You are My friends by Hendrik Vorster

Newsletter

The Witness 28 August 2008

You are My friends... "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" "Yes, Lord," he answered, "you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Take care of my lambs." A second time Jesus said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord," he answered, "you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Take care of my sheep." A third time Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" and so he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!" Jesus said to him, "Take care of my sheep. (Joh 21:15-17) GNB the 21st of August, as I came before the Lord, waiting on him, I quieted my soul and rested in my God. I did not want to come before Him with any expectations in my heart that morning. The Lord Jesus had been revealing many things to us the last month, both very encouraging and very radical. It has truly been a cloud break of revelation and promises from God.

through many signs and wonders, through which He revealed many things, which will soon take place, and had chosen us to fulfill this specific task, of preparing God’s people for His coming, I desired to meet our Lord Jesus Christ face to face. I desired to understand His heart for His bride and for all mankind. I desired to have His heart for His people.

As I thought about these things and those things to come the Lord in His love spoke to me…

As I waited on the Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God

You are My Friend… came upon me, as was written: “Come to Me, all you who labor and having been burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, 'and you will find rest for your souls.' [Jer 6:16] "For My yoke [is] easy, and My burden is light." (Mat 11:28-30) ALT

One touch from God…

I have desired to understand the Lord’s heart and His desire for this hour and this generation, when the Lord gave me the most awesome revelation. I have considered this to be the most precious of the all other revelations, which Jesus Christ has revealed to me thus far.

Then word of the Lord came to me and the Lord asked me a very profound question? This question was asked with the deepest love and concern for my feelings.

This revelation has deeply touched me and will change the way I look at all those gifts and blessings, which God had given and will give us. Since the Lord Jesus Christ had called us to be His servants, proving it

Then Jesus asked me: “Do you know why I reveal these all these things to you?” Then, when I did not answer, the Lord said: "Because you are My friend!" As the Lord said these words I wept before the Lord. I realized that

The Witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ South Africa, Pretoria info@witnessesforjesuschrist.co.za & www.witnessesforjesuschrist.co.za This letter was written as a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ so that by all possible means God’s people will be prepared for the works of service to which He has called them. Proclaim His coming, for His coming is soon at hand. (1 Cor 9:1-27) Please send this letter to as many others so that they may be blessed. This letter may be copied, but all rights are reserved as revealed from the Lord Jesus Christ and those ministries mentioned. Therefore give Glory to whom Glory belong.

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Newsletter

The Witness 28 August 2008

I have been laboring before the Lord for the breakthrough of the church and the last great harvest, before He comes to take away His bride from this earth. The Lord had shown us many things, which we could not even understand. Some revelations, which we have received from the Lord, are hard to understand. It could sometimes take months of prayer, studying and waiting on the Lord, before we would understand what God had shown us, and even then we would only have a part of the puzzle, as Paul said: “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; and “What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete, as complete as God's knowledge of me.” (1Co 13:9 & 12) ALT & GNB See the Newsletter: The Apple of His Eye-Part 1-Seeing Face to Face. This can sometimes be very frustrating and discouraging, humbling us as we realize that we are absolutely dependent on God. For Peter said: “Clothe yourselves with humility, for, "God resists [or, sets Himself in opposition against] proud [people], but He give grace to humble [people]." [Prov 3:34] Therefore, be humbled [or, humble yourselves] under the mighty hand of God, so that He shall exalt you at [the proper] time, having cast all your anxiety upon Him, for it is a concern to Him about you [fig., for He cares about you]. (1Pe 5:5b-7) ALT With God all things are possible, but with man this is impossible!

of the devil. We can see the goal; we have the vision from the Lord, but do not yet see the fruit of our labor. But when God the Father of our Lord Jesus say to you: “You are My friend!” Then it makes all the difference! It makes everything worth while again. Then I can say, like Paul said: “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and sacred service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all. And in the same [manner], you also are to be rejoicing and are to be rejoicing together with me.” (Php 2:17-18) ALT Even if all the work we do before the Lord is worthless, then it is still worth it, because to know that He loves us; make serving Him the greatest pleasure and delight. I know that you will be touched and changed by the living words of God and then you will rejoice with me until the time of His glorious coming. Do you affectionately love Me...?

After

this, the Lord gave me the most intimate revelation from His heart for us, saying: “You say that I have tested Peter’s love for Me, when I asked Peter, as was written: "Simon, [son] of Jonah, do you love [agape] Me more than these?" He says to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I affectionately love [phileo] You." He says to him, "Feed My lambs." He says to him again a second time, "Simon, [son] of Jonah, do you love [agape] Me?" He says to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I affectionately love [phileo] You." He says to him, "Tend My sheep." He says to him the third time, "Simon, [son] of Jonah, do you affectionately love [phileo] Me?" Peter was grieved [deeply touched] that He said to him the third time, "Do you affectionately love [phileo] Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all. You know that I affectionately love [phileo] You." Jesus says to him, "Feed My sheep." (Joh 21:16-17) KJV

I praise God, who has always answered our prayers, answering them according to His timing and seasons. I praise God that I do not live in a country where I am persecuted for my faith. Yet I struggle daily before the Lord for the restoration of the body of Christ. Sometimes when we labor in the Spirit, before the Lord, for the church, who is His body, we do not realize that we can also get tired and discouraged. We might not be facing the physical persecution of our bodies, but we do get great attacks in the Spirit. We are opposed, sometimes even very subtly, by the schemes

But then the Holy Spirit said: “No, I assure you, I did not test Him, but assured Him of My most intimate

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Newsletter

The Witness 28 August 2008

love for him. Twice I asked Him whether He loved me unconditionally, when he answered me: “Lord you know that I am your friend!” Then at last, I said to him, who have denied Me three times, and needed to be comforted by Me, accepting his need for My friendship: “Peter, are you My friend?” This was not a question to test him, but to assure him of the Lord’s love. At the moment when the Lord Jesus said this to Peter he was so deeply touched by the Lord’s love and acceptance of His companionship that he wept! This question broke open Peter’s heart, who felt ashamed and had feared rejection from Jesus Christ. He was unwilling to believe that Jesus could still love him after what He had done to Jesus in denying Him as his friend.

glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who exchanged the truth of God into a lie, (Rom 1:21-25) KJV We have lost our true ability to discern the truth from the lie. We have become accustomed to all the lies we have been fed by critics and hypocrites. We have been desensitized by the false propaganda and the media. Our hearts have been unable to believe that God can still love us or accept us as His friends. This caused many to turn away from God, exchanging the blessing of God’s love for a lie and serving of other gods. This in its turn would cast many into empty and hopeless lives.

It was once said: “One word from God can change a nation!” Truly this one word from the Lord, so deeply touched my heart that I will continually be thankful, seeing those things with God had shown us as His love revealed to us.

God is for us…

Jesus once said, to those who already believed in Him: "If you remain in My word, truly you are My disciples. "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!" (Joh 8:31-32) ALT

Exchanged good for evil…

We so often hear that the gospel is good news, but we find it hard to believe this, because of all the false impressions we have of God and of Jesus Christ. Satan is called the father of lies. Since the beginning, he did everything he could to put God in a bad light, making Him look like the ‘bad guy’ in the story. He has twisted and turned the truth so many times that in the end we think that good is evil and evil is good, as was written: “Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighted in them; or, where is the God of judgment?” (Mal 2:17) KJV

What Jesus really said was that you would know by experience and you will truly understand what He meant when you continue to practice His words, and then this will make you free. Jesus came to show us what would make us free. He did not come to put a heavy burden upon us, making it more difficult for us to live for Him. Religion has always replaced the truth for a lie, just like Paul prophesied saying: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2Ti 3:5) KJV But Paul said: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31) KJV

And as was written to the Romans: “…, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the

And “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things

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Newsletter

The Witness 28 August 2008

intentions of the heart [fig., inner self]. And no created thing is able to be hidden before Him, but all [things are] naked and have been exposed to His eyes to whom we [must give] an account. (Heb 4:12-13) ALT

present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39) KJV Thus, God love you and is not always trying to get you, ready to see when you make just one mistake. He knows your deepest desire is to be accepted and loved. He wants you to allow Him to love and accept you as His friend. He is so humble that He would not come into your life unless you invite Him. We have had so many bad experiences from those who have said they loved us, that we are scared of ‘love’! But this love from man is a perverse ‘love’.

God looks not only at what we do for Him, but why we do it. When God gave me this heart felt understanding, I suddenly understood why God gave good gifts of spiritual revelation and spiritual understanding to us. He has revealed these things to us, because He loves us, just like Paul said: "What [things] an eye did not see and an ear did not hear and did not enter into the heart of humanity, which [things] God prepared for the ones loving Him." [Isaiah 64:4] (1Co 2:9) ALT

God’s love is not the same. We are open to believe in God in a cognitive way, but as long as no one touches the vial of pain, caused because of ‘love’. We will not allow anyone to come close to us. We have a saying: “Once bitten twice shy!” It is hard for us to trust God after we have believed Satan’s lies about God and ourselves. We often ask ourselves the question: “How can one, whom I can not see, love me? Does He even care?” We built such high walls around ourselves that not even God can come close to us.

And then Paul said: “But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the Spirit, the [One] from God, so that we should know the [things] having been graciously given to us by God; (1Co 2:12) ALT What I discovered was that as the prophet Isaiah said: “The LORD said, "I was ready to answer my people's prayers, but they did not pray. I was ready for them to find me, but they did not even try. The nation did not pray to me, even though I was always ready to answer, 'Here I am; I will help you.' I have always been ready to welcome my people, who stubbornly do what is wrong and go their own way.” (Isa 65:1-2) GNB

It is like a good father, who truly try to help his son, but who only always gets scolded and pushed away for it, because the son does not realize that his father is only trying to comfort him from his pain and hurt.

Or as it is said in another translation: “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;” (Isa 65:1-2) KJV

God is more concerned about you and the true motive of your heart, than who you are or what you can do for Him! God is more concerned about the motive of our hearts than all the good deeds we can do for Him, trying to win His favour, as the writer of the book of Hebrews said: “For the word of God [is] living and effective and sharper than every double-edged sword, and [is] penetrating as far as [the] division of both soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and [is] able to discern [the] thoughts and

How our loving, heavenly Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ, in His mercy, has held out His arms to us,

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Newsletter

The Witness 28 August 2008

saying: “I am your friend! I am willing to give you all you need!” But we have had our own foolish and twisted thoughts about Him, thinking that He was a hard father and task master, who is full of wrath, ready to punish our every sin.

God does not want us to feel like His slaves, although we will live as His bondslaves, when we truly understand His love for us. He loved us so much that He willingly, laid down His life for us.

Abraham God’s friend…

Jesus said that He will reveal God’s heart to us and that the Holy Spirit will remind us of all that Jesus had shown us from the Father. Thus, God has hidden secrets, which He desires to reveal to us, because He loves us.

Why does God do nothing unless He reveals it to His servants the prophets? (Amos 3:6-7) Let us consider Abraham. When God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah He said to Himself as was written: “And the LORD said to Himself: “Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do?” (Gen 18:17) Ampl

Let us not be like the church of Ephesus to whom Jesus said: “I know your works and your labor and your patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil [people]. And you tested the ones saying themselves to be apostles [fig., who say they are apostles] and are not, and found them [to be] liars; and you have perseverance and [have] endured because of My name, and you did not grow weary.” (Rev 2:2-3) ALT

God called Abraham His friend. God reasoned within Himself, whether He would reveal to Abraham what He was about to do? God wanted to reveal His grieve and pain, about all that has happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, to Abraham. God allowed Abraham to change God’s mind, for God loved Abraham as His closest friend.

“But I have [this] against you, that you left your first love!” (Rev 2:4) ALT

No longer slaves… "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life on behalf of his friends. You are My friends, if you are doing whatever I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends because all which I heard from My Father, I made known to you. (Joh 15:13-15) ALT

Because they have not realized or forgotten that He is a loving and gracious Father. Thus, all that God desires to reveal or has revealed to this earth, through His prophets, is because of His loving and gracious heart, not wanting one of us to perish, but that all may have eternal live with Him. Therefore, as one who has been entrusted by the Lord Jesus Christ and our Loving heavenly Father, I urge you to change your mind about our God and Father and about Jesus Christ, who is full of grace and truth.

Jesus

always desires to be our intimate friend and companion. He wants to reveal His heart and His secrets to His friends. I can not hide my most intimate secrets from my wife, who is my beloved and friend. I trust her with the secrets of my heart.

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Newsletter

The Witness 28 August 2008

Therefore, let us eagerly wait, with great joy, for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed at His coming, which will be soon. From: The Directors of Witnesses for Jesus Christ.

The Witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ South Africa, Pretoria info@witnessesforjesuschrist.co.za & www.witnessesforjesuschrist.co.za This letter was written as a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ so that by all possible means Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s people will be prepared for the works of service to which He has called them. Proclaim His coming, for His coming is soon at hand. (1 Cor 9:1-27) Please send this letter to as many others so that they may be blessed. This letter may be copied, but all rights are reserved as revealed from the Lord Jesus Christ and those ministries mentioned. Therefore give Glory to whom Glory belong.

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