God is Father, Mother and Friend

 Life is a gift. Everything we are and have comes from God. The Bible presents God to us as Father and Mother.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Jas 1:17 NIV

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Php 4:19 NIV

But also in the Bible, our God reveals himself as love, with a tenderness that we expect from a good mother.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Is 49:14–15 NIV

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Mt 23:37 NIV

God is spirit, neither female nor male, but the Bible emphasises his fatherhood rather than his motherhood for two reasons.

There are many pagan religions that worship mother goddesses, often in a carnal and sexual way. The Bible makes it very clear that the true and living God is totally different from the pagan cults that worshipped sexual goddesses through cult prostitution.

The second reason is the fact that God is strong, the Almighty, whose abilities are limitless, who can do everything, who can totally protect us and wants to help us.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Is 41:10 NIV

Your life is a gift from God.

But if you believe in Jesus, you have something more, something infinitely important and wonderful. You have eternal life, a personal fellowship with God. You can know God as your Father and Him as your best friend.

You can also experience the motherly tenderness of the Holy Spirit, and not only in church services, but in your daily life and in your private times of prayer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17 NKJV

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. Jn 15:15 NKJV

Just as Jesus invited his first disciples into his holy friendship, he also wants to invite you to become his personal friend. You cannot earn this. You must receive God's friendship through trust.
This is not just for pastors, chosen saints or church leaders.
It is for you.                     

God's Secrets

 God wants to take you on a journey. He wants to guide you with love. He wants to let you look into your own heart, but not as a harsh judge, but as a loving counsellor or therapist.

Sometimes we are afraid to look into our own hearts because guilt and pain are hidden there, but God sent Jesus to bear our guilt and all our pain on the cross.

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Ps 51:7 NLT

I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Is 44:22 NIV

But God not only wants to reveal your own heart, he also wants to take you on a journey into his own heart. He wants to reveal his own heart to you and share wonderful secrets from his own heart with you.

The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them. Ps 25:14 NRSV

The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning. Ps 25:14 AMP

Hiding from God

 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Gen 3:8 NIV

Adam and Eve had believed the enemy's lies and betrayed God. They were ashamed and afraid of God, but they still believed in God.

We are all in the same position, whether we believe in God or not. We hide and look at God as if from a distance. We can be so far removed from God that we deny God completely. We can become atheists, witches or Nazis, but Adam and Eve were not that far away.

Eve ate the forbidden fruit first, but Adam was no better. He was by her side and said nothing.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Gen 3:6 NIV

If your husband or wife makes a terrible decision and you go along with it in silence, you are equally guilty. A husband should restrain his wife from sin and a wife should restrain her husband from sin.

Adam and Eve immediately recognised their guilt and were ashamed.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Gen 3:7 NIV

Shame is a direct consequence of sin and sinful human nature. We no longer see our sexual nature as innocent and beautiful.

Many religious people believe that a celibate life is better and holier than a Christian marriage. Some theologians have invented the idea that sexual procreation only came after the fall of man, that sex was somehow God's plan B and was only meant to produce children.

Such absurd theological ideas are just symptoms of the shame that resulted from the Fall. These theological traditions are just fig leaves that do not help us find reconciliation with God.

When God walked around in the garden, He of course knew what Adam and Eve had done. Nevertheless, He came to restore the broken loving fellowship with the first couple.

• No matter where you hide, God still loves you.

• Are you hiding in your job, or in your busy domestic routine?

• Are you hiding in drugs or alcohol or occultism?

Are you perhaps hiding in religious traditions or theological studies?

No matter where you have chosen to seek refuge, God is seeking you out. He already knows where you are and He is looking for you right where you are.

He understands your heart and your wayward ways, but he does not want to punish you. He is looking for your trust so that you can have heart-to-heart companionship with him.

God knows that we are intimidated by his greatness, his holiness and his omnipotence.
He knows that we are afraid of his judgement.

That is why he has made himself small. He sent his eternal, almighty Son to earth as a human being in order to live and suffer with us as a human being.

Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our unfaithfulness upon himself.

On the cross we see God's broken heart, not only because we have gone wrong, but because he had lost loving fellowship with us, and also because you and I had lost this fellowship with him.

God wants this tender friendship with us as his children back. It is the longing of his heart to have our fellowship back and to give us the blessing of his friendship.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Experiencing Friendship of God

 What is important in your life?

On your deathbed will you regret that you didn't spend enough time watching TV?
Or not enough time at the office?

What is important to you?

Is your family important? Do you pray for your family? Do you spend time with your children?
Do you cultivate a beautiful friendship in your marriage?

If you are a Christian, Jesus wants to have a beautiful friendship with you.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Rev 3:20 NIV

Jesus simply loves you. For many Christians, this is nothing more than a statement of faith.

There are Christians who feel guilty because they only pray for a few minutes and don't read the Bible much.

Other Christians are religiously dutiful people who pray often and are diligent Bible readers.

But when you talk to God, do you expect an answer? But when you talk to God, do you expect an answer? I don't just mean that God will hear your prayers and help you, although that is also wonderful.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; Jn 10:27 NASB95

After his ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to fill all Christians with the Holy Spirit so that we can live in close, friendly fellowship with God.

It is good to believe this, but it is useless if you only believe it as a statement of faith.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Cor 13:14 NIV

God wants to have fellowship with you. God wants you to experience and feel His presence and love.

Many Christians hold on to biblical beliefs, but they are afraid of spiritual experiences. But that was never God's intention for you.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 Jn 4:18 NIV

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Ps 34:8 NIV

‘Taste’ means that we are allowed to experience and enjoy God's love.

God sent his Son to suffer a terrible death on the cross.

Why? To take your punishment upon himself.

Why? Just to found a world religion?

Jesus wants to invite you to experience something much better than a world religion.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

What does ‘refresh’ mean? To refresh, to comfort, to touch you with a love you can feel.

God lifts up the humble

Paul describes himself as a slave but also as an apostle.

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, Rom 1:1 NASB95

The Greek word for bond-servant is DOULOS, which means slave.

He had completely surrendered his life to the will of God, submitting himself like a slave, but God had entrusted him with a high office.

God wants us to humble ourselves before him, but not because he wants to humiliate us.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Lk 14:11 NASB95

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. Jas 4:10 NASB95

Those who always humiliate or despise themselves do not understand God's love.

If your family, your boss or your church leader keeps putting you down, it's not from God.

I no longer call you servants because a master does not take his servants into his confidence.
You are now my friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. John 15:15

If you dedicate yourself completely to the will of God, like a faithful and willing slave, but love and trust God like a beloved son or daughter, Jesus will embrace you and cherish you as a dear friend.

You Can Know God as your Friend

 Jesus told his disciples that they were his friends. Why? Because he had told them everything he had heard from the Father in heaven.

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. Jn 15:15 NIV

Jesus shared many heavenly truths with the Jews of his day, but far from everything.
If you share everything in your heart at the office or via Facebook, you are really foolish.

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Mt 7:6 NASB95

Jesus is the best of all friends for you and me. You can trust Jesus with all your longings, all your problems and all your secrets.

But if you also want to be a close friend to Jesus, you have to be trustworthy.

The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. Ps 25:14 NKJV

You have secrets, and if you are a faithful friend, you will not betray the secrets of your friends.

Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises. Ps 25:14 The Living Bible, Paraphrased

There are Christians who are diligent in service, but they do not see their role as friends of God, but as servants or ministers.

The Prodigal Son returned to his father with this mindset.

I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
But when he arrived at his father's house, his father received him quite differently. Lk 15:18–19 NIV

But the father ordered his servants: ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and bring him a pair of sandals!

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. Lk 15:22–24 NIV

The prodigal son hoped to be with his father only as a servant. He was humble because he was ashamed. Those who genuinely humble themselves before God are honoured by God.

But there are also Christians who are proud in their service. This pride can exclude us from friendship with God.

God is not looking for Christians who serve because of shame or who are proud because of supposed achievements.

God is looking for Christians who are open to His love and who become faithful friends through their experiences of God's love.

Friendship with God

 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them. Ps 25:14 NRSV

There are Christians who do not take God's holiness seriously, but they approach Jesus as if he were their mate who should tolerate all their excesses.

Real friendship with God looks very different. Jesus said we must trust God like little children.

A Jewish girl grew up in a strange family. Her parents were active in a conservative orthodox synagogue. Her father behaved like a devout Jew, but at home he was a dogmatic atheist.

This was difficult for the girl to understand, but God had a plan to reveal his love to this girl. The girl had a secret. Even her parents didn't know about it.

This girl had secret conversations with her invisible friend. She believed her friend was God.

In her adolescence, she experienced traumatic disappointments, and she no longer believed in God.

As a teenager, she loved horses, but she experienced a tragic accident. The horse she was riding fell on top of her and crushed her.

She had a near-death experience and her soul left her body. In the heavenly world, she met Jesus, who spoke to her with love. She recognised him as the secret friend from her childhood. When doctors revived her, she remembered her encounter with Jesus, and she firmly believed.

Jesus wants to be your friend, but not your mate, who is comfortable with the bad stuff in your life.

We all have serious faults. God loves you anyway, but he wants to restore and purify your life. He doesn't want to condemn you, but like a real friend or therapist, he wants to help you so that God's image can shine through in you.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16–17 NIV

Friendship with God

 The angels are perfect servants and we can never be perfect servants because we are not flawless here on earth. Nevertheless, God is looking for people like you and me. He wants to be your friend. You can become his friend too.

We all want to have good friends. Jesus is the best of all friends. He will always remain faithful to you. But God also wants to have good friends. .

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. Jn 15:15 NIV

If you learn to trust Jesus deeply and intimately, he will share the secrets of his heart with you.

As faithful Jews, the disciples had learnt a lot about God. They knew Bible texts by heart. Some of them were already disciples of John the Baptist before they met Jesus.

Then they met Jesus. From that moment on, everything centred around Jesus.

I write blogs in German, even though my first language is English. God has commissioned me to do missionary work among German speakers. I am not flawless in German, but I have learnt German well.

How can you learn a foreign language really well? Through concentration! You have to focus intensively on the new language.

How can you know God well? Spend time paying close attention to His word and His presence.

The disciples became Jesus' companions. They followed him.

But you can also have companions without experiencing a great friendship. You can be travelling on a tourist bus or a cruise ship. Your companions are often just acquaintances.

For many Christians, the church is like a bus or a ship. Jesus may theoretically be the captain, but who has an intimate friendship with the captain?

Jesus invited the disciples to be his personal companions.

• Imagine the captain on a cruise ship invited you to eat at his table every day.

• Imagine that the Queen of England has invited you to live in her palace and eat at her table three times a day.

• Imagine you are a keen musician. Johann Sebastian Bach or Paul McCartney wants to invite you to live in his family home and be his student.

You are a friend of God if you know what God is doing.

How can you know what God is doing?

Only if God himself reveals or explains it to you.

How can you be sure that you are actually hearing God's voice? When you seek God's presence with all your heart, when you understand the Bible as a personal message from God.

You are my friends if you do what I command. Jn 15:14 NIV

God speaks to you because He loves you and He wants to have an intimate relationship with you.

But God also wants to help you and enable you to live a heavenly life.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

If you really know Jesus personally, you will experience peace with God, not as a theological doctrine, but from your own experience.

God Wants to Protect You

He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armour and protection. Psalm 91:4 NLT

As a farmer walked through his yard, he found a dead chicken. It was badly injured, obviously killed by a bird of prey. When he picked up the chicken, four chicks were still alive. The mother died saving her chicks.

When you look around, you see a world coming apart at the seams. Who tore this world apart? God didn't do it.

We can blame the devil, but that is only half-truth. We all need to confess that we have gone wrong in some way. We need God's forgiveness so that we do not suffer eternally separated from God and His goodness after we die.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NLT

There are many Christians who believe this. They hope to go to heaven after they die, but their life on earth is only a shadow of the supernatural adventure with God that we see in the Bible.

God wants us to go deeper into his love.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Revelation 3:20 NLT

You can experience God's personal love in this way. But how?

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7–8 NLT

When you learn to experience God's kind and gentle love, you must expect attacks from the enemy of your soul, but if you live in close friendship with Jesus you can have His supernatural protection.

We live within the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered by the God who is above all gods.

This I declare, that he alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him. Psalm 91:1–2 The Living Bible

I know a woman who is familiar with God's tender love. As she was driving one day, God saved her from certain death.

It was too late to stop. She could not avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle drove through her car without making any noise, without causing any damage. It was like something out of a Science Fiction movie.

I know this woman well. It is a true story.

Let God be the Judge.

Moses was a good man. He was loyal to his oppressed Hebrew compatriots, although he could have enjoyed his privileges as an Egyptian prince.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 

choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, Heb 11:24-25

He loved truth and justice. He hated cruelty and oppression.

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 

Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Exodus 2:11-12

Preachers of New Testament doctrine like to oversimplify this story. They say Moses was a murderer but God forgave him because He saves sinners.

Moses was a freedom fighter, a liberator. For him, killing the oppressor was an act of justice and mercy for the oppressed.

Nevertheless, it was not God’s way. Moses’ greatest strength was his weakness. His human reaction was completely counterproductive. He had to flee the country and live as a fugitive in exile for 40 years.

Before God could use Moses to liberate his people, Moses had to become a mature character conscious of his human weaknesses.

After 40 years shepherding sheep in the wilderness, Moses was called to liberate his entire nation. By this time Moses knew his limitations. He was actually reluctant.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11

You may have a passion for truth and justice, but as long as you pursue your cause in your own way or relying on your own gifts and talents, you will not realise your dreams, even if those dreams came from God.

I know a preacher who had wonderful gifts. He was an amazing missionary and personal evangelist.  He wanted to rescue the worst sinners. He desperately longed to help rebuild broken lives.

He was sincerely ministering to dangerous sex offenders, but in his zeal he made terrible mistakes.
He failed to protect vulnerable young women in his church from extreme peril through contact with known sexual predators.

If we resolutely fight against evil, but rush into battle according to our own ideas, we will battle against one evil but in the process allow another evil to flourish.

There are preachers who are zealous to preserve Christian marriages. They will do anything to keep a family together and prevent divorce.

But this single-minded crusade for marriage can have catastrophic consequences.

There are husbands who coldbloodedly plan to entrap a woman in marriage and then systematically manipulate her to become his abject tormented slave. 

This also happens in Christian churches.
When wives protest, they may be beaten, raped or deprived of contact with friends.

When tortured wives try to assert themselves, zealous preachers blame the woman for being rebellious. If the woman leaves her husband, she may listen to sermons accusing her of breaking her marriage vows.

The wife who argues with her husband is judged as rebellious.
The woman who leaves her husband is condemned for breaking her vows.

But the man who rapes, beats and tortures his wife or criminally assaults even his own children is respected.

Tragically, all this actually happens. These abuses are widespread in Christian circles.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. Isa 55:8

 

Loving Humility, Not Cruel Humiliation

Paul describes himself as a slave but also as an apostle.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-- Romans 1:1 (NIV)
He had surrendered his life completely to the will of God, subordinating himself like a slave, but God had entrusted him with a high office. 

God wants us to humble ourselves before Him, but not because He wants to humiliate us. If you are always putting yourself down, you don’t understand God's love.

If your family, your boss or your church leader keeps putting you down, it is not from God.


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. Jn 15:15 (NIV)

 
In many English translations we read the word SERVANT but in the original Greek text the word is DOULOS, which means SLAVE.

If you dedicate yourself to God’s will fully, like a faithful and willing slave, but love and trust God like a beloved son or daughter, Jesus will embrace you and treasure you as a dear friend.

YOU HAVE A FUTURE

No matter how dark your situation might be, you have a friend who can turn on the light and show you the way.

I was 24 when I faced the reality of this life. I had only 50 or 60 years left on this earth before the lights would go out for ever. 

There was no consolation on earth that could make up for this grim fact.

• I knew what Jesus said and it was Jesus who offered eternal life, a life with a future and a hope.

• The words of Jesus had thrilled me.

John 11:25-26 (ESV) ...“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

• I did believe this but still I resisted the call to faith and commitment.

My uncle and aunt had been converted through Billy Graham years before and I somehow knew they had found the answer.

Then something happened that made all the difference. 

The Charismatic movement arrived. 

The way of salvation was no longer a matter of Biblical correctness. It was a living reality. 

• The supernatural glory the Bible spoke of, was something you could experience right now in our generation. This was wonderful. I could experience the presence of God in a warm and wonderful way even before I took the step of committing my life to the Son of God.

I could see that the Holy Spirit was not just the One who made it possible to believe and live a good life. 

• The Holy Spirit was the wonderful person you could experience and know personally, God living inside you, not as a doctrine but as a living experience that changed everything.

That was many years ago and I am now 63, with grey hair and getting older. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life is more exciting than ever. I never get tired of knowing God.

• I have experienced deep darkness and been close to despair a number of times. I know this truth for myself.

Psalm 73:26 (NKJV)  My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I know with God I have a future and a hope, with God. That is the what makes all the difference, with God. 

 I wrote this message 12 years ago, and I am now 75. I still enjoy the adventure of knowing and experiencing the presence of God in a way that goes far beyond mental understanding or blind faith.