In Genesis 18, the Lord was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 17 says, “…Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” In John 15:14 Jesus gave His criteria of friendship. It says, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”

The privilege of that friendship for us is in verse 15. It says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to You.”

I love 1 Corinthians 2:10 in the Amplified. It says what He has unveiled and revealed to us. “…for the Holy Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny).”

His secret counsel, the revealing of His heart, and the mining out of the depth of Scriptures come through our intimate communion with Him. Psalm 25:14 Amplified says, “The secret (of the sweet, satisfying companionship) of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner) meaning.”

Do you share your innermost secrets with just anyone? We only share them with proven friends that we know will not betray our confidence. I was thinking about the Lord’s relationship with Moses.

Numbers 12:8 says, “I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings…”  Exodus 33:11 says, “So the Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” The scene was inside the tent of meeting where the Lord communed Heart to heart with Moses.

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” We are created to glorify the Lord. Isaiah 43:7. We glorify Him as we live in a lifestyle of worship.

We participate in His divine character through our knowledge of Him. A. W. Tozer wrote a great book. “Knowledge Of The Holy.” In it he shines an illuminating light on God’s attributes. “Pursuit Of God” changed my life back in the 70’s. He knew the Lord intimately, yet his prayers always expressed a desire to know Him more.

Jesus’ words to His Father in John 17:3 say, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Let nothing on this earth ever rival your relationship with the Lord. It is pure gold that has been through the fire.

Our fiery trials also expose the planted lies that we have believed. They slipped in through undetected fiery darts. We unknowingly accepted them, and because of that the enemy of our soul gained ground. 

Ephesians 4:27 says to not give him any opportunity. Any thought against ourselves, others, or our circumstances are fiery darts. Once we dialogue with them, they are seeded in our heart. From them, the enemy builds internal strongholds.

If you have ever felt a barrage of negative thoughts, they are coming from an internal stronghold. Jeremiah 1:10 is God’s way of destroying them. However, after the destruction, new inner strongholds of truth are needed to take their place. 

It says, “…to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” Without total destruction, the weed-seed-lies will continue to propagate in the fallow ground of our hearts.

When gold or silver is tried in the fire, the hidden alloy is exposed. Let’s take that into the spiritual aspect through 1 Corinthians 3:12-13. It says, “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear…it will be revealed by fire…”

In 1 Peter 1:7, Peter described our trials as fiery. The Lord’s intention is, “That the genuineness of your faith…though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

In the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, only what man had bound them by was consumed in the fiery furnace. Daniel 3:21-25.

Our trials are like dark threads. They weave in and out of the tapestry of our lives to give definition and beauty. Trials are essential for our spiritual growth. They expose the hidden things of man that keep us bound.

1 John 4:8-9 says, “…God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Verse 19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”

John 15:12 says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Have you ever struggled to love someone when they were sinning against you? Romans 5:5 says, “…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

As in forgiving another, we forgive with the same forgiveness we have received. Ephesians 4:32. Colossians 3:13. When our heart is wounded by someone’s sin against us, we extend His same love that was poured into our hearts. We sacrifice our flesh to freely give His eternal love to them.

1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” We are created for eternal existence ~ either in hell forever or in the Presence of the Lord forever. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” 

If doubts ever come into your mind that you are not loved, remember God’s word is eternal. Psalm 119:89 says that it is settled in the heavens. Titus 1:2 says that God cannot lie. 

Ephesians 1:4-5 says that He chose us before the foundation of the world, “…before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself…”