Friends. How Many of Us Have Them?
MY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
Welcome to the OABG Daily Blog and Daily Podcast!
I got a few questions for you. Who are your friends? What do they do to help you become a better person spiritually? What do you do to help them become a better person spiritually?
Maybe I should have started with, do you call everybody your friend? Or do you differentiate friend from acquaintance or associate or coworker or someone you went to school with, etc. etc. I know many people who will throw that word FRIEND around so fast.
Proverbs 17:17 NIV says: A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity.
There is a song called Friends by the artist Whodini with the same lyrics as the blog/podcast today. And in the lyrics, he speaks on real life friends. He asks the question: Friends. How many of us have them? Friends. Ones we can depend on. But then he goes on to say before we go any further, let’s be friends.
In the Scriptural Bible Study of Proverbs, we have actually seen quite a few references to friendships. In today’s study of Proverbs 27, there are few verses about friends that stood out to me and I want to major on those today.
An open rebuke is better than hidden love! Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. Verses 5-6
The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Verse 9
Never abandon a friend… Verse 10
As iron sharpens irons, so a friend sharpens a friend.Verse 17
These 5 verses give us wisdom about how to BE A FRIEND and HOW TO ACCEPT OTHERS AS FRIENDS. There are tons more wisdom in other chapters of Proverbs about friends and I implore you to grab your highlighter and go seek them out. It would be a tragedy to miss out on the friendships that God designed for you because you weren’t wise enough to recognize a friend or wise enough to stop hanging with certain friends who don’t help you in your spiritual walk.
Dr. Tony Evans said in the study notes for Proverbs 27:17: We need friends who will challenge and sharpen our thinking, help us make good decisions, and help us hone our spiritual lives until they are razor-sharp. Good friends work to rub off dull edges and make each other better. That’s why we need ministries and churches that are full of men and women talking about more than work, the weather, and sports.
What are you and your friends talking about? Over the last year, I did some reflecting on my friend circle and realized that many were cool, but not sharpening me. Some were even making me more dull and more devilish in my actions. All we talked about was sin. I didn’t even realize that, but when I looked at it for what it really was, that’s what God revealed to me.
Take some time today and write down your friends names on a piece of paper and reflect on what they bring to you and what you bring to them. What are y’all always talking about? Clothes? Shoes? Hair? Celebrities? Social Media? TV Shows? Entertainment? Relationships? Work? Money? People? Sex? Politics? What’s not right with the world? Gossip? Whatever it is write it down and see if how it aligns with Proverbs 17:17. If it doesn’t, make some wise choices today about your FRIENDS and whether or not you should have them.
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YOUR ASSIGNMENTS
What did the Lord God say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?
What about YOUR friends? Do the assignment and feel free to let me know how it goes. Leave me a message on podcast! Talk to God about how to navigate closures of longtime friendships that aren’t of Him.
Share this post and this message with someone who needs to hear it.
REMINDER: Don’t forget to read the Scriptural Bible Study below and see what the Lord says to you about it.
SALVATION PRAYER
If you’re not a believer and have a desire to be, openly confess and declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you pray that prayer out loud, you are saved. Get connected with a good, bible-based church in your community and start having a conversation through prayer with God every day. And let me be the first to welcome you to your new life with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. YAAAAY!!!!! You made the best decision you could ever make! Feel free to email me at info@onassignmentbyGod.com and let me know about your newfound life or if you need prayer for anything.
Bible Study
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