Friendship
The people who you hangout with, are they Christians? If they are, that is great! You and your friends should talk and grow together in Christ. In Ecclesiastes 5:9-10 says, � Two are better than one, because they have good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who has no one to help him.� If you don�t have any friends that help you to stay right with Christ then your never going to be pure because there is no one to encourage you to read your bible. So when you are growing together in Christ with your friends you don�t need to overlook their faults, but you need to help\correct and encourage them to do right. I know that when I talked to Sammy and Jennifer about things I was having trouble with it helped me with my walk with God. Sammy would also call me every night and tell me to read my bible. Sammy and me are accountability partners and it is very reassuring for both of us to know that we aren�t alone when we are tempted and when we are we talk about it! It helps to know that someone is there to help you out. But guys when you are correcting your brother or sister in Christ you don�t need to bring them away from God by the way you talk to them you want to just let them know your watching them and your going through it. Recently in my life I got in a stupid argument with a fellow Christian and I brought her down and it wasn�t good for both of us then finally she told me to stop!! You should never cut down a fellow christian but lift them up it hurts your relationship with them and maybe there�s with God when you cut them down. I encourage everyone to get someone they can open up to about their sins. Make sure it is someone you can trust and maybe someone you know has trouble with the same sin.
If your friends aren�t Christians then you should constantly be ministering to them. My mom always told me �Bad character ruins good character! 1st Corinthians 15:33� I have seen many people that were on fire for God in the summer, but when it got back around to school God just wasn�t the cool thing to do. I have experienced this in my life also, because my friends weren�t Christians and they thought it wasn�t cool so that is how I started to act�Until God spoke to me and I felt bad about how I was living and I repented. I just kept repenting and repenting until I met Sammy then I didn�t have to repent so often, but trust me the devil was still there to tempt me. Actually it got worse, but I knew Sammy was praying for me and God was moving through me so I overcame the temptation. Ephesians 4:18-19 says � They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.� So when you hang out with your friends, their hearts are hardened to God, and there the Spirit isn�t there to convict them. So when you hang out with them they will do stuff that you shouldn�t do, and when they ask you to do it, peer pressure will kick in and you most likely will fall into the temptation because they think it is cool. Sammy has told me that when he is around his friends and they are cussing he accidentally does now and then and doesn�t even mean to it�s just because they are. Also guys when you are around your friends and they are staring at girls and they say, �Hugh look at this girl over here� Isn�t she so hot? Gosh �I wish I could get to know her!�� Automatically your head gets a spring in it as some of my friends say! �You have heard that it was said, �Do not commit adultery.� But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.� Mathew 5:27-28
As you live your life each day you should take out some time of your day to read your bible, pray, and pray for your friends. Try and find you a good friend this week that you can talk to easy, and pray with them and just talk to them about your temptations and be very open and continue to pray and grow spiritually with them! |
