God wants to be your Friend.

God loves you personally and desires to be your friend.  He wants you to walk with Him and talk with Him and live in His presence all of your days.

Exodus 33:11 – And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

This is the kind of fellowship God wants with all of us. He paid the price of the blood of Jesus to draw us near and bring us into fellowship with Him.  He is standing at jelly the door of the heart of every Christian knocking so that we might open and enjoy continual fellowship with Him.  If you are not yet a Christian, He wants your to accept what He has provided for you through His Son.

1 Corinthians 1:9 – …by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Corinthians 13:14 – The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

Message – The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

One of the things we are called into is companionship and fellowship with God. God desires us to enjoy His presence and fellowship.
Notice the prayer isn’t for the Lord to be with them. Since He said He will  never leave us for forsake us, we shouldn’t pray contrary to the Word. We should pray scripturally, that the love and presence and fellowship of the Lord be with us, or like the Message Bible says, may the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with us all!

Revelation 3:20 – Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Ephesians 2:13 – But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

These things are His part. What is our part?

So many times we get the parts mixed up.  We try to do for ourselves what He has already done or what He said He would do for us  and ask Him to do for us things He has told us to do.  I’ll cover this at another time.  Concerning closeness with God and walking in His presence, what has He told us to do?

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In our salvation there are two parts, God’s part and man’s part. There is what God did for us, and then there is us applying it to ourselves. He did it, and we live it. This week I will be covering what God did in making us acceptable and next week I will cover how to apply it. The first step is most definitely to know what He has done for us and who He has made us.

Knowing that we are acceptable and welcome in the presence of God just as we are is key to making progress in our Christian life. There is a closeness and an intimacy with God that is necessary to a successful life. So first we will cover how God has brought us near to Himself, how He has completely and totally dealt with all our sin – past, present and future – by His one sacrifice. He is no longer holding our sins against us. He has made us righteous, holy and without blame in His presence. And He did all of this because He wanted to and without help from us at all!

Access to God

I have free access to God at any time regardless of what I am going through. He is as near as my call for help.

Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

I already have peace with God. My access into His grace (the state of being in right standing with God, having favor with God) was provided by God and is by faith not earned by my behavior.

I have access by faith into His grace, into His favor. I walk in His favor as I know about it and have faith in it. As I believe that He favors me and expect His favor every day, it is released to a higher lever into my life.

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We were not designed to live life on our own.  We were made for fellowship with God.  We were made to trust in Him and to share our burdens with Him. We were created to live a life of dependence on God.

Depend – To trust; to rest with confidence; to rely; to confide; to be certain; as, we depend on the word or assurance of our friends; we depend on the mail at the usual hour; rely on for support.

Philippians 4:11 – I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Paul learned the secret of absolute trust in the Lord for everything. He learned to walk in the Lord’s strength and ability rather than his own. He learned how to depend upon the Lord.  And this made him able to live independent of his circumstances.

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV) – For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.

Message – God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him. You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God’s help. Now you’re in trouble—one round of war after another.

God wants to work mightily on our behalf.  But He can only do this for one who depends upon Him, one who trusts in Him and is committed to him.

This is how God sees things: You are foolish to go for human help when you can have God’s help. He is searching for those who are committed to trust in Him – so that He can show Himself strong on their behalf.

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