Developing Your Friendship With God

He offers his friendship to the godly. Proverbs 3:32

Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. James 4:8

Question to consider: What practical choices will I make today in order to grow closer to God?

If you want a deeper, more intimate connection with God you must learn to honestly share your feelings with God and trust Him. It takes desire, time, and energy.

I must choose to be honest with God. The first step of building a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty about your faults and your feelings. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect but he insist on complete honesty. Because of God’s grace, Jesus is still friend of sinners. Matthew 11:19

In the Bible, God’s friends were honest with their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and arguing with their Creator. God encouraged it.

Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God. God always acts in your best interest, even when it is painful and you don’t understand it. Tell God exactly how you feel.

I must choose to obey God in faith. Every time you trust God’s wisdom and do whatever he says, even when you don’t understand it, you deepen your friendship with God. Jesus made it clear that obedience is a condition of intimacy with God. He said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:14

We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but because we love Him and trust that he knows what is best for us.

Unbelievers often think Christians obey out of obligations or guilt or fear of punishment, but the opposite is true. Because we have been forgiven and set free, we obey out of love and our obedience brings great joy!

Jesus said, I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in His love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:9-11

True friendship is not passive; it acts. When Jesus asks us to love others, help the needy, share our resources, keep our lives clean, offer forgiveness, and bring others to Him, love motivates us to obey immediately.

God is more pleased when we do small things for Him out of loving obedience. They may be unnoticed by others, but God notices them and considers them acts of worship.

God treasures simple acts of obedience more than our prayers, praise, or offerings. The Bible tells us, “What pleases the Lord more: burnt offerings and sacrifices or obedience to his voice? It is better to obey than to sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 15:22

I must choose to value what God values. The more you become God’s friend, the more you will care about the things He cares about, grieve over the things He grieves over, and rejoice over things that bring pleasure to Him.

What does God care about most? The redemption of His people. He wants all His lost children found. That’s the whole reason Jesus came to earth.

The dearest thing to the heart of God is the death of his Son. The second dearest thing is when his children share that news with others. To be friend of God, you must care about all the people around you whom God cares about.

Friends of God tell their friends about God.

I must desire friendship with God more than anything else. David passionately desired to know God above all else. He used the words like longing, yearning, thirsting, and hungering. He craved God.

Your love means more than life to me. Psalm 63:3

Intimate friendship with God is a choice. You must intentionally seek it. Do you really want it – more than anything?

Pray this throughout your day:

“Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you intimately.”

When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” Jeremiah 9:24

It’s a relationship what will last forever. Paul told Timothy, “Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life – they don’t know God.” 1 Timothy 6:21

Have you been missing out on the most important thing in life? You can do something about it right now. Remember, it’s your choice. You are as close to God as you choose to be.