April 6, 2021 … Friends Forever …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 96 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Michael W Smith singing … Friends …  poignantly singing of how our relationships with other brothers and sisters in Christ are friends forever. 

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Highlight Passage:  Philippians 1:3…5 [ESV] ... 

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, …  5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 

… Paul remembers the steadfast friendship of his fellow Christian friends in Philippi.        

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …  Philippians 1:3-8  [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul writes a letter of thankfulness for his loyal and helpful Christian friends in Philippi.       

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Reference Passage: … Proverbs 17:17 [ESV] … 

17 … A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

…  Solomon shows that true friends are there for us - even in the tough times. 

Reference Passage: … Proverbs 27:6, 9, 17 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

…  King Solomon also writes of the depth of true and lasting friendships.

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

…  Jesus expresses the love of friendship to His Disciples (and to all believers) 

Reference Passage: … Hebrews 10:24-25 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK …  

…  God shows Christians (as friends), we should come together to encourage and lift one another up. 

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Glenn Packiam, AT THIS LINK …   reviewed a study done a Harvard, begun in the 1930s which showed that those who had close and loyal friendships lived happier, more healthy, lives.  

And that’s what Michael W Smith sings about in his linked song above, doesn’t he?   And i’m stopping to pray here this morning that all reading here have close and abiding CHRISTIAN friends, … the kind of friend Jesus was to those with him in the upper room the night before His death (see John 15:12-15) and the kind of friendships Paul wrote about to Philippi (and to other Christians in the highlight passage).  Because if we have friends like those Solomon wrote about in the Proverbs cited above we will have friendships that will be there for us FOREVER. 

  

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me friends who are my FRIENDS FOREVER.   

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to do we can to cultivate forever friendships in Christ.   … Amen

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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.