I Call You Friend
John 15:4-17 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
When we take a step back we realize our friendship with God is rooted in our abiding with Jesus, the IF is not meant to come from a place of doing but rather being in the Fathers presence, listening and talking to Him on a regular basis throughout our days.
“The time of business does not with me differ with the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I posses God and as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees before the blessed sacrament.” -Brother Lawrence
“The first and most basic thing we can and must do is keep God before our minds. This is the fundamental secret to caring for our souls. Our part in practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to Him. In the early time of our practicing we may be challenged by our burdensome habits of dwelling on things less than God. (We will get distracted) but these are habits not the law of gravity, and can be broken. New grace filled habits will replace the former ones as we take intentional steps in keeping God before us. Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass returns to north. If God is the great longing of our souls He will become the pole star of our inward beings.” -Dallas Willard
John 14:15-18 NKJV “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.