Hmm how to intro this one... it's about friendship with God, based on a sermon by Bill Johnson, with some quotes from my newest found book Signature of Jesus by Brennan Manning. It's a subject that I've been "wrestling with" I guess you could say. I know it is just a person's revelation, but you never know, there's a lot of truth in those kind of things sometimes.
Sermon notes:
Obedience is the doorway which brings us into deeper relationship with God.
It’s not slavery, but intimacy.
Example of Abraham: James 2:23, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness-- and he was called a friend of God.”
--What was Abraham’s reasoning (for trusting God and being willing to kill his son)? Because he knew that God will raise him up. He banked everything on the promise and word of his Lord. That’s what trust is like. That’s what true friendship is like.
Psalm 25:14, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He makes known to them His covenant.”
He will share the secrets of His heart with you!
John 15:13-16, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down His life for His friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give it to you.
-- We are no longer just servants, we have the ability to know Him in the beauty and freedom of a loving relationship.
John 16:24, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
--How will your joy be complete? Relationship is built through prayer, but joy comes from answered prayer! When an answer doesn’t come, ask why, and determine to get the answer.
"until now you have asked nothing in My name..."
What do you want?! Get the car rolling; it’s easier to steer once it’s going somewhere.
“Son, friend, whatever you ask.. I will do it.” If the answer doesn’t come, the problem is with us. Seek Him.
Radical, abandoned obedience is important, but it is the fruit of a deep friendship with the Father. Focus on the fact that we can be friends of God.
1 Kings 8: the temple.
Vs 17, “Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord…”
God didn’t choose a city, God chose David, and the temple was in the heart of the man He had chosen. One of the finest things of the Old Testament was actually the idea of a man, and God blessed it.
He wants us to think, dream, aspire to do something. He cares about what you’re thinking, what is in your heart, for He created us all.
What do you want to do? What are your passions, your desires for life?
Does that sound radical to you? It was really crazy for me! And possibly life-changing. In church we are often taught that we all have a specific purpose, and our job is to seek Him to find that purpose and then go do it. Now, I don't find fault with this statement in and of itself. The truth is, when we seek the Lord, pursue Him with our hearts, our time-- when all of our focus and everything hangs on His truth, who He is, and who He has said that we are, then the true passions within our hearts will start to show themselves. For me, as I've grown up over the years and realized that nothing around me and no one around me can fill what my heart desires, I began to get a glimpse of what intimacy with the Lord is like. And I began to actually hear back from Him when I would pour out my heart in prayer. It's amazing how when I am hungry for the hope, joy, peace, and love that only He can offer, He gives it to me. He loves to respond to us in our need. So when I prayed for Him to show me what He wants me to do, something weird happened. He didn't tell me. I saw no vision of my future. There was no pointed list of things He told me to accomplish. It was silent.
However... I heard about this place called YWAM. It looked like an adventure, a safe place to learn more about the God I was serving. So I went, and it exceeded anything I could have ever imagined. I was so changed and determined that I could never turn back and live differently. I saw a part of our hurting world that affected me deeply, and I knew my life would be spent traveling and helping people. And after that, I was asking again, "Lord, what should I do?" and after waiting for a couple months, I took a job at a church and started spending time with children, which have always been a joy of my heart. And I enjoyed the fellowship I had with the people I worked with and saw every week. Then one day I ran into friends from a while back who invited me to come and hear about something that is happening across the world & even in our cities-- human trafficking. From that meeting, a lot of my time was spent on learning about this atrocity and what I could possibly do to stop it. By this time, I was working on my own, cleaning houses & condos, and I felt like I had to go and do something. I knew about a YWAM school that taught about such things as human trafficking, poverty, and how we as the people of God can be involved in such situations, so... I went. No word from the Lord, just a desire in my heart to learn more and meet others who were pursuing the same things.
The point of my story is that I'm realizing God never came to me and said yes. I never audibly heard Him. I think it all came down to me being surrendered and sensitive to what His ultimate will is & what He has commanded us to do: bring the message of hope and salvation to the nations, care for the poor and the needy, heal the brokenhearted, be a friend to the friendless, etc. His Word is actually very specific if we would remove blinders of years of sermons and other people's interpretations and just read it. (This is hard for me to say, because I still have so much that holds me back, so many preconceived ideas!)
I think a lot of us as part of His Church are sitting, waiting to know our calling, when our calling can be found very practically. I completely believe that God speaks and that sometimes it is appropriate for us to wait on Him. But I also believe that things can be done in our waiting, and that often in the waiting, when we least realize it, our calling finds us. We must open our eyes as well as our hearts and be prepared to discover what He is doing all around us.
Is it possible that we actually hold our destinies in our hands? That God is above it all, but we are the ones who choose and act and therefore bring His kingdom into this world? We choose to live radically and audaciously, or we don't. We pursue the heart of our Savior, humbling ourselves at His feet, with the knowledge and conviction that He loves us and His way is best. Then we live our lives with purpose, intentional on loving others, spending ourselves for their benefit and not our own, seeking not the treasures of this world but the treasure of heaven: Christ Himself.
I believe I have an overall purpose: to love God above all, and love people as much as I love and take care of myself (even more at times!). I think I will be doing many different things in my lifetime-- there is much that I want to change, many who need to be set free, discipled, invested in, given jobs. I want to do so much. And I am well on my way to doing what I want.
He will steer; I just have to keep the car moving.
I was going to include some stuff from this book, but that is long enough for today. Next time you will hear from Brennan Manning.
Tchau!
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