Friendship.

It’s always difficult to open up to people. To let people into your life, into your mess and help you sort through it. But, this is made slightly easier by a good friend. A friend that you can run and vent to, a friend that you can scream & yell at, a friend that you can express your anger to and they tell you you’re being silly and need to grow up.

A close friend – a best friend knows a lot about you. They know what upsets you, they know what to say to make you smile, and they know when to try and talk sense into you or just let you vent your frustration.

Best friends are people that you choose out of your own accord to share private and intimate things with.

You don’t just tell a random person on the street that you’ve been depressed. You don’t tell the person sitting next to you on the bus that you have a gambling problem. You don’t tell your mailman that your spouse is cheating on you.

You just don’t reveal all your hurts and pains to the world. That would be insane. We don’t like sharing our problems, they hurt and cripple us. Why would we show someone we hardly know that we’re vulnerable? We don’t, but we do share it with our best friend. Someone we’re so close to.

When you have good news, when you’re so excited that you just can’t contain your joy, who do you tell first? Your best friend; the one person you know that will be just excited and thrilled as you are. When you find out awesome wonderful news, who do you first share with? Your best friend!

Good friends are crucial to our daily living.

So my question to you: Who are you’re good friends? And who considers you a good friend?

“I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the father told me.” – John 15:15

This is Jesus speaking. The man that came to the cross and died for our sins calls us a FRIEND. He calls us His friend because He shared (in the Bible) something so intimate with us, God – His father.

The creator of EVERYTHING calls us His friend! How awesome and amazing is that?

Think about this, the King of Kings, the Glory of Glories considers you a friend. A friend! He doesn’t see you as some random person on the street. He doesn’t see you as a sin-sick puppy. He doesn’t see you as a creeper. He see’s you as a friend. Someone He can share private and intimate things with. Someone He can be honest with. Someone He can tell and express everything to.

That’s pretty heavy to try and comprehend isn’t it? Trying to grasp that God considers me, you, a friend is pretty tough to accept. I, myself, just recently grasped and understood this.

I was reading this verse over and over; I was trying to meditate on it, I was trying to get the truth to stick in my mind. But it was hard, because I didn’t believe that I was God’s friend.

And then God brought this to my mind: When you’re friends with someone you share things with them. You give them gifts so they know how much they mean to you. When you’re good friends with some you tell them things even when it hurts.

God’s you’re friend when:
He tells you to talk to someone having a hard day. (He’s sharing with you).
He speaks to your heart, gives you vision, gives you a blessing (healing, money etc). (He’s giving you a gift).
He convicts you of a sin that is ruining your life or relationship with Him. (Telling you something when it hurts).

The Lord brought to my mind, my drawings. The drawing that I’ve made of visions that God’s placed on my heart. The Lord brought to my mind the many times He’s ministered to my heart and calmed me down. The Lord reminded me of times when I had nothing and then He blessed me with everything. And then, the Lord called me His friend.

All this time I’ve been trying to become God’s friend when I already was! The Lord was speaking and sharing things with me and I never realized that we had a friendship. Ha!

And once I saw and realized that I am God’s friend. I was able to accept that truth, and the enemy’s lie that I’m not good enough or worthy of God’s love or grace fled.

Lies can’t exist when the light of truth is shown on it.

So, my next question for you: In what ways is God being your friend when you don’t realize it? If you can’t think of any, pray and ask Him. And when He answers, you’ll know you’re His friend.