Purpose Driven Life

Lesson 12

Developing Your Friendship with God

Proverbs 3:32 NLT

32 Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly.

James 4:8 NLT

8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

You are as close to God as you choose to be.

The joke about the old couple sitting at the stop light

Any friendship takes effort

I have lots of acquaintances – When I leave a church

True friendships takes work

We all have experienced friendships that have faded

Friendship with God is no different

If you don’t cultivate it then it will fade

You are always on God’s mind

I must choose to be honest with God.

Honesty is the best policy

The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty—about your faults and your feelings.

You don’t have to be perfect

Think about this “No one bible character was perfect”

And the bible still talks about being his friend

See the example of Jesus (Matthew 11:19 says that Jesus is a friend of sinners)

Being honest about how you feel

I will preface this by saying this is hard for me.

We have some examples

In Exodus 33 God is mad at Israel and threats to abandon them

Then Moses offers this

Exodus 33:12–13 NIV

12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

Abraham negotiated with on the destruction of Sodom

A barrier to friendship

As with any friendship resentment can build a wedge

When life is hard when can begin to focus on the “Why God” of life

Why would I want to be God’s friend if he allowed this?

The antidote, of course, is to realize that God always acts in your best interest, even when it is painful and you don’t understand it

Look to the Psalms

It is a treasure on friendship with God.

You can see every emotion

Psalm 142:2–3 (NLT) — 2 I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles. 3 When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.

Psalm 142:2–3 NIV

2 I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. 3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me.

All the biblical characters had bouts of doubt

Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.

I must choose to obey God in faith.

Taking those steps of faith

Every time you take one of those steps and trust God that relationship builds.

The hard part is believing God’s wisdom is greater than our wisdom

Obedience to that wisdom is how you build that friendship

John 15:14 NIV

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

I think this will help you understand this.

We are friends with God, but we are not his equals.

He is our loving leader, and we follow him.

We follow out of gratitude

Not out of duty or fear or appearance

It’s because we want too

The closer you follow the deeper that relationship will get

We always use marriage here, but it fits

We have been forgiven set free

We then have love, joy, hope, peace

John 15:9–11 NIV

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Why do we service others? Fear? Guilt?

We tend to think that only the big things get noticed

When actually the little have the greater reward

Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day.

These are the things that make God smile.

“Jesus began his public ministry at age thirty by being baptized by John. At that event God spoke from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him.” What had Jesus been doing for thirty years that gave God so much pleasure? The Bible says nothing about those hidden years except for a single phrase in Luke 2:51: “He went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them” (Msg). Thirty years of pleasing God were summed up in two words: “lived obediently”!”