Friendship: God's Plan Through History & Beyond

By Michelle A Faust

John 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Over biblical history, there have been many men and women. Out of everyone, four men stand out. noah, Abraham, Moses, and King David.

These are the men whom God Himself gave the Covenants. These men carried an inti

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Faust
• Release date: Oct 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887222271

Michelle A Faust

Michelle Faust is a Certified Disc trainer, behavioral consultant, Personal Chef/Culinary Instructor.. He has served faithfully 11 years as a United States Air Force Spouse (Active Duty & Reserves). Her diverse experience working with military, government, foreign nationals, and corporations has equipped him to serve in marriages, families, leadership, and communication. He heart is for the "community" at large is to bring restoration and stability to the American families.. Michelle serves as a "relationship consultant" via writing books, blogs, conducting live video lessons, seminars, workshops, and consultations at Learn & Live. Michelle is married to Daniel (Husband) with 4 kids living in Scottsdale, AZ

Book preview

Friendship God’s Plan Through History

& Beyond

Friendship: God’s Plan Through History &

Beyond

Michelle Faust

Friendship: God’s Plan Through History and Beyond: Written by Michelle Faust Published by: Michelle Faust Copyright© 2022 by Michelle Faust

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

For permissions contact: Michelle Faust ([e-mail])

Cover by Michelle Faust

Editing by E. Stewart Black ([e-mail])

Teresa Cundiff ([e-mail])

ISBN: 979-8-88722-228-8 (print)

ISBN: 979-8-88722-227-1 (electronic)

Printed in the United States of America First Edition

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright© 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB1995 are taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright© 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked CEV are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright© 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

Contents

Part I. Introduction

1. Butterfies

2. Unity Lost

3. Colors of Redemption

4. Unshakeable Faith

5. Signs and Wonders

6. A Man After God’s Own Heart

7. Friendship’s Most Extraordinary Invitation

8. No Greater Love

9. He is Here!

10. Reflection

PART I

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

On a cold January day right after our celebration of the New Year, I found myself taking down Christmas decorations. Yes, I am that person who puts up decorations the day after Thanksgiving and waits until after the new year to pack away the festive balls, lights, and garlands. Deep in thought, a question slowly drifted across my mind as I placed colorful balls into a large box. The question came from my reading and pondering on a passage of scripture:

John 15:12-15 This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard from my father I have made known to you. [NASB]

The part in that passage that jumped out to me is that He identifies us as His friends. The questions that were stirring in my mind were, Is there anyone in the Bible who had a friendship with God that I could study and learn from? If a friendship did exist, what impact or effect did it have beyond that person to the community around?

Within my research, I identified five people: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and King David. Not only did these individuals have close relationships with the Lord that were uncommon for the environment and culture they lived in, but they also had something that tied all those men together through time. God used each one of these men to propagate His covenants with man. Each one of these covenants happens in a different part of history, and they all lead to the New Covenant that we live under today. There is one thing that my husband will tell you and it holds true even in this: I never just ask one question. This thought process was no exception. Do we really understand how the covenants link with each other and how the New Covenant was accomplished?

Jesus Himself calls us to friendship. To be friends with anyone, God included, we need trust. You cannot trust someone you do not know. To truly understand the depth of the Father’s love for us, it is vital that we understand the actions that God has taken toward humanity. Those actions begin in the very first chapters of Genesis.

They span…

• A man parting a sea through the power of God to free a nation of people God called His own.

• The moment a rock was rolled away from a sealed tomb under guard by Roman soldiers and a curtain was torn from top to bottom and resurrection power burst forth.

• Finally, they continue into Acts chapter 2

when the Father sent the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit, to birth the church and empower believers to fulfill the Great Commission—the very same call each and every one of us has today.

As you read this book, I pray that you receive a greater revelation of who God is and how much He really does love you.

He calls us friends, and this is the story of how God made a friendship with Him possible—both now and reaching into eternity….

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1.

Butterflies

The sting of a hot steering wheel breaks my mind out of its frenzied attempt to push the ignition button to my car. We moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, and I realized that oven mitts are not just for kitchen use. In the internal notepad of my mind, I tell myself that I need to go to the $0.99 cent store and pick up a pair.

Living in Scottsdale, Arizona, had some unique challenges. These included learning how not to be branded by the metal seatbelts when getting into the car. Either you need to wear long pants or come equipped with towels. One great way to fight intense heat in the vehicle was to carry frozen water bottles. And if you love something, you do not leave it in the car. Not ever.

When we first moved to Phoenix, we drove from south of Seattle, Washington. With four young children in the car, it became imperative to do something over the many hours. Being in a car for an extended amount of time with four toddlers is enough to try the sanity of the soundest mind.

We decided on a DVD player and an abundance of crayons and coloring sheets. I have never been a fan of putting kids in front of movies for an extended time, but you do what you need to do in certain situations. The crayons were terrific. They are not markers and are harmless. So many wins when traveling with young ones. And some losses!

The benefits vanish entirely when you arrive in an environment of 115 degrees, and the car turns into a crayon-melting factory. Case in point, my daughter found all the melted crayons, proceeded to cover her hands in the blue wax, and came into the house with hands encased in it. This stuff does not wash off… at all. I have scrubbed black sharpies off my kids that have come off with less effort.

Of course, she had to touch the walls, sink, and counters. Crayons, one; parents, zero. We got that car in 2013, and it’s 2022, and we still have traces of this event.

Living in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, was extraordinary. It is a stunning, very harsh environment. Living in this location requires an adjustment to the rhythm of life. Residing in Seattle, the only adjustment needed from day to day was the decision to grab an umbrella. Arizona was very different. If you waited until 9 AM to run or go hiking in Phoenix, you were done unless you had a gym membership. When it was an arctic 80 degrees—say, in December—you could do it, but forget about it if it was June, July, or August. The objective was to plan as much as you could indoors. This is precisely what we did. We were so blessed to live in Scottsdale, Arizona. We lived one mile from a giant complex with a big brand-new aquarium.

This place was fantastic. They had events where they let the penguins roam free, a touch-tank for stingrays, and a massive room that rotated to see five different exhibits. My kids were hooked, so we bought passes for the year. This included access to the other attractions on site. One of my kids’ favorite attractions was the mirror maze.

I cannot express in words how much I hated this.

I went in once and was filled with so much panic because I am claustrophobic, and I find no joy in being in a place where I have no sense of direction and cannot find my way out. I am the same way with corn mazes. Large or small. No. I am not going to pay cash to feel lost.

Nevertheless, my kids loved it. We had the pass, so I would sit out in the observation room laughing at my kids while they wandered, being tracked by the live feeds on the various cameras. I had just as much fun as they did, but for very different reasons. The fun ended when my youngest stopped having fun. I was required to rescue her, a blind leading the blind situation.

After this episode, I encouraged my kids to embrace the other activities. The other attraction that we had access to was Butterfly Wonderland.

Butterfly Wonderland is a massive conservatory with thousands of butterflies flying in a giant warehouse-sized room. It is full of tropical trees, plants, and shrubs. You walk through the double doors and are transported into a tropical rainforest. This ended up being a favorite place for us all. I could not ever convince my husband to come because he has an irrational fear of moths.

I never understood how you could be afraid of a tiny-winged creature that does not bite or sting, yet my husband’s fear of these harmless creatures still exists. My kids would compete to see who could have the most significant number of butterflies land on them. Wear the right colors, and the butterflies would rest on you. My son was on board with this until one giant blue butterfly attached itself to the back of his neck and sent my six-year-old into a screaming panic. He started running back and forth, screaming, Get it off me! Get it off me! Like father, like son, I guess.

After we exited the exhibit, we would all make our way to the giant room dedicated to observing butterfly chrysalises on display. They had hundreds, grouped by type in all different stages. If you had just the perfect timing, you would watch a butterfly breaking out of the chrysalis, revealing beautiful delicate wings for the first time. I loved this the most.

There was one other activity that would always end every single visit. My kids loved it, but it got old by the ninth time doing this. They had this 3D movie about