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Friendship with God

Friendship with God

What is a friend? When you think of your best friend, what qualities come to mind? When you think of being a friend, what attributes are essential? Loyalty? Trustworthiness? Love? True regard for the welfare of the other?

Does a friend know you? Do you know your friend? Do you enjoy your friend talking with you, wrestling over ideas with you? Do friends protect each other? Do friends share secrets, celebrate achievements together and support each other during loss?

Jesus talked with His disciples, shared His life with them, explained God’s methods, principles and plans to them. They struggled to understand, but Jesus wanted them to. He longed for them to comprehend what He was doing. As Christ approached Gethsemane He took three of the twelve to the inner Garden, longing for their understanding, their empathy, their encouragement, their prayers, and their support. What a privilege offered to these disciples:  intimacy, understanding, and friendship with God! Would you like such a relationship? God is calling you to be His friend.

But what does friendship with God look like? How would you describe a relationship in which someone sought you out, told you in this relationship you must always obey everything he told you, never question, are not allowed to think and reason, are forbidden from understanding and required to sacrifice greatly? Would you call it friendship?

I have heard it suggested that this is what God wants from His intelligent creatures: blind submission, non-thinking servitude, the obedience of a well trained dog or a mindless slave. But this is a lie from the father of lies. God created us in His image and we are to be “thinkers not mere reflectors of other men’s thoughts!” {Ed 17}. “Our reasoning powers were given us for use, and God desires them to be exercised. He invites us to ‘Come now, and let us reason together’ (Isaiah 1:18). In reliance upon Him we may have wisdom to ‘refuse the evil, and choose the good.’ Isaiah 7:15; James 1:5.”  {Ed 231}

In this warfare between God and Satan for our minds (2Cor 10:3-5), God has 100% of the truth on His side. Satan is the father of lies. He has no truth. Therefore, Satan relies on teachings that convince people they must “believe without evidence,” “obey without understanding,” because then we are truly blind and powerless to his assaults. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32). How can a person who doesn’t think, doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t reason, ever know anything, much less be a mature Christian who “has developed by practice the ability to discern the right from the wrong”? (Hebrews 5:14).

Abraham was a friend of God and what characterized his relationship with God? Certainly God wanted friendship with Abraham and Abraham was obedient to God, no doubt about it. But what kind of obedience did Abraham render? Blind, non-thinking, ignorant servitude, or the obedience of an understanding friend? When God came to destroy Sodom, He told His friend Abraham on His way. Did Abraham respond? “God said it; I believe it, go smoke ‘em”? No! Abraham was a friend of God and he argued, graciously of course, with God. “Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).

Abraham knew God, cared about God, cared for God’s reputation and dialogued an opposing view. This is friendship with God. Moses, another man of antiquity the Bible describes as a friend of God, also demonstrated the same friendly relationship. He knew God and when God was going to destroy Israel, Moses argued with God saying, “take my name out of your book.”  Moses, like Job, was jealous for God’s reputation. “What will the nations think of You if, after bringing this people out of Egypt, You kill them?”

True friends are thinking, intelligent, understanding friends who care for the wellbeing of the other!

Jesus, God in human form said, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15 NASB

Notice, a slave doesn’t know and understand his master’s business.  He just obeys and does what his master tells him to do. But Jesus says NO to that as friendship. He says friends know Him and He has made known to us what He has heard from the Father.

Is there a difference between a “serving friend” and “friendly service”? God does not want mere friendly service (obedience). God wants friends who know Him, love Him, and understand His character, methods and principles and freely choose to obey because they agree with Him. This is what God is calling us to – a never-ending friendship with Him!

“Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. Our message is that God was making the whole human race his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends. Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends!” 2 Cor 5:17-20 GNT

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Testimony 58

I have been watching your videos in The Power of Love seminar and I must say these have liberated me and have improved my relationship with the Lord. I am no longer terrified of him as I was before following your teachings.

Thando N., South Africa

 

Testimony 36

Thank you and may God continue to bless you as you share with others the intricacies of how we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made”. I must share that you have opened a whole new world to me, and I have found tremendous healing through what you have shared in two of your books, “Could It Be This Simple?” and “The God Shaped Brain.” I praise God for what you shared, what I have learned, and how I have grown and healed! My prayer is that My Precious Jesus will be seen by others in the way I live, act, talk, etc. and they may be encouraged to know He is truly a GREAT God of LOVE, desiring that no one should perish! God Bless you in your continued endeavors to present Him as He really is!

Joleen H. GA, USA

 

Testimony 30

God lead me to your book “The God-Shaped Brain” while I was searching for another book about the brain and then to your interview about your book on HeartWise Ministries [where] I found out about [Come And Reason Ministries]. I’m now devouring the webcasts of your Bible studies. I have been so greatly blessed and I thank God so much for your courage to speak the Truth in love no matter what. Listening to you contrast the two opposing systems (laws) and digging deep to unearth the hidden treasures in the Bible makes me so incredibly happy and I feel very blessed to be part of your Bible Study Group although I live far away. I am just so excited that there is a group of people that is spreading the Truth about the character of God and it saddens me how few realize what our Father in Heaven is really like.

Kessy B., Australia

 

Testimony 3

My husband is a pastor and I listen to your lesson almost every week. Thank you for helping me in my study life and to help me love the “real” God more.

C. F., NC, USA

 

Testimony 43

Two years ago I stumbled upon your book, “Could It Be This Simple,” and then found “The God-Shaped Brain” videos on YouTube, your bible study class, and the ‘Come And Reason’ mobile app. I shared your book with a friend and after nine months of showing love, patience, and kindness this person has been changed by the love of God, too. The same love that healed me, I now express to other women in tangible ways, such as to a Baptist woman with high anxiety and childhood trauma. She was extremely happy and relieved when I shared about the so-called “judgment of God” and burning in hell. She had no desire to serve a God that was so harsh. I have repeated the phrase dozens of times to her. “What we believe has power over us, but we have power over what we believe…”

This message that you are sharing has changed my life. I will continue to serve other women and bring this message of God’s healing love to their lives by sharing your books, YouTube videos, and The Remedy Bible app. Keep up the good work. Don’t be discouraged. God is doing a mighty work in and through this ministry!

Jill L., Midwest, USA

 

Testimony 12

I have been really blessed reading your response to the various questions on your site.

K.C., OH, USA

 

Testimony 62

I would like to express my thanks to the C&R team for creating a platform from which people can learn to trust in God and grow. My life is a witness to the effectiveness of this ministry. Without believing the truth about God as you have shown, I don’t know what my life would be like. I had given up on God helping me with certain sins – it was all useless. Given that the scripture is clear and God is so good, how could I have betrayed him so many times? I was a yo-yo christian; spinning up and down. My faith and enthusiasm was driven by discoveries/threats that prophecy is about to be fulfilled. But when I watched your “Healing the Mind” seminar, it was like a light finally went on. I could see God had no plan to hurt me, the danger came from sin, and that He is working to protect me and strengthen me. Thank you for allowing God to use you. The message God gave C&R saved my life!

Antony N. – Hobart, Australia

 

Testimony 38

Since November 2015, when I started studying Gods word from this God Is Love point of view, my life has been transformed. My troubled marriage of 15 years has been healed and my husband and I are truly happy for the first time in 15 years. Now When I read the word of God I understand it so much better and I can’t help but see Gods love radiating through the pages to humanity. Gods word is living and active and I am blessed beyond measure to be having this amazing experience. God has given me a beautiful understanding of Jn 3:16 that amazes me more and more each day. Thank you again for your ministry.

Helen D., London, England

 

Testimony 19

I truly believe that to know who God really is the first step to understand ourselves in a balanced and kind way, so the healing can take place. Your approach really makes sense – Thank you for your ministry!

A.M., Pittsburg, PA, USA

Testimony 18

The Healing the Mind DVD set tarted me on a journey that has changed my relationship with our loving God more significantly than any other study, and brought me to your book and Bible study podcasts, which I now listen to daily, thanks to the availability of archived content on your site and on iTunes.

Anonymous

 

Testimony 46

Over the past couple of years God has been expanding my view of Himself and His character. Along my approximately 40-year journey, I have often had questions, but was hesitant to voice these and step outside the traditionally accepted thinking, for fear of admitting that I may in fact be eternally lost. In the recesses of my thinking has been the thought – if one blindly accepts (which is widely regarded as “real faith”) and does not question, is this really ‘truth?’ I often find it challenging to grapple with very theological ‘speak,’ but Dr. Jennings has a real gift of explaining spiritual concepts with clear practical examples. The weekly discussions are growing my Christian experience and slowly changing my view of how to live as a child of God in today’s complex world. Finally the whole Old Testament sanctuary teaching moved in my mind from fantasy to reality!

Beverly S., South Africa

 

Testimony 10

I personally download and listen to each of Come And Reason Ministries Bible study class lessons and PDF study notes to use when teaching my class. Really appreciate the class especially when Dr. Jennings is teaching. Thank God there are persons like him doing His work and traveling to share His beliefs.

B. L.M., North Plains, OR, USA

 

Testimony 64

I’ve been reading the bible and walking with Jesus since I was around 16. I’m 42 now. I’ve mostly been alone in my walk although I went to several churches in different denominations. For the past 3 years God has been showing me His character of agape. It’s been a blessing and changed how I view God and my walk with Jesus. About a year ago I came across the power of love and the principles of design law. These teachings changed how I read scripture and have been such a beautiful blessing. I’m very excited and grateful for these truths. We share these truths of agape, design law and the reality of the principles of the two trees in the garden of Eden with people on Facebook and YouTube. People all over are learning to trust God and His agape design law which makes life possible. Thank you for everything you shared with me. May God continue to bless your ministry and lives.

Bradley M., Hinsdale, NY, USA

 

Testimony 20

I just wanted to personally thank you for your teachings and insight into scripture. I came across your website via my cousin who suggested I look into “Healing the Mind” information. My youngest daughter has been struggling over the last couple of years and it all came to a head this spring. When I started listening to the “Healing the Mind” lectures my own life began to be transformed. I began sharing with all my daughters the concepts you laid out so clearly. I ordered your book and soaked it up. I just want to say “Thank You!” My walk with the Lord has been refreshed and renewed. Your obedience to the Lord is a blessing to so many.

R. K., Anderson, SC, USA

 

Testimony 22

I have found your Bible study class lectures to be very inspiring and useful as I prepare to teach class every other week. I subscribe to the podcast and download your notes on the weeks I teach. The audio and notes are such a great help in preparing. My own understanding of God’s character has grown as I teach the class. Commendations on the thought-provoking and well-prepared material Come and Reason provides. Personally, I get excited by the tie you make between the spiritual and mental/physical domains.

A.A. Corrales, NM, USA