so i'm supposed to be talking to you about  prayer in the psalms and of course since the  

psalms is the prayer book of the  bible the place to learn about prayer  

there's almost an infinite amount of things i  could say i mean the lord's prayer tells you in a  

nutshell what you should pray but it's the psalms  the book of psalms that's the place in the bible  

where it teaches you how to pray and every single  possible human situation or condition is described  

or depicted in the psalms and you're in every one  of those conditions you are instructed you are  

shown how to pray how to address god how to pray  yourself through it so there's almost an infinite  

number of themes i could be touching on instead  i'm going to just touch on one i'm going to  

tell you what that theme is and why i think it's  helpful i hope today and the theme i'm thinking  

about is in psalm 25 14 the better translations i  think put it like this the friendship of the lord  

is with those who fear him and to them he makes  his covenant known the friendship of the lord is  

with those who fear him and to them he gives his  covenant he shares his covenant makes known to him  

now uh the word friendship is a translation of a  hebrew word soth it's a word that means intimate  

counsel and advice the kind of counsel that an  intimate friend gives to another intimate friend  

and uh it also by the way some you can find some  of your translations might say the secret of the  

lord is with those who fear them because that's  also the meaning of the word uh it's to your  

friends you tell secrets you confide in them so  psalm 25 verse 14 says it's possible to have a  

relationship with god that is one of intimate  friendship in which god is confiding in us uh  

that god becomes our close friend that's what that  is talking about through prayer among other things  

we get many things through prayer but one of  the things prayers it means to is friendship  

with god now why do i think that's helpful right  now uh think of the word spirituality for a second  

it's a very popular word now and it's it's  it's fine it's with us it means generally  

speaking experience of god prayer i use  the word spirituality but there's a caution  

a cautionary note that needs to be  struck i think at this point and that is  

our secular culture loves spirituality as in  i'm spiritual but not religious and though  

spirituality and religiosity can  you be given a number of different  

definitions i think what they mean when  they say i'm spiritual not religious is this  

i want to be inspired i want to feel i have some  kind of connection to something divine beyond me  

but i still want to be able to live my life  the way i want to live my life i don't want  

the discipline of discipleship i don't want the  discipline of having to belong to a community  

so i want spiritual not religious usually means i  want to feel that i'm in connection with some kind  

of divine reality love peace but i still want  to live my life the way i want to live my life  

now what's interesting to me is is the  biblical understanding of friendship  

with god gives you the intimacy  that modern people are looking for  

and actually gives you an intimacy with god that  other religions can't offer they don't offer  

they don't try and yet the commitment to truth  to discipleship to sacrifice is all there once  

we understand what it means when it says  when the bible says that through prayer we  

can be friends with god so let's uh divide the  rest of our time like this friendship with god  

that it's possible why it's possible and how  it's possible that is possible why and how  

first it's possible that is possible that's what  the bible says it says uh exodus verse 33 chapter  

33 verse 11 god talked to moses as a man talks  with a friend you know james chapter 2 i think  

23 yeah abraham we're told was a friend of god  now aristotle thinks that's outrageous aristotle  

believed that the idea that you could be friends  with a god was crazy and the reason he said that  

was uh it was impossible to be friends with a  god was because we didn't have enough in common  

now what aristotle is saying when he says you  can't possibly be friends with a god we don't  

have enough in common aristotle is giving  us an idea of friendship which is right  

uh c s lewis was one of the best modern-day  channelers of the ancient understanding of  

friendship in his book the four loves and at one  place in the four loves c.s lewis says look eros  

which is of course romantic erotic love  and philos which is friendship love  

uh in their essence they're  somewhat different if you had to  

depict them in eros two people are looking at each  other adoring each other but in philos friendship  

two people are side to side you know shoulder  to shoulder and looking at something else  

and um c.s lewis says that friendships start  with the explicit or implicit statement you too

you love this painting too you like this music too  you've had the same experience with your parents  

too you see friendship starts when there's two  people looking at the same thing and they have  

it in common you too and that's the beginning of  friendship that's the beginning of the particular  

kind of intimacy that friendship brings uh and  that's what aristotle's saying aristotle's saying  

you could never i mean no human being could ever  look at a god and say you too how can you do that

here's why it's possible here's why aristotle  who's considerably smarter than not only me but  

probably everybody else in this room though there  might be a couple outliers out there in which  

case three thousand years from now if the world  goes on they'll be talking about your writings

aristotle's a smart guy got this wrong here's why  

biblical theology almost every part of  biblical theology shows us why friendship  

with god is possible first of all let's talk  about the doctrine of god we have a triune god  

we have a god who's not unipersonal one god but  three persons in that one god he's try personal  

father son holy spirit who know and  love each other and have been doing  

that throughout eternity in which case you could  actually say god the triune god is a friendship  

now by the way the doctrine of the trinity  is such that if you put too much emphasis on  

god's oneness or too much emphasis on god's  threeness you run into trouble you you don't  

do justice of the biblical material so you  have to always keep this in balance but for  

the moment i'm just going to look at the threeness  and saint augustine though by the way if he's ever  

criticized in his trinitarian theology he's often  criticized for too much oneness but nevertheless  

augustine pointed out that if we had a unipersonal  god a god who um existed as a as a person and then  

later on started to create angels or human beings  or whatever see a love is only possible between  

persons and so if god starts as one person  then god would be power before he was love  

in other words he'd use his power to start create  beings and because he had beings then he could  

enter into relation with beings and those beings  that that would be love but you see as augustine  

said if god was unipersonal then power would be  primary and love would be secondary to god's being  

but because we have a triune god a god  who is a friendship from all eternity  

therefore friendship communication  love relationship is primary

so the doctrine of god god is a friendship  secondly the doctrine of creation you and  

i are made in the image of god what does that  mean well it means a lot but again let's just  

take a look at one thing it means we're made  in the image of a god who is a friendship

and therefore i've i've been  around when people have been dying  

i've been a pastor for a long time and i want  you to know that i've never heard anybody say  

as they were dying oh i wish i had made more  money i wish i'd spent more time at work  

i wish i'd accrued more power no no no they always  say i wish i spent more time with my children i  

wish i had done better with my friends they're  always saying of relationships relationships  

why because they're made in the image of god and  this god because our god is triune love friendship  

relationship is primary and then there's then  there's the whole history of redemption do you  

know that the entire history of redemption in a  sense is one gigantic cosmic act of friendship  

first of all god becomes a human being god  the son becomes a human being and you know  

what that means what it says in hebrews he  was made like us in every way except for sin  

he was made like us in every way except for sin so  first of all god knows what it's like to be human  

god knows what it's like to live a life but more  than that on the cross john chapter 15 jesus says  

the greatest act of friendship possible is to lay  down your life for your friends no other god of  

any other major religion could possibly lay down  his life for his friends because no other god went  

through the the act the first act of friendship  which is incarnation i'm going to become like you  

so i become vulnerable i become mortal i become  killable and then on the cross what does jesus  

do he becomes like us not just in our life  but in our death in our darkness in fact  

on the cross jesus christ becomes like us in  our lostness my god my god why has you hast  

thou forsaken me in our lostness oh aristotle  look look at jesus christ look at the son of god  

crying yelling being betrayed all the  sorts of things that we go through  

feeling cut off from god and now you can look  up at jesus christ the son of god you can say  

you too see is aristotle's wrong it's possible  to be friends with god every single aspect of  

biblical theology tells you that's possible  and or another way to put it is every single  

aspect of biblical theology makes it possible for  us to be friends with god now this is about prayer  

let's talk finally about how it's possible that is  possible why it's possible but how is it how is it  

cultivated and what i like about thinking about  prayer in terms of friendship with god is the the  

the friendship gives them gives me a framework  for the prayer here let me show you what i mean  

there's let's see how many will i give you one two  three four i'm gonna give you five five ways to  

cultivate friendship with god number one obedience  didn't think i was gonna go there did you

intimacy with god obedience  start there why well for example  

john chapter 15 verse 14 jesus says if you  do what i command you you are my friends  

by the way psalm 66 18 says if i cherished  iniquity in my heart he would not hear me  

now see let's i can't tell you how many  people i know who found that they lost  

their intimacy with god their friendship  with god because they weren't obeying him  

now here's where aristotle is kind of this is  probably why aristotle was concerned about talking  

about friendship with god or the gods he says  no we're too different well i tried to show you  

that because of biblical theology we're not too  different because of the image of god in me and  

you and because the atonement and the incarnation  on god's side because the image of god on our side  

stunningly we can be god's friends but  the fact is that god is not just like us  

yes he's a lot like us only because of the  incarnation and the atonement but he's not  

just like us and we must never think of  friendship with god as treating him just like us  

uh for there's two reasons why  obedience is necessary for friendship  

number one if he's if you obey him you're going  to become more like him it's called holiness  

and all of you know who have had friendships  for a long period of time his friends rub off  

on each other you know friends rub off on each  other they they they uh they sharpen each other  

they move each other more toward  one another in many ways you have to  

now jesus christ has already done his part he's  come an enormously long way to become like us  

called the incarnation the atonement okay  that's a long way but it's only through  

obedience you start to move closer to  him you start to become more like him  

and therefore without obedience there can't  be friendship because friendship in friendship  

people converge they come together they they they  learn from each other they they become more like  

each other in many ways but here's a second reason  why obedience is necessary for friendship with god  

and that is isn't it true don't we always say that  if this person is going to be your friend you've  

got to let that person be him or herself you've  got to allow transparency you need transparency  

you want that person not to try to be somebody  that you want them to be they you need to know who  

that person really is that person needs to be him  or herself with you isn't that friendship right  

okay well then how do you have friendship with  the lord of the universe without treating him  

like he is and letting him be himself  the only way to do that is to obey him  

obey him elizabeth elliott tells a story  that i've never forgotten because you see why  

she talks she tells about  how her little brother tommy  

was always told by his mother that he could  play with his toys but he had to put them away

and one day he had played with them a lot of them  weren't really toys they were like paper bags and  

things like that that they used to play with but  he had taken all these things out and he had been  

playing with him and he left them all over the  floor and suddenly he noticed oh it's time for my  

music lessons because his music lessons are at a  certain point so he went into the living room and  

he got up uh into the piano and he started playing  his uh his his practice uh lessons well evidently  

uh elizabeth and tommy's mother came in saw that  he had left the place a wreck walks in the living  

room and says tommy you did not put away your  things but tommy because he was practicing a  

christian home you know what his lessons were he  was playing hymns his his practicing the the the  

piano uh his practice piano time uh was uh playing  hims so tommy says mom i'm singing praise to jesus

and she said and this will go  down you know in the ages she said  

there's no use singing praises to jesus when  you're being disobedient but i have to tell  

you our churches are filled with people that  come for a high on sunday but they're being  

disobedient they come they want to feel good they  want to be spiritual but not religious i guess  

you know they want to have the feeling of intimacy  but they don't want to get their life in line  

but that you know jesus said listen if you obey  what i command you you are my friends so the first  

thing you need for an intimate friendship with god  is obedience second thing you need is to believe  

in justification by faith alone you said oh yeah  i knew tim keller would get to that somehow i have  

no idea how he does it but there it is well yeah  um i think i have to and here's the reason why  

psalm 1 well before i even get this on one listen  if you are trying to have a relationship with god  

and you do not understand the doctrine of  justification by faith alone you do not understand  

that you are not saved by your works or saved by  your moral efforts but that it's a it's a gift  

through what jesus christ did on the cross if  you don't understand that your relationship  

with god has to be a mercenary one basically  god cannot be your friend god will be your boss  

now when you're working for your employer  you have a relationship you're the employee  

that's the employer and you might be friendly with  your boss but you know the fundamental nature of  

the relationship no matter how friendly you are  it is a mercenary relationship you have to do xyz  

and your boss has to pay you xyz if you don't  do xyz no matter how friendly they are they're  

probably going to have to fire you even if the  boss likes you the upper boss is going to make you  

go or on the other hand frankly if you  do xyz and your boss doesn't do xyz then  

you have every right to quit they you might be  friendly with the person but you say i'm sorry  

i took this job you paid this amount you're not  paying me this amount i mean i like you you're a  

friend but i got to go so friendliness might  be in there but the bottom line relationship  

is a mercenary one this person's  your boss not your friend  

and unless you believe the gospel of grace unless  you have a deep understanding of justification by  

faith alone then you're you can't have  friendship with god it's going to be a  

mercenary one you're going to be doing your thing  and you're going to be expecting your benefits  

and of course if god doesn't come through and  answer some of your prayers you're going to  

say where are my benefits and you're going to be  ready to walk because you were friendly to god  

but basically you're not friends you're  not loving because you've been loved  

you're just doing because you've been done for now  psalm 1 interestingly enough says the godly man  

or woman delights in the law of god and meditates  on it day and night now i want you to know  

psalm chapter one that statement especially  to me makes no sense without the new testament  

with the new testament makes incredible sense  it doesn't just say i delight in the law of  

god uh to obey the law of god it says i delight  the the godly man delights and meditates on it  

you know in jesus christ in the sermon on the  mount gives you the ultimate meditation on  

the law of god there's a tendency if you  just look at the ten commandments to say  

oh yeah i can do that but jesus says  let's think about it let's meditate on it  

you know it says thou shalt not kill but you  know the implications of that means means to love  

it means you're not supposed to hate you're not  supposed to resent you're not supposed to despise  

yeah don't give it adultery but you know that  means you're not supposed to lust and jesus is  

meditating on it let me tell you something once  you understand once you meditate on the law of  

god the way jesus is is meditating on the law of  god i don't know how somebody who is not saved by  

the blood of christ i don't know how somebody who  doesn't understand the doctrine of justification  

by faith alone could ever look at the sermon on  the mount and not be absolutely petrified by it  

and i think i think it's dr david martin  lloyd-jones once heard i think he said this  

somewhere in his great book on that he said  one time some somebody once said well to be a  

christian you don't have to believe in jesus you  just have to live according to the sermon on the  

mount and dr lloyd jones says have you ever you  read it god save me from the sermon on the mount  

i mean other if the sermon on  the mind is true i've got no hope  

and see the only way to delight in the law of god

and not find the law of god an everlasting despair  is if you understand that jesus christ fulfilled  

the law of god perfectly he delighted in the law  of god he went to the cross he lived the life you  

should have lived a perfect life and then die to  death you should have died in your place and now  

because that's all taken care of now i can delight  in the law of god now is it is now a way for me  

to please my friend why what's the law of god it  tells me what my friend loves and what he hates  

and now that it's no longer an everlasting despair  it's something i can actually use something i can  

actually do something i can actually uh uh use  in my friendship it's no longer a way for me  

to to basically coerce god into giving  me benefits and now it's a way for me  

to love my friend and they become like my  friend you see so if you don't obedience  

number one to cultivate friendship of god  belief in the justification by faith alone  

now thirdly a dynamic two-way communication you  cannot be friends without two-way communication  

and everybody knows well prayer is praying  to god but how do you hear god see friendship  

isn't friendship if it's just one way  sometimes frankly okay prayer is a flare  

please okay well you know psalm 61 is it from the  ends of the earth i cry to you don't you feel that  

way sometimes from the ends of the earth i cry to  you o lord sure sometimes prayer is a flare but  

but for prayer to really be friendship you don't  just talk you have to hear how does that happen  

now there are plenty of people who say oh yes  of course to be friends with god you pray but  

you have to hear him in your heart and by the  way yeah i actually do think especially when  

you do what i'm about to tell you to do hearing in  your heart is definitely a fair way of putting it  

but i have to tell you when you just have a  feeling that god is saying you should move  

and you should you should move and go to another  town or you should take you should quit your job  

and take another job or you should date this  person or you should stop dating this person  

god told me that whenever i have people that tell  me they have this strong impression these things  

are from god i would say well that may be maybe  the wisdom of god it may not be but i i wish i  

usually say i wish you wouldn't say god told me  that because i'll tell you this tell you this

oh well you know infelicitous rhetoric i will  say this if i'm getting messages that i'm not  

sure from my friend it's not the best way to  communicate so i think that's from her i think  

that's from him no i need to know it's from  him or her and frankly things that go on your  

heart can be wrong you know george whitefield  thought god told him that his son was going to  

grow up to be a great preacher and then his son  died as an infant of a of a in tragically of a  

a sickness and whitfield realized that even though  he thought god was telling him that was actually  

fatherly pride which he mistook as the as divine  prompting and so look if you want to know that  

god is speaking to you and that's the only way  to have a decent friendship you have to know  

your friend is speaking to you've got to go to the  bible because in the bible god is speaking to you  

not only is god speaking to you hebrews chapter 4  verse 12 says the word of god is alive and active  

you know in in genesis 1 god said let there  be light and there was light he doesn't say  

god said let there be light and then went  ahead and made light god's word was his power  

god said let let to be light and there was  light go to psalm 29 it talks about the uh  

it says uh uh you know the the thunder it thunders  it lightnings and it says the voice of the lord  

thunder is the voice of the lord lightnings  it's like genesis chapter one that is when  

god speaks it happens god's word is a power  it's not like god's word is not like our word  

we say something but then we have to do it god's  word is his act of power and when you hear god  

speaking to you in his word when you study his  word when you hear his voice to you in his word  

that is his power coming into your life  that is his reality coming into your life

so the psalm chapter 1 is the first psalm but  psalms is a prayer book and psalm 1 is not about  

praying you notice that it's  about meditating on the bible  

and eugene peterson and some other people  who have studied the psalms for years say  

that psalm 1 is a gateway into the rest of the  psalter it's almost like saying if you want to  

make sure your prayer life is meaningful  you need to be deep into the word of god  

when you study the word of god god is  speaking to you and then you respond in prayer  

and you must respond to what god says to  you in his word not just how you're feeling  

i i just mentioned eugene peterson he  can say some powerful things about that  

peterson says that if it's  friendship it has to be two ways  

prayer listen to the word of god and then and  then responding through prayer listen to the  

word of god and responding through prayer that's  how you have a friendship because you're actually  

responding in prayer to to the friend who actually  exists not just the friend you want him to be  

you've got to let your prayer life be galvanized  by the word so eugene peterson says it like this  

in a world of prayers that indulge the religious  ego and cultivate passionate longings the psalms  

stand out with a kind of angular austerity left  to ourselves we will pray to some god who speaks  

what we like hearing or to the part of god we  manage to understand but what is critical is  

that we speak to the god who speaks to us and  to everything that he speaks to us in the bible  

there's a difference between praying to an unknown  god whom we hope to discover in our praying  

and praying to the known god revealed through  israel in jesus christ who speaks our language  

in the first we indulge our appetite for religious  fulfillment in the second we practice obedient  

faith the first is a lot more fun the second is  a lot more important what is essential in prayer  

is not that we learn to express ourselves but  that we learn to answer god the songs were not  

prayed by people trying to understand themselves  they were not the record of people searching for  

the meaning of life they were prayed by people who  understood that god had everything to do with them  

god not their feelings was the center  god not their souls was this issue  

god not the meaning of life was critical feeling  souls and meanings were not excluded they're very  

much in evidence but they are not the reason  for the prayers human experience might provoke  

the prayers but they do not condition them it is  not simply a belief in god that conditions these  

prayers but a doctrine of god we would rather pray  by exploring our own deep spiritual capacities  

with god as background music without bothering  with the tedium and complexity of the scriptures  

but if we elect the psalms to train us in prayer  these are the conditions in which we will be  

working it's got to be two ways you want to have  friendship you've got to be immersed in the word  

of god your prayer has to be in response  to what god's saying to you in his word  

that's number three so we said oh  how do you cultivate friendship  

obedience belief in justification by faith  alone dynamic two-way communication in which  

your prayer is a response to your getting  deeply grounded in the word here's the fourth  

sometimes a real experience of his presence  that the psalms calls seeking his face  

um got to be careful here and  i am a presbyterian so how  

i don't know this might sound kind of  strange sometimes you got to feel them

now look let's think about what  the bible means when the bible  

talks about seeking god's face i seek thy face

even today in our digital age if you have  been emailing somebody or you connected  

with them online or you even talked them  on the phone the first time you see them  

in the flesh and you shake their hand or you  give them a hug you know what they usually  

usually say you say something like  this great to finally meet you

and the reason for it is to actually see  somebody face to face flesh the flesh  

conveys so much more about that person than any  other medium possible you're just getting all  

kinds of data you're getting such a better  picture of the reality who that person is  

than you can ever do through email or through  social media or through phone calls or frankly  

even by the way you know skype or things like  that to see them in the flesh three-dimensional  

and there's something like that going on when  the bible talks about seeking god's face i mean  

the bible uses sensory language sometimes for  prayer so psalm 27 which i've already talked about  

david says there's only one primary thing he asks  to gaze on the beauty of the lord to gaze on the  

beauty of the lord don't believe he's talking  about a literal vision to his physical eyes  

uh you know psalm 63 says oh god my soul  thirsts for you i've seen you in the sanctuary  

i beheld your power and your glory because  your love is better than life i will praise you  

my soul is satisfied as with the richest of  foods you notice in psalm uh one of the psalms  

says taste and see that the lord is good it  doesn't just say know that the lord is good  

taste it now why does it use sensory  language jonathan edwards is going to say  

it's one thing to know god is holy with the mind  it's another thing to sense his holiness on your  

heart in prayer so that it changes you and makes  you not want to sin anymore it's one thing to know  

in the abstract that god is love it's another  thing to actually feel his love on your heart  

sense it on your heart so that you start to  live loved instead of living such a needy life  

there's a difference and and you can't always you  certainly aren't in control of when that happens  

but friendship with god means  that sometimes when you pray

you see his face as it were not with the  physical eyes john owen who's a pretty you know  

austere theologian in many ways puts it like this  he says when you're meditating on the word of god  

first comes the actual exercise of the mind he  says fix your thoughts and meditations on the  

spiritual truth then comes the inclination of all  your affections of your heart toward these things  

whereby they cleave to the spiritual  truths and make an engagement unto them  

now what he's saying is first of all you fix the  biblical doctrine in your mind but then secondly  

try to incline your heart toward it ask yourself  questions like if i really took this seriously  

why would i would i feel different yes i  would would i act different yes i would  

you know talk to yourself and  say have i really grasped this  

this is remarkable how would this make me  different if i took it seriously so you're  

inclining your heart toward the truth and then he  says finally sometimes comes a relish and a savor  

in which lies the sweetness and the  satisfaction of the spiritual life  

we then taste by experience that god is gracious  and that the love of christ is better than wine  

and then he says he adds this if we settle for  mere speculations and mental notions about christ  

as doctrine we shall find no transforming  power or efficacy communicated unto us  

thereby but when under the conduct of spiritual  light our affections do sometimes cleave unto him  

with full purpose of heart our minds  fill up with thoughts and delights in him  

then virtue which means change in character  will proceed from him to purify us increase  

our holiness and sometimes notice sometimes  fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory

so friendship means obedience it comes from  being it's cultivated through obedience belief in  

justification by faith alone a dynamic interplay  between your prayer life and the word of god  

and sometimes by god's grace because you're  seeking it seeing his face here's one last thing  

of all the things you should meditate on in  order to be enhance your friendship with god  

meditate on jesus death as an act of friendship  meditate on jesus death as an act of friendship  

uh derek kidner my favorite commentator of  the psalms and the proverbs he wrote the  

tyndale commentaries and psalms and problems many  years ago proverbs he defines friendship now he's  

talking when the bible talks about friendship he  defines it at one point as candor and constancy  

candor means vulnerability openness  transparency constancy means commitment  

sticking with you there is a friend  that sticketh closer than a brother  

so constance excuse me candor and constancy means  friends always let you in never let you down  

i always have time for you always open their  hearts but never let you down well take a look  

at jesus christ on the cross you know i don't  remember much from my college boxing class  

but i do remember they said never have your hands  at your sides never have your hands out like this  

always have your hands like this always always  always put your hands in front of you never put  

your hands to your side jesus christ not only  put his hands to his side his hands were nailed  

out there how much more vulnerable could he be  he made himself absolutely vulnerable to you  

he let you all the way in and of course he never  let he didn't let you down he had all of hell  

coming down on him and yet he said not my will but  thine be done you know charles spurgeon i think  

it was that said you know and jesus christ looked  down from the cross and saw the people denying him  

and betraying him and forsaking him and mocking  him and rejecting him and in the greatest act of  

friendship in the history of the  world he stayed he just stayed

you know there's a

in the second boris karloff frankenstein movie

some of you are saying where is this going  the second bars karla frankenstein movie  

was called bride of frankenstein there's  a pretty famous uh scene in that second  

movie where the monster who still can't speak he's  growling you know you know he's on he's running  

away through the woods and in the middle of the  forest he finds this cottage of an old blind man  

the man's blind and he's uh as the monster is  coming in the blind man is on his knees praying  

to god saying oh god please give me a friend to  be of some comfort to me in my terrible loneliness  

and then in comes the monster now the monster  he the blind man can't see him not afraid but  

he can sense the man can't the monster can't  speak and he says oh you have an affliction  

you can't speak i have an affliction i can't see  we can be friends so the blind man begins to be  

so friendly this is something the monster the  frankenstein monster has never experienced  

he feeds him he takes care of him he sings to  him and and you can see under the the power  

of the friendship which the monster has  never experienced he starts to humanize  

he starts to say things like food and good but  then of course some soldiers who are out there  

trying to find the monster they look into the  cottage they see the monster they attack the  

cottage the cottages burn down to the ground and  all you see at the end of the scene is the monster  

groping off into the woods out of the fire and  the and the smoke just saying friend friend  

friend where's my friend it's almost like the  frankenstein monsters it reminds me of me because  

until i found jesus christ i felt like i was  sort of stitched together by what everybody  

else said about me you know my parents  said one thing about me and my you know  

my friend said another thing about me and  everybody had a different thing they ver a  

verdict they they gave me about who i was so my  self-image looked like a frankenstein monster  

uh what i needed what you need is a  friend the ultimate friend whose love  

can overturn all the other verdicts and make you  human we're all out there like him every human  

being is out there looking for the friend friend  friend if i could just find the ultimate friend  

then i could finally be the human being  that i'm meant to be well here he is

let's pray thank you father for being a god who  can be our friend no other religion offers this  

they don't even try many understand  it as being madness but we thank you  

thank you so much that it is not it's it's  god's truth we pray that you would teach  

us how not just to say our prayers  but to be a friend to you in prayer  

be a friend to us find us show us your  face we pray it in jesus name amen

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Discovering How to Pray: Prayer in the Psalms

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Discovering How to Pray: Prayer in the Psalms