September 17, 2022
And the Word of the Day is: Friend. Today at service, the scripture highlighted friend. Testimonies spoke about the friend that sticks closer than a brother. So often we want to diminish the importance of friendship, but you desire to be our friend and I am here for it.
Proverbs 27:9 – Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the sweetness of a friend is a fragrant forest.
John 15:14-15 – You are my friends if you obey my commandments. I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father.
The (slightly) unfortunate truth is that if we only see Yahweh as Father or as Lord, we won’t have that deep intimacy that is developed in friendship.
Friend : Rea : friend, companion, fellow, intimate, brother, lover, husband, another.
Friend : philos : beloved, friendly
When we see how friend is used in scripture, no wonder Yahweh wants to be our friend. Jesus said, because we are friends, I can tell you everything. There is a closeness, intimacy that is created when we are friends. And it does lie with choice. We choose our friends. Yahweh wants us to choose him because he has already chosen us.
Yahweh, thank you for being a friend. That friend that sticks closer than a brother. A friend who laid down his life for me. Yahweh, you are good and I thank you for being my friend. I love you.
