Title: Purpose-driven life (12) God...
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Purpose-driven life (12) Cultivating friendship with God
Text: Proverbs 3:32-33 For a rebellious man is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are his fellowship; a curse from the LORD is in the house of the wicked, but blessed is the house of the righteous.
Like any other friendship, it takes effort to develop a friendship with God. It doesn't happen automatically. You can get closer to God as much as you try. The first step to building a friendship with God is being honest. God doesn't expect perfection from us, He wants honesty. The friends of God in the Bible, none of them were perfect, but they were honest with their feelings. We need to talk and share with God what we really feel right now. Our friendship with God also deepens when we trust in His wisdom and obey His words. Jesus made it clear that obedience is a necessary component of a close relationship with God. Unbelievers think that Christians obey out of a sense of duty or guilt or fear of punishment, but we obey out of love because we are forgiven and free from punishment.
Respecting what God values is what a friend looks like. God's greatest concern is finding lost children and sharing the story of your son's death with others. Those who value God's interest in this way will deepen their friendship with God. Above all else, we should hope for friendship with God. David really longed for God using words such as longing, longing, thirst, and longing. He was a friend after God's own heart. An intimate relationship with God is a choice, not an accident, and it is something we should deliberately pursue.
A close friendship with God does not happen automatically and requires special effort. The Bible describes four ways to dedicate your passion, time, and energy to cultivating deeper friendships while requiring daily prayer and meditation to become a daily habit.
1. Be honest with God.
1) God doesn't expect perfection, but He wants honesty.
(Proverbs 3:32) For the rebellious are an abomination to the LORD, but the upright have fellowship with him.
2) I must honestly confess my mistake.
3) Deep emotions such as resentment, anger, doubt, fear, and lamentation must also be revealed and spoken frankly.
(Psalm 142:2-3) I pour out my grievances before him, and my troubles before him. Even when my spirit was broken within, you knew my way. They hid a snare for me in my way.
2. We must obey God by faith.
1) Although we are friends with God, we are not equal.
○ We have wonderful privileges as friends of the King of Kings, but we still belong to the King and must obey his commands.
2) True friendship is action, not passive.
○ Therefore, when we say, “Love your neighbor, share what you have, purify your life, forgive, and tell Jesus,” we must immediately obey.
3) Our obedience is not out of fear of duty or punishment, guilt or coercion.
4) It is obedience with love because of the joy and freedom of the forgiven one.
(John 15:9-11) As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love, so if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love.
5) God is more pleased with loving obedience to daily 'small things' than doing one 'great thing'.
○ Because great opportunities may come only once in a lifetime, but small opportunities are always around us.
6) The 30 years of Jesus' private life, who lived pleasing to God, are summarized in two words: “He lived obediently.”
(Luke 2:51) And Jesus went down to Hana and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to him.
3. We must value what God values.
1) Friends care about what the other person cares about and what matters to them.
2) God's greatest concern is to find all lost children.
3) God's most precious thing is the death of His Son. It is a friend's job to spread the love that gave their lives, more quickly, to those who still do not know.
4. We must earnestly hope for friendship with God.
1) We can get as close to God as we want.
○ An intimate relationship does not come about by chance, it must be chosen and deliberately pursued.
2) If you are living your life of faith with your lost first love, a sense of duty without love, and spiritual helplessness, you must come to God and ask for a change.
3) earnestly ask to know God more deeply. (Psalm 27:4) One thing I have asked of the LORD, that I will ask it, that I will dwell in the house of the LORD while I live, to look for the beauty of the LORD, and to long for it in his temple.
Conclusion: There is nothing more important than building a friendship with God. If you're missing out on the best of life, you can fix it right now. But remember that it is our choice.
Day 12 / About the purpose of my life
Points to Ponder: I can get as close to God as I want.
Memorable Words: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
Remember that it is a choice of the question that comes to life: What should I do to draw closer to God today?
1. Who are you most honest with? Are you a lover? Are you friends? Are you God? isn't there? Are you yourself?
2. Were you interested in God's interests? What was it?
3. What realistic choices can you make today to draw closer to God?
Pain is fuel for passion. It is the energy that creates a desire for change that we normally do not have. - in the text -