Friendship with God
Was waiting for my sis to bathe so I can have my shower, so decided to read a chapter of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. Started this book years ago, but never got around to finishing it.
Yesterday's chapter was talking about constant meditation of God's word. Constant thought of our problems is worry; constant thought on God's word is meditation. It's like talking to God at all seconds of the day. Keeping up a stream of conversation with Him in our minds through our thoughts. Sounds kinda psycho actually. But I really do mull over a lot of things. It's how I probably picked up so much through observation of others and spending so much time mulling over every other thing.
Today's chapter was particularly interesting. The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty - about your faults and your feelings. Not perfection, but honesty. The friends of God were often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and (this is my favorite) arguing with their creator!! Wow!! God, however, was not bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it!! Double wow!!
He allowed Abraham to question and challenge him over the destruction of Sodom. Abraham pestered God and negotiated with God. He listened patiently to David's many accusations of unfairness, betrayal, and abandonment. God did not slay Jeremiah when he claimed that God had tricked him. Job was allowed to vent his bitterness during his ordeal, and in the end, God defended Job for being honest!! He rebuked Job's friends for being inauthentic, "You haven't been honest either with me or about me - not the way my friend Job has. My friend Job will now pray for you and I will accept his prayer."
God honestly expressed his total disgust with Israel's disobedience. He told Moses he would keep his promise to give the Israelites the promised land, but he wasn't going one step farther with them in the desert. God was fed up and he let Moses knew exactly how he felt. Moses, responded with equal candor, as a friend of God.
"Look, you tell me to lead this people but you don't let me know whom you're going to send with me. If I'm so special to you, let me in on your plans. Don't forget, this is YOUR people, your responsibility. If your presence doesn't take the lead here, call this trip off right now! How else will I know that you're with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not?"
God responded to Moses!! Alright, just as you say, this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me.
Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you? Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of his friends; he is bored with predictable, pious cliches.
All of God's closest friends had bouts with doubt. Instead of masking their misgivings with pious cliches, they candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.
Jacob's passion for God's blessing on his life was so intense that he wrestled in the dirt all night with God, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The most amazing part of the story is that God, who is all powerful, let Jacob win!! Will you ever give in and let someone else lower than you win?? God isn't offended when we wrestle with him, because wrestling requires personal contact and brings us close to him. It is a passionate activity and God loves it when we are passionate with him.
Who am I to stop people from questioning me when God himself allows us to go on questioning him? He is already the ultimate and yet he still lowers himself down to our finite level so we can touch him if we just reach out to him. I do ventilate at nights on my bed. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the distress that I cry myself out until I fall asleep, very troubled sleep with little rest. Why do people I know stop people from disagreeing? It's true that iron sharpens iron. We have to continue the journey of self-improvement and the real challenge is ourselves. If we become too proud and think that we cannot be any better, then we become stubborn and refuse to listen, then we are doomed and bound to fall pretty soon. Don't let pride get in your way.
By the way, I am a.u.t.h.e.n.t.i.c. =) that's what was said of me before. I think so too, after reading this passage. Let's get real!! Goodnight folks.
Yesterday's chapter was talking about constant meditation of God's word. Constant thought of our problems is worry; constant thought on God's word is meditation. It's like talking to God at all seconds of the day. Keeping up a stream of conversation with Him in our minds through our thoughts. Sounds kinda psycho actually. But I really do mull over a lot of things. It's how I probably picked up so much through observation of others and spending so much time mulling over every other thing.
Today's chapter was particularly interesting. The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty - about your faults and your feelings. Not perfection, but honesty. The friends of God were often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and (this is my favorite) arguing with their creator!! Wow!! God, however, was not bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it!! Double wow!!
He allowed Abraham to question and challenge him over the destruction of Sodom. Abraham pestered God and negotiated with God. He listened patiently to David's many accusations of unfairness, betrayal, and abandonment. God did not slay Jeremiah when he claimed that God had tricked him. Job was allowed to vent his bitterness during his ordeal, and in the end, God defended Job for being honest!! He rebuked Job's friends for being inauthentic, "You haven't been honest either with me or about me - not the way my friend Job has. My friend Job will now pray for you and I will accept his prayer."
God honestly expressed his total disgust with Israel's disobedience. He told Moses he would keep his promise to give the Israelites the promised land, but he wasn't going one step farther with them in the desert. God was fed up and he let Moses knew exactly how he felt. Moses, responded with equal candor, as a friend of God.
"Look, you tell me to lead this people but you don't let me know whom you're going to send with me. If I'm so special to you, let me in on your plans. Don't forget, this is YOUR people, your responsibility. If your presence doesn't take the lead here, call this trip off right now! How else will I know that you're with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not?"
God responded to Moses!! Alright, just as you say, this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me.
Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you? Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of his friends; he is bored with predictable, pious cliches.
All of God's closest friends had bouts with doubt. Instead of masking their misgivings with pious cliches, they candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.
Jacob's passion for God's blessing on his life was so intense that he wrestled in the dirt all night with God, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The most amazing part of the story is that God, who is all powerful, let Jacob win!! Will you ever give in and let someone else lower than you win?? God isn't offended when we wrestle with him, because wrestling requires personal contact and brings us close to him. It is a passionate activity and God loves it when we are passionate with him.
Who am I to stop people from questioning me when God himself allows us to go on questioning him? He is already the ultimate and yet he still lowers himself down to our finite level so we can touch him if we just reach out to him. I do ventilate at nights on my bed. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the distress that I cry myself out until I fall asleep, very troubled sleep with little rest. Why do people I know stop people from disagreeing? It's true that iron sharpens iron. We have to continue the journey of self-improvement and the real challenge is ourselves. If we become too proud and think that we cannot be any better, then we become stubborn and refuse to listen, then we are doomed and bound to fall pretty soon. Don't let pride get in your way.
By the way, I am a.u.t.h.e.n.t.i.c. =) that's what was said of me before. I think so too, after reading this passage. Let's get real!! Goodnight folks.