The first question God asks Adam after his fall is “Where are you?” (Genesis 3). And the final desire of Jesus is that we would be “with Him where He is” (John 17). In this episode, we trace the Bible’s “where” storyline, from hiding in Eden to dwelling with Christ. We also identify the wound many feel today: spiritual dislocation. Then we end with a simple “Where am I?” 7 Day prayer practice and a Rule for the year: stop hiding, return to Presence, and answer God with honesty, “Lord, I’m here.”

Bread is showing up at midnight again.

In this episode, we walk line upon line through Luke 11:5–13, the parable of the Friend at Midnight, and face a humbling truth: sometimes the people we love come hungry… and we have no bread to give.

But that’s not failure. It’s an invitation.

With help from St. Augustine and other Early Church voices, we learn why the prayer before “Fill me” is often “Empty me,” and why persistence isn’t a technique, it’s the fruit of friendship with God.

If you’re praying for Gen Z, for your family, for the wounded, the confused, or the abused, this episode is a call to become a midnight messenger: not the source, but the one who keeps knocking until there’s bread to set before the hungry.

What if the fear of God isn’t fear of lightning… but fear of losing the Friend? In this episode of Philos, we step into Gethsemane and explore the difference between proximity and communion—the kiss of betrayal versus the kiss of devotion. From Matthew 15:8 (“their heart is far from Me”) to Peter’s restoration under the look of Jesus, you’ll receive a simple closing practice: The Gethsemane Rule: Stay. Watch. Return.

The Finished Work and the Unfinished Walk: Grace, Union, and the Theology of Excuses

Jesus’ work is finished, but our walk with Him is not. In this episode, I talk about how a subtle “theology of excuses” can creep in… turning finished work and union into reasons to lay our armor on the side of the road. We’ll look at Philippians 2 and John 15, listen to the early Fathers on synergy, and explore why grace doesn’t erase our will, it awakens it and calls for our ongoing “yes” on the ancient path of friendship with God.

Fasting isn’t a religious add-on. It’s a road back to Eden.

In this episode, we begin where the story begins... Genesis 2:17, the first boundary, the first “no,” the first invitation to trained desire. The ancient church called this asceticism. It's not self-hatred, but soul-training: learning to want God more than comfort, more than control, more than constant consumption.

St. Basil the Great said, “It is because we did not fast that we were banished from paradise. So let us fast that we may return to it.” That’s the heartbeat of this episode: fasting as homecoming... healing the grasp, clearing the inner noise, and recovering the ability to walk with God again.

And we face the modern impulse to bypass this “trained way.” Eugene Peterson puts it bluntly: “Peter rejected the ascetic way by offering Jesus a better plan… and received the sternest rebuke in the Bible."

If Eden feels far, this one is for you.

Hunger is the first prayer because hunger is the memory of Eden.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…” That means God planted something eternal inside us—a trace of where we came from and where we’re headed.

The early Church often saw that “eternity” as a kind of deep memory of union with God, an inner knowing that we were made for Him. Augustine put it this way: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” It’s as if eternity in our hearts is the homesickness of the soul.

Deep in every human is a faint memory: we were made to walk with God in the cool of the day. Sin fractured that, but it didn’t erase the echo. That’s why even people far from God feel an ache they can’t name.

When you feel that ache, “There has to be more than this," you are remembering, in some mysterious way, what you were made for: friendship with God.

The enemy wants to twist that hunger into addiction, distraction, and self-medication. Jesus wants to answer it with His Holy Presence.

You were not created for distance. You were created to walk with God in the Garden.

In this episode, I share my invitation to know Jesus as friend and begin laying the Biblical foundation for this colossal claim: God has always wanted friends.“From Moses to Abraham to Jesus...There is Friendship Thread that holds the Bible together.

Following the last episode, "How to Prepare for a Friendship Sabbatical," we explain what happened on this sabbatical journey, the challenges, the takeaways; Including the one word I'm taking home with me from the mountains.

Thanks,

Matt Pettry

He calls us friends

Before heading into the mountains for a few days alone with the Lord, I wanted to share how I prepare my heart for what I call a “Friendship Sabbatical.” It’s not a retreat where we're running from something. It’s not an event where something has to happen. It’s setting apart time and speech so I can hear the sound of God’s friendship again.

In this episode, I walk you through how to enter solitude without pressure, how to start climbing the mountain of friendship before you even arrive, and how to meet God in stillness once you’re there with tons of grace. You're gonna need it.

Before heading into the mountains for a few days alone with the Lord, I wanted to share how I prepare my heart for what I call a “Friendship Sabbatical.” It’s not a retreat where we're running from something. It’s not an event where something has to happen. It’s setting apart time and speech so I can hear the sound of God’s friendship again.

In this episode, I walk you through how to enter solitude without pressure, how to start climbing the mountain of friendship before you even arrive, and how to meet God in stillness once you’re there with tons of grace. You're gonna need it.

If your heart is hungry for some room, for silence, for Presence... I think this episode will help guide your own time of being set apart with the Friend who is already waiting. Wow, I love sharing this stuff. Enjoy the Path of Friendship with God. Don't hold back.