Your Spiritual Health
The following is an excerpt from The
Complete Christian Newsletter February
2004.
Don't Wait until You Need One!
by
Bishop
James H. Everett
Trouble comes! You're hurting, and don't
know what to do! You're lost and have no
idea of the next move you should make.
You find yourself just excited, not
knowing what you should or shouldn't be
about. All of a sudden, EVERYTHING
appears meaningless, and you have no
clue as to who you are, and why you are
existing. These are times when you need
a friend, whether they have the answers
to what you're experiencing or not.
These are times when someone who cares
about you is really needed. Someone that
you can trust with what might even seem
unintelligent to you. Someone you can
believe will keep your secrets is what
you could really use right about now!
However, the dilemma is that if you have
not taken the time to develop this kind
of relationship, "mid-crisis" is not the
time to start. (You can always call our
prayer line for help.) But now let me
get back to my point. In order to
receive the ministering help that you
may need, it is important that you sow
into the lives of others the caring,
sharing, and love of God that causes us
to bond in friendship and love as
children of God. Then we can look to God
to use others to minister to us in a
time of need. And we can trust God to
supply help in our time of need. "A new
command I give you: Love one another. As
I have loved you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one
another." John 13:34-35
Of
course the important thing to every
saint is to let our lights shine for
Jesus so that all who meet us may know
the 'One'. He is the one that is
responsible for transforming your whole
life. Jesus Christ the righteous; The
Lamb of God that gave His life to take
away your sin, and mine. Simply because
you responded to His love by believing
in the redemptive work grace performed
at Calvary, when He shed His blood and
died for you and me.
In
the following passage Jesus speaks about
a man in need of a friend in the middle
of the night. Because of his emergency,
this was not the time to introduce
himself. Luke 11:5-8"And He said unto
them, which of you shall have a friend,
and shall go unto him at midnight, and
say unto him, 6 Friend, lend me three
loaves; For a friend of mine in his
journey is come to me, and I have
nothing to set before him? 7 And he from
within shall answer and say, Trouble me
not: the door is now shut, and my
children are with me in bed; I cannot
rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you,
Though he will not rise and give him,
because he is his friend, yet because of
his importunity he will rise and give
him as many as he needeth."
"Not because you'll need someone later,
but because you genuinely care for each
other, you become a friend. With this as
our thinking, we should set out to touch
someone for Christ. The one He uses us
to reach might not be the one that God
uses to touch us in our time of need.
But, who knows who God will choose to
use. The scripture teaches us to,
".give, and it shall be given unto you."
The
scripture teaches many things about
friendship: "A friend loves at all
times, and a brother is born for
adversity."Prov17:17 NIV
"A
man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer
than a brother." Prov. 18:24 NIV
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses." Prov.
27:9 NIV
Being a friend when someone really needs
one might be God's greatest moment to
use you. Be available to Him, and to
your friend. When you need one, is not
the time to look for a friend. God could
be setting you up for a blessing by
asking you to befriend another. "Do not
forsake your friend and the friend of
your father, and do not go to your
brother's house when disaster strikes
you better a neighbor nearby than a
brother far away." Prov. 27:10 NIV
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