“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.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Many people, even believers, do not think of Me or treat Me as a friend. Instead they treat Me like I am hostile to them in that I am withholding what they want, such as healing, prosperity, success at work, and many other things. And yet in My Song of Songs I describe Myself to you as your Beloved and your Friend:
His mouth is all sweetness, He is altogether delightful, this is my Beloved, and this is my Friend. Song of Songs 5:16.
I am not your adversary, I am not your accuser, I am not hostile to you, and I do not withhold any good thing from you. You are with Me always and all I have I make available to you.
But there are way too many that act like the elder brother in the parable My Son told of the prodigal son—accusing the father of making him a slave and withholding good things from him while all the time he owned everything and could have taken whatever his heart had desired. The devil pulled Adam into this trap as well.
I am seeking out and calling friends, not grumblers, not accusers, not complainers, not those who are hostile to Me, not doubters, not the double minded, not those that desert Me as soon as they think I am not performing for them as they have decided I should, not cowards, not slaves, not those who refuse to go forward as soon as the circumstances look contrary to My promises, and not even servants, but friends who know My Word and understand and love My ways and walk with Me in loyal and loving faithfulness that manifests in true fellowship of hearts. It develops from trust but comes from being like-minded. A true friend is as your own soul. Deuteronomy 13:6.
Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself. 1 Samuel 18:1.
I formed your innermost parts, not only your organs but also your spirit and soul, I knit you in your mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13. Your soul is knit to Mine.
When you come to pray to Me, to converse with Me, know that I am with you always and everything I have is available to you. I gave you My Son, will I not give all other good things with Him as well? All My many magnificent promises that I make to you are “yes” to you in Christ Jesus.
O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the LORD, you His saints; for to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing. Psalm 34:8-10.
I reward those who seek Me. Those who seek Me with their heart shall not be in want of any good thing. I have already planned and prepared a life of good deeds for you in Christ Jesus since before you were knit in your mother’s womb. Ephesians 2:10; Psalm 139:16-18. And that plan is fully prepared and provided for in advance, it is just waiting for you to show up in faith and take it.
Now, let us continue with the conversation that Jesus had with His disciples at the Passover Seder the night before He gave His life for you so that you could have eternal life with Me. Today I am focusing on His criteria to call you His friend.
The concept of being My friend is not new. In fact, it all began that way in the Garden of Eden, everyday Adam and Eve met with Me for a time of fellowship in the breezy time of the day, in the coolness of the evening, and we talked and walked together. I shared great and mighty things with them. But they did not value the relationship as I did and were not faithful. Their had their interests as primary and those who seek only themselves bring themselves to ruin for the devil can easily gain entrance to selfish hearts.
Abel was open to friendship but Cain was not. His heart was not right with Mine.
I found a loyal friend in Enoch and he walked with Me and understood My ways. Noah also walked with Me and that saved you all.
But the first person I call My friend was Abraham, your father in the faith. And there you see the first criteria for a friend, faith. There are no true friends that do not have faith in one another. Friends stick through thick and thin. I define a friend as one that loves at all times, Proverbs 17:17, and, in fact, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24.
Although the circumstances were contrary to My promises to him, Abraham never left Me or gave up. He remained true to Me, quick to obey, quick to follow My lead, and very reverent and grateful for My blessing. He was quick to intercede for others, generous in hospitality, and fully persuaded that what I promised I was well able to perform. And I did. Both Abraham and Sarah had laughed that they could have a son in old age when they could not have one when they were young, and so we named the son Isaac, which means “laughter.” We all laughed together. Friends can do that.
Abraham held conversations with Me, as he did when he interceded for Sodom, but the judgment that fell did not cause him to stop the conversations. He knew I had not been able to find ten righteous people there, only one, and I saved him, though I had to have My angels take him by the hands and pull him out of the place of iniquity. Do not get accustomed to and play with evil. Stay away from it so you do not get pulled into the judgment when it falls.
I also called Moses My friend, and like Abraham, Moses conversed with Me face to face as friends do. We had total trust in each other. Even when the majority of the people questioned Me and doubted My promises, Moses never did. He was totally committed to Me and to all that I had entrusted to his care. He was faithful in all My household.
And Jesus told the astonished Pharisees that Abraham had seen His day and rejoiced and that Moses had written about Him. I show all those who are close to Me My Salvation (Yeshuah), which is more than a great deliverance but is the Person of My Son, Jesus (His Name in Hebrew is “Yeshuah,” which means salvation), who has saved you from your sins and from the wrath to come. He is your solution and your salvation in every situation.
And at the Last Supper when He was about to depart, He called His disciples “friends.” Earlier that evening He had told them,
“You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke 22:28-30.
A friend sticks closer than a brother. And Jesus rewarded them richly for their faithfulness. And He will you as well.
As Jesus gave His disciples the revelation of our relationship being so one as a branch abiding in a vine and sharing the attributes and producing the fruit of the vine, He stated so much that you need to take in and digest for it to become a part of you, but let us focus in on the following line by line:
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9.
How did I love Him? Jesus told you that I never left Him but was always with Him because Jesus always did what pleased Me. A friend loves at all times. Jesus said My Words and did the works I showed Him, and I showed Him greater and greater works. Jesus and I are One and all I have is His and all He has is Mine and He shares it with you. We are the ultimate sign of friendship and as He is so are you in this world.
And then He explained, as He had earlier at the meal, how you abide in our love.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10.
Whether you love Me or not, whether have linked with Me (are knit with Me) or not, all comes down to how you treat My Word. If you love Me, you keep My Word. Not just by rote obedience but by understanding it and making the determination you delight in it, that you treasure and cherish it as you do our relationship. Daniel and his friends (they were linked with Me and each other) so cherished My Word and their relationship with Me that they would rather get thrown into a fiery furnace heated seven time stronger or a hungry lions’ den than be unfaithful to Me and My commandments.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” John 14:23-24.
You will find that with the Bible all is linked up with Scripture upon Scripture. My Word reveals precious things that have origins of old, from everlasting, but are constantly expressing anew for you as you go from faith to faith and glory to glory. It is never done but in bringing out the new you must also bring out the old.
And Jesus continued:
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.
Love gives you joy all the day. My mouth is all sweetness and My promises to you are sweeter than honey dripping from the comb. As you grow spiritually in Me you advance from the milk level of the Word, to the meat level of the Word, to the honey level of the Word. It is the same Word but as you mature you see more clearly as the revelation unfolds and brings in more treasure veins of Scripture.
Jesus then gave you the new (but old) commandment. It is now at a new level as seen in Jesus.
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. 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 15:12-15.
And here we find the defining characteristics of disciples turned friends. Loving as He does, keeping My Word in Spirit and truth, and knowing My ways. The Israelites I brought out of the slavery of Egypt never trusted Me or were willing to walk out their destiny with Me because though they had seen My works, they never understood My ways. Hence they stayed fearful, agitated and suspicious of My intentions and never entered My rest.
Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, “Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” Psalm 95:7-11.
They had no idea what I was doing, not because they could not know, but because they were not interested. They never lifted their eyes above what their five senses could see and feel. When I tried to bring them all into My royal priesthood as a nation who knew Me and heard My voice, they turned aside in fear and told Moses to listen to Me and then tell them what I said while they went and built an idol of a grass eating bullock in preference to worshipping Me.
You may think that sounds strange but that is what many, even believers, are doing today with trying to please the world, which is run by the god of this world, and have the things of the world. They seek first the life of empty show that will leave you in a pile of ashes on judgment day instead of the genuine gold of a life lived in My righteousness. But the good news is that it is not too late. I can lift you out of the ashes and seat you with the Prince of Peace at My right hand if you answer the call to be our friend. In Jesus, I give you beauty for your ashes. The burnt offering, I Myself provided the Lamb. Abraham knew. Genesis 22:8; John 1:29. But I taught Abraham, My friend, the gospel ahead of time. Galatians 3:8.
My friends tell of the glory of My kingdom and speak of My might. Psalm 145:10-13.
True friends talk honorably of one another. Next time you hear someone speaking of Me, listen, if they are criticizing and acting as judge, they are not friends of Mine but of your adversary the devil. To not enter into friendship with them. Avoid any intimacy with such people.
I love you. You who know Me through My Son, I call you friends. You are precious in My eyes, I love you and I honor you. What do you call Me?
His mouth is all sweetness, He is altogether delightful, this is my Beloved, and this is my Friend. Song of Songs 5:16.