Experiencing Friendship With GodParaugs

A Second Chance at Friendship

We were always meant to function out of a friendship with God.

At the start of their existence, Adam and Eve were presented with an assignment. God declared to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). This was no small task for someone who only recently started breathing!

Yet Adam and Eve had access to God in such a plain way that seeing Him walk through the garden in the cool of the day was no strange thing (Genesis 3:8). That direct access was the well from which Adam and Eve drew their inspiration and strength to expand the garden and grow in dominion.

Unfortunately, Adam and Eve broke the perfect communion they had with the Father. Since then, we have been living in a fallen world where humankind is still trying to expand their gardens—but without the Presence of God.

Thankfully, our destiny to do great things in friendship with God has not been forever lost. Thousands of years after the garden, Jesus gave another commission to His friends with these words: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Here is another call to be fruitful, another commission to spread His love and glory over the earth! It is essentially a chance to expand the garden once again, but this time with a connection to Him that cannot be broken due to our weaknesses and failures.

He offers us the only guarantee that matters: He will be with us.

He offers His Presence.

When have you felt the Presence of God? How has it affected you?