9th June 2014 IDENTIFYING A TRUE FRIEND Visit oca.org.za/newsletter/news.html# and see the video or read this amazing testimony of a lady whose terrible lifestyle of suffering from cadiomegally, growths in her stomach and septic wounds that would not heal and doctors had given up on her. Her life was transformed when she healed at a Day of Transformation service hosted by Pastor Andrew Mutondoro in Pretoria, South Africa. Jesus is indeed the same yesterday, today and forever. Proverbs 17:17 A friend loveth at all times...(King James Version) A true friend is motivated by love at all times in his/her friendship with you. Being motivated by love, it follows that a true friend is not selfish. Selfishness is the biggest problem in the world today not poverty, HIV, crime, etc. Corrupt governments and leaders are driven by selfishness. A selfish person is concerned mainly with their own needs and wishes. To a selfish person It does not matter whether your boss/company is making money or not you must get the increment you want even if such an increment will make the company become bankrupt. In marriage selfish people must have their way only even if it goes against Gods Word they must have it. Selfishness is the number one driver of divorce and unfaithfulness. Other words to describe selfish people are egocentric, egotistic, self-centred, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, greedy, and mean. Selfish people are not doers of Gods Word and they hate God even though they might go to church every Sunday. Selfish people love the world more than God. James 4:4 You are like unfaithful wives [or husbands] having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the worlds friend is being Gods enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God? (Amplified Bible) Selfish people do not care at all about the effects of their decisions on other people as long as their way has prevailed. Selfish people are truly miserable people even though they might act and look like they are happy on the outside. On the inside it is full time misery in their soul. A true friend loves at all times meaning that even when you are in tough situations they still function in love. A true friend will function in enough love and rebuke you when you are wrong. A true friend is willing to risk losing your friendship by telling you the truth at all times. Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend [to show rage or worthy purpose]. (Amplified Bible) A true friend will tell you if you are showing rage (unholy anger) or living a life driven by an unworthy purpose. A true friend is only proven over a long period of time. A true friend gives of their best and if necessary is willing to die for you. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labour; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! The Hebrew word translated fall in Ecclesiastes 4:10 is ˜naphal and has several synonyms which not , only mean to fall but also mean cast down, cease, fail, die, fugitive, inferior, be judged mistakenly, lost, forced to lie down, lying, overthrown, overwhelmed, perish, make to rot, thrown down and smitten out. Two people working passionately together to accomplish the same purpose will be more productive/fruitful than each one of them working separately to accomplish the same task. If you are working together and one falls there is the added benefit that if one of them falls, the one still standing will help the fallen one to get up, recover and continue being fruitful. The one who has not fallen becomes like an insurance or guarantor for the one who has fallen to ensure that defeat or giving up is not their portion unlike the one who works alone and has no one to help him when he falls. Ecclesiastes 4:12 And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Again if two lie down together then they have warmth; how can one be warm alone? Ecclesiastes makes it clear that one person against you might defeat you if you are alone and have no one to pick you up or stand with you. However, if you have two or three people in spiritual agreement with you; it is unlikely that you will be defeated or overwhelmed by one opponent. A good true friend will not forsake the assembly of the saints (church) and they submit to the spiritual authority (pastor) that God has given them. Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching. (Amplified Bible) 1Corinthians 4:15 After all, though you should have ten thousand teachers (guides to direct you) in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the glad tidings (the Gospel). (Amplified Bible) You father in Christ or spiritual father (pastor) is not necessarily the one who got you born again, he is the one who raises you to spiritual maturity. If someone hates your spiritual father (pastor), he/she is a friend not worth having for they will lead you astray (Psalm 119:67) into a life of frustration and failure. Ephesians 4:11-12 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders) some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, travelling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people, {those who are born again}) [that they should do] the work ministering toward building up Christs body (the church) (Amplified Bible) If this devotional has blessed you, please pass it on and also email us your feedback to [email protected] To subscribe to receive the Bolts of Wisdom daily devotional goto the following link: oca.org.za/subscription.html God bless you. Pastor Andrew Mutondoro website: oca.org.za
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:18:39 +0000
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