This post is also available as a podcast: https://anchor.fm/teague-mckamey/episodes/I-Have-Called-You-Friends-e1mucmv

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Spiritual friendship is critical to a thriving walk with Jesus. We must have a network of people who can encourage us regularly in our faith (Heb. 3:13). Our list of friends starts with Jesus Himself. In John 15:15 Jesus says, “I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father.” Along with Jesus, it is good to have others in our lives who make known to us what they have heard from the Father, with whom we can share what we have heard from the Father.

Today, I want to feature a couple of my spiritual friends, people who have shared much with me in the Lord and who have written guest posts for The Voice of One. One is my sister-in-law, Mallory Patrick; the other is Cameron Fultz, who I’ve know about 12 years and who attends church with me.

Mallory and Cameron are both rich in the scriptures, both being serious studiers. But what I treasure in each of them is that their attention to scripture goes beyond mere Bible knowledge. Both are concerned with knowing Christ the Person, the Spirit that indwells us, and both are invested in Christ being revealed in other believers. As I’ve written elsewhere, every Christian is born of the Spirit, and Christ lives in them. However, Christ can remain veiled to our hearts and minds unless the Spirit unveils Him and shows us more fully what it means for Christ to be within.

Cameron teaches regularly at our church and often reminds us that he only wants to know the “one thing” that Paul knew: Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). One of the biggest ways Cameron presents Christ crucified is through Old Testament Bible stories. Cam will tell you every passage in the Bible is about Jesus before it is about the specific event or person in the story. He expounds on this through his many books and also through his blog, picturejesus.com.

Besides being my sister-in-law, Mallory has poured Christ into me on a personal level and (when I was in Bible school) as one of my Bible teachers. Mallory has given her life so that Christ might be formed in herself and others (Gal. 4:19). To this end, Mallory teaches at Jesus Tribe in Texas and also founded In Him Ministries. In Him Ministries curates a collection of rare or out of print Christian books whose themes center on knowing Christ inwardly in His death, burial, and resurrection. In Him Ministries operates reading circles where believers gather around the rich spiritual fare found in these rare / out of print books. Mallory also shares through her podcast, The Newness of Spirit.

If your heart is hungry for real, spiritual food, I would encourage you to connect with what these friends of mine have available online. It will be eternally worth your time and those cat videos will still be there afterward, I promise 😊 If you’re interested in reading more about spiritual friendship, I’d also highly recommend Christian History Magazine issue # 132, which is dedicated to exploring spiritual friendships and is available online.