A Friendship with God

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Tis_Bearself

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Is having a relationship or friendship with God or talking to Him as a friend a new or odd concept to people?

I would have thought that for a believer, this was pretty ordinary. In fact I am always hearing that people treat God too much like a friend and not enough like God the Almighty etc.

Now I am finding out there are apparently whole workshops on how to be friends with God. To me this is like a workshop on how to tie your shoes…maybe it’s something that a 5-year-old or someone who never owned tie shoes before might need some training on, but I thought 90 percent of people were already “there”.
 
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My prayers since I was a little girl always sound like I’m talking to a friend. With very informal and sometimes unfortunately crude language, rather than praying with reverence. As a young teen, it seemed encouraged to talk to him however you want to. But now as I am older, it seems as if that could be a sin. Idk.
 
As you know for me the Creator is a She. I wouldn’t call Her a friend more of a family member. She’s a right pain in the neck and She knows that’s what I think but I wouldn’t be without Her. She winds me up. I wind Her up. That’s how She wants it and I am more than happy to oblige. But that is our relationship. No two relationships are identical.
 
Sometimes I think we all forget that behind all the complexities of canon law, tradition, and dogmatics is a living, breathing relationship with our Creator. Prayer of the heart without the mediation of prayerbooks and rosaries is occasionally a good spiritual reboot. Simple, direct, and then rest in the presence of God.
 
Some advice I was given as I began to try to put together a simple program of prayer…and failing to do it.

“You have to remember” I was told, “the interior life is a love affair with Jesus Christ!’”.

We fuel our friendship with God with the ordinary events, joys and difficulties of each day, like throwing tinder and dry logs into the fire. Everything becomes conversation, or a loving exchange with Him.

“First one gift, then another.”
 
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To a Catholic who does not know any better, the idea of a friendship with God in actually unheard of and unthinkable.

For those who are more knowledgeable, it’s what it should be since Jesus actually said he’s a friend.

For the fanatically believing Catholics, it’s like the first one, unthinkable.

There are all kinds out there.
 
TheButler said:
I wouldn’t call Her a friend more of a family member
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Right, that’s how I always thought of God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and any saints my family particularly liked. As family. I consider Mary and Joseph to be my adoptive mom and dad now that my parents are both gone and of course that makes Jesus my older brother. I say many prayers both formal and informal to them each day and I frequently have conversations with them.
 
Lea101 said:
As a young teen, it seemed encouraged to talk to him however you want to. But now as I am older, it seems as if that could be a sin. Idk.
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I think there is a time and place for reverential prayer (such as right after Communion, or when I meditate on Christ’'s Passion, for me) but also a time and place for the other. As long as you’re not blaspheming, I don’t think it is sinful to talk to God privately in the way you feel comfortable. Some of us do use some language in our normal personal conversation with friends that we wouldn’t use with strangers who might find it crude. God is our friend and if we don’t mean anything bad by it and it’s not blasphemy, He understands, I think.
 
I would agree. Prayer and “talking to God” runs the spectrum. Some are very reverential, some are a little more familiar. We ARE members of God’s family. It is called The Church.

Who hasn’t said something like “Spirit, I could use a little help with this” or the equivalent?

That’s quite a bit different in tone from “Dear Lord. I love you above all things, please be merciful to me, a sinner”

Yet, both have their place in our prayer life.
 
Follow this thread.

One little thing for now. Friendship requires truly making and spending time with another person, regularly. This is often not done so the friendship would be more like lip service.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty deficient friendship. Just a thought.
 
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Not a sin in the least. Reverence and adore but, by all means, God wants a familiar friendship with us.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Is having a relationship or friendship with God or talking to Him as a friend a new or odd concept to people?
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It’s not a new or odd concept, but for some of us it isn’t as easy for us as it is for you. I think the way one was raised has a lot to do with. I was always taught to respect authority and my peers. (Something that is seriously lacking in the youth of today). I’ll never forget the first time I introduced my Uncle as Mr. My mother pulled me aside and said your Uncle worked hard for his doctorate and is due the honor of the title he has earned, don’t you ever refer to him as Mr. again. Didn’t really understand why at the time but now that times have changed and respect for others has gone out the window, I’m glad she did. My parents were also sticklers on when we enter a house it is the responsibility of the younger to approach the elder and say hello and goodbye and if family to give them a kiss as a sign of love and respect. I think this has played a big role in my seeing God as Almighty 90% of the time and friend 10%. I think those numbers should be a little closer and I am working on it, but I do not believe we should allow God as Almighty to drop below 51%.
Tis_Bearself said:
I would have thought that for a believer, this was pretty ordinary. In fact I am always hearing that people treat God too much like a friend and not enough like God the Almighty etc.
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I agree it should be more ordinary. I’m working at it to make it more ordinary in my life.

However, I do believe people today are treating God too much like a friend. The term “Me and Jesus” irks me to no end. Not only is it grammatically incorrect, but look who is first in that friendship. The ME being first goes against everything I was brought up to believe.
Tis_Bearself said:
To me this is like a workshop on how to tie your shoes
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Guilty, could you point me to one of those workshops, I keep tripping over my shoe strings 😉
Tis_Bearself said:
maybe it’s something that a 5-year-old or someone who never owned tie shoes before might need some training on, but I thought 90 percent of people were already “there”.
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46 here and part of the 10%. But like I said I was taught a little different when I was 5 so it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. 😉

God Bless
 
I agree with Stephie. I think Adam and Eve spoke to God, correct? and Moses? And Samuel?
and on and on and on.
 
Thanks for your insights.

Here is the video of the workshop that inspired this post. I don’t think it’s a bad presentation, I agree with everything the presenter is saying, but it was nothing new and I wasn’t sure why it needed to be spoken about at such great length. I have had similar reactions to other Ignatian spirituality presentations I have seen. But maybe you or someone else could find this very useful?

 
This article ended up in my in box the other day. I would like your thoughts on what it says. It’s kind of the point I was trying to get across in my response.


I like how it ends…
People today are looking for more than a good buddy. They want someone to look up to and to follow. As a culture, we’ve insisted on cutting down our heroes and leaders, but this has left a void in our hearts, because we were made to serve a king. If we begin to preach Christ as King and Lord of the universe, many may decide to follow him. Not simply as their friend, but as their God.
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Looking forward to your response and anyone else who would like to discuss the article.

God Bless
 
Friendship does indeed take time. But recall God is time-less.

He knows you more intimately than anyone, be it design or individual persona.

I find it’s us coming to grow in our friendship with him. Like a child coming to know a parent.

Even though we are the Child, we are nonetheless completely loved.

Personally, I hold God in great respect and reverence. But I also address him as a close friend, not as something to be feared.

If in doubt try and imagine it from Gods point of view, at least to a point. He’s not wanting your servitude but for you to grow out of it into equality in a sense, again like a parent.

‘Love the Lord thy God’. No shame in how you approach it. Well assuming you respect your close friends of course!
 
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I just follow the techniques of the saints. Informal prayer when I have something to say, formal when I can’t find the words. It’s important to use reverence when speaking to God, I think. I think I would have more trouble with prayer if I had not known these things that the saints spoke of. It really helped me. I treat God like a friend, but also like a father I respect and obey, but even more so because He is THE Father.
 
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@misstherese How is your friendship going, if I may ask? I mean, have you contacted any religious communities yet in your discernment process?
 
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Don’t get me wrong here not trying to be argumentative. I do agree with having a friendship with God just don’t agree with more and more people losing sight of the fact that He is first and foremost The Father.
ErraticFaith said:
I find it’s us coming to grow in our friendship with him. Like a child coming to know a parent.
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Yes a friendship needs to grow, however one of the worst things a parent can ever do is to be a friend to there child first and a parent second. The children that view their parents as friends are the ones who tend to step all over their parents.

When it comes to God I think even when we are adults we are still children and that respect needs to far outweigh the friendship.
ErraticFaith said:
Personally, I hold God in great respect and reverence. But I also address him as a close friend, not as something to be feared.
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AMEN, well said.
ErraticFaith said:
If in doubt try and imagine it from Gods point of view, at least to a point. He’s not wanting your servitude but for you to grow out of it into equality in a sense, again like a parent.
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I don’t fully agree with this. I like the quote from the article…
In John 15:14, Christ tells the apostles, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” and says they are no longer servants but “friends.” And in Luke 12:4, he refers to the disciples as “my friends.”
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Totally, agree God never wanted our servitude, that’s why he gave us free will. However, I don’t believe equality is within our grasps. There always has to be line that we should never cross, I believe that line of not just respect but always knowing our “place” is often forgot. My reason being is so many have forgot that that very same line still exists in the world today between us and our parents.

Once again, not being argumentative or saying this is you, just saying I have seen this line of thinking swing to far in the wrong direction. Personally, I think this mind set is what has led us to the “Guaranteed Salvation” becoming so prevalent in society.

God Bless
 
I generally don’t see God as a father, although I know full well he is. I work on my friendship with Jesus. Not saying I don’t need to branch out.

For me, as for perhaps many, I have no personal concept of a father. Never knew my father and as to my step father, I had a very poor relationship with and never considered him as such.
 
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