I call you Friends!

The phone rings... a familiar voice on the other end says, "I need you to come to my home --- now.  There is someone here who wants to take my life, and I know you will take my place. "  Are you running out the door?   I doubt it. 
What kind of a Heavenly Father would look down on sinner's such as us, and then call us His Friends?    Why would He send His Son to die in our place?   Then before He dies for us, He calls us His friends.   Jesus knows our weak flesh and yet still says,  “You are my friends.”

Jesus was about to give His life as a sacrifice, that those who believe on Him would be saved.  God took that barrier between us and Jesus, the barrier called sin, and pushed it aside so that now we could be made clean of sin and Jesus could now become our Friend.  Sin has been blotted out. Praise God!

Friendship, genuine friendship, is real faith filled love. Jesus states,  “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.”  

There are 10 Commandments mentioned in the Old Testament, but then there is one more, given by Jesus in the thirteenth chapter of John. Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."    There you have it, "11."    We are to love one another.

When I meet women who are so like-minded in faith and place Jesus and His service first, we bond immediately.  Why?   Our first love is Christ and His command to "go & tell."   We are bonded with a genuine friendship and love that is hard to explain.  We understand each other and how we desire to reach a world that needs to come to Christ for cleansing.  We are filled with an unspeakable joy that lies within no matter what happens in our lives.  This friendship that is a Christ created friendship is one that I wish for all women to experience.   
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Today I want to tell you,  "I call you friends!"