Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9.
You are My friends if you do what I command you. John 15:14.
His mouth is full of sweetness. And He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is my friend, You daughters of Jerusalem. Song of Songs 15:16.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Days without number, years without end, time immemorial with Me as your friend, I am your God, I am calling to you, come live in the light of My love. Abide in My love. Jesus told you, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide (live, dwell, continue, remain) in My love.” John 15:9.
But how do you do that? He goes on to explain, “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:10-11. So what is His Commandment? He tells you, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:12-14.
This is how you live in My love. You keep My commandments. And My servant John tells you the truth in My Word, My commandments are not burdensome. No, they give you joy, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:11. Why? To love is joy. Jacob loved Rachel and to serve seven years to have her seemed but a few days to him. Love changes everything.
My Commandments are summed up in two, love Me who am Love and love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus took it to a love for your brethren, believers in Him, in a unity with Me and yourselves in Me as one family of believers in Heaven and on earth with the whole family named with My Name. It is the love of friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. And what are My commands under the New Covenant? Again I tell you through My apostle John, “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He gave us command. The one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” 1 John 3:23-24.
And Jesus takes you deeper, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” John 14:18-24.
Do you see? Keeping My command of love is all tied up with the Holy Spirit. I pour My love into your heart by the gift of My Holy Spirit. My servant Jude gave you this answer for abiding in My love and keeping My Words, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” Jude 1:20-21. Praying in the Spirit, in tongues, reveals mysteries and edifies your spirit.
But let us go back to friends. In Heaven, it is all friends. If you are saved it is because I can call you a friend. I called Abraham My friend, I called Moses My friend, and I call those who keep My Words “friends.” My Son died for everyone, He paid the ransom for all, but only those who keep My way of Salvation, that is, who believe in their hearts I raised Jesus from the dead and confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, take advantage of that ransom, otherwise you do not receive it and die in your own sins. It comes down to believing that Jesus really did die for your sins and that I raised Him up with your sins gone, and that I raised you with Him. That I have rescued you from the realm of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of My beloved Son by accepting His authority rather than that of the devil over your life. You must transfer your allegiance to My Word rather than the devil’s word. And it is then you become My friend. In My Song of Songs I tell you that I am your beloved and your friend. Song of Songs 5:16.
Now, I want to explain something to you the people seem to have become mixed up about. You cannot be a friend of Mine and a friend of the world in the sense that its beliefs are contrary to Mine. How can two walk together unless they agree? Again, look at the Words as expressed by My beloved John, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.” 1 John 2:15-17. And My servant James wrote, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4.
To be loving and inclusive is good but not in the sense of being condoning of things I tell you are wrong and evil. My servant Paul had divine revelation on this, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. And Paul was not mixed up about this, “I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person.” 1 Corinthians 5:11. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from Me. For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify Me in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
Be not a foe instead of a friend. Friends stick closer than brothers. Psalm18:24. A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17. And a friend will admonish you when you are going on the wrong path. “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and a person’s advice is sweet to his friend.” Proverbs 27:9. “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:16-17. Consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning your meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25. Friends are there for each other so that they will both become the best they can be. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17.
I told My prophet Ezekiel, and I tell the same to you who are My friends, “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way, that wicked person shall die for his wrongdoing, but I will require his blood from your hand. But if you on your part warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you have saved your life.” Ezekiel 33:8-9. You are your brother’s keeper, if you love Me, then feed My sheep and tend My lambs.
Heaven is a place of beautiful friendship, everyone there is family and everyone there is a friend to every other and to Me. And everyone there is My child, My beloved, My delight, and My friend. Friends know each other in a wonderful way. A true friend is one you can always trust. And so I am.
I love you. I call you My friend if you keep My commandments and My commandments are your joy. They bring great reward to your spirit, soul, and body. They will make you complete and mature.