"4 Factor’s in Developing Friendship with God" James 4:7-10
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
You are as close to God as you choose to be! Like any friendship, it doesn’t happen by accident. It takes desire, time, and energy! Just like any healthy marriage your relationship with God takes effort.
Vs. 7 tells us to submit unto God, vs.8 say’s to draw near to God, cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. Vs.9 say’s to lament, mourn and weep! Vs.10 Humble yourselves in the sight of God and He will lift you up!
#1.In developing your friendship with God: you must choose to be honest with God!
This is the first building block with any relationship because complete honesty about your faults and your feelings will open arms and hearts.
Job 42:1-7 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? ‘Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” 7 And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.
How does Job get God’s attention? Through humility and truthfulness!
Every great man and woman in God’s word became great through their complete honesty and openness with God!
Psalm 142: 1-5 I cry out to the LORD with my voice; With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk They have secretly set a snare for me.4 Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul. 5 I cried out to You, O LORD: I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.
#2. You must choose to obey God in faith. John 15:14 Jesus said, You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
We must obey God, not out of duty, fear or compulsion but because we love Him!
John 15:9-11 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
A great opportunity may come only once, but small opportunities surround us every day!
Luke 2:51 The Message Bible say’s, 51). So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself.
The first 30 years of Jesus’ life can be summed up by saying, “He lived obediently with them…”
#3. You must choose to value what God values!
This is what friends do-they care about what the other cares about; they show interest!
Romans 12:9-15 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
What does God care about the most? The redemption of His people!
Read the story of John Harper from the book “The One Year Book of Christian History" April 15 Devotion
#4. You must desire friendship with God more than anything else!
Psalm 27:4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.
Genesis 32:26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
God allowed Jacob to win! Why? Because God desires for you to go after Him, and to pursue Him!
James 4:8a NLT Come close to God and God will come close to you…
Prayer
