Hello, thank you so much for joining me today for Give Him 15.

The title of today's post is The Ultimate Friendship.

I carried the label of Christian for 17 years before I discovered what a personal relationship with God really meant.

Prior to this, I certainly knew Yahweh as God, and I definitely knew him as my Savior.

I did not, however, truly know him as my father, and walking with him as a friend wasn't even considered.

Satan and his team, with lots of help from religion, have painted God as a distant, non-relational being.

If thought of at all, our Creator is primarily considered the judge, or in times of crisis, a possible but unlikely means of help. Our adversary is nothing,

if not a very skilled deceiver.

The Lord gave Abraham his dream of producing a nation and generating great wealth in Genesis 12.

By the time we get to the 13th chapter of Genesis, he and God had walked together for quite some time.

Though Isaac had not yet been born, the Lord was upholding his end of the deal and prospering Abraham greatly.

He was now rich in cattle, silver, gold.

Due to his nomadic lifestyle, he had roamed to several different locations, then decided to make a return visit to Bethel.

While there, he and the Lord reminisced concerning their beginning. And Abraham listened

as God encouraged him to keep the dream alive. The Lord said to Abraham, after Lot had separated

from him, he said this again, Genesis 13. He told him

this in Genesis 12, but he said it again. Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are,

northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land you see, I'll give it to you

and your descendants forever.

I'll make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.

Arise, walk through the land, it's length and breath, for I will give it to you.

In other words, Abraham dream again.

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