Purpose Driven Life chapter 11 & 12

Chapter 12: Developing your friendship with God.

Something to remember: You are as close to God as you CHOOSE to be!

Verse to remember: "Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you" James 4:8

The statement(s) that was the most impactful: I am as close to God as I CHOOSE to be! That is an awesome impactful statement! I must choose to be HONEST with God (God doesnt expect you to be perject but he does insist on complete honesty, Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God) I must choose to OBEY God in faith (If we love him we must obey his commands) I must desire friendship with God more than ANYTHING else, and I must choose to value what God values( The more you become God's friend, the more you will care about the things he cares about). These are ALL very important. We must desire friendship with God over desiring to have a husband.

Chapter 11: Becoming Best friends with God

Something to remember: God wants to be your best friend.

Verse to remember: "Now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God- all becuse of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God" Romans 5:11

The statement(s) that was the most impactful: Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege, and being known and loved is God's greatest pleasure.

How to become a best friend of God:

Be in constant convorsation. The more you have a convorsation with someone the more you get to know them and the more you get to like them even more. If there is no communication, there is no friendship really cuz its just empty. To spend time with God you dont have to be ALONE with him, its in your daily routine that you will feel his presence. Everything we do can be spending time with God if he is INVITED to be a part of it and we stay aware of his presence.

Be continually meditating. Now, i was wasnt sure about this, my teacher talks about her meditating, but she actually sits on the floor and just thinks. I think this kind of meditating that Rick Warren is explaining is reading the word and thinking about what God has done and what he has said in the scriptures. Rick says in this chapter that "Meditation is often misunderstood as some difficult, mysterious ritual practiced by isolated monks and mystics. but meditation is simply focused thinking- a skill anyone can learn and use anywhere." Ok so that just taught me something about my teacher. cool. OH this is cool... you know how friends share their secrets withy ou? well God will share his secrets with you if you develop the habit of thinking about him throughout the day. COOL!! And when you listen to a sermon, dont walk away and forget what was said, THINK about it, REMEMBER it. I keep a sermon journal and i take it everywhere with me and i write down important sermon notes to remember. If i feel God is telling ME something, i write it down. Like when someone is preaching and there is something that sticks out. thats totally God!

Very cool! I love this book. Its changing my life! Now i must go shower and get ready for school

Chao

Blessings...
Christine aka Sneeze Lady (haha Michelle is sneeze lady too)