Friend’s Of God
John 15:15 (NKJV) No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
We use to sing a song that said “I am a friend of God”. A person who invited a friend ask how she like the service, and she responded by saying that she had a problem with that song. That we cannot be, friends with God.
Now to me, that what the world
has done to us. It says that we are so unworthy and that there is no way that a Holy God could be friends with worms like us.
But what I see is people who believe their feelings over what God has stated as fact in the word.
I can say over and over that I don’t believe in gravity because I don’t feel like its true, but you go ahead and jump off a cliff and see what happens.
No, the same way we believe in gravity and its effects on us, we believe that we are Friends of God, and believing that, it has great effects in our lives.
So today, Let’s not go by your feelings, but go by the true Word of God and see the great effect that it will have in your life.
These few chapters here in John are so powerful, because Jesus isn’t talking to just everyone here, He is talking to His disciples and He says that we’re one of them.
John 17:20-23 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 14:21 (NKJV) He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
Manifest: To reveal oneself, to declare plainly. To show; to manifest; to disclose; to appear; to make known.
When manifest (emphanisô) is used in the sense of an unveiling or revelation, it suggests that a new thing has come to light, that something never known by man before is made known. Some mystery has now been revealed. It is something that cannot be discovered by man’s reason or wisdom. It is a mystery that is hidden from man and beyond his grasp.
Here in John 14:21-22, it means that Jesus’ presence is revealed (brought to light), illuminated, manifested, quickened in the life of the believer. It means that He manifests Himself to His disciples in a very special way. He discloses His person, His nature, His goodness. He illuminates Himself within their hearts and lives. He gives a very special consciousness within their souls.
John 14:15-19 (NKJV) "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
Colossians 1:26-27 (NKJV)the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:26-27 (NLT) This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people. 27 For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.
John 14:22 (NKJV) Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
John 14:23 (KJV) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John 14:23 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Abode: 3438; Rooms, mansions, dwelling places, abiding places. It means places, residences, dwellings, areas, spaces for living, homes. A Special Dwelling Place.
This is the same Greek word for mansion’s from John 14:1-3 (NKJV) 1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
God our Father wants to have a Mansion, a special dwelling place in our hearts. WOW!
Through out the Bible we see that God doesn’t want to just be our God but that He is looking for a people who want a intimate relationship with Him. To be a friend of God.
Genesis 3:8 (NKJV) And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
So we see so clearly through this that from the very beginning God wanted to be our friend and through Jesus Christ He has made this possible.
