Psalm 25:14-15 English Standard Version
14 The friendship[a] of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.
Lord God, Help Me! May I Be Your Friend?
Our psalmist is in trouble and danger.
Enemies are threatening.
In effect, the psalmist cries out, “God, help!”
But this is more than a cry for help; this psalm is also a plea for forgiveness.
Repeatedly the psalmist asks God to forget, to forgive, and to be gracious.
In answer to his prayer for help and forgiveness, the writer seeks guidance, the writer seeks the wise and wiser counsel of a true friend and a true confidant.
Looking to the one who knows everything about him, the psalmist asks God for steady direction and authentic teaching in order to see the path he should take.
The psalmist ends this prayer with a commitment to follow through on this request—the bodyguards of uprightness and integrity will accompany him, will stand by him through everything, as he receives God’s wise counsel and advice.
Uprightness, the straightforward knowing of God’s ways and understanding who God wants him to be, will be on one side.
And integrity, following through on God’s guidance and walking the way God directs him to walk, will be on the other side.
Each day choices need to be made, decisions acted on, life lived.
Psalm 25 invites us to live under the gentle tutoring of God, to humbly submit to the holy wisdom that will help us make faithful decisions, to fully rely on the steadfast One whose best forever friendship will guide us to those right choices.
Are we seeking God’s counsel today?
Are we seeking God’s friendship today?
Friendship with the Holy Spirit
In friendship with the Holy Spirit we begin to experience a sense of wholeness and joy unattainable through any other relationship or aspect of life.
Rapid and wonderful transformation results when you discover the wealth of love that comes with continual, real friendship with the living God.
In friendship with God comes peace, security, honesty, healing, and freedom.
As you and I live our lives in step with the Holy Spirit, we experience what Adam and Eve experienced as they walked with God himself in the Garden of Eden.
We discover the vast reservoir of love, affection, and perfect help that’s always available to us in the Holy Spirit.
In the name of God, the Father, please open your heart today to receive a fresh revelation of God’s truest desire for friendship with you through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
God longs for friendship with his people.
And through the Holy Spirit we have a continual connection with God available to us.
The Spirit desires to do life with you.
He wants to guide you, speak to you, and love you, He wants to satisfy your longing for relationship and can do so in greater ways than you can imagine.
John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
By God’s grace we have been filled with God himself.
We have dwelling with us and within us the same Spirit who authored Scripture, who raised Christ from the dead, who empowered the disciples, who did hover over the waters at the creation of all things.
And Scripture says that he longs to help you!
And Scripture says that he longs to help me!
Jesus calls him the “Helper.”
How incredible is the grace of our God to offer us relationship with the Holy Spirit!
How great is his love that he would send his Son to die that we might have abundant life for all of eternity, including eternal friendship, right now!
Growing in our Friendship With the Holy Spirit
So, how do we grow in friendship with the Holy Spirit?
How do we allow him to satisfy our desire for relationship?
Psalm 25:14 says, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”
And Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Friendship with the Holy Spirit starts like any other true friendship.
We must respect, love, and make time for him.
We must learn what he likes and dislikes.
And we must apologize when we do something that hurts him.
The Holy Spirit has feelings like any other person.
But he is also full of grace, forgiveness, and unconditional love.
Friendship with him comes about by following his leadership, making time to ask him how he feels about things, and following his guidance away from a lifestyle of sin into the righteousness available to you through Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is waiting right now to guide you into friendship with him.
He’s excited about the idea of pouring out his love and affections on you.
He longs to lead you far, far away from the sins that hurt you and grieve him.
And he longs to guide you toward a life of walking with him in relationship.
In the name of the Father God, spend time in prayer being filled with the Holy Spirit afresh, making room to discover the reality of his presence in your life.
In long-term relationships we have with friends, family, and our spouse, at some point – they know all our stories.
Those are the very best relationships.
Those are the ones we lean on the most, right?
They are the ones we learn the most from, right?
When it comes to our relationship with God, He already knows all our stories.
Even the stories that are yet to come.
Yet, He still wants to hear our thoughts, and moreover, He wants to share of Himself with us.
In Psalm 25:14 ESV, it says, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”
You know what, I absolutely love it when the Bible calls God our friend.
Because He authentically and truly is!
The absolute best friend we’ll ever have!
And when it comes to knowing Him, we can never assume we know everything.
Over our lifetime of friendship, there is always more to know and more to learn.
We have that same opportunity of a lifetime to grow and nurture our friendship with God, the Father and God the Son, our Savior Jesus and God the Holy Spirit.
And unlike our other best forever friend relationships, we never have to wonder if He has time.
He always does.
In John 15:13, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Since Jesus already did that for each of us, the least we can do is invest in the best eternal friendship we can ever have, He so clearly wants to have with us.
Today, as we worship, as we study, pray, praise Jesus for being your friend.
Thank Him ever so muchly and absolutely for His selfless love and ask Him to guide you, teach, help you, to never take your friendship with Him for granted.
Ask Him to speak into your heart often and help you grow as a friend to Jesus.
In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Romans 8:26-28 English Standard Version
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[b] for those who are called according to his purpose.
Guided Prayer:
1. Meditate on God’s desire for friendship with you.
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” >John 15:15
“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” Psalm 25:14
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to pour his love out on you.
Ask him to make the reality of his nearness known to you. Be filled with desire to live your life in relationship with this real, tangible God who loves you.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit what he likes and doesn’t like.
Open your life and let him speak to you about whatever is causing you trouble.
Ask him how he genuinely feels about relationships, situations, thoughts, and perspectives you have. The Spirit loves to spend time to speak to us and help us.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” >John 14:16-17
Often we separate out what we think God cares about and what just seems to be normal, worldly parts of life.
But God wants to be involved in every part of our lives.
He wants to be there for us in everything we do.
He wants to fill us with grace and joy to do all the things set before us, from taking out the trash to washing dishes to leading thousands of people in prayer.
In God’s name, allow the Holy Spirit to come in, work in every area of your life and discover the wealth of knowledge and love your God has to share with you.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 