3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “Would You Be Jesus' Friend?”
Jesus is not safe, but He is our Savior. Jesus shared hard words that were true and spoke of a beautiful future that wouldn’t be easy. He acknowledged His followers’ brokenness and gave them hope for what’s ahead. He was the cure to the problem, He pointed out, and the protector of the future He promised. As our Savior, He meets our deepest needs and guarantees our brightest future. - PastPaul Crandell, 4/5/26
Day 1
Featured Verse: John 15:15
In John 15:15, Jesus says He no longer calls you a servant, but a friend. How does it feel to realize that the Creator of the universe wants a close, intimate friendship with you personally?
As Jesus’ friend, you are invited into a relationship of trust and closeness rather than mere duty. How would your daily walk with Christ look different if you fully embraced this friendship?
Jesus says, “I have called you friends.” How does knowing you’ve been personally chosen and called by name into this friendship affect the way you view your worth, your purpose, and your confidence in prayer?
Pause and Reflect: Lord Jesus, thank You for calling me Your friend instead of a servant, and for inviting me into a deep, intimate relationship with You where You share the Father's heart with me. Help me to live in the joy and closeness of this friendship every day, trusting You fully and walking with You not out of duty, but out of love and affection. Amen.
“Friendship—true friendship—is rare on earth. It involves two people identifying with each other in thought and heart and spirit. Friendship with Jesus is the whole point of spiritual discipline, yet it is often the last thing we actually seek. We receive his blessings and know his word, but do we know him?” - Oswald Chambers
“None so rich, so strong, so independent, so well off, so thoroughly provided for, as the man of whom Christ says, ‘This is my friend’!” - J.C. Ryle
Day 2
Featured Verse: John 15:16
How does knowing that Jesus personally chose you, before you ever chose Him, change the way you see your value and your security in His friendship?
Jesus says He chose and appointed you so that whatever you ask the Father in His name, He will give it to you. How does living in the closeness of friendship with Jesus affect the way you pray and the confidence you have when you bring requests to the Father?
You are not only Jesus’ friend who shares in His secrets, but also one He has specifically chosen and sent out. How does this dual reality of intimate friend and commissioned fruit-bearer shape your daily decisions and priorities?
Pause and Reflect: Lord Jesus, thank You that You have chosen me and appointed me to go and bear fruit that will last, not because I first chose You, but because of Your sovereign love and grace. Help me to live every day in the security of being Your chosen friend, praying boldly in Your name and producing lasting fruit that glorifies the Father. Amen.
“The branch does not choose the vine; it is chosen by it... So with us: we did not choose Christ; He chose us, He chose us to be His branches, that through us He might bear fruit... He chose us in eternal love, before the foundation of the world, to be His own, to be branches of His vine. And because He chose us, He appointed us to go—to go—to carry His life, His love, His salvation to others.” - Andrew Murray
“Where the fruit remains, power in prayer will remain. If we are constantly living unto God, we shall find ourselves privileged to have the ear of God; and when we pray to him, he will grant us the desire of our hearts.” - Charles Spurgeon
Day 3
Featured Verse: John 15:13-14
Jesus said the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for His friends, and then He did exactly that for you. In what practical ways is He currently calling you to lay down your own life, your time, comfort, plans, or desires for His sake as His beloved friend?
Jesus links the highest expression of love, laying down one’s life, with being His friend through obedience. Where in your daily walk are you still clinging to your own life instead of willingly laying it down for Jesus’ sake, and what would full surrender look like right now?
Knowing that Jesus laid down His life for His friends, how does this reality stir your heart to lay down your life in return, perhaps through sacrificial love, costly obedience, or giving up personal rights so that you might glorify the Father through lasting fruit?
Pause and Reflect: Lord Jesus, thank You for laying down Your life for me, the greatest act of love that makes me Your friend. Help me to respond by willingly laying down my own life, my comfort, plans, rights, and desires for Your sake through joyful obedience, so that I may bear lasting fruit that glorifies the Father. Amen.
“The idea of the divine-human friendship originated with God. Had not God said first ‘Ye are my friends’ it would be inexcusably brash for any man to presume to be on such intimate terms with the Deity.” - A.W. Tozer
“The heart of the love which He commands is self-sacrifice, reaching to death if death be needful. And no man loves as Christ would have him love who does not bear in his heart affection which has so conquered selfishness that, if need be, he is ready to die. The expression of Christian life is not to be found in honeyed words, or the indolent indulgence in benevolent emotion, but in self-sacrifice, modelled after that of Christ’s sacrificial death, which is imitable by us.” - Alexander Maclaren