Friendship with Jesus
II CHRONICLES 20:7
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
Abraham was a friend of God forever, and as the faith seed of Abraham, this is also God’s intension for us because friendship is a big part of the relationship that God wants to establish with us, especially in these uncertain times that we are living in today.
JAMES 2:23
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
There is nothing like a friend to comfort you in times of trouble – and if God is your friend, then he is a friend who is able to give you the greatest comfort of all.
Friendship with Jesus
There is an old song we used to sing call “Friendship with Jesus”
A friend of Jesus oh what bliss
That One so weak as I
Should ever have a Friend like this
To lead me to the sky
A Friend when other friendships cease
A Friend when others fail
A Friend who gives me joy and peace
A Friend when foes assail
CH: Friendship with Jesus
Fellowship divine
Oh what blessed sweet communion
Jesus is a Friend of mine
In married life, your legal relationship of being a legally married couple doesn’t change with your moods swings or your ups and downs or your financial status – the only way that you can change your legal state is through a legal process, but as a couple, your relationship together as friends can change, and this is why it is so important to first be best friends together with your wife and with your husband before you go into marriage, you need to find compatibleness in friendship and be able to get along, and then you need to remain best friends throughout your married life – so to work on your “marriage” in a lot of cases is to work on your friendship together – it can be a friendship problem, and so it is this area of friendship that we want to look at and work on in our relationships, and of course especially in our relationship of friendship toward the Lord.
You can be married without being best friends, and that will lead to problems.
**As believers of this message, we claim that we have become the legally married wife to the Lord by our union with His word in this hour, yet we can be legally married to Christ, but then we also need to be best friends with Him in that marriage relationship, and we need to maintain and to cultivate that ongoing friendship in our relationship with Him as the years of our married life roll on, and so this subject applies to both our natural marriages and also to our marriage relationship with the Lord.
EXODUS 33:11
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.
God designed man for friendship with him, and God himself is also a friendly God. Jesus had friends while he was on the earth.
And so when we are referring to friendship, I am are not talking so much about the Greek word “phileo” which is like a friendship love, but I am wanting to focus on the the relationship of friendship as in a close association of two walking together in close fellowship as companions.
God wants friendship with man, and God has put it in the heart of man to want friendship with God.
JOHN 15:12-15
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (This is not a selfishly motivated statement like “I will only be your friend if you do what I say all the time”, but this is a statement of fact that reveals a person’s true trust in the Lord in that you are willing to do what his word states because of your relationship of trust towards Him as your God and friend)
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Being a friend with God entitles you to the privilege of God making things known to you; he reveals his great secrets to you, because this is what God does as a part of His relationship toward you as His friend.
**We know that it takes many relationships to explain the one great relationship that God intended to have with his family.
We have looked at these relationships before –
Firstly, we are His fellow and co-workers (His servants) in His field, and He is the boss over the harvest, and so that is like a worker/boss relationship, but then we are also his sons and daughters and He is our father – so that is a father/child relationship.
Then we are His bride and He is our bridegroom, so that is a betrothed relationship, and then it advances to a husband and wife relationship which is the highest form of relationship – all these relationships are showing us what is going on in the one great relationship that we are to have with God.
***We saw this all play out with the story of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth’s relationship with Boaz began with a servant/boss relationship to Boaz, then that relationship grew until they came to courtship and marriage.
***But now she is in Boaz’s house, but instead of serving Boaz in the field, she is serving Boaz’s in his house, and she is also his friend and companion in his house, and she is also his wife in his house, and so all those relationships that she had had with him in the field and at the threshing floor, she is now having with him in his house – all those relationships have all just matured into one great relationship. This is teaching us something of our marriage relationships as husbands and wives – all these relationships need to be in place in our marriages.
**So when a woman or a man marries, then you also need for your spouse to be your best friend, because friendship is very important to all humans, your wife is not just to be like a domestic servant of the cleaner and the cook in your relationship with her, and He is not to just become the lawn mowing person, and the car repair person, and the handy man around the house – you are both to serve one another in love.
*Remember that it is not just that we serve the Lord, but He also serves us, and He works for us, and He is a very hard and capable worker and a very good provider for us.
*So we can learn from the bible of how God planed for our relationships of Husband and Wife to be.
God wants to be friends with us in his great relationship toward us, and he wants us to be friends with Him and to walk with him in friendship forever.
This English word “Friend” is used for a variety of Greek words in the New Testament.
When Jesus call Judas “Friend” in Mathew 26:50, this meaning was like a comrade or a partner – an associate, but when he talked about his friend Lazarus, then this is a definition to do with he who associates familiarly with one, a companion, it is a closeness based on fond familiarity – and this is the friendship that Jesus describes with Lazarus in John 11, and what followed that relationship of friendship with Jesus was a resurrection.
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148 And I stood there a few moments, tears running down through my beard, and them gray. I thought, "God, how, I don't know what to do."
(Look at what he was burdened with, a feeling of a burden that wouldn’t leave him – “I don’t know what to do” The tax case had been getting to him, he couldn’t leave the country. Many times we find ourselves in the same condition of burdens that have hung on us for years and years and we don’t know what to do – but then we see what happened next was the answer that God knew that was needed for him to come out of that burden - it was to walk with the Lord in friendship)
149 I thought, "Well, I was... I guess the brethren are all back in the tent. And the sun is shining everywhere."
150 I started walking down the mountain. And the snow all drying up, with that hot sun; steam coming out of my shirt. Just a moment, or two, difference. And I started walking down the mountain. And when I did, I said...
I heard a Voice say, "Why don't you walk with Me?"
151 I said, "Lord, the greatest privilege I ever had!" I turned and started back down through the big deer trails, down through that virgin forest.
We know how this story goes…
163 I was standing against the side of this tree. (In closing.) Standing aside of this tree, and the tears dropping from my eyes. I thought, "God!"
164 Just think, the same God that said, "Peace, be still," to the waves, and the winds obeyed Him, He is still the same Jesus is right here in the woods with us. He is still the Word. The Word, all nature has to obey His Word, for He is the Creator of nature.
I stood there, and the tears dropping off of my cheeks.
165 And for about five years now, I've been off the field, just going to churches and whatever I could. You all know that. And my heart's been burdened. I'd go out here, come to Arizona. And He would tell me things to do, I'd go do it, but look like the revival is over. And I couldn't... wonder what was taking place. In my heart, I'd repent. I'd say, "Lord, if I've done anything, tell me; I'll make it right." Just burdened all the time, just a horrible feeling, and I couldn't have the victory that I wanted.
166 Many great things He had done and showed, which you all are witnesses, coming here and telling you about it, seeing the papers pack it, and magazines, and so forth, about the great supernatural things that's been seen and done.
167 But my heart was still heavy. And I was leaning against the bush, just like this. And I thought, "The great God of Heaven. That warm sun shining on me, not a cloud nowhere, and a few moments ago You just--You just contradicted the man's word. Nature did it. How could it be done, Lord? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It was His Word that You just had me to speak." I thought, "Father, how grateful I am!"
168 I heard something going... [Brother Branham taps twice on the pulpit--Ed.] And I looked; standing right before me was two, three deer, and they were looking at me. Now, them deer had been shot at, much, in the last week, and there was hunters in there. And here I was dressed in red; anyone knows [Brother Branham snaps his finger] that they're gone that quick. But they were looking at me.
169 And, for eating deer, there could a-been no better. It was a big doe, two big full-grown fawns. And I thought, "That's just right! We need three deer."
170 Something said, "You know, the Lord has put them in your hands."
– he goes on to tell about how he used to shoot game for businessmen and different ones who couldn’t hunt themselves, and one day the Lord told him not to do that anymore, and so he promised God he wouldn’t do it again.
177 I thought, "They're right atop of this hill. I can roll them right down there; we can pick them up easy. Three fine deer standing there!"
I said, "No, I can't do it."
178 And here this coming up like that, of fawns, two full grown, male and female, and a mother deer. And they come, walking, looking around, great big fat fellows.
179 And I stood there a little bit. And I thought, "That's unusual, for deer, and me with this red on like that." I thought, "I'll scare them."
180 I said, "You're in my hands! You couldn't get away if you wanted to, but I'm not going to hurt you. Go on!" They just looked at one another, and they kept coming. And they got real close to me, looking at me.
181 Well, I set the rifle down on the ground. I said, "Mother, take your babies and go on out in the woods. I'm here enjoying myself in the Presence of God. I promised that I wouldn't kill game for other people." I said, "Now you take your babies and go on in the woods. I love that woods, too. Go on out!"
182 She looked at me. And both of them looked around, all three of them. Then they turned and walked away, and then come back again.
183 And I said, "I'm not going to hurt you." I said, "Go on in the woods. You're in my hands. You couldn't get away. But," I said, "I've been in God's hands, and yet I couldn't get away, either. He spared me. I made Him a promise. I'm sparing you. Go on, have a good time, enjoy this woods. I like it. You go on!"
184 They stood there a little while, and walked up close to eat out of my hands, almost; turned around and looked all at me, like that, and walked on off. Stand and looked back again, walked right on out in the woods. And I was standing there. I thought, "That's unusual, for deer. Wonder if it's because that the Lord Jesus is here, His Presence?"
185 And just then a Voice spoke to me, said, "You remembered your promise, didn't you?" I knew it was Him.
I said, "Yes, Lord."
186 He said, "So do I remember Mine. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you."
187 That burden lifted. Christian friends, it hasn't been back since. That was last October. I've been a different person.
188 Keep your promise to God. Whatever you say to God, you believe it. Separate yourself from anything contrary to His Word. God will hear and answer prayer.
JAMES 4:8
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
We drew near to God by communication; this is how we draw near to one another in our marriages also to cultivate our friendships. We also draw near to God by cleansing our ways and purifying our hearts, this is what brings us into a greater fellowship and friendship with God – it is our struggling human nature that is always getting in the way with the relationship that God wants us to fully come into with Him, but if we can just surrender our human spirit to the obedience of the full word.
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E-41 …I'd rather hurt every man in the world and be in friendship with God.
Look how the Prophet of God valued His friendship with God.
PROVERBS 22:24a
24 ¶ Make no friendship with an angry man; There are certain people that you need to simply avoid making friends with, because it would be much better if you were not friends with them because of where that friendship could lead you to.
II SAMUEL 13:3-6
3 But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man. (This was a friend that Amnon would have been far better off not having)
4 And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. (We know that his love for her was not the right kind of love)
5 And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand. (Jonadab was setting this up for the purpose of hurting this young girl for the sake of Amnon’s infatuation – so this was a wicked thing that he was being told to do by his friend. Why didn’t Jonadab tell Amnon to ask his dad if he could marry her, maybe because he knew that Amnon only wanted to get what he could use her for, so this is like many relationship that we see in the world today where there is no commitment intended, and then we wonder why things turn into disasters)
6 So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.
We know how this story ended – an innocent girl was raped, Amnon lost his life by the command of his brother Absalom two years later, all the family is upset and distraught, and all this because of a bad friend.
**As young people, we have to be very careful of who our friends are – do not have close worldly friends – you cannot avoid having worldly associates at times, but do not let them become close because friendship is something that is sacred.
JAMES 4:4
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
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36 Judas only played church. He wasn't really sincere. He didn't actually have faith; he'd have never betrayed Jesus. But, see, he sowed that seed of discrepancy. He thought that he could make friends with the world, mammon, and also have friendship with Jesus, but it was too late for him to do anything about it. When the dead hour came, when he did this evil thing, he crossed the separating line between going forward and returning back. He had to go on in the way that he went, as a deceiver. He sowed the seed of discrepancy, he tried to find favor with those great organizations of that day, with the Pharisees and Sadducees. And thought he'd make hisself a piece of money, and would be popular among the people. If that doesn't cause so many people to get in that discrepancy, trying to find favor with man! Let's find favor with God, not with man.
PROVERBS 18:24
24 ¶ A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Friendship requires maintenance both with God and man, and that is to show yourself friendly back to people who are your friends, and also back to God as well - it may seem obvious to most, but to some this may not seem so obvious. ***God wants you to show yourself friendly toward Him by choosing Him above others and by your fellowship with Him and by your stand with Him and his word in this hour.
JOHN 11:9-11
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. (You need light within you – and that light is the truth of the word revealed to you for this hour that enables you to have fellowship with God and to come into friendship with Him)
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus stood with Jesus in that day, they had friendship with Jesus, and it paid off for them in their hour of their greatest need by a resurrection that followed as a result of that friendship.
381-3 A.RESUME.OF.THE.AGES - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.10
…if I can accomplish just one thing I will be satisfied. That one thing is to see established a true spiritual relationship between God and men, wherein men become new creations in Christ, filled with His Spirit and live according to His Word.
Friendship with Jesus is a part of our relationship with the Lord.
We are called to serve him, but we are also called to be his companion in friendship, and we are called to love him as a wife should love her husband.