We have been talking about hope. We were made for it. In our first week, Leonard defined it for us. He also warned us that Satan was coming for our hope. The enemy knows that if he can destroy our confidence in God’s goodness, he’ll destroy our hope. The enemy knows if he can destroy our sense of being part of God’s mission, he’ll destroy our hope. The enemy knows that if he can destroy our friendship with God, he’ll destroy our hope —that’s our topic for this post.
Friendship is God’s idea - He started it. In the very beginning, the Trinity (a perfect friendship within Himself) created people who reflected Him to be in friendship with Him. The first people, Adam and Eve, took walks with God in the Garden. They enjoyed a relationship with Him that was completely free from shame. It was perfect. Then, in a conversation with Eve (Adam was there, too), Satan began questioning God’s intentions towards them. Eve listened. Adam listened. Then they began to doubt, and eventually, mistrust led to sin. They hid, no longer unashamed. If Satan can get you to distrust God, it damages your friendship with Him and destroys your hope. But, trust brings strength and healing.
Abraham, even though he had his struggles, ultimately trusted God to keep His promises. God counted him as righteous because of his faith and even considered Abraham to be His friend (James 2:23). Abraham listened to God, trusted God, and did what God said to do.
Moses, who was saved miraculously by God as a baby and then murdered a man as an adult, was chosen by God to help liberate and lead the nation of Israel. God and Moses had ongoing conversations. They would meet together, and God spoke to Moses as a man speaks to a friend (Exodus 33:11). Moses listened to God, trusted God, and did what God said to do.
Then, Jesus, literally “God with us,” invested His days in friendship. He talked with people, served them, taught them, healed them, and ate meals with them. He spent so much time with broken people that the religious called Him a “glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7:34). Jesus only did what the Father told Him to do.
With the time of His crucifixion approaching, Jesus looked at His closest followers and said, “I have loved you just like the Father has loved me” (John 15). Let those words sink in. Jesus loves us just like the Father loves Him.
“Now,” Jesus continued, “remain in my love. You can stay put in my love if you do what I tell you just like I do what the Father tells me to do.” Jesus modeled friendship with God and showed us how to stay in it.
“You act like my friends when you do what I say. I’m not calling you servants because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. I tell you my secrets. You are my friends.” Jesus invites us to friendship. When we do what He says, it’s an act of friendship towards Him, showing that we trust His intentions towards us and for us. His plan is good.
Jesus even goes a step further. He knows we need help in living the life He designed us for. So, He gives us the Holy Spirit —our Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, and Friend —who isn’t just with us but lives within us. Look at this prayer by Paul in Romans 15. He says, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
God invites us into friendship with Him. The enemy wants to destroy that friendship by causing us to doubt God. We can choose, though, to listen to God’s voice, doing what He says to do, and trusting even if we don’t understand. The Holy Spirit helps us and causes an overflow of hope in our lives.