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Friends Are Essential
Reference: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Observation: Some of us believe that we can get by just fine by ourselves. It is simply not true. We need each other and each of us needs at least one friend to be our support and we their´s. Satan will tell us that being alone is just fine. God and us, what else do you need?
This verse has some great answers:
- We all need someone when we fall. When we feel like we just can´t get up again, we need someone at our side that will encourage us to go on. Without them, we will never try again and our life is likely to be far less than it could have been.
- We all need encouragement (warmth). Sometimes we simply can´t warm ourselves up. We should try to keep ourselves encouraged but God puts friends in our lives for just that purpose and we need them.
- We all need protection. A friend will warn us when we are getting pulled astray and misdirected. A friend will dress our wounds when we have been hit by the arrows of gossip and "outrageous fortune". Not only do they protect us, but they help us to fight against our enemy Satan - praying with us, holding us accountably, warning us. Alone we can be defeated, together we can overcome.
Application/Confession: I am thankful for the friends I have in my life. They do all of these things in my life and, I hope, I do them in their´s. They get me to try again when I fall, they encourage me when I feel like a failure and they war with me against the enemy of my soul. I´m so blessed to have them in my life.
PRAYER: Thank you Lord for my friends. Help me to be a good one as well.
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