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A Friend of God

By Bill Moeny



And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." He was even called the friend of God. (James 2:23)

What is your relationship with God like? Would you call God your friend? Would God call you His friend? What does "friendship" mean, especially friendship with God?



What activities lead to building friendships in your life and what differentiates a friend from an acquaintance?

For example, I have acquaintances that I see once a year. We know each other by name, but we spend only a few hours a year together. I would not say that we are friends.

In contrast, I met a friend for breakfast this morning; we meet about every two weeks. I trust him and he trusts me. If I was in a crisis and needed help, I could call him and he would respond immediately, and vice versa. Perhaps most importantly, we pray together for each other. That is friendship. But that is not true of those who are acquaintances.

Are you an acquaintance of God? Do you know him by name only, but not personally?

Do you want to be a friend of God?

Has your relationship with God run so deep that you passionately desire to know Him better and more intimately?


The same is true with God. You build the relationship with God by spending time with Him in prayer and by reading what He has for you in His Scriptures.

ÔÇó Reading the Scriptures teaches us how God thinks, what He wants from us, and what He has promised to do for us.

ÔÇó Spending time in prayer builds the relationship by our telling Him how much we adore Him and love Him, thanking Him for what He has done for us, telling Him how we have failed, and telling Him what we need to do the tasks He has assigned us. Then, we listen to what He says to us, because friends share their hearts.

This takes time. There is no shortcut. The time you and I spend in prayer and in reading Scripture is the most valuable time spent in each day. It is our million dollar meeting. It matters more than anything else we will do that day. Everything of value we do has its roots in that time of prayer and Scripture study. DonÔÇÖt cut it short.