Being friends with Jesus Christ?

[K2K]

In the above post I made some correct comments, but then went on a walk with the Lord, which I often do. He suggested that perhaps I should take a slightly different approach to answering the questions posed. He suggested that I answer something like this:


My friends - if you get to know my friend Jesus Christ, do you not know that you are becoming friends with the King of kings and Lord of lords? So then, if you are friends with Him will you not be able to ask Him for help and then get it, since you would be His friend? It might not come as you expected, but surely God is love and as a friend He will send help, will He not?





What takes me a lot to say and get across, He can get across in far fewer words

 

[SANTOSO]

Well said brother. I agree with the Spirit in which you spoke.

I will meditate more on Hebrews 5, Galatian 3:2 and Genesis.

I am just glad that you also share about honesty and ask the Lord questions in the right spirit.

I know there are still challenges that God will set up for me to learn.

Yes, it is not only interesting to expect the unexpected from the Lord but I know the Lord is good, I am at best assured.

I believe I hear Him daily. I believe I can listen to Him more clearly, as He grow my faith.

Thanks, brother.

 

[Ulea]

Well I keep giving my life to Jesus but I only believe I’m saved for a while. I’m trying to one back back I’m having a hard time BELIEVING I’m saved.

 

[K2K]

Well I keep giving my life to Jesus but I only believe I’m saved for a while. I’m trying to one back back I’m having a hard time BELIEVING I’m saved.

We battle with the dark forces of this world, but what does that mean?

It means that there are those spirits who do what they can to keep you away from the Lord. The good news is that we have the King of kings for us, and in His kingdom there are more with us than against us, and the Kingdom of God is in our midst.

The first words that snake in the garden spoke were, "Did God really say". It is a statement to doubt God and that He says. So that snake of old works at getting us to doubt in Jesus Christ, while the Spirit of God works at getting us to believe in Him! That is the battle. Considering that it is nice to know that the victory is the Lord's

 

[GDL]

NKJ John 15:12-16 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 "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. 16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

- Those who learn from Jesus & do what He commands are His friends
- To love one another as He commands is also to love God by keeping His commandments

NKJ James 2:20-26 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

- faith without works is dead
--- Abraham our father was justified by works
------ faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect
--------- Abraham believed God
------------ And he was called the friend of God
--------- Abraham's believing God was accounted to him for righteousness
------ a person is justified by works, and not by faith only
--- Rahab the harlot was also justified by works
- faith without works is dead

- Abraham believed God & was credited righteousness
- Abraham's faith in God was perfected/completed in doing the works God commanded of Him (faith without works is dead [faith])
- Abraham was God's friend

- Biblical Friendship with Jesus & our Father is believing God > being Faithfully Obedient to God - which is also Love for God (John 14:23-24; 1 John 5:2-3)

 

[sunshineforJesus]

NKJ John 15:12-16 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 "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. 16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

- Those who learn from Jesus & do what He commands are His friends
- To love one another as He commands is also to love God by keeping His commandments

NKJ James 2:20-26 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

- faith without works is dead
--- Abraham our father was justified by works
------ faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect
--------- Abraham believed God
------------ And he was called the friend of God
--------- Abraham's believing God was accounted to him for righteousness
------ a person is justified by works, and not by faith only
--- Rahab the harlot was also justified by works
- faith without works is dead

- Abraham believed God & was credited righteousness
- Abraham's faith in God was perfected/completed in doing the works God commanded of Him (faith without works is dead [faith])
- Abraham was God's friend

- Biblical Friendship with Jesus & our Father is believing God > being Faithfully Obedient to God - which is also Love for God (John 14:23-24; 1 John 5:2-3)

Praise God we are always friends of God and he loves us no matter what!

 

[GDL]

Praise God we are always friends of God and he loves us no matter what!

Are you sure about this? To live in Truth is to let God explain the Truth to us, which He does in His Word of Truth, by His Spirit of Truth. Then we do the Truth & love in Truth.

NKJ John 15:9-10 "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.

We all can read Jesus' instruction & warnings in 15:5-6, or not. BTW, at the end of 15:9 is a command from Jesus, which means we have a choice to obey Him, which is to love Him, or not.

NKJ John 14:15-17 "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.

NKJ John 14:23-24 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. 24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

 

[Unqualified]

Well I keep giving my life to Jesus but I only believe I’m saved for a while. I’m trying to one back back I’m having a hard time BELIEVING I’m saved.

when we are in trials it’s hard to believe sometimes, or sin. Trials seem grievous don’t they? Don’t be guilty for feeling bad, embrace the pain and don’t fear it. If we do something bad we are still saved but need repentance. And to change our ways with Gods help. There is conviction for sin that also feels grievous.

trials come and go don’t lose heart. Carry that weight. Jon Courson calls it the crush. Just try to be strong and patient. These times of extra trials make us stronger and more numb to the pain. Carry your cross. Try. But your not going to death but to eternal life, like my wife. God loves you, this is how He works. All thing work together for good if you love the Lord and are called according to His purpose!

 

[aiki]

I would like to talk about Jesus being your friend... maybe even your best friend.
Who wants to start a converstaion??

Interesting question. I think, though, that it's aiming a bit low. Scripture tells me Jesus isn't just my friend but my very life. (John 15:5; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4) It seems to me, this puts my relationship with him on a very different, a very unique, level. I don't approach the source of my life, friend to me though he is, in the same way I'd approach another human person. My very high respect for Jesus, and my total dependence upon him for both my physical and my spiritual life, mean I accord him a deference and humility I don't show anyone else. Though he knows all about me, I don't take my relationship to him for granted, "letting it all hang out," shouting and complaining to him, speaking with him as though he were just another human being. He is my friend, yes, but also more importantly, my Saviour, God and my King, the Lord of my life. I don't, then, picture myself walking side-by-side with Christ as an equal partner; one doesn't do this with the one who is one's life. Every moment I exist, it is at his pleasure; my next breath is fundamentally by his will; and my eternal destiny rests utterly in his hands. And so, I submit to him, I wait on him in patience and faith, I follow his will and lead, I give him glory. This what it means for Jesus to be my friend.

In the Revelation, the apostle John described the glorified Christ. It is an...eye-opening description and checks very sharply this Jesus-is-my-buddy sort of thinking of today:

Revelation 1:12-18 (NASB)
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.
16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

John knew the incarnate Christ better by far than any of us, having lived with him for 3 years as one of the Twelve, but when John encountered Jesus in his glorified state, John fell at his feet as dead, overcome and frightened. And Jesus, though reassuring, did not encourage John to treat him casually, as so many Christians are urged to do these days.