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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Perfect Friendship Revealed ~ Series on Friendship

"...I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:15b ESV 

In the upper room, the disciples sit in the presence of Jesus, holy and good; at the same time, they experience an extraordinary intimacy. Despite the awkwardness, the disciples allow Jesus to wash their feet, His life-lesson of a servant's heart. Not truly understanding the divine holiness of Jesus, these disciples only glimpse Perfection Unlimited.

From the beginning, humanity, created in God's image, chooses knowledge over faith, evil over good, and experiences the consequences of disobedience and darkness over the blessings of obedience and light. Today people still find themselves standing outside the Garden looking at the guarded gates in desperation. Choosing to do good for it's rewards competes with avoiding evil for fear of punishment. Separated from God, imperfection creates boundaries, yet choice remains.

Gregory of Nyssa, a 4th century Greek philosopher, is one of the first theologians to promote the belief that God is infinite and beyond the comprehension of mankind. His writings, which are deeply rooted in Scripture, suggest we are on a constant and continuous pilgrimage toward God. Gregory explains the "virtuous way of life" we are seeking comes in being "known by God" and being "His friend". God alone is True Perfection, limitless in power and infinite in goodness. To become friends with God should be the "only thing worthy of honor and desire." Unity with God brings spiritual reconciliation which transcends boundaries. Richard Foster, a 21st century theologian, offers, "To our astonishment we find that we are walking with God, His thoughts becoming our thoughts, His desires becoming our desires."

The world around us seems limitless, but it is restricted by many boundaries. In this world, our limitations are evidenced by time, resources, geography, education and social status. We are constrained by imperfections that produce fear, hate, poverty and loneliness. The only boundary-buster is True Perfection - Christ with infinite grace and limitless love. Only in Christ can one experience Perfect Friendship - holy and divine, heart transforming, unity building, eternal friendship. Only through Christ, are fallen, flawed and finite people able to love other imperfect people with grace and healing, both now and infinitely! ~dho


Only in Christ can one experience Perfect Friendship - holy and divine, heart transforming, unity building, eternal friendship. Donna Oswalt

Only through Christ, are fallen, flawed and finite people able to love other imperfect people with grace and healing, both now and infinitely! Donna Oswalt

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Pray For Your Friends - Part 2 ~ Series on Friendship

Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Philippians 2:3-4 The Message




Scripture supports praying for one another, praying to give encouragement, to love each other, to admit sins, to bring comfort. [some examples: Job 42:8, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12Proverbs 27:17Ephesians 6:18Philippians 1:9-12James 5:16Do your own search of prayer.] God calls Believers to offer inspiration and compassion to others within the community of faith. For all the unique differences that every individual celebrates, our commonality in Christ is greater. In praying for His friends, Jesus teaches all His followers empathy and love that matures in a growing, personal relationship with God.

True prayer is intimate and relational; it must be Christ-focused not self-focused. Being deep-spirited friends requires putting others ahead of ourselves, requires a self-less and obedient heart. Keith Miller writes, Prayer no longer seems like an activity to me; it has become the continuing language of the relationship I believe God designed to fulfill a human life. Within prayer, this continuing language of the relationship  choreographs an intricate dance from the random rhythms that the day brings. Prayer engages the soul; it is no longer simply something we do. By blending holy mystery with human experience, our relationship with God cultivates a more meaningful life. In praying for our friends with genuine humility instead of partisan obligation, we exchange the world's empty glory with authentic living for God's Glory! Lord, I long to be a deep-spirited friend that loves others for Your Glory! ~dho


Prayer engages the soul; it is no longer simply something we do. Donna Oswalt

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Pray For Your Friends - Part 1 ~Series on Friendship

[Jesus said] "I'm praying not only for [the disciples] but also for those who will believe in Me because of them and their witness about Me. The goal is for all of them to become one  heart and mind - Just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, so that they might be one heart and mind with Us. Then the world might believe that You, in fact, send Me." John 17:20 The Message 


Jesus teaches many lessons on prayer, but the glimpses into His personal prayer times speak the most powerful testimonies. Jesus would often pray alone. Perhaps He was seeking guidance and wisdom or simply sitting at His Father's feet talking about the day. Even on the cross Jesus prays, asking forgiveness for His persecutors. Hours before His arrest, Jesus prays for the disciples. Found in John 17 and known as the High-priestly prayer, Jesus offers intercessory prayer for His followers, first praying for the disciples, then for all Believers to come. Completely relational, this prayer reveals the unifying layers of God's plan: the Son and the Father, the Son and the Believer, Believers to each other, and witnesses to the world. Unity in love giving glory to God evidences each of these relationships.

Marking the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, this holy prayer begins His role as Infinite Intercessor for us. Hebrews 7:25 affirms that Jesus always lives to make intercession for those who come to God through Him. The privilege of prayer emerges as a divine invitation and evolves into a mutual dialogue with God. Just as Jesus reveals His unique relationship with the Father, every Believer can step into the Holy of Holies because of Jesus. As I travel back to that night over 2,000 years ago, I hear Jesus pray for me. I hear Jesus pray for you. Still today, Christ brings our petitions to the King. Holy Spirit, kindle my heart with Christ's love for God's Glory! ~ dho

The privilege of prayer emerges as a divine invitation and evolves into a mutual dialogue with God. ~ Donna Oswalt

next week Part 2 of Pray For Your Friends

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Divine Unity ~ Series on Friendship

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV



The early church gave priority to fellowship (Acts 2:42) along with teaching and prayer. Fellowship within a community of Believers exemplifies sharing life together within a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The Message uses "intimate friendship" in reference to fellowship. This common unity strengthens and encourages discipleship; this Divine fellowship binds disciples to Christ and to each other. Being in partnership with Christ, needs and resources merge with common purpose.

Paul uses the Greek word koinonia in his letters multiple times, defining this Divine Unity as fellowship, sharing, and partnership combined with offering encouragement, compassion, and mutual respect in the name of Jesus. In studying this Scripture, Paul's benediction with references to all persons of the Trinity creates a complete picture of Perfect love and peace. The grace that Christ gives originates from the Father's love, and the Holy Spirit dwells within each Believer. Individual but inseparable, Divine Unity embodies our spirits, embraces our lives, and empowers our deeds. This evolving holy and intimate friendship restores and refines our mutual relationships with each other and the Lord. ~ dho


Being in partnership with Christ, needs and resources merge with common purpose. Donna Oswalt

Individual but inseparable, Divine Unity embodies our spirits, embraces our lives, and empowers our deeds. Donna Oswalt

This evolving holy and intimate friendship restores and refines our mutual relationships with each other and the Lord. Donna Oswalt

Thursday, August 03, 2017

For Friendship's Sake ~ Series on Friendship

Then David said, "Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" . . . "Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?" 2 Samuel 9

One of the most familiar stories of friendship in the Bible describes the enduring bond between David and Jonathan. Upon meeting they recognize an immediate soul-connection, for their friendship finds its foundations in commitment to God. Nothing destroys this friendship, not family drama, not political implications, not territorial battles. These many testings strengthen this God-chosen friendship. A promise of friendship before God endures difficulties.

A lesser known event happens many years later, after King Saul and his son Jonathan die in battle and David, the Lord's anointed one, becomes King of Israel. David remembers his vow of friendship with Jonathan, "The two of us have vowed friendship in GOD's name, saying, 'GOD will be the bond between me and you, and between my children and your children forever!' " For friendship's sake, in honor of Jonathan, David seeks to find anyone left in this family and desires to show God's kindness to them. Mephibosheth [meh-fib-o-sheth], Jonathan's son, cripple in both feet, is found and brought to King David. Calming Mephibosheth's worries, David tells him, "I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat at my table regularly." From living as an exile as the defeated enemy to becoming like family at the King's table, Mephibosheth's abundant blessings find their roots in faithfulness to a promise! 

God invites everyone to come and sit at His Table regularly, especially those of us who feel unworthy. Communion with God is more than reading the Bible with a cup of coffee, more than bread and wine. This intensely intimate relationship requires me to share heart, mind, and soul in the presence of God. At His Table, all my starvings find nourishment. The abundant blessings that flow over me find their roots in God's faithfulness, in God's promise of redemption, in grace through Jesus, the Promised Messiah. God's Promise is an everlasting covenant of friendship. For Friendship's sake, in honor of Jesus, God says, Come and eat at My table regularly. ~ dho


From living as an exile as the defeated enemy to becoming like family at the King's table, Mephibosheth's abundant blessings find their roots in faithfulness to a promise! Donna Oswalt

 At His Table, all my starvings find nourishment. Donna Oswalt

For Friendship's sake, in honor of Jesus, God says, "Come and eat at My table regularly." Donna Oswalt

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Friend to Friend ~ Series on Friendship

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Proverbs 27:17 NLT
(unknown photographer)

The sharing of the Holy Spirit lays at the root of Christian friendship. Mutuality involving encouragement, good counsel and accountability remain essential components, but a relationship that has Christ as its core becomes a priceless interrelationship. Ecclesiastes 4:12  describes the strength of more than one: A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better than one, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. A common proverbial expression in ancient literature, this "threefold cord" indicates value in companionship and preparedness. Experiencing unity and grace through Christian relationships helps to deepen our understanding of God's love.

While every relationship differs, certain characteristics define Christian friendship. God must be first. This friendship must share a common love for God which brings spiritual joy, even in times of distress and chaos. Communication involves giving and taking both encouragement and counsel. Within the relationship, security comes from loyalty, from honoring confidences without fear of betrayal. Christian friendship can be an enduring kinship ~ but only if Christ makes three! 

Consider this Yiddish Proverb: There are 3 types of friends; those like food without which you can't live, those like medicine which you need occasionally, and those like illness which you never want. Then ask yourself: What kind of friend am I? ~ dho



Christian friendship can be an enduring kinship ~ but only if Christ makes three! Donna Oswalt

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Jesus-Centered Friendship ~ Series on Friendship

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your current culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2 The Message

The old hymn, Jesus Is All The World To Me, begins, Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all; each verse ends with He's my friend. The words of this hymn reinforce the theology of living a Jesus-Centered life. In times of sadness, trials, and blessings, at beginnings and endings, and into eternity, Jesus provides everything we need. This divine promise for us hinges on whether or not we make Jesus the center of our world. The world stands full of contradictions and excuses luring us away from an intimate relationship with Jesus.

To become a living and holy sacrifice, an offering to God, one must accept the cost of obedience. The world's prince, Satan, never reveals the price of disobedience; rather, he charms the mind with unattainable more, teases the heart with fading hope, and leaves the soul with elusive satisfaction. To conform to culture's expectations only fuels futility, but through the Holy Spirit comes a spiritual transformation that is the foundation of discipleship. A Jesus-Centered life merges righteousness and holiness combining spiritual worship and holy living.

God's Grace opens the door to having a Jesus-Centered life. Our response comes next. Peterson's The Message describes how to take our everyday, ordinary life and embrace God! To recognize God in a culture that proudly denies Him, to give generously within a culture that takes selfishly, to hold faithfully to God's promises in a culture that persecutes His truth, to value life surrounded by a culture that marginalizes weakness, to love others more boldly than culture hates God - THIS is to be transformed by Jesus. When one truly embraces God, every aspect of living should reflect Christ's Light into the world. Then the soul can sing, "Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all. . . Eternal life! Eternal joy! He's my friend!"  ~ dho

In times of sadness, trials, and blessings, at beginnings and endings, and into eternity, Jesus provides everything we need. This divine promise for us hinges on whether or not we make Jesus the center of our world.  ~ Donna Oswalt

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Divided Loyalty ~ Series on Friendship

You are My friends, if you do what I command you... I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father." John 15:14-15 NRSV



In the early first century, Roman emperors expect the people to declare their loyalty to Caesar acknowledging him as the supreme power. This annual public declaration of loyalty requires every citizen to place an offering on the altar saying, "Caesar is Lord!" Those who refuse, such as Christians who profess their loyalty to Christ, are frequently mocked, arrested, tortured and killed. Under Nero, one of the cruelest Roman emperors, Peter and Paul are put to death, crucified upside down and beheaded respectively, for spreading the Gospel message, and claiming "Jesus is Lord". The message of the Jesus-followers explains there is a kingdom greater than Rome, directly in opposition to the Roman world view. 

Everyday, the outward expressions of our values conjoin with our commitments to demonstrate where our deepest loyalty lies. When material possessions, political affiliations, and social rankings become priorities, when want replaces need, when spiritual riches dwindle, divided loyalty exposes us. The very first of the Ten Commandments clarifies, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Jesus tells us, "No one can serve two masters for either he will hate one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." In another lesson, Jesus reminds that just like you can identify a tree by its fruit, you can identify people by their actions. Loyalty becomes the fruit of our fellowship. 

The Old Testament uses the word hesed for loyalty 249 times, and according to Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary it "is one of the richest, most theologically insightful terms in the OT," Meaning "unfailing love, kindness and devotion," this kind of loyalty usually grows within a relationship, often in a covenant relationship. A covenant relationship involves a promise or vow, whether between God and a person or between individuals.When we enter into a covenant relationship with God, His divine, everlasting promises of reconciliation with Him and victory over sin lavish us with Grace. Remaining in fellowship with God develops our spiritual understanding of trusting Him. This trust blossoms into love evidenced in our lives - in our relationships. The Kingdom of God is greater than Rome, greater than the world, greater than this universe. Does your public declaration of loyalty declare "Jesus is Lord" of my life, my everyday, my every moment? ~ dho

Everyday, the outward expressions of our values conjoin with our commitments to demonstrate where our deepest loyalty lies. Donna Oswalt

Loyalty becomes the fruit of our fellowship. Donna Oswalt

Thursday, July 06, 2017

Christ, the Law of Liberty~ ~ Series on Friendship

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged 
under the law of liberty. James 2:12 ESV


Liberty actually means "freedom from captivity", and America celebrates its freedom this week on July 4th! For Christians, liberty is true freedom from sin, genuine freedom to walk in obedience to Christ. In Christian liberty there is freedom from the bondage of sin through faith in Christ. With the Holy Spirit helping our every effort, the Believer walks in obedience with God. Wiersbe writes, "We are judged by the law of liberty - the law of love written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Christ is the Law of Liberty.

In James 2:8 the "royal law" [also known as the Supreme law of God, the law of love, Sovereign law] states:You shall love your neighbor as yourself. This law comes from the King of kings and defines our response to others. As someone freed from the captivity of sin, someone given eternal life through the law of liberty, God's freedom-plan redefines our purpose. In word and deed, we are to love our neighbor as someone under the Law of Liberty. Our words and deeds - free from prejudice, from oppression, from exploitation - should reveal Christ's love written on our hearts! His Grace and Mercy become ours to share. Celebrate Christ - True Freedom - this July 4th week! ~dho

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Joy-Full Friendship ~ Series on Friendship

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."  Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV

Discontentment leads to resentment, resentment to rage, rage to shouting, shouting to abuse; this is the chain of events that acts of malice ignite. These intentional malignant actions, each one fueling the next, cause pain and distress. Negative emotions like resentment and animosity are toxic and destroy relationships. Warren Wiersbe says, "Corruption from the lips only means corruption in the heart." 

Augustine in his Confessions lists the joys of friendship: “to make conversation, to share a joke, to perform mutual acts of kindness, to read together well-written books, to share in trifling and in serious matters, to disagree though without animosity... and in the very rarity of disagreement to find the salt of normal harmony, to teach each other something or to learn from one another, to long with impatience for those absent, to welcome them with gladness on their arrival.” 
The way we interact with others reveals not only our heart's attitude, but it gives insight into our relationship with God. The joys of friendship with God include holy conversations and divine instruction, unconditional love and unrestrained fellowship, peace and hope, all wrapped up together in Amazing Grace. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of our life.(The Message Ephesians 4:30) Our expressions of kindness and tenderness and forgiveness that we offer one another measures our friendship with God. ~ dho

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Unrestrained Fellowship ~ Series on Friendship

Thus, the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend... Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Take these people up to the Promised Land.' But You haven't told me whom You will send with me. You call me by name and tell me I have found favor with You... And the LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." ...And the LORD replied to Moses, I will indeed do what you have asked, for you have found favor with Me, and you are My friend."

God calls Abraham and Moses by name, speaks to them as friends, identifies each one as friend. In studying these heroes of Faith, it is clear the privilege of friendship with God comes with many responsibilities but also provides deep, intimate fellowship. These ancient words in Exodus reveal not only the trust and responsiveness of Moses to God, but also God's promise of His Presence to Moses. This relationship demonstrates reciprocity, mutuality, and unrestrained fellowship!

God's promise, "My Presence will go with you," reassures Moses. In Hebrew My Presence literally means My Face(NKJV Study Bible) Moses asks for God's Presence, His personal companionship; God willingly responds. Of all the nations on earth in Old Testament times, only Israel would go forward with the presence of God Almighty. With Jesus Christ, God completes the picture of His abiding presence. For through Christ, each of us can have this unrestrained fellowship with God.




Philip Yancey writes in his book Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference, "keeping company with God involves two parties, and I have an important role to play in the relationship." There are those people who seem content with a superficial relationship with God, those who settle less. Some people deeply desire a growing faith walk with God, some who long for more. God is waiting for those who want to experience an intimate relationship with Him. In God's Presence, the Believer is called by name, feels His nearness, and can understand His voice, just as a man speaks to his friend. In Christ, unmeasured grace and unspeakable joy fuse in unrestrained fellowship! I want MORE of this! What do you want?  ~dho