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Thing 1: How can you be a friend with an invisible being?
To be a friend with this invisible being requires that you are able to know that this being actually exists, even if you cannot see this being with your eyes. It is like a blind person having friends, even though they cannot physically see those friends. The blind person has ways other than sight in which they can know and interact with those friends. And fortunately, this being is not only able to demonstrate that this being exists by invisibly working in the miracle you experienced, but this being can also give you the needed ability to know for sure that this being truly exists. This is similar to you walking into a dark room and turning on a light to be able to see what is in the room. So, this being is able to activate a light in you, so to speak, so that you can not only know the reality that this being actually exists, but you can also have a wonderful friendship with this being! Later on, we will explain more about how you can turn on this light by asking this invisible being to turn on the light for you.
As a side note, you may wonder why this being stays invisible most of the time. Part of the answer is that if this being showed up visibly, a person would be so overwhelmed by the greatness of this being, that it would make it harder for the person to go through the discovery process of finding this being and having the free choice as to whether they would like to accept or reject the friendship offer of this being.
Thing 2: Who is this being?
So, who is this being?
Since people can have very different definitions for the same word, we will first give you a further definition of this being before giving you the name of this being.
Some of the characteristics and desires of this being were described in an earlier paragraph. Here is a quote of that paragraph with some of those characteristics and desires emphasized in bold font.
The reason this being did this miracle on your behalf is so that you could know that this being actually exists, loves you and values you, and in this love and value desires your very best. In this context, the very best that this being can offer you is a close relationship of friendship with this being – first for your sake, not first for the sake of this being. And because this being has such tremendously selfless love for you, this being will not force friendship upon you, but allows you instead to go through the discovery process of coming to know that this being exists, desires a close friendship with you, and allows you the total free choice as to whether you would like to accept or reject that friendship offer.
So, we can see that this being has tremendous characteristics and desires. But it is even more than was just described. Here is an expanded list of these characteristics and desires:
This being is always perfect in motives.
This being values you tremendously.
This being is never partial and never commits an injustice.
This being never lies.
This being is incredibly knowledgeable and wise.
This being always has selfless love toward you.
This being always desires your very best.
This being always desires that you value yourself.
This being always desires that you would know that you are very significant.
This being knows you completely – even more than you know yourself.
This being never makes a mistake.
This being always desires that you would be freed up into the very best for your life.
This being’s character and desires have always been consistently good, and will always continue to be so.
This being desires a close friendship with you – first for your sake, not first for the sake of this being – since this is the greatest gift that this being can give to you!
So, who is this being with such wonderful and amazing characteristics and desires?
This being goes by a name that I, Scott, used to not like because of the negative concepts I had associated with the name. But now, I really like the term “God” because I now see “God” as having all of these wonderful and amazing characteristics and desires.
So, realizing the term “God” may still have negative connotations for you, feel free to substitute a term such as “The Source of Love” or “The Amazing One” if that would work better for you – since “God” is just a label for the amazing being that we described earlier.
From this point forth we will refer to this being as God and also as He/Him/His, etc., even though God is gender neutral – having both male and female characteristics.
Thing 3: What is involved in such a friendship?
Many people think that God is trying to impose His will upon them in His wanting them to do things that are foreign to whom they truly are. And accordingly, they think that God just wants them to perform certain boring religious duties for some unknown reason. But, if we look at the last of the characteristics and desires listed earlier, we see:
This being desires a close friendship with you – first for your sake, not first for the sake of this being – since this is the greatest gift that this being can give to you!
If our starting place is friendship, then a whole different picture emerges. It is a picture of two close friends (you and God) growing in deeper friendship. And the more you discover about God, the more amazed you will be at how absolutely amazing and wonderful He is! And to enjoy and appreciate God is the most rewarding thing possible in this life and throughout eternity!
Not only do you get to grow in your enjoyment of God (which is by far the best thing in life now and through eternity), but you also get to join Him in a privileged partnership of friendship where you get to tag along with God in things that He is doing. More specifically, God has perfect love toward others, and as you hang out with Him, you will find that you will pick up on His love for others, and in turn you will have more love for them. In this, God’s love will become the basis for you being able to love and value God, yourself, and others, since it is based upon His unchangeable perfect love and not upon other things that can so easily change – such as how your feelings might change when someone does something for you that you like, but in the next moment does something that you do not like. And growing in this consistent love provides a tremendous foundation for your friendships with others to flourish.
In addition to this, since God knows the future and is so much smarter than we can even begin to fathom, He knows the very best things for us to do in our friendship partnership with Him. And God offers this guidance to you as a gift if you are willing to use your free will to receive it. Once again, this is not God imposing this upon you, but freely offering it to you. In this, God will guide you sometimes through inspiration – where you will find yourself inspired to do something and then, as you do that thing, you will discover that it was God invisibly guiding you all along. At other times, it will be His direct guidance for you to do a certain thing with Him – even if at first you do not understand the value of doing that thing. But, as you follow His guidance, He will often teach you as you go with Him, and over time, you will get to see what He already knew was the very best before He gave you the initial guidance to go in such a direction.
It can be a lot of fun participating with God in what He is doing – even miracles such as legs growing out, miraculous instant healings, and more! And being able to see the positive effects upon others is a real treat as God gives you things to do that not only build great friendships, but also help others in great ways. For example, God may give you wise insights for you to offer to a person, such as something they can do that will help their marriage. And if that person looks to God to help them apply those insights, then you may get to enjoy seeing how it is so helpful to them, their spouse, and to any kids they might have. They in turn will most likely appreciate you being of help to them. And all of this can help in growing your friendship with them. Another example is that we have enjoyed partnering with God as He miraculously grows out people’s legs, and if in turn they no longer have to deal with chronic back pain, then we are all the happier for them!
Even though there are so many wonderful aspects of being in a privileged partnership of friendship with God (even more than we have listed so far), there is also a very challenging part of friendship with God. And that is the trials and refining He will take you through so that you can be freed up and grow to be more like God in His wonderful friendship characteristics and desires. And through this growth, you will be able to participate better and more fully with God in the wonderful things that He is doing.
In our lives, we at times find the trials and refining to be a very challenging process, but also incredibly worthwhile, since through this process God grows us in relational abilities and characteristics that enable us to enjoy Him more and to be better friends to Him, others, and even ourselves. This is similar to the military taking a soldier through a grueling boot camp. At times the soldier may wonder if it is really worth it. But in the long run, the soldier will wind up being in great physical condition and much better equipped for the challenges of military life.
There are also challenges that may not seem obvious at first, in that there are demonic forces that hate God with all their being (which is a whole other story as to why), and because of your association with God, these demonic forces will hate and tempt you all the more. And they will tempt others to hate and be mean to you as well. But as you learn to forgive, love, and to be kind to such people by God’s love and help, you will become all the more equipped and it will be all the easier for you to love and be a friend toward those who are much easier to deal with. So, although this aspect of life with God can be quite challenging at times, in the long run it will become clear that this process is incredibly worthwhile, and you will be eternally grateful for it!
Thing 4: How does one accept the friendship offer?
If you would like to enter into and participate in a privileged partnership of friendship with God that was previously described in the “Thing 3” section, then how can you actually do this?
First of all, you would need to be willing to commit your life to God for all of the things described in the “Thing 3” section, since these things are needed for your friendship with God to work well. So, if this is what you would like to do with your life and you are willing for these things, then feel free to read on for how to actually accept God’s friendship offer to you…