FRIENDS

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
(John 15:14-16 ESV)

There is a relational transition in Christ moving us from being servants to being friends. This transition gives us the ability to read the heart and mind of Christ, it is when we begin to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
Answering the Call of God to repentance is where we learn, submission, obedience, and to be servants. Once we have learned and are consistent in obedience is when Jesus makes His choice to call us friends.
Jesus also said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Many have answered the Call of God and are still in the transition stage of repentance, constantly having to learn submission and obedience.
This does not mean that those who are chosen are above learning submission and obedience. It just means their will has been broken and they are learning submission and obedience on a different level.
Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30,) and it is said of Him “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
Everything is relational with God. He is Daddy and we are His children and He refuses to have disobedient children. Daddy puts the whooping on us to remind us that we are His, and He means for us to act as though we are His instead of acting like we are rejected abandoned bastards with no authority over us.
Our will must be broken!
Christianity is not us asking God into our hearts, it is God asking us into His (Zumwalt).
Abraham was noted as a friend of God (James 2:23) and Jesus longs to call us friends. The word “friend” Jesus uses in this scripture means an associate. An associate means to join as a partner, to connect or join together, to connect in mind or imagination.
When we give up our right to choose our will over God’s is when we are up for promotion from servants to friends. Consequently, God must first have us as servants with submissive hearts so He can connect us to His mind; connected associates fulfilling His heart as an extension of His will and purpose (friends).
Fully servants - Fully Friends - Servant Friend to the Master Friend.