When is the last time
you spoke TO your friends? Whether it be via Twitter,
Facebook, Text, GroupMe, G-Chat, Email, Phone, or Smoke Signal…you’ve probably
spoke TO them fairly recently. But let me pose THIS question:
When is the last time you spoke OVER your friends?
And I when I say spoke
“OVER” I mean, when is the last time you declared the blessing of the
Lord over their life, victory over any trouble they may face in any area,
healing from any type of infirmity or disease, or prayed that they walked in
the fullness of God’s purpose for their life? And I’m not even talking about
strangers, but the people YOU call YOUR friends?
Sometimes, because of
the level of intimacy within the friendship, we tend to overlook our friends
when it comes to prayer. We can tend to not see their purpose beyond the
context of being our “friend.” This can be a dangerous thing …
especially if we fail to encourage their dreams and/or purpose, whether it be
knowingly or unknowingly.
“Do not let any
unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building
others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”- Eph 4:29
What YOU say
about YOUR friends is important because as a child of
the Most High God, you (Yes, YOU) have the power of life and death in YOUR tongue (Prov
18:21). One of the BIGGEST dreams that society has sold us is that we don’t
need people to survive. Let me dispel that fallacy real quick: that
could not be further from the truth … or the Word of God, which are one in the
same! The Bible declares that “As iron sharpens iron,so one person
sharpens another.” - Prov 27:17
Now that we know that
we DO need people, we have to have the RIGHT people around us. “Without
good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow,
the better your chances.- Prov 11:14 (MSG). Look at that again, it
said WISE counsel… not your sister-in-law’s baby cousin Tracy
or your home girl/boy who’s just as lost as they wanna be. YouNEED people
who are going to tell you what God’s Word says about a situation, NOT how
they “feel” or what they would do if they were you or popular opinion.
The Word of God says
that “Open criticism is better than unexpressed love.” - Prov 27:5
(GWT) …this means that it is better to have someone who will tell you
(to your FACE) when you’re wrong than having friends that silently agree with
you (because their refusal to correct you means they agree with your
decision!).
…WE have to be willing
to listen to OUR friends when they tell us things in love that
will only help us because we know in their hearts that they only want
to see us succeed. (SN: I’m convinced that this is what allows me
to be able to have ALL types of “hard” conversations with my friends and vice
versa, because we can all trust the root of where the correction
arises. “A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good
is a timely word!” - Prov 15:23 …Your “friends” shouldn’t
gloat or get some type of weird satisfaction out of offering you correction,
but their heart should be glad that God used them to help you.)
And if you think
you DON’T think YOUR friends should be able to tell you
anything, check these two scriptures out:
“Refuse good
advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them
succeed.” -Prov 15:22 MSG
“It’s better to
be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic
planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good
counsel.- Prov 24:5-6
I urge us all to
show the love that we have for OUR friends in deed and in SPEECH, speak over
them! You NEVER know what your words of encouragement will do
for someone … and I can testify to this OVER and OVER, constantly being on BOTH
ends of the conversation!
“A word fitly
spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” - Prov
25:11 (AMP)
I love you and
remember, it’s YOUR move..
Allison
(originally posted March 29, 2012)
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