Experience God as a Friend.
What image do you have of God? Is he a tyrant? Silent and quiet? A judgmental parent?
It's hard to grow as a Christian if you think God disapproves of you. It took me a long time to learn that God is my Friend—and I'm still learning to believe this is true in my heart. But one simple, uneducated, and poor person showed me how to build a friendship with God.
In 1692, a book by an unknown author was published in Paris. Since then, this small collection of letters and reflections has never gone out of print. The book's author, Nicolas Herman, was born in a small village without the advantages of class or money. He lived through the Thirty Years War, the Black Death, and the Little Ice Age. As a former soldier, he endured chronic pain from an unresolved leg injury. For most of his life, he was a monk who lived under a vow of complete poverty, working in a kitchen and repairing sandals.
Yet today, he is better known as Brother Lawrence, the author of a spiritual classic, The Practice of the Presence of God. In the midst of a difficult life, his book is bursting with joy in God's presence.
What was his secret? As a simple man, Brother Lawrence instinctively understood that God was his Friend. As he put it, "Your confidence in God is beautiful; may He bless you for it. We can never trust this Friend of ours too much."
So let's be practical. What does it look like for God to be our Friend? Brother Lawrence taught that it involves two basic commitments.
**The first commitment is to renounce whatever does not lead to God. The second is to remember that God is already our Friend.**
As Brother Lawrence put it:
"The most important part resides in renouncing, once and for all, whatever does not lead to God. This allows us to become involved in a continuous conversation with Him in a simple and unhindered manner. All we have to do is to recognize God as being intimately present within us."
Instead of trying to be in God's presence, we recognize that God is already present within us.
And if we are in the presence of God, of course, we want to renounce anything that isn't holy and loving. Over time, we learn to engage in a continuous conversation with God. As Brother Lawrence knew, God's presence is a delight to our souls and spirits.
For a long time, I had this mental image that God was up in heaven, and I was down on earth. I had to start each day by doing something to get to God. But reading The Practice of the Presence helped me see that I had it all backward. God is already and always my friend. Jesus promised that he would always be with us (Matthew 28:20).
**Our fifth step to God is to experience God as a Friend.**
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
In my heart, speaking honestly, how would I describe God? Tyrant? Judgmental? Irrelevant? Harsh? King? Father? Savior? Friend?
How do I feel about God? Do I trust that God is good to me?
How do difficult circumstances—especially evil and suffering—affect how I think and feel about God?
In what ways is my trust in God half-hearted?
What do I need to turn away from? What is not leading me to God?
God is already with me. How does that reality change my experience of God?
What would it look like for the Holy Spirit to convince my heart that God is my Friend?
Throughout this week, pause several times a day to acknowledge God's presence. Don't try to 'get' to God—recognize he is already with you. Talk to him as you would a close friend.
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