How To Be Friends With God

[Kevin]

Thank you Chad...this could not have come at a better time as the dark forces seem to be hitting me all at once and using the people that I love very much to try and beat me down.The more these attacks come the more I find myself in grave spiritual trouble and reading this has helped knock them forces down a notch or two.I sure could use some more help with learning how to do battle in the spiritual realm...any and all help will be greatly appreciated...again thank you Chad for posting this...God bless

 

[jimisz]

It's a great posting. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Bill]

How To Be Friends With God

Inside all of us there is a desire for a relationship with our God. We long to fellowship with our Creator. But how do we form a relationship with God? This study takes a look at what we need to do to have a "Friendship with God".

Give Him Control Of Your Life

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me. For you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:4-5

God is perfect. He is sinless. We are imperfect. We are sinful. Our sin is what separates us from Him. But God loves us so much that He stepped out of heaven and took the form of a man, Jesus Christ, who lived the perfect (sinless) life that we couldn't, died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the grave. If we accept the sacrifice that He made on our behalf, then we are forgiven for our sins - past, present, and future. Our sin is removed. The gap between God and man is bridged.

We refer to Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We call Him Savior because He died for our sins. And we call Him Lord because we recognize that He is better suited to direct our life then we are. So we give Him control and ask Him to lead us. A relationship is then formed. This is the first step.

Understand The Relationship

"Our Father in heaven" ~ Matthew 6:9

It's important to understand the role that you play and the role that God plays in your relationship. God loves to be called "Father". And Jesus tells us that we must become "as little children" (Matthew 18:3). So our relationship is that of a (heavenly) Father and a child.

One of the characteristics of children is their complete dependence on their parents. Children simply cannot take care of themselves and need their parents to provide for them.

In the same way God wants us to depend completely on Him. He wants us to look to Him for direction (like we talked about above), for help, and to be thankful for our blessings because all good things come from Him.

Pray

"Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." ~ Jeremiah 33:3

Prayer is how we communicate with God. It isn't something that we only do before we eat or before bed. Rather, we should be praying throughout the day -- talking to God - involving Him in our daily life (1 Thessalonians 5:7). That means casting our cares before Him, asking for strength and wisdom to get through another day, praising Him for His ability to provide for us, and just saying "hi".

Be Honest With Him

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." ~ Psalm 139:23

Honesty is important is because you need to take an objective look inside your heart in order to recognize your need of a Savior. Being honest is also important when praying. If you are angry or confused about something let God know -- be up front with Him.

Read The Bible

"You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in Your Word" ~ Psalm 119:114

The Bible gives us insight into the heart of man and the mind of God. It provides both instruction as well as encouragement. In the Bible we learn that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." (John 3:16). Its value cannot even begin to be measured. The Bible is God's message to you.

Obey His Commands

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love." ~ John 15:9

Reading the Bible isn't enough. With His help, you must apply that which you learn. Everything written in the Bible was put there for a reason. God knows the struggles and dangers that are in this world. He also knows how we can be happy and content. He has provided us with a Book that tells us how we should live our lives but again, we must apply what we learn, just talking about them isn't enough.

Will you stumble and sin? Yes you will. And when you do you do two things. First, you apply 1 John 1:9 to your life...

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (See also Psalm 32:5 & Proverbs 28:13)

If you confess your sins Jesus will forgive you. When you do that you are set free from sin. And “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Second, you pray a prayer like we find in Psalm 25:4:

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.”

We ask God to teach us His ways, to help us follow His commands. Yes, there will be times when we stumble, but we don’t have to be slaves to sin. We can be slaves to righteousness.

Final Thoughts

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians." 4:4-9

When you put all these things together you find that it really is possible to call God "friend". And the Friend you'll find is one that will always be there, never let you down, and never stop loving you.

How To Be Friends With God - BibleStudyPlanet.com

All that study chad. You can simply say fall in love with God. And love your nieghbor as yourself

 

[Sue D.]

All that study chad. You can simply say fall in love with God. And love your nieghbor as yourself

Do people really 'fall in love' with Anyone? There can be real chemistry with another person. I know what that feels like. Or love at 1st sight? Maybe there just 'something' about that other person -- ya can't explain What it is. But it's There.
So -- HOW does a person love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind.
Love is an Action. There's a feeling in your heart -- the person Wants to please the other person.

To be Friends with God -- spend time with Him -- get to know Him.

 

[Chad]

All that study chad. You can simply say fall in love with God. And love your nieghbor as yourself

How profound. Great sermon your quote would be to the masses.

 

[Bill]

How profound. Great sermon your quote would be to the masses.

I already preach this message of loving God with all your heart. You would be surprized how many Christians dont know how to

 

[Bill]

Do people really 'fall in love' with Anyone? There can be real chemistry with another person. I know what that feels like. Or love at 1st sight? Maybe there just 'something' about that other person -- ya can't explain What it is. But it's There.
So -- HOW does a person love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind.
Love is an Action. There's a feeling in your heart -- the person Wants to please the other person.

To be Friends with God -- spend time with Him -- get to know Him.

God is always reaching out to us with His love. It is unceasing.

 

[Scott Stephenson]

Do people really 'fall in love' with Anyone? There can be real chemistry with another person. I know what that feels like. Or love at 1st sight? Maybe there just 'something' about that other person -- ya can't explain What it is. But it's There.
So -- HOW does a person love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind.
Love is an Action. There's a feeling in your heart -- the person Wants to please the other person.

To be Friends with God -- spend time with Him -- get to know Him.

So, I'd love to do that, but my biggest problem is that I just don't see any evidence for god's existence.

 

[Chad]

So, I'd love to do that, but my biggest problem is that I just don't see any evidence for god's existence.

How about your existence? Do you think you magically appeared out of "nothing" and by "chances" or "accident" as the words are used by common evolutionists and atheists?

 

[Torchbearer33]

Thanks for sharing, Chad. It's refreshing to hear the way the inner-spiritual workings of another mind operate.

I don't know about you folks, but for me it was much easier to receive Jesus as Savior than it was to receive Him as Lord. The joy I felt thinking of him as Savior was awesome. But, I had to endure a lot of humbling, a lot of pain before I could really admit to my innermost self that I needed him to be my Lord as well.

SLE

It sounds like you're talking about God the Father vs. God the Son. Have you similarly found a way to receive the Holy Ghost?

Thank you Chad...this could not have come at a better time as the dark forces seem to be hitting me all at once and using the people that I love very much to try and beat me down.The more these attacks come the more I find myself in grave spiritual trouble and reading this has helped knock them forces down a notch or two.I sure could use some more help with learning how to do battle in the spiritual realm...any and all help will be greatly appreciated...again thank you Chad for posting this...God bless

This is great. The more darkness you've endured, the greater your light will shine.

 

[mary anthony]

How To Be Friends With God

Inside all of us there is a desire for a relationship with our God. We long to fellowship with our Creator. But how do we form a relationship with God? This study takes a look at what we need to do to have a "Friendship with God".

Give Him Control Of Your Life

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me. For you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:4-5

God is perfect. He is sinless. We are imperfect. We are sinful. Our sin is what separates us from Him. But God loves us so much that He stepped out of heaven and took the form of a man, Jesus Christ, who lived the perfect (sinless) life that we couldn't, died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the grave. If we accept the sacrifice that He made on our behalf, then we are forgiven for our sins - past, present, and future. Our sin is removed. The gap between God and man is bridged.

We refer to Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We call Him Savior because He died for our sins. And we call Him Lord because we recognize that He is better suited to direct our life then we are. So we give Him control and ask Him to lead us. A relationship is then formed. This is the first step.

Understand The Relationship

"Our Father in heaven" ~ Matthew 6:9

It's important to understand the role that you play and the role that God plays in your relationship. God loves to be called "Father". And Jesus tells us that we must become "as little children" (Matthew 18:3). So our relationship is that of a (heavenly) Father and a child.

One of the characteristics of children is their complete dependence on their parents. Children simply cannot take care of themselves and need their parents to provide for them.

In the same way God wants us to depend completely on Him. He wants us to look to Him for direction (like we talked about above), for help, and to be thankful for our blessings because all good things come from Him.

Pray

"Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." ~ Jeremiah 33:3

Prayer is how we communicate with God. It isn't something that we only do before we eat or before bed. Rather, we should be praying throughout the day -- talking to God - involving Him in our daily life (1 Thessalonians 5:7). That means casting our cares before Him, asking for strength and wisdom to get through another day, praising Him for His ability to provide for us, and just saying "hi".

Be Honest With Him

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." ~ Psalm 139:23

Honesty is important is because you need to take an objective look inside your heart in order to recognize your need of a Savior. Being honest is also important when praying. If you are angry or confused about something let God know -- be up front with Him.

Read The Bible

"You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in Your Word" ~ Psalm 119:114

The Bible gives us insight into the heart of man and the mind of God. It provides both instruction as well as encouragement. In the Bible we learn that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." (John 3:16). Its value cannot even begin to be measured. The Bible is God's message to you.

Obey His Commands

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love." ~ John 15:9

Reading the Bible isn't enough. With His help, you must apply that which you learn. Everything written in the Bible was put there for a reason. God knows the struggles and dangers that are in this world. He also knows how we can be happy and content. He has provided us with a Book that tells us how we should live our lives but again, we must apply what we learn, just talking about them isn't enough.

Will you stumble and sin? Yes you will. And when you do you do two things. First, you apply 1 John 1:9 to your life...

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (See also Psalm 32:5 & Proverbs 28:13)

If you confess your sins Jesus will forgive you. When you do that you are set free from sin. And “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Second, you pray a prayer like we find in Psalm 25:4:

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.”

We ask God to teach us His ways, to help us follow His commands. Yes, there will be times when we stumble, but we don’t have to be slaves to sin. We can be slaves to righteousness.

Final Thoughts

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians." 4:4-9

When you put all these things together you find that it really is possible to call God "friend". And the Friend you'll find is one that will always be there, never let you down, and never stop loving you.

How To Be Friends With God - BibleStudyPlanet.com

this is very helpful to Me, thanks for sharing

 

[Bill]

So, I'd love to do that, but my biggest problem is that I just don't see any evidence for god's existence.

One of the biggest problems with the theory of evolution is plainly evolving.

I found it interesting, that those who support evolution will not accept the evidence given by microbiologists. In fact the scientific community wont even consider microbiologists as scientists. Yet it is by thier research that many criminal cases are solved, and thier work in other research has halted many diseases in the world.

The study of microbiologists has found that our tissues, our cell structure is not chaotic, but has order. An example would be cutting your skin. There is a change in the appearance of the skin, but the primary cell structure is always the same.

If it were chaotic, where your skin was cut, maybe a fingernail would enmerge, or a toe.

At present, not only in humans, but in everything there is order in the building blocks of atoms and so on. Even rocks have order in thier structure.

So to say we are only a collection of atoms, chemicals and chaos makes no sense.

 

[Sue D.]

@Bill -- the human body or any body of an animal shows design -- actually quite amazing. There's no way it could happen by chance. Not even over millions or billions of years. (this is one of my favorite subjects)

@ Scott Stephenson -- To say that there's no evidence of God's existence -- I can see it all around me.

If this world Did evolve -- there's no reason for it to exist. BUT -- obviously it is here and we do exist. And the reason is GOD. Genesis 1;1 "In the beginning God ... created the heavens and the earth."

 

[Bill]

@Bill -- the human body or any body of an animal shows design -- actually quite amazing. There's no way it could happen by chance. Not even over millions or billions of years. (this is one of my favorite subjects)

@ Scott Stephenson -- To say that there's no evidence of God's existence -- I can see it all around me.

If this world Did evolve -- there's no reason for it to exist. BUT -- obviously it is here and we do exist. And the reason is GOD. Genesis 1;1 "In the beginning God ... created the heavens and the earth."

 

[JesusIs4Me]

How to be friends with God?

Ask Him to help you to trust Him as your Friend that He will help you follow Him as the Good Shepherd He is, while you rest in Him that you are saved simply for having come to & believed in Him.

Trust is the basis for all relationships; and in these latter days where Christians resort to their own power in trying to follow Him by keeping a commitment or a set of promises to Him to please him by, they deny the power thereof in how we are to live in following Him by faith in Jesus Christ & all His promises to us.

I have learned that He wants me to rely on Him all the time and so that means to deny myself as able to follow Him by the religious flesh of keeping a commitment or a promise, and look to Him & His Word all the time for the power in living as His friend.

Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Mark 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

If any one doubts, some religious people had asked Jesus of what works of God they could do.

John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

So when you look at His commandments.... make sure you are looking at the proper set of commandments because how to be His friends is important by trusting Him to help us, because that is necessary in order for the "how" to keep what His commandments are in being His friends.

 

[spreadingtheGospel]

I think your study you posted was nice and very up lifting. I have a question for you, what about all the other things that Jesus told his followers to do? Like in Luke 14:33 he says, "for those of you who do not sell everything you own you can not be my disciple". Some people say that disciples and Christians are different, but thats not true. Look at Acts 11:26, it tells us that disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. So you can actually change the word disciples to Christian in Luke 14:33 and it will read " for those of you who do not sell everything they own you can not be a Christian". Something for all Christians to think about. Also read the four gospels and find out everything Jesus told his followers to do,

Peace and Love

 

[Bill]

How to be friends with God?

Ask Him to help you to trust Him as your Friend that He will help you follow Him as the Good Shepherd He is, while you rest in Him that you are saved simply for having come to & believed in Him.

Trust is the basis for all relationships; and in these latter days where Christians resort to their own power in trying to follow Him by keeping a commitment or a set of promises to Him to please him by, they deny the power thereof in how we are to live in following Him by faith in Jesus Christ & all His promises to us.

I have learned that He wants me to rely on Him all the time and so that means to deny myself as able to follow Him by the religious flesh of keeping a commitment or a promise, and look to Him & His Word all the time for the power in living as His friend.

Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Mark 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

If any one doubts, some religious people had asked Jesus of what works of God they could do.

John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

So when you look at His commandments.... make sure you are looking at the proper set of commandments because how to be His friends is important by trusting Him to help us, because that is necessary in order for the "how" to keep what His commandments are in being His friends.

I had an opportunity to go to a Southern Baptist church in Jennings, Fl. a few years ago. (Lord lead me there) it was a wonderful experience.

One of the ladies i talked with was very interested in my relationship with God.
I explained that i just talk with God daily.

To my surprize, she found it difficult to do just that. Talk with God. You see, in her church, they praise God, and preachers preach. And they beseech God.

But no one just simply talks with Him.

She has been working on it, talking with God. It has taken her a year to feel comfortable to do so.

 

[Bill]

I think your study you posted was nice and very up lifting. I have a question for you, what about all the other things that Jesus told his followers to do? Like in Luke 14:33 he says, "for those of you who do not sell everything you own you can not be my disciple". Some people say that disciples and Christians are different, but thats not true. Look at Acts 11:26, it tells us that disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. So you can actually change the word disciples to Christian in Luke 14:33 and it will read " for those of you who do not sell everything they own you can not be a Christian". Something for all Christians to think about. Also read the four gospels and find out everything Jesus told his followers to do,

Peace and Love

There are many things Jesus tells us to do. But woven in all is love. Gods love.

Selling everything you own may include your very life. Letting God be the focus of all you are.

Love God with your whole heart, Love God with your whole mind, Love God with all your strength.