Friends? Yes! Are you a Friend of God?

I have recently been reading about Abraham.  God asked Abraham to do some hard things.  First, he and his family were to move - to leave all they knew and go to an unknown land.  Then God said that Abraham and Sarah would have a baby in their old age!  And, yes, the miracle happened and Isaac was born.  Then God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the altar.  And, yes, Abraham was obeying God's request when miraculously God provided a ram for the sacrifice.'

The devotional I was reading said Abraham was the only person in the Bible called "a friend of God". This is taken from Isaiah 41:8c the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

Why? Why was Abraham called a friend of God?  My devotional said it was because Abraham had the right relationship with God because of his faith.  Then his faith was shown through his works. 

So what is faith?  How do we show that we have faith? Faith is belief in the one true God without actually seeing Him.  (Heb. 11:1 - faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.) We show that we have faith in God that we have not seen by our obedience to His Word.  Thus, Abraham hadn't seen God but he did have faith and showed it by his obedience AND he was called a friend of God.

How about you? or me?  Do I have faith?  Am I obedient to God and what he asks of me when I can't see where I'm going? Prov. 17:7 says "a friend loves at all times."  Do I always show God I love Him?  Do I treat Him like a friend?  Do I want to be with God? Would I be called a friend of God?

A Friend of God.......could that be said of us??