He Calls ME Friend

I am an avid collector of music.  In the new day and age of technology, I still prefer a cd over an MP3 player or an IPod.  This week, while I pouring through my cd collection, I found an Israel and New Breed cd that I thought for certain I had given to Michelle, the choir director.  I grabbed it this morning and headed out the door.  I popped the cd in, drove Tiana to school, and headed to work.  Listening to the cd gave me a sense of freedom and I began to worship in the car. When I got to work, I took the cd out so I could listen to it in my office and continue my worship.
  The first song on the cd is "Friend of God."  The lyrics state "I am a friend of God, He calls me friend."  WOW! Isn't that great? Despite what I have done, He still calls me friend! I typed the lyrics in to a search engine, and I found a blog about the song.  The writer stated that it was not scripture and that they had poured over the Bible and not found any verse where God calls us friend. "What?!!" was the first thing that popped into my head, and I began to wonder whether or not this was true.  Many songs that are sung by gospel artists are not scripturally based, but being an Israel fan and having seen him in concert and witnessing  how much he loves the Lord, and knowing how he and his musicians pray and fast for 40 days to hear from God before recording, this rang a little false to me.  Then John 15:13 fell into my spirit and I heard these words "Greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his life for his friends." I grabbed the bible that I keep on my desk, opened it to the scripture and continued to read "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."  (14-15) and then more scripture from this week's bible study came to me, particularly John 10:15, the b portion states "and I lay down my life for the sheep."  I am born again, therefore I am sheep, and He said that He lay down His life for the sheep.  He died on the cross for us, so this has to pertain to us! 
   Merriman Webster defines friend several ways.  Two offerings are a. one attached to another by affection (fondness) or esteem (regard).  and b. one that is of the same nation, party, or group.   Whether we fully understand or not, we, as the body of Christ, are His friends. We are attached to Him because of the price He paid for us on Calvary and by our acceptance of Him as out personal Lord and Savior. We are His friends, because of the high regard we have for Him, and because of the deep affection He has for us to lay His life down so that we may live! A lot of us are willing to do just about anything for someone we consider a friend, and Jesus did the ultimate thing for us that chose to follow His commandments. He's your friend.  He's my friend.