Friendship with God

 

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doingˇK? ˇXGenesis 18:17

 

The Delights of His Friendship.

Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are Godˇ¦s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.

 

The Difficulties of His Friendship.

Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, ˇ§Well, I donˇ¦t know, maybe this is not Godˇ¦s will,ˇ¨ then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to beˇX ˇ§ˇKthat they may be one just as We are oneˇKˇ¨ (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed aboutˇX were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? ˇ§For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Himˇ¨ (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. ˇ§Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heartˇ¨ (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

 

 (Taken from Oswald Chambers ˇV ˇ§My Utmost for His Highestˇ¨ March 20)