Day 12: Developing your friendship with God

..::*+ Small Talk +*::..
Gosh... It's hard to maintain something. And it's hard to lose a motivation. But I'm not giving up. I knew I've prepared for this. And I knew I can stand strong in it. But still, sorry to you if you were expecting Day 12, which supposed to be posted up yesterday. I can only say I did it badly regarding my time management.

Anyway, today had a great time bbq with some friends. And thank God for my first street evangelize with Steffen, Jia Jin, and Daniel. It was really an awesome experience and great time.

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Day 12: Developing your friendship with God

You are as close to God as you choose to be.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

Yes, we are all free to choose how close with God we want to be. And to have a good relationship with God, it takes desire, time, and energy. And one of the important elements that must exist in an intimate connection, not just between you and God, but also applies between you and others, is honesty. We must be honest in sharing our feeling with God, trust Him when He revealed you His plans for you, even if by that time you might not know the reason behind it.

I must choose t o be honest with God. Complete honesty to God about your faults and your feelings. We must know that God does not want us to be all-perfectly-rounded, but He really insists us to be honest with Him. From the Bible we can read about friends of God who were complete honest to Him in complains, second-guessing, accusations, and arguments. But God does not to be annoyed by them; He was happy with them.

God listens passionately to words of his friends. Thus, we must be honest to God about our true feelings, not what we think we ought to feel or say. Until we really matured to understand the fact that God uses everything for our own God, we throw our resentments to God. As for me, I feel that I'm currently struggling to be complete honesty with God. He knew that I've made some broken promises, fake determinations, second thoughts about Him. And I know also that I have to be honest with Him to have a close relationship between us. Something that I'm still in the process of learning. I want to be your friend, God. I want myself to be completely honest with You.

Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God. We must learn to understand that God acts in our best interest, even if it is a pain for us. To instruct us in pure honesty, God gave us the book of Psalms. Nearly every emotions were cataloged in the book. An important thing that we must get from this Book is that, we should hold back nothing of what we feel towards God.

I pour out my complaint before him,
before I tell him my trouble.
Psalm 142:2

Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

I must choose to obey God in faith. We must know that God's wisdom is beyond our knowledge and understanding. Every time we trust God's wisdom and do as He tells us to do, even if we don't understand it, it carves a stronger friendship with God. Jesus said it clearly that obedience is a condition of intimacy with God:

You are my friends if you do what I command.
John 15:14

We obey God because we love Him, not because of fear nor duty. We choose to follow Jesus Christ for all the things that He had done for us. The closer we follow Him, the deeper our friendship becomes. We do not obey God because of obligation nor guilt nor fear of punishment. We have been set free and forgiven our sins. But our obedience brings joy to us.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love.I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:9-11

Jesus did what His Father asked Him to do, and out of love, of course. We were asked to do like what He had done - He and Father is the best model of our friendship with God. True friendship with God is not passive; it's active. Just as what Jesus had done to others, we were asked to follow His way in love. We are not asked to must do "great things", but simply a tiny things for Him out of loving obedience is something important - It might not be noticed by other people, but remember, what we do is for Him, and He our God will know what we have done for Him. It is an act of worship.

"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams."
1. Samuel 15:22

God treasures simple acts of obedience more than our prayers, praise or offerings.

I must choose to value what God values. If we become God's friend, we will care about the things that He cares about, grieve over things that he grieves, and rejoice over the things that bring pleasure to Him. So what God values? The redemption of His peoples! His lost children to be found! The same reason why Jesus was sent to earth.

The dearest thing to the heart of God is the death of His Son. The second dearest thing is when His children share that news with others.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

In other words, share with your friends what you know about God! But do it gently, of course.


I must desire friendship with God more than anything else. In Psalm, David used lots of words to show how passionate he was toward God. Paul was passionate for friendship with God too. It was his first priority, total focus, and ultimate goal of his life. And yes, like them, we can choose how close we want to be with God. It's a choice, not accident. The question is, do we really want this more than anything else? Do we really made up this choice?

Pain is the fuel of passion - it energizes us with an intensity to change that we don't normally possess.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

When we face these pain and sorrow, it is not an act of punishment from God. There are wake-up calls from God. He is not mad at you, He is mad about you. Pray to God that you can know Him more.

Remember, the most important thing is to develop a intimate friendship with God. It is a relationship that will last forever - on earth and in eternity. Have you missing this most important element in life? If Nike can say, "Just do it," why can't you? Start to do this today. Right now. It is your choice.

Come near to God and He will come near to you.
James 4:8a

Vincent