Spiritual Friendship

All ministry leaders need to cultivate healthy and life-giving friendships with peers, and especially with Jesus. Unfortunately, the concept of friendship has been reduced to clicks and “likes” on social media sites that are neither life-giving, nor truly signs of friendship.

We need companions on our spiritual journey. The modern world has taught us to value autonomy and individualism. Our churches often see spirituality as personal and private. But we cannot go long in our Christian pilgrimage before realizing that isolation leads to spiritual barrenness. We soon discover that our souls long for accompaniment, intimacy, and spiritual friendship. As a result, many Christians today are rediscovering the ancient practice of spiritual direction.

Why is the third person in the Godhead - the one Jesus said would be the believer's ultimate source of truth and comfort - the source of such confusion? In The God I Never Knew, Robert Morris clearly explains that the Holy Spirit's chief desire is for relationship - to offer us the encouragement and guidance of a trusted friend. This insightful and biblically-based book moves beyond theological jargon, religious tradition, and cultural misconceptions to clarify what the Holy Spirit promises to do in your life.

There's just something about people who are close to God. Through the ups and downs of life, they remain secure, hopeful. If you want a more rewarding spiritual life, if you want the pleasure of knowing your Creator's heart, this soul-lifting book is for you. Learn from Dutch Sheets as he shares his life lessons for cultivating an intimate relationship with God. Each of the 30 short chapters reveals a simple practice or biblical mindset that will help draw you away from the noise of life and into the Lord's peaceful presence.

In No Greater Love, Rebecca McLaughlin walks us through the highs and lows of friendship love—a love that’s been neglected and malnourished in our modern world. She draws especially on Jesus in the Gospels and on Paul to show how powerful and precious Christian friendship is and how we can walk through the hurt, loss, and disillusionment that comes from broken friendship trust. Beginning with the words of Jesus on the night he was betrayed and abandoned, she points us to his battle-tested love as the unending source of our best love for one another.

Too often our friendships with other women can be marked by drama, competition, betrayal, and unforgiveness. As women, we can cause one another deep pain, creating wounds in need of healing. But we were made for connection and healthy friendships with other women to cheer each other on and fulfill our God-breathed purpose - together.

Join Rachel Anne Ridge, author of the beloved memoir Flash, in a journey back to the pasture. As she adopts a second rescue donkey as a little brother for Flash - a miniature named Henry - she finds that walking with donkeys has surprising lessons to teach us about prayer, renewing our faith, and connecting to God in fresh ways.

Wishes in branches tied with string. Someone's hopes. Another's dreams. Loretta Thompson is a people-person. She loves meeting new people and learning about their lives--and she has a special gift which makes everyone she meets feel like she's their best friend. She periodically cleans rooms at the Wishing Tree Inn, and she's always been fascinated by what she can learn from the things guests leave behind. Her love of imagining the lives of lost objects leads her all over the country returning the misplaced items she finds at the inn. Along the way, she discovers a love of genealogy to ...

Relational Intelligence is your action plan for getting smart about your purpose partners. Relationships were God's idea, writes Daniels, and when we understand and apply what God has to say about them we end up avoiding unnecessary relational turmoil, advancing in all areas of our life, and accomplishing our God-given purpose. When your purpose is on the line, the cost of relational unintelligence is too great to pay. In this audiobook, you will explore and learn how to activate the relational intelligence you need for the life of purpose you want.

He's tried and failed in country music - and women - before. She wasn't supposed to be at the ranch that summer. When Maddy shows up unexpectedly, will she and Kyle have their second chance romance? Or will the call of the stage lure him away? Kyle Stewart toured with a popular band for a year, but he couldn't get a record label to pick up his music. He's been back at his family's ranch, using his country music contacts to arrange summer concerts for the tourists who come through the Texas Longhorn Ranch for a unique western experience. Lately, he's had some interest in his music again, ...

The Bible calls Jesus the friend of sinners, but it's hard to imagine what friendship with Jesus really looks like. We so often don't even know how to do friendship with the people around us, despite all the options we have to connect. So how are we supposed to feel that close to a holy, perfect, and invisible God? How do we see Jesus as the real person he is? And how do we experience true friendship with him when we struggle to maintain true friendship on earth? Join author Jared C. Wilson as he explores what it means to be a friend of Jesus.

Immerse yourself in a journey through early 18th century America with this richly detailed historical fiction saga set amidst the backdrop of the New York and the American frontier. This riveting narrative chronicles the adventures of Otetiani (Master Ormerod), a dispossessed English nobleman forced to brave the untamed wilderness of a youthful America in search of solace, redemption, and maybe even, a touch of mystic. The Journey Begins: Otetiani's tale begins with his exile from England and the blissful, yet fleeting, solace he found in the New World. After the tragic loss of his beloved ...

Two years after her husband’s death, Amanda Whittier has two children to raise alone, an abandoned dream of starting a business, and a fixer-upper cottage by the sea. She has no room in her life for anything else and little interest in moving on after losing the man she loved. Paul Grant is a relative newcomer to the area, and his work with former military dogs needing rehabilitation has been good for the town. Though he loved once before, he’s convinced he’s not suited for romance and is determined to find meaning - alone - through his work and role in the community.

They’re drawn to each other from the start, but both carry fears they bury. Will they finally reveal their true selves and find forever? Lydia is captivated by Matt immediately. From the first dance, he captures her heart. And when she purchases an older home, and hires him as her contractor, it’s impossible not to fall for him completely. Matt tries to stay away from Lydia, convincing himself she deserves more than a blue-collar guy drowning in insecurities, especially when she’s so perfect. How could these two opposites ever work, despite their attraction? Yet as much as he aims to ...

In this updated edition, Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott dig below the surface to the depths of human interactions, offering expert advice and practical tools for improving the most important aspect of human life: Relationships. Designed for college students, young adults, singles, and dating couples, this cutting-edge audiobook teaches the basics of healthy relationships, including friendship, dating, sexuality, and relating to God. Newly updated and expanded to include the latest research on relationship building and vital information on social networking.

Three abandoned children… Two erstwhile sweethearts… One missing sister… And no problem? After Iris Delaney kissed him and ran off eleven years ago, Camden La Salle never wanted to see her again. But Iris is back in town caring for her nieces and baby nephew, and she needs his help. Can Camden let go of their past history to help Iris with her present crisis for the sake of the children’s future well-being in this second chance Christian coastal romance with a side of suspense? Iris’s Issues… When Iris Delaney’s five-year-old niece calls her unexpectedly to tell her that her ...

Can Marshall Manor Marriage service help four young ladies tame their hearts and make romance happen out in the Wild West... The Marshall Manor Girls Series Romance collection# 1 books 1-4 in one boxed set! More enjoyment with this New edition that has been completely re-edited, revised and revamped. Book 1 Emily’s Fortune It’s a crisp autumn evening and the weather in Chicago is not the only reason for the chill in the air. Promised to an older man when she was just a young girl, Emily has now come of age and is forced to face a long-delayed reality. Book 2 Sophia’s Luck It’s a ...

The Bible reveals not just butterflies and broken hearts. In Scripture, we see God’s beautiful design for the partnership of marriage. We witness friendships that cross all boundaries. We watch as families navigate the many seasons of life. Our guiding example for them all is the deepest, most abiding, foundational love ever known: God’s unconditional love for His people. In The Love Stories of the Bible Speak, Shannon Bream draws lessons from the good, the bad, and the ugly of Biblical romances, friendships, and families.

In tough times, we can become more familiar with pain than progress and more acquainted with loneliness than companionship. But what if the purpose of our faith is not to reach the Promised Land but to recognize that God is with us in our lowest moments and times of our own personal wilderness? In Experiencing Friendship with God, speaker and pastor Faith Eury Cho draws on ancient wisdom about intimacy with God to help us cultivate a relationship with Him, even among all the complications of today’s world.

What does it mean to pursue an intimate relationship with God? A clear understanding of the integral relationship between intimacy and obedience provides a framework in today’s world for glorifying God, particularly through the miraculous, as Dr. Clark has so profoundly demonstrated during his many years of ministry. He longs for you to renew your knowledge of God’s deep love for his children and how fervently God desires a life of intimate friendship with you.