Someone sent me an article written by their "friend" who had twisted Scriptures and put forth lies in order to justify the rebellion of matriarchal authority in the Church. In spite of the error of the article, my highest concern was for the person who sent it to me. I let them know that I would never call any person who could so deliberately pervert God's word a "friend".
Similarly, another person had a "friend" on Facebook who was forwarding vulgar and perverse items under the guise of them being "funny". However, the truth is that such persons merely delights in perversion and finds amusement in that which is vulgar. The things which are offensive to God is entertainment to this "friend".
In this day and age, it is common to call everyone a "friend", especially on many of the popular social networking sites. However, we must be very careful who we let into the inner circle of our lives. Not everyone we meet is sent to us by the Lord, but some are sent by Satan in order to derail us from the things of God. We can be so concerned about offending others by not referring to them as friends, that we wind up endearing to ourselves those who are the enemy of God.
To understand the importance of this topic, here is an audio sermon by Min. David Wilkerson entitled, "Your Friends Matter to God."
- Your friends reflect what is in your own heart.
- A friend is someone you with whom you have a close affinity and are in agreement with.
- It is a supernatural and spiritual truth that birds of a feather flock together. People who have the same spirit (whether good or bad) will supernaturally gravitate to each other.
- One of the most subtle tactics of Satan is to send an agent of Hell to Godly, tender-hearted Christians as a friend.
- David committed to God that his closest companions were those who reverenced and obeyed God.
- You had better examine your friendships by the Spirit of the Living God because you need to know whether they are really of God or whether they have been planted by the enemy to destroy you.
- Backbiting against Godly people, Godly leadership, and even one's spouse is a sign that such persons are not sent to you by God because they are filling you with poison.
- Someone who is really of the Lord will provoke you to righteousness, will speak honestly about your unChristlikeness, pray with you when you are down, and encourage you to be more like Jesus.
- A Godly friend will always stand on God's side, not just your side.
- There are three consequences for keeping unGodly friends:
- You get pulled into an unGodly war which is not your business
- You lose your spiritual discernment
- You end up with war in your own home
- Your friends reflect who you are.
This is sooooo true!! I was still talking regularly with some old college friends, deeming them as my "bffs" because of our closeness during college. Within the past year or so God had been directing me to cut the friendships. He actually had told me this way prior to a year ago, but I was making excuses and saying "God they are not really that bad." I also had a relative that I talked to on the regular as well and I found it hard to resist complaining or just minding other people's business when I talked to her. God told me to cut that cord too and I was like "God nooooo that is my cousin and I love her dearly, wouldn't that be just wrong to ignore her phone calls, texts,etc?"
ReplyDeleteBut the truth of the matter was that all that mess we talked about I still liked and that mess was still down in me. I had not surrendered those areas completely to Christ for His control. So within the last few months God has been telling me to KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!! He just plainly told me to SHUT UP!! (God is real like that!) LOL!! I then began to study more on a meek and quiet spirit which is what God desires me to have and it has been hard, because my nature is talkative, as you can tell by this long story I have written! LOL!! But anywho,we must be careful about the friends because they will drag you into the pit with them or they will lift you up and cause you to be closer to Christ. Right now my circle is down to 1 person. I have been asking God for more friends who are Godly but He hasn't sent them yet! He may be waiting on me to pass the meek and quiet spirit test before there are any additions to that circle! LOL!!
Much Love!
I pray the spirit of truth continues to flow through you. My wife & I had this very conversation pertaining to an old "friend" of hers. God bless!
ReplyDeleteHi Sister!
ReplyDeleteThis has been something that I've been dealing with. There was a person that I thought was a friend (online) and I invested time, but I don't do that anymore. Long story short, when we are not going the same way and don't believe the same, there is really nothing we have to discuss.
Thank you for this post. It confirms much of what I've dealt with in the past.
Blessings,
Evelyn Parham
Amen, that is good word. Jesus said "you are my friends if you do whatever I command you." Those are my friends.
ReplyDeleteAmen! Someone who use God name in vain, making joke about him, who live for earthly things, cannot be your friends if you are a genuine christian now.
ReplyDeleteActually you have an heavenly mind, a break have to happen with your pagans friends. It costs but if we really seek God it occurs for our good.
I used to spend more than 2hours on the phone with my bff just gossiping, today we spend less than 30 minutes. My interests just changed, am bored quickly when people speak about worldly things, same on fcbk, I have
definitively hidden posts from those who curse, gossip or state useless/insane things.
I found another bff named Jesus, He is enough for me.
As you said may we walk with friends who challenge us to get closer to God.
Thanks for the usual spiritual food :-)
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for responding to this awesome posting.
Currently, I can't say that I have any friends based on my definition. Also, I had to recently separate myself from ALL of my family temporarily because either they are unsaved or there are some deep issues (generational curses) that they won't acknowledge. I know God will re-unite me with my family. I believe when this happens, I will be strong enough in Him that I can be used as a vessel and not allow them to influence me but I will influence them by my Godly LIFESTYLE. I can recall a person who stated that you can only have fellowship with someone if you have something in common and if not then you should be ministering!! Well I see now I can't have fellowship with my family. I have tried many times and it has hindered my maturation in my Christian walk. God also instructed me to "back up" from my family including my mother when I was 21 however I didn't obey. Now I'm 28 and God has made it perfectly clear that I must obey...so here I am. I have so much peace even though I have my moments. It gets lonely but it is empowering to know that this is for my good. I'm exciting that God is preparing me for my future family and fabulous friends and of course I will not continue the generational curses:-) When I get sad, I think about Joesph in the bible and how he was separated from his family and how all he had and all he needed was God. God reminds me that He will bring the right people in my life when He is ready. I know in my spirit that He is building my character. I must say it does get hard at times because I don't date nor just hang out with people just because I FEEL lonely at times. Many men ask me out and people want to spend with me but as I told an accquaintance today, I am in the process of re-building my newtork with healthy and equally-yoked relationships. Sometimes I feel tempted to socialize with "friends" from high school or college but then God reminds me again that those were seasonal relationships.
Truth be told, I know God is preparing me to get to the point that I truly understand that all I need and desire is Him and the relationships with my future husband, family, friends, and community will be icing on the cake. After all, how can we have fellowship when we don't have anything common? And God wants me to fellowship with others who have the same committment as I do. As I am typing this, I thought about a triangle. How at the base of the triangle (the two corners) are ourselves and the other person but at the top is God. Praise the Lord!!! I'm getting excited as I type. Using the triangle, the closer the individuals get to God, the closer the individuals are to meeting with they both reach the top (God).
Thank you Latter Days for another awesome post:-) God Bless.