The Best Friend You Never Knew Part 14: "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him"

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In my last post, you got all the tools you need to initiate contact with both Heavenly Father and Yeshua. Prophets of old likely performed many of the steps summarized in that post, and they parted the veil and conversed with God. Make no mistake: You can, too.

The response from the other side of the veil to your consistent entreaties may be immediate, or it may take a while -- a week, a month, a year or more. But respond they will. And when that day comes -- when you sense a message in your heart and mind that says “I love you so much” or “I’m so proud to be your brother/sister” or “Mom and I are so proud of the decisions you’re making,” you’ll know full well who that came from. And that day on your calendar will never be considered the same again. Your life will never be the same. Because you will know God spoke to you, you heard it and felt it.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

But that’s not all God has in store for you! That’s just the beginning. It’s the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first page of the first notebook of dialogue God will have with you. The more serious, the more consistently you take that relationship, the more God will, too.

And like any relationship here on earth, you are free to let it soar into the stars, with no limits to what your relationship with God can and will become in your life. And despite anything those doubters and naysayers say to elevate their own standing while denigrating your own, you’ll know, deep down inside, that you have a personal, intimate, close and daily-replenished relationship with Father, Mother and Yeshua.

The Junior Primary Line We Adults
Continually Tell Ourselves...and Get Stuck On

I’ll let you in on a little pet peeve of mine. I cringe every time I hear “God loves you,” “God is aware of you,” “God knows your circumstances” or the ever-popular “God knows your name.” This is because after you’ve enjoyed such a close relationship with God, you know -- YOU KNOW -- that God is far, far more involved in your life than just those superficial stereotypes. Of course God knows your name! Of course He knows your circumstances! If God knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7), I think He’s got your name down pat, too. God is way, way, way down the road in terms of name identification with you.

(Imagine your being a child again and living with your parents. Your father is away on a business trip. You wonder if your father loves you. You ask your mom, and she says, “Sweetie, of course He does! He even knows your name!!!!!).

Still, like any relationship, your relationship with Father, Mother and Yeshua needs cultivation every day. Like a plant needs sunlight, food and carbon dioxide, your relationship with Deity needs light, communication and desire. 

And like any relationship, it will grow and develop. Your closeness will be so real, so alive, that you’ll wake up each morning knowing that today, you will hear from God. In some way, He’ll leave you a love note wrapped inside a magnificent sunrise, a bird’s song, a spectacular sunset, a shooting star, or a million other variables.

Every day, you can live a life knowing that He wants to be your everything. And He will stop at nothing -- even to the shedding of His own blood and giving His own life -- to be your everything.

Hehe “He knows your name”???? Are you kidding me? He knows you far, far better than you know yourself. And despite all the screw-ups, mistakes, regrets and stupid things you’ve done in your mortal life, you may someday discover that all that realy kinda pales in comparison to one thing:

He just wants you back in His arms. And He will literally and figuratively move heaven and earth, blood, sweat and tears, to make it so.

The Visit

As your relationship with God continues to develop, you may eventually be confronted with a thought:

“Invite Father, Mother and Yeshua into your home.”

When this is combined with real intent, nothing wavering, and many of the “Formal Prayer” concepts elaborated in my previous post, you’ll discover that this is no ordinary request. It is spirit-inspired. It’s God wanting you to boldly, yet humbly, take your relationship with them to an even higher level.

Are they willing to do just this? Absolutely! Check out John 14:23:

"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

A couple of notes on this verse. In Greek,

• The word “love” is agapa -- a verb denoting “to love, wish well to, take pleasure in, long for; denotes the love of reason, esteem.” (https://biblehub.com/john/14-23.htm)
• “We will come’ is eleusometha, which is a 1st person plural, future indicative verb. At least both of them -- the Father and the Son -- will come.
• “Make” is poiesometha, which means to make, manufacture, construct.
• “Him” is auto, which is actually not gender-specific. It could mean He, she, it, they or them.

The Lord also said,

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Again, like the previous verse, “him” in Greek is auto -- a non-gender-specific designation. 

Thus, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, married or single, old or young, black or white. You have the opportunity to invite He who loves you most to your abode. He may knock on your door, or just appear there. 

And examine that invitation carefully. It doesn’t say, "I will come in if you are good enough" or "I will come in provided you have never done this or that" or “I will come in if you promise never to ......" It only says, "If you will open...I will come in.”

In fact, when you’re taking God up on His offer while knocking on the doors of heaven three times a day (see this post), it would be ungentlemanly for Father or Yeshua to turn down such a consistent -- and heartfelt -- invitation. And it would also be ungentlemanly for the Lord not to return the favor. For He also has an outstanding invitation for you to sup with Him at His feast. The ultimate one, to be held at a future time (see Luke 12:37)

I seriously doubt that such inspired invitations would be given to someone who’s steadfastly lukewarm in their relationship with God. As one pastor once said, “God wants us to allow Him to consume us — God wants our all. We need to be on fire for Him. But as it turns out, many times we are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, for Him. Being lukewarm will keep us from a relationship with God and keep us from inheriting eternal life with God.” (source)

Those who are not lukewarm, and are dedicated to taking God up on His gracious suggestion, can definitely expect spectacular results.

They Invited God into Their Homes...and Saw Their Wishes Fulfilled

“we will obey: as on conditions of our obedience He has promised us great things; yea, even a visit from the heavens to honor us with His own presence.” (Joseph Smith, DHC 1:316–317).

Our first example is from a man who’s passed on, but while he was alive, he lived a life wholly dedicated to God to a very, very, high degree: 

"Brother G" was a tremendously devout Christian all his life. Sometime in the mid- to late-1960s, during his prayer and meditation time, a thought popped into his head:

"Son, would you spend time with me as a friend? I don't have anyone who will just spend time with me as a friend. Everyone always comes with a petition, with intercession, with various requests, but they never just want to be with me for who I am."

Brother G was a very busy man. His days were full. He considered what the Lord had said, and didn't want to commit to something he couldn't fulfill. Finally, Brother G said, "Lord, the only time I have is from 2:00am to 3:30am, but I'll do it."

Brother G kept his word. So every night at 1:50am, he would arise from his bed and go to his sitting room, where he could spend some time with the Lord. In doing this, he would practice "properly framing a picture" of Jesus sitting across from him. He wasn't worried about the accuracy of his mental picture of Jesus, but instead, he would sit down and talk with Jesus like a good friend. "How's your day been, Jesus? What do you think about this or that?" He would also listen to what was on the Lord's heart that evening. He so enjoyed spending time with the Lord, as a friend, that he looked forward and anticipated each evening, when he could be alone with the Lord.

About a year later, as Brother G was sitting down in his chair at 2am, he heard the back door open and close. Then he heard footsteps walking down the hallway.

Into his sitting room walked Jesus, who then sat down in a chair across from Brother G.

How and why did this happen?

The Lord told Brother G that it was because he had been willing to spend that time with the Lord as a friend. It was also because Brother G practiced a very important principle:

“What you focus on, you'll eventually connect with.”

Here’s another man’s (or should I say couple’s) experience:

“My wife has done a tremendous job over the last two years of filling almost every room with either pictures of Jesus or things that symbolize him. Everywhere we turn, Jesus’s pictured presence is there. Also, in our nightly couple’s prayers, we have invited and welcomed Father, Mother and Jesus into our home. We have reminded them of the scriptures in the Bible that says they will sup with us. We have pleaded with them to take our invitations seriously and to surpass our expectations.

They have done just that. Although they haven’t gone visual, their presences have been very obvious and defined. Mother, Father and Jesus have different personalities, different mannerisms, different ways of talking and expressing themselves. They have reached out to us, and we have responded back. Their responses impressed upon both our hearts and minds with insights far above what we would have come up with. 

I have zero doubt that at a future time, they will go visual. It may be one or all three of them. To us, the important thing is knowing that they are intimately involved in our daily lives, and there to help us make our way back to them.” 

Sometimes it’s not a matter of being dedicated, but childlike. Here’s an experience one parent sent me:

“In early 2019 our family was suffering and breaking apart at the seams.  My youngest son (then 6) was in my room as he was afraid.  We were all deep asleep.  Around 2:00 or 3:00am my son woke me, very excitedly.  Saying the same thing over and over, trying to whisper but too excited to posses a silent whisper.  

Once I finally woke enough to understand, I see his big excited brown eyes staring in the dark.  He said, “mom, Jesus was here.”  I said, “how do you know?”  He said, “because I saw him.”  

He quickly jumped from the bed, to stand at the foot of our large bed.  He put his arms in the air like wings.  He said, “he came to the bottom of the bed, smiled big, raised his arms and said it’s going to be alright.  Then as soon as he did this he backed up into the wall, which was actually a giant bright light, but I feel happy mom. It’s going to be ok.”

I will never forget the joy in my sons face that night or the peace I felt in the room.”

Why God Likely Doesn’t Visit More Homes Very Much Anymore

You see, it’s not a question of “if” Jesus comes knocking on your door, but “when” He comes knocking on your door. My bet: He knocks everyday on the door of your heart, wanting come in to you. As you consistently and passionately let Him through the door of your heart and mind, you can then explore further ways of Jesus entering your life.

The testimonies and scenarios I’ve just presented to you are, in my opinion, extremely unique. Although they’re meant for everybody, it seems like hardly anybody gets to experience them. There’s likely a bajillion reasons why not. 

I think a huge reason why we don’t hear many more of these experiences is because, well, we just don’t talk about them anymore. It’s just too sacred to talk about! That makes the experiences even more and more rare, to the extent that -- over time and over generations -- when something legitimately spiritual happens, it's considered a myth or a heresy. We just don’t believe it’s possible anymore. (Does it seem to you like I’m not the first one to be saying this?)

Another possibility is that we just aren’t willing to pay the price for these experiences. As Joseph Smith stated, 

"You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God... God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial kingdom of God" (Journal of Discourses, 24:197).

A third possibility is that one just loses steam on the way to the destination. Other things become more important, we’re too selfish in our motives, or we just give up on God. We lose sight of the fact that by its very nature, faith must be tested and tried. But if you really examine His life, you’ll see that Yeshua preferred to spend His time not with the learned, the powerful, the esteemed, but the rejected, the outcast, the contagious, those caked and drenched in sin, even the despised. If He can prefer to spend His time with these kinds of people, then there’s likely very good hope for you as well.

Seek Him. Invite Him. Welcome Him. Expect Him into your heart, your mind, your life, your home. Never give up. Never diminish your desire. Always know that Yeshua is a perfect gentleman, and when the time is best, He’ll take you up on your offer. And when He does, your friend (who loves to spend time with you) will radically revolutionize your life filled with the cool and abundant springs of living waters that will rejuvenate you, your family and beyond.