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Becoming A Friend Of God: Part 6 · The God Who Sees You Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you know, I think we're unsure of what he wants.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like we we feel like it's not clear.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: But hesitancy and fear can hold us back from taking any steps forward.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, friend, and welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're continuing our series on becoming a friend of God.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So many great episodes.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't watched any of them yet, I would go re-watch all of them.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, we're on the point of a good friend demonstrates their love in action.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I was thinking about like when you have a really close friend, like one of my best friends, Emily, um, and she texts me and she'll say, Can you pray for me?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm having a really hard day, or can you pray over this?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I have a big event coming up.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like when she tells me to pray, I'm on it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm praying in that moment because I love her, right?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I it leads to action.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the same with God.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: When he speaks to us and asks us to do something, we follow it up with action.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a way to be a good friend to him.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's this instance in um John 15 when Jesus calls a group of people his friends, it's his disciples.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna read it to you.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in John 15, 13 through 15.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Greater love has no end than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: You are my friends if you do what I command.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, I have called you friends.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: For everything that I learned from my father, I have made known to you.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So friendship in God's eyes means love for him coupled with obedience.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Think of it this way.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you know many of you have heard of love languages, like there's five love languages, there's a whole book on it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and some of us, like, we love words of affirmation, some of us love acts of service or physical touch.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And God loves all of these things from you as well.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: But from what I can see in scripture, from what I've read through his word, his primary love language is obedience.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: This week, um, I was appreciating the difference in the book of Daniel from when he was younger, Daniel, to when he's older, Daniel.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, young Daniel gives us this incredible picture of faithfulness, right?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's under a wicked king, but he chooses to set himself apart and praise God and follow his ways.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Young Daniel teaches us to be faithful in the fire.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But later on in the book, we see an older version of Daniel.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he's older and wiser and has like he has this uh capacity to actually teach King Belshazzar a lesson.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Daniel spoke with boldness as he really interpreted the writing on the wall in Daniel 5.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 22, and you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all of this, but you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So young Daniel displayed this like faithful, obedient action, and older Daniel does the same, but with a little more boldness in his words.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to appreciate the way that age does this for us and walking with the Lord for many years.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: There comes this sense of wisdom and less of a need to people please, right?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And to worry about what others will think.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Life experience and walking with the Lord for many years gives us this priceless gift, right, of being bold when the time calls for it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Daniel had a clear message from God, and he was not afraid to share that message.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And same with us, when God calls us to do something, let's not be afraid to step out in action and do it.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Year after year, um, as I study the Bible and look at God's word, I see this common thread that God's love language is obedience.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: The way that God feels truly loved by us is by our action, by our obedient action.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the ways that he has shown us to live and just the things that he asked us to do, those matter to him.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you know, I think we're unsure of what he wants.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like we feel like it's not clear.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: But hesitancy and fear can hold us back from taking any steps forward.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not obedience either, right?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Staying paralyzed in that fear.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So to truly like display this love for him, we have to act.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that's just one small step forward, one small step towards obedience.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when we make that movement of faith toward him, we're displaying a love and a friendship for God.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes these steps of obedience are done in the quietness of our heart where nobody sees except God.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: He nobody sees this act of obedience except him.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's other times, right, where you have to be bold and take a chance.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like Daniel, there you're gonna speak out and others will hear it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is he calling you to do today?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: What act of obedience is he asking you to move forward in?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: What has he laid it on your heart that is gonna require faith for you to move forward, whether that be a small step or a big step?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like Daniel, we can choose to be bold because we have the power of God in us.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So taking that step of boldness is not necessarily about us and our abilities, but it's about him and his power.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as we look at being a good friend to God, caring for your friend means doing what they ask and doing something that they are saying, can you have the faith to do this for me?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And God's saying, Do you have the faith to take this step for me?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So let me pray for us today, friends.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you that you are a God who speaks to us.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: We hear you, we hear your voice.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you call us to have not just huge steps of obedience, but really small steps of obedience too.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: They matter to you.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that whatever you have laid on our heart to act and walk in obedience, that we would be willing to do that for you.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: We know from your word that your love language is obedience, that you want to feel loved by us in our obedient action.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be loved by us, but you want to be loved by us.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I just pray that we would take those steps forward and just to show you that our faith is in you and that we can have faith that you will come through for us in those steps.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to take that step today, whatever that step is.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I pray in your name, Jesus.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: All right, friends, thanks for joining me today.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next time.