What would we do without friends? They encourage and inspire us. They listen as if they really care - because they do. Good friends seek to understand and empathize with us. Even when they can't relate, they care about us anyway.
Like snowflakes, no two friendships are the same; each brings a unique beauty and joy to our lives. We have acquaintances, casual friends, close friends, and "heart" friends, that handful of women with whom we share our deepest selves. Jesus had different circle of friends, too. He ministered to the crowds, He spent significant time with the twelve disciples, and He was closest to three men: Peter, James, and John. He was companion to tax collectors and sinners, as well as to His dearly loved friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Today each of us can have the joy of knowing Jesus as our friend. In the quiet solitude of prayer, we can pour out our deepest fears and desires. We can take pleasure in enjoying God - in just being in His company.
When we fellowship with God in prayer, we can then pray powerfully for our earthly friends. We can pray for them and with them in Jesus' name.
That's perhaps one of the best ways we can show a friend we care. Maybe we should stop to thank God for the wonderful women in our lives - those women who've given us the gift of friendship - and ask Him how we can be a better friend to others.
Dear Lord, thank You for the gift of friendship. Thank you for the women you have put in my life just when I needed them. Give me the wisdom to know my friends and be there for them just as you were there for your friends. Put people in my path, that can be new friends in my life. Don't let me get too comfortable with the friends I have surrounding me right now. I want to meet more people and develop a friendship with them also. Put that hurting person in my life that I can be there for when they need it. Or that person that just needs a little encouragement, let me bring them just the right words they need to hear. Put that person in my life that is struggling in something that I have struggled with, but because you have strengthened me in my struggle and seen me through, let me help them because I do know how they feel. Put that person in my life that just needs a hug and a shoulder. I have had so many blessings through the people you have put in my life, I want to be a blessing to others as well. Show me how to Lord. My eyes are open, Lord. Thank you for your unwavering friendship to me Lord. In Your Name, Amen.
Have a super day.
I challenge you to thank those friends in your life today that are there for you. But, I also challenge you to stretch yourself a bit and find another person you can befriend. There are a lot of hurting people out there. Find one, comfort them, show them Jesus with skin on. Let me know how it is going. I thank all of you reading these devotions daily. Some of you comment on them because they have spoken to you. Some of you have shared struggles with me and asked for prayers. Even if I am not able to see you during the week, or maybe you live out of state, or maybe I see you at church, I want you to know that I consider all of you my friends. I enjoy the "time" we spend together in these daily devotions. You have been a blessing to me and I thank you for that.
Blessings on your day,
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