Choosing Friends

"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm." Proverbs 13:20 ESV

Have you heard that saying, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future."?

That is a very Biblical statement.

Friends are important to me. They always have been. Since I"m an only child, some of my friends become like siblings. Or at least, I love them as if they were siblings.

This weekend, we had a guest speaker at church. At one of the services, my best friend stood up for prayer. I sit in front of her, so I went around to be with her during prayer. She was told to raise her hand, and I instinctively put mine under her's to help her hold her's up.

I was reminded of the time in the Old Testament, when Israel was at war, and God told Moses that as long as he held up his arms, they would win. As soon as his arms fell, the other army gained ground.

Guess what happened? Moses' brother Aaron, and another leader, Hur, came to his sides and held his arms up! Exodus 17:12 says, "Aaron and Hur held his hands up- one on one side, one on the other."

Mark Batterson says in his book Draw The Circle, "If we are going to intercede for others, we had better be sure that others are interceding for us. We need a prayer covering, especially when we enter an intense season of prayer and fasting."

He also writes, "We will have moments when we lack the ability, strength, will, or faith to pray for ourselves. That's when we need a prayer partner or prayer circle to hold up our arms, just as Aaron and Hur did for Moses."

We are not called to be "Lone Ranger" Christians. Community is about doing life with others. We all greatly need that.

Christine Caine said, "The relationships that we nurture either distract us from our calling or launch us toward His plan for our lives."

Choosing friends wisely, and choosing wise friends will help us with our walk with God.

The wrong people can be negative and draining to our lives. We do not need that kind of influence.

Now, let me set the record straight here for a second. We DO NOT need friends that tickle our ears. We DO NOT need people telling us that our sin is ok, or ones that tempt us to sin. (That goes back to having wise friends.)

My friends call me out when I'm doing wrong. They point me back to God and His ways in order to keep me on track with Him.  That's what good Godly friends do.

When they are correcting, IN LOVE, that's not being negative.That's them actually pointing out something in my life that maybe I'm blind to or I that I am rebelling against God's ways. 

Do you have those kinds of wise friends? Friends that will point you to God? Help you grow your faith? Pray for you? 

I hope and pray you do! If not, ask God to bring people like that into your life. He will.

God bless you today and always.