Morning by Morning—Daily Prayer Journey with Tommy Hays: Both "The Fear of the Lord" and "The Friendship of the Lord"

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Both "The Fear of the Lord" and "The Friendship of the Lord" - Morning by Morning, May 28, 2020

Morning by Morning, May 28 - Both "The Fear of the Lord" and "The Friendship of the Lord"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. My Lord and Savior, my Shepherd and Advocate, my Master and Miracle-Maker, and yet my Best Friend. ...

As You said to Your first disciples, You continue to speak to all of Your disciples who would lay down their lives and take up their cross to follow You: "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. You did not choose Me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last..." (John 15:15:16).

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we live out our lives in both the fear of the Lord and the friendship of the Lord. We fear You and at the same time, we love You. We serve You as Master and at the same time, we serve alongside You as Friend. We are both bondservants and also bonded together, heart to Heart and spirit to Spirit.

We fear You and honor You. We worship You and serve You. And yet, You invite us into a much deeper, much more intimate, much more humbling and honoring personal relationship with You. We're not merely servants, we're friends. We're not merely defined by what we do for You and Your Kingdom in our service and servanthood, because You desire so much more -- not merely our service but our complete surrender of all that we have and all that we are.

That's the friendship that's closer than blood (Proverbs 18:24). That's the friendship we have with You in both the fear of the Lord and the friendship of the Lord that's only possible through Your Sacrifice of Your blood and the powerful, unfailing, never-ending, steadfast bond of Your love.

To say You no longer call us Your servants but Your friends is to say our identity is no longer grounded primarily in what we do for You but in who we are to You. And when we get that settled in our hearts, we can't wait to go and serve You, to go and bear much fruit in the glory and honor of Your name -- in the name of our Master and in the name of our Best Friend! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be free to fully embrace the friendship of the Lord as You honor Him and serve Him with all that you are and all that have in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord, in Jesus' name. And may you go and bear much fruit that comes forth out of knowing His much love. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!