting, hungering. He craved God. He said, “The
thing I seek most of all is the privilege of meditating in his required?
Temple, You may have been passionate about God in the past but
living in his presence every day of my life, delighting in his you’ve lost that desire. That was the problem of the
incomparable perfections and glory.” 13 In another psalm he Christians in
said, Ephesus—they had left their first love. They did all the right
“Your love means more than life to me.” 14 things, but out of duty, not love. If you’ve just been going
Jacob’s passion for God’s blessing on his life was so intense through the motions spiritually, don’t be surprised when God
that allows pain in your life.
he wrestled in the dirt all night with God, saying, “I will not let Pain is the fuel of passion—it energizes us with an intensity to
you go unless you bless me.” 15 The amazing part of that change that we don’t normally possess. C. S. Lewis said,
story is that “Pain is
God, who is all powerful, let Jacob win! God isn’t offended God’s megaphone.” It is God’s way of arousing us from
when spiritual
we “wrestle” with him, because wrestling requires personal lethargy. Your problems are not punishment; they are wake-
contact and brings us close to him! It is also a passionate up
activity, calls from a loving God. God is not mad at you; he’s mad
and God loves it when we are passionate with him. about you, and he will do whatever it takes to bring
Paul was another man passionate for friendship with God. you back into fellowship with him. But there is an
Nothing mattered more; it was the first priority, total focus, easier way to reignite your passion for God: Start
and asking God to give it to you, and keep on asking
ultimate goal of his life. This is the reason God used Paul in until you have it. Pray this throughout your day:
such “Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to
a great way. The Amplified translation expresses the full get to know you intimately.” God told the
force of captives in Babylon, “When you get serious about finding
Paul’s passion: “My determined purpose is that I may know me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you
Him— won’t be
that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately disappointed.”
acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and Your Most Important Relationship
understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and There is nothing—absolutely nothing—more important than
more developing a friendship with God. It’s a relationship that will
clearly.” 16 last
The truth is—you are as close to God as you choose to be. forever. Paul told Timothy, “Some of these people have
Intimate friendship with God is a choice, not an accident. You missed the
must intentionally seek it. Do you really want it—more than most important thing in life—they don’t know God.” 18 Have
anything? What is it worth to you? Is it worth giving up other you
things? Is it worth the effort of developing the habits and been missing out on the most important thing in life? You can
skills do
something about it starting now. Remember, it’s your choice.
You
are as close to God as you choose to be.
Day Twelve
Thinking about My Purpose
Point to Ponder: I’m as close to God as I choose to be.
Verse to Remember: “Draw close to God, and God will
draw close to you.” James 4:8a (NLT)
Question to Consider: What practical choices will I
make today in order to grow closer to God?