{"id":596,"date":"2020-02-03T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/?p=596"},"modified":"2023-07-06T17:50:17","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T17:50:17","slug":"nobetterfriendthanjesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/03\/nobetterfriendthanjesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendship–No Better Friend Than Jesus (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two are better than one,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Because they have a good reward for their labor.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But woe to him who is alone when he falls,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For he has no one to help him up.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But how can one be warm alone?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Though one may be overpowered by another,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Two can withstand him.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We need each other.  That is a fact. <\/span><\/p>\n

But friendship is hard.  Relationships are hard. Satan knows the power of \u201ceach other\u201d, and he does everything to try and separate.  It started with Adam and Eve, moved to Cain and Abel, Noah, Saul and David, and examples in the New Testament such as the disciples and two of my favorite sisters, Mary and Martha —-and the same story rings true today. <\/span><\/p>\n

We endure pain, envy, and abandonment and unfortunately, these carry with us as baggage.  It is hard to \u201ctrust\u201d again. It is hard to put yourself out there due to fear of hurt. But power comes with TWO!  Look at that passage from Ecclesiastes. Two are better than one. They lift each other up. They protect one another.  They lead each other toward a common goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

We need each other.  <\/span><\/p>\n

It is hard to cut past the superficial in the world we live in.  We live in a world where we ask \u201cHow are you?\u201d and expect fine. We don\u2019t want to go deep.  We want to be polite. Taking off the mask and revealing our insecurities, hurts, and struggles is portrayed as weakness instead of strength.  We want to hide who we really are. A true friendship is authentic. A true friendship requires vulnerability.  <\/span><\/p>\n

That true friendship first begins with the ONE who should be your NUMBER ONE true friend, and that is Jesus.  Are you vulnerable with Him regarding your hurts, your excitement, your wishes? When something happens, is HE the first one you run to?  <\/span><\/p>\n

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one\u2019s life for his friends.  <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

but I have called you friends.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

John 15:13-15<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That part of John continues to tell us that HE CHOSE US.  He won\u2019t leave us. He won\u2019t forsake us. If the friendship is broken, that is because of US, not because of Him.  Jesus came to restore the broken relationship with God\u2026.think about that. He came so that we COULD be with God forever.  \u201cAnd by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by HIm, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.\u201d (Col 1:20).<\/span><\/p>\n

He came to heal.  Everything He did on \u201cunder the sun\u201d was not of selfish ambition, which is how relationships are a lot of a time split in two, but of love. Trust Him.  He wants your true self. After all, He knows it.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The challenge:  be more like Mary and Martha with Him in John 11. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf You would have been there, my brother wouldn\u2019t have died!\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Words from hurting sisters.  Real authentic pain. They felt comfortable enough to express this to Him.  And knew He would help them navigate through it. He did\u2014He wept with them.  <\/span><\/p>\n

He weeps with you..  He rejoices with you.  He comforts you. He gives you peace.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Run to Him.  Allow this friendship to be the navigation of all others here on Earth.  <\/span><\/p>\n

(Be looking for Part 2 next week as we allow His example to guide our friendships here on earth!)<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, Two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 We need each other.  That is a fact.  But friendship is hard.  Relationships are hard. Satan knows the power of \u201ceach other\u201d, and he does everything to try and separate.  It started with Adam and Eve, moved to Cain and Abel, Noah, Saul and David, and examples in the New Testament such as the disciples and two of my favorite sisters, Mary and Martha —-and the same story rings true today.  We endure pain, envy, and abandonment and unfortunately, these carry with us as baggage.  It is hard to \u201ctrust\u201d again. It is hard to put yourself out there due to fear of hurt. But power comes with TWO!  Look at that passage from Ecclesiastes. Two are better than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[67],"tags":[178,93,147,104,79,97,74,75,77],"class_list":["post-596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-anchored","tag-anchoredinhim","tag-church","tag-trustandobey","tag-christ","tag-friendship","tag-grace","tag-trust","tag-truth"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shelteredingrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/A-sweet-friendship-refreshes-the-soul..jpg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1863,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions\/1863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}