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'You are as close to God as you choose to be'
Bible passages:
Psalm 63
Read Ephesians 3:14-21
Friendship has it's different levels, from acquaintances to the intimacy of best friends.
How do you treat your friendship with God? Do you keep God at arm's length?
How real are you before God? How can I develop my friendship with God?
I must choose to be honest with God
If I want a deeper, more intimate connection with God, I must choose to be honest with God. Complete honesty about your thoughts and feelings, is the first building block of a deeper friendship with God. The Bible is full of examples of this, e.g. Abraham, Moses, David, Job. How honest can you be? Have we only to be honest about the nice things in our hearts and minds? No, 'the friends of God were honest about their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing and arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn't seem to be bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it.'
That doesn't mean that God condoned wrong thoughts or feelings in their lives, He wants to deal with them and make them right, but there has to be complete honesty with God if the relationship is to develop. God doesn't expect you to be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty. None of God's friends in the Bible were perfect. if perfection was a requirement for friendship with God, we would never be able to be his friends. Fortunately, because of God's grace Jesus is still 'the friend of sinners'.
Does this encouragement to be honest with God make you feel more relaxed / nervous / assured / daunted / affirmed in God's presence? Which?
I must choose to obey God in faith
Many of us may have bitterness, guilt, resentment, anger, hurt in us, with other people - but also with God. Releasing it to God is the first step to healing-tell God exactly how you feel.
The book of Psalms shows us how to be completely honest before God. Here we see the Psalmist sometimes ranting, raving, doubting, fearing, angry, hurting, rejoicing etc. Every possible emotion is catalogued in the Psalms.
(Read Psalm 63 and identify all the different shades of emotions which David expresses.)
We seldom think about why other people, and ourselves, behave as they do-we should allow that people's past and present circumstances has a huge bearing on how they react.
Think about David's circumstances:
He is King over Israel, but Absalom, his own son, has staged a revolt against David, killing his brother, and proclaiming himself the new king. His men are hunting for David.
How would David feel as a father? As the King? As a man of God?
Without sharing any personal details in your own family, can you identify with the sort of conflicting pressures and emotions which David must have felt?
Why did David flee to the desert? (see the heading to the psalm). Was this simply to escape detection? How much do you think it was to look to God, to make the sorry situation right?
(Look at v1-3). Warren says that to develop our friendship with God we must desire friendship with God more than anything else. What suggests that David is looking utterly to God for help in this crisis?
(Look at v2-5). He remembers times of worship with God's people as a reminder of God's presence and love. How much do you value these times, how much do you have an expectancy to encounter God's presence through them?
(Look at v6-8). David thinks, sings, clings to God for help in the darkest hours. What do you think that involved and might we learn from that example in our crises?
I must choose to trust God
Warren says, 'Every time you trust God's wisdom and do whatever he says, even when you don't understand it, you deepen your friendship with God.'
Without trust there can be no developing friendship, to recognize that God has our best interest in view, even when we cannot see it in our circumstances requires trust. Are you convinced of God's love for you in Jesus, or is your sense of God's love for you conditional on the circumstances you are currently facing? How can we move towards a friendship with God that does not ebb and flow with the circumstances we are facing in life?
'Trust Him when darkest thoughts assail thee,
Trust Him when thy faith is small,
Trust Him, when to simply trust Him,
Seems the hardest thing of all'
(Read Ephesians 3:14-21). Paul says about God, his love 'surpasses knowledge', he prays that we may be 'filled to the measure of all the fullness of God', and that he 'is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine'.
How do these superlatives about God, encourage you to develop a deeper friendship with God?
'You are as close to God as you choose to be.' How do you respond to that statement again? What practical choices will you make today in order to grow closer to God?
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