Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
Several months ago as I was going to bed the Lord spoke to me and told me He was going to visit me. I was very excited and anticipated Him coming, although I had no indication of timing or what form this visit would take. A couple of weeks later during the middle of day I took some time to soak and meditate. I had the door shut to my bedroom and as I lay across my bed I felt His presence come through the door toward me. I felt the Lord’s heart reach out to me. He seemed lonely and was asking for my friendship. I have never felt the Lord’s presence like this and it made me feel very uncomfortable. It is contradictory to think that God, the creator of the earth would seem lonely and in need of a friend. In spite of what my mind was telling me I responded to the Lord that I would like to be His friend.
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend some time with Steve Wilbur who is a spiritual father to my generation. He mentioned that perhaps God was doing more than trying to restore Adam when He came looking for him after he ate the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:9). Maybe God was seeking Adam because He missed him. As Steve was talking I was taken back to that day in my bedroom and my heart felt pricked. I realized that I might not be such a good friend to God. I am not really sure how to be a good friend to God, but I do believe He is seeking our friendship. I believe God created loneliness in His heart and each of us can become His friend and meet this need that God has. I know that sounds like an oxymoron – God having a need, but I believe in some strange way God is lonely for us. We are created us for His pleasure (Rev. 4:11 KJV).
Recently, I spent two days with some friends. Basically from the time I arose in the morning to the time I got in bed at night I was with them. That does not leave much alone time with God. So when I got home I went to one of the places where I meet with God and I felt the Father was happy to see me and be with me. I sensed His pleasure in being with me. I know that sounds subjective, but it is biblical. The prodigal son’s father fell on his shoulder and wept after not seeing him for such a long time (Luke 15:20). I believe the Father desires us to know this – He longs to be with us.
This is what I have experienced in my own life and have seen in others – the way we view God is ultimately going to be manifested in our lives. We can hide in the bushes for a while, but in the mindless moments whether good or bad, our view of God is going to manifest in our words and actions. There are many believers who have an Old Covenant view of God. They relate to God as the saints did in the Old Testament and it seems that God relates to them likewise; but this is not true. I believe God is simply meeting them where they are, as He desires friendship with them and is attempting to draw them into a greater relationship. We should be careful about viewing God with an Old Covenant heart; this is dangerously close to being an affront to the Cross of Christ. On the Cross, Jesus Christ absolutely destroyed the enmity between God and man (Eph. 2:14-18).
Enmity is an interesting and revealing word. Here are some of the meanings of it and remember, this is what Jesus destroyed by his intense suffering and violent death:
Hostility, animosity, antagonism, friction, antipathy, acrimony, bitterness, rancor, resentment, aversion, ill feeling, bad feeling, ill will, bad blood, hatred, hate, loathing, malice, spite, spitefulness, venom, malevolence.
The antonym for enmity is even more revealing, it is friendship. Jesus on the Cross destroyed all that stuff on God’s end and offered us the opposite, as that is the definition of an antonym. So I believe the way to have a friendship with God starts and ends at the Cross. It is through His blood that we not only come to God initially (Eph. 2:13), but it is how we can stay close to Him in life (Heb. 10:19-23).
For through Him we both have access by one Sprit to the Father. Eph. 2:18
Many Blessings, BW