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Friends
Friday, May 16, 2025 by Rick Stockwell

 

Friends

 

READ Proverbs 17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

-- Proverbs 17:17 (NIV)

 

I walked out of my third college final exam in two days like a zombie, barely able to focus on my surroundings. A friend, Tim Vara, came alongside me on the sidewalk as we approached a city street. As I was about to step into the road, he flipped his arm across my chest to stop me. In that instant, a car zoomed by a foot or two in front of us at high speed. I would have been killed or severely injured had he not stopped me.

There are many such examples of friendship in the Bible:

  • David and Jonathan had a deep and abiding relationship even in the face of great personal danger. “… Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself” (1 Samuel 18:1).
  • Ruth was unswervingly loyal to Naomi through very difficult times of family loss and famine. “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay” (Ruth 1:16b).
  • Before the prophet Elijah crossed the Jordan to be taken up to heaven, his successor, Elisha, said to him, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live I will not leave you” (2 Kings 2:6b).
  • Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, vowed to die together rather than bow before the ninety-foot idol created by King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3).

Friendship with other people is, of course, highly valued and a great blessing, but we can have an even deeper friendship with God:

  • Abraham was considered a friend of God (Isaiah 41:8), as was Moses. “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11).
  • Jesus considers his followers his friends. “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We can be friends with God.

 

Prayer:  Father in heaven, please help us to nurture our friendship with you.

 

Prayer Focus:  FRIENDS

 
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Rick Stockwell

Rick Stockwell is employed as an IT Program Manager, teaches Sunday school for kindergartners, is an elder at his church, has been married for thirty-five years, and has two children and five grandchildren.

Rick is also the author of two novels in his Heavenly Realms series called The Wall and The Battle. Audio, eBook and paperback versions are accessible via this link: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07HQ8G3MJ 

 


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