February 2, 2024 … Real Friends

February 2, 2024 … Real Friends     

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in this song with lyrics from Alan Jackson singing … What A Friend We Have In Jesus …  poignantly singing of how Christians have an inseparable friendship with our Lord, Jesus. 

==========

Highlight Passage: … 1Samuel 18:3 [NLT] … 

3 And Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, because he loved him as he loved himself.   … 

… Jonathan made a pact of friendship with David because he loved the future king as he loved himself. 

Highlight Passage (in context): … !Samuel 18:1-4 … USE THIS LINK … 

… David and Jonathan, King Saul’s son, had a covenant friendship, sealed by Jonathan giving his armament to David.                                                                   

===============                                                                 .                                                                                                                                               

Reference Passage: … Proverbs 17:17, 18:24, 27:9   [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Solomon sharing God’s wisdom about the meaning of REAL friendship.  

Reference Passage: … Ecclesiastes 4:9-12  [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Solomon also teaches on the value of have true friends to rely on in troubled times. 

Reference Passage: …Luke 6:31 [NLT] …   

31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.   

… Jesus teaches what is demanded from real friends … that we do to others as we would have them do to us.       

Reference Passage: … John 15:12-15  [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus shows that real friends would be willing to die for one another as He would do for would do for them (and for us).  

Reference Passage: … Romans 12:10  [NLT] …   

10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.  

… The Apostle Paul exhorts fellow Christians to show Christ’s love for one another.     

        

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread  Author , Sheridan Voysey -  AT THIS LINK -  tells of the long-standing and loyal friendship of two 17th century physicians, John Finch and Thomas Baines, which was honored by a plaque in the Chapel of Christ’s College in Cambridge, England, … the two friends having worked together in research and traveled together, sharing their their knowledge and work with others for over 36 year.      

That kind of friendship, along with the biblical illustration of the covenant friendship of David and Jonathan (see highlight passage), shows what comes out of a deep/abiding friendship with the Lord.  Oh, how I’m blessed to have friends who would be willing to die for me as my friend, Jesus was - AND IS - my Friend forever.  How about you?  Is Jesus your friend?    

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for Your deep/abiding friendship, … as my Lord.             

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray. again today, that all reading here will join me, … to thank You, Lord, for Your friendship, …  being willing to die for those of us who believe in You.   Amen  

=============

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.