Dear Friend,

God has done so many wonderful things for me. He forgave me of all my sins. He took me out of Adam's sinful family and put me in Christ's family. He has made me a new person in Christ. He has made me His child, and He loves me as He loves and accepts His own Son.

Being a child of God is the most wonderful thing in all the world, but the Christian life here on earth will not be easy. My heavenly Father knows that my life here will not be easy, but He has a wonderful answer for my needs.

God has given Christ to me.

God says,"I will give My Son to live in you to meet your needs and to be your best Friend." The Bible says, "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts…" (Galatians 4:6).

The apostle Paul said, "Christ lives in me." If you have taken the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you can say this too. Say it to yourself now: "Christ lives in ME! Christ lives in ME!"

My wonderful Savior is in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God, but He also lives in me by His Spirit. God wants me to know this. The Bible says, "…Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you…?" (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lives in me and He will never leave me. He said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5b).

Jesus Christ is my best Friend.

Jesus is not only my Savior and my Lord, but He is also my special best Friend. There are many reasons why Jesus is my best Friend.

• Jesus knows me.

Jesus is my best Friend because He knows me better than anyone else. He is God. He knows all things. He knows everything about me. He even knows my thoughts!

I am very important to Jesus. He really cares for me. He even knows how many hairs I have on my head. He has them all numbered. He said, "…the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30).

• Jesus loves me.

A best friend is one who loves you just the way you are, and yet helps you to be the best you can be. Jesus is my best Friend because no one has ever loved me like Jesus. He showed His great love for me by giving His life for me.

The Lord Jesus loves me just the way I am, but He loves me too much to leave me the way that I am. He is living in me, and day-by-day He is changing me to become more like Himself. Jesus knows all about my faults and failures, but He loves me just the same. He will always love me.

• Jesus is always for me.

He wants only what is best for me. Every moment, there on the throne in Heaven, He is thinking about me. He wants to be my best Friend. He wants me to come to Him about everything that concerns me.

• Jesus is always with me.

A best friend is someone you can always turn to for help. Since Jesus lives in me, He is always there for me. I can turn to Him with all my hurts and disappointments. I can turn to Him in prayer about my needs and my problems. Jesus wants me to do this.

How does God meet my needs?

God meets my needs by giving Christ to live in me. The Bible says, "My God shall supply all your need…by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). This means that I am to turn to Jesus for my needs. Let us see how this works.

When I find it hard to love someone, I can turn to Jesus. He loves all people. I can say to Him, "Lord Jesus, I am having trouble loving that person. I know that You love him. I am asking You to love him through me."

When I need to know what I should do, I should turn to Jesus. He lives in me, and He is God. He knows exactly what I should do. Jesus wants me to tell Him about my problems and ask Him what I should do. As I pray and wait on Him, Jesus will guide me and show me what to do.

When I need patience, I can turn to Jesus and say, "Lord Jesus, You be my patience." Before, when somebody said something mean to me, I would say something mean back to him. Now, Jesus helps me to smile and say a kind word to him.

Perhaps I have a bad temper. I have tried to overcome it, but I still get angry and lose my temper. God wants me to see that Christ is my victory. He is always victorious, and He lives in me.

What do I do? I turn to Jesus and say, "Lord Jesus, You take over." I relax and let Him live His life in me. He takes care of things. The Bible says, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Jesus wants me to enjoy Him.

The Lord Jesus is not a "force"; He is a Person! He wants me to love Him and enjoy Him the way best friends love and enjoy each other.

The way to enjoy a person is to love that person and spend time with him. You can spend time with Jesus by reading His Word and praying to Him. The more you love Jesus, the more you will enjoy Him. When you are in love with Jesus, you will be a happy child of God!

If I truly love the Lord Jesus, I will want to please Him. Since Jesus is always with me, I must ask myself some questions:

Wherever I go, Jesus goes with me. Whatever I watch, Jesus watches it with me. Whatever I listen to, Jesus listens to it with me. If I truly love Jesus, I will choose friends who love Him, and I will not watch or listen to bad stuff.

Chapter Six
The Present

The story so far…

Jared and Carlos took Dan's art prize to him in the hospital. Carlos planned to go fishing with Alex and his gang. Dan sent a note to Jared warning of trouble on the fishing trip.

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Before going to bed, Jared prayed that God would show him what to do. He wondered how Dan had heard about the fishing trip. Perhaps one of the other boys had visited Dan in the hospital.

Jared found the list of verses his Aunt Emily had given to him. The verses had been arranged under different subjects. He looked up one of the verses on obedience and read: "Obey those who have the rule over you…" Hebrews 13:17. There was more to the verse, but that was all he needed.

Jared knew that everyone was supposed to obey laws and policemen, but he did not know it was written in the Bible. If he told Carlos, maybe he would listen and stay home.

The next morning, Jared told Carlos about the note from Dan. Then he showed him the verse in the Bible. Carlos snapped back at Jared, "I AM going whether you go or not. I don't believe Alex will go where we are not allowed to go. You are taking this religious stuff too far, Jared."

"Well, promise me you won't go past the fences, Carlos; even if the others do," Jared pleaded with a look of concern on his face.

Carlos turned away in disgust. "I'm not making any promises, Jared. I want to have a little fun, even if you don't."

Jared felt discouraged as he returned home. Perhaps he should have said nothing to Carlos. Maybe he should go with him after all. Jared knew Carlos could be stubborn and want his own way. No one could change his mind.

Early in the afternoon, a call came from the hospital. A nurse had said that Dan had a high fever and was restless. He had been muttering about a special friend. Mr. Foster thought Dan was calling for Jared. The nurse asked Jared if he could come to the hospital for a while.

Jared quickly agreed, then ran to the back yard to get his bike. He stopped to talk to Beth a minute before he went on to the hospital. Jared told Beth about Dan.

Beth wanted to do something for Dan. "I know," she said as her eyes lit up, "I will send him my picture of the Good Shepherd." She pointed to the picture in a small frame next to her.

Jared shook his head, "Hey, Beth, you love that picture. Isn't there something else you could send him?"

Just then Aunt Emily walked into the room. When she heard what Beth wanted to do, she looked at her tenderly. "Yes, dear, you can send it if you want to. It might be just what Dan needs to change his life. I have heard his life is not a very happy one."

When Dan saw Jared enter his hospital room, his face lit up. "Hey, Jared, thanks for coming," he said in a whisper. "I guess you got my note. I am glad you are here and not with Alex. That guy is in for trouble. Did Carlos go with him?"

"Yes. I couldn't stop him," Jared said with a sigh. "Dan, are you sure about where they are going?"

"I am sure," Dan answered, in a weak voice. "I don't want to tell on the guy who told me." Dan's hands moved restlessly over the white sheet. Then he said, "Jared, you started to tell me about the special friend you have. Could you tell me now?"

"Sure, I would like to tell you," Jared said as he sat down in a chair near the bed. "But open this first. It's a gift from my cousin Beth."

"For me?" Dan looked stunned for a minute, then he slowly began to unwrap the present. He gazed at the picture in silence, and then asked, "Who is it?"

"That is a picture of the Lord Jesus. He is the special Friend I told you about," Jared replied. "It isn't a real picture of Him because no one knows what Jesus looked like. This is what an artist thought Jesus must have been like from reading the Bible."

"But why the lamb?" Dan asked. "Was Jesus a shepherd?"

"Yes," Jared answered. "But not the kind that we think of. When we take Jesus as our Savior, He becomes our Shepherd. He calls us His sheep because He takes care of us."

Jared explained how Jesus had died on the cross for everyone, and that all who received Him as their Savior would belong to Him forever.

Dan listened closely as he held the picture tightly in his hand. After a moment he asked, "Why is Jesus holding the little lamb in His arms, Jared?"

"Because the little lamb was lost," Jared answered. "When the Shepherd counted the sheep and found one missing, He hunted all night until He found it. That shows us how much Jesus loves us. He even died for us. When we take Him as our Savior, He forgives us of all our sins and becomes our special Friend."

Dan looked closely at the picture in his hand. With deep concern in his voice, Dan asked, "How do I take Jesus into my heart, Jared? Do I have to wait until I go to church?"

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