Friendship with God Through Prayer
Matthew 10:37-39
“The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it.
God’s Desire in pleasing Him would be for my Hearts Affection be for Him above _______ _____________.
Psalm 25:14
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
John 15:1
I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.
Exodus 33:11a
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
James 2:23
and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
Matthew 26:48-50
Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.
So how is this Friendship with God Cultivated?
By our ____________________.
John 15:14
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:9-12
As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.
What would be pleasing to God based on what He commands is that I love and not only Love but to the _______________ that Jesus has loved me.
John 13:34-35
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 Thessalonians 1:3
We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing.
In Talking about PRAYER, The Opposite of this is True—_______________________ Hinders our Prayers.
Psalm 66:18
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
Jeremiah 44:9-10
Have you forgotten the evils of your ancestors, the evils of Judah’s kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not become humble to this day, and they have not feared or followed my instruction or my statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.
They had not __________________ Themselves.
They had not __________________ God.
They ___________________ God’s Commands and Statutes.
What do you need to DO with what you heard today?
Why do we need to consider what to do? James 1:22-25:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.