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Friends With God - Part 4

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15

The third building block in developing your friendship with God is: choosing to be honest with Him! God doesn’t expect perfection, but He does expect honesty. If perfection were a requirement, nobody would qualify. In the Bible, God’s friends were honest about their feelings, even complaining and arguing with Him, yet God didn’t seem to mind. In fact, He encouraged it. God listened patiently to David’s accusations of unfairness, betrayal and abandonment. He didn’t strike down Jeremiah for claiming God had tricked him. Job was allowed to vent his bitterness and God actually defended him for being honest. On the other hand, He rebuked Job’s friends for faking it. Listen: "You haven’t been honest either with Me or about Me - not the way My friend Job has. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer" (Job 42:7-8). To be God’s friend, you must share your true feelings, not what you think you ought to feel or say. Until you understand that God uses everything for good in our lives, you’ll harbor resentment toward Him over your looks, nationality, economic background, unanswered prayers, past hurts, and things you’d change if you were God. Actually, revealing your feelings and releasing your resentments are the first steps to true healing. Isn’t it encouraging to know that God’s closest friends felt just like we do? But instead of masking their feelings in pious clichés, they voiced them openly. Why? Because expressing them leads to a new level of intimacy with God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I know that honesty is always the best policy – help me to be honest with you in all things. In Jesus’ Name, Amen