Friendship with the Holy Spirit
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." —
2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV
The above was Paul's passionate prayer for the Corinthian believers, which I believe is also God's desire for the Church today. Believers need to know and experience, daily, the communion of the Holy Spirit.
This is very expedient if we are ever going to come to the fullness of all that the Lord has in store for us, both as a church and as individual members of the body of Christ. But to realise this, we have to understand what communion is all about.
The word ‘communion’ is translated from the Greek ‘koinonia’, which also means friendship. So, in this prayer, Paul prayed, among other things, that believers would experience a continual friendship with the Holy Spirit.
Our heavenly Father's heart desire is that we would not only be His children and fellow heirs of His kingdom, life and goodness but also come to a point of friendship with Him through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
But for this to happen, we must first know the Holy Spirit as our friend because it is He who will bring us into God's presence, not just as His children, but also as His friends. It is through the ministry of the Holy Spirit that we can enter into this divine friendship of which I speak.
To experience friendship with God, you have to, first of all, experience friendship with the Holy Spirit because He is the friend sent from heaven to be with you in this world. David, the man after God's heart, lived in this place with God and enjoyed great intimacy and sharing with Him. God was more than just Lord and Father to him. He (God) was his bosom friend.
It was in the strength of that relationship that David could boldly say, “The Lord is my best Friend and my Shepherd. I always have more than enough” (Psalm 23:1 TPT). The Lord was his best friend and he knew it. He was conscious of this relationship with God and took advantage of it.
So, what is friendship? According to Britannica Encyclopaedia, friendship is a state of enduring affection, esteem, intimacy, and trust between two people.
I define friendship as the association or relationship between equals. This is the highest form of relationship possible, and it only exists between equals. This is not found between superiors and subjects. It can only exist between people of the same class.
Friendship is a relationship between individuals based on love, devotion, commitment and trust. Friends love, value and honour one another. There is respect and loyalty among friends, and they watch out for one another. Friends share their secrets, concerns and plans because they have trust and confidence in one another.
There is no formality in friendship. When friends meet, titles and positions are kept aside. The only thing that truly matters is the friendship they share.
Also, according to Britannica Encyclopaedia, there are five attributes that characterise friendship. These are;
It is a dyadic relationship, meaning that it involves a series of interactions between two individuals known to each other.
It is recognised by both members of the relationship and is characterised by a bond or tie of reciprocated affection.
It is not obligatory; two individuals choose to form a friendship with each other.
It is typically egalitarian in nature. Unlike parent-child relationships, for instance, each individual in a friendship has about the same amount of power or authority in the relationship.
It is almost always characterized by companionship and shared activities. In fact, one of the primary goals and motivations of friendship is companionship.
This is the kind of intimate relationship that God desires that we have with the Holy Spirit and this is also why He has taken away all protocols, rules and regulations to bring us right into His presence. This is why the Holy Spirit has taken His abode in us so that He can be as close to us as possible.
But even though He desires friendship with you, you have to consciously reciprocate this desire by drawing near to Him in fellowship. The deeper your friendship with the Holy Spirit, the easier it becomes to pick up His words and therefore, master and increase your spiritual vocabulary.