๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข What is the best encouragement youโve given or received? How did it affect you or the person you encouraged?
โข Think of those who are closest to you. What makes them dependable and trustworthy?ย
โข Has anyone gotten jealous of you? How did you respond to it?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ. ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ด:๐ญโ๐ฏ
(Read also ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ด:๐ฐโ๐ฑ.)
In success and in challenges, we can feel recharged or strengthened when we receive encouragement from others. In the Bible, we see this happen in the friendship between David and Jonathan. They considered themselves to be close friends and were loyal to one another. As we fulfill Godโs call in our lives, itโs important to build good relationships so that we may receive counsel and wisdom from those who have gone ahead of us and also encouragement and strength from those who walk alongside us. Today, letโs look at the importance of helping others follow God and being with people who help us follow God, too.
๐ญ. ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ.ย
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต.ย ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ด:๐ฏโ๐ฐ
After David defeated Goliath, Jonathanโthe son of King Saulโsaw something great in David. He gave his robe, armor, and weapons to David as a sign of great respect. When David used these, the Israelites recognized him as one acknowledged by a member of the royal family. Unknown to Jonathan, this act of friendship paved the way for David to fulfill his becoming king. Whether we know Godโs call for them or not, our mindset should be to find people whom we can constantly encourage to live a life that honors God. We can help them grow in their journey of faith by giving our time, effort, or resources. Are there people you are helping in this season? How are you guiding them to be more like Christ?
๐ฎ. ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฑโ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐.
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญโ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด.ย ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ด:๐ฑ
Even though Jonathan was the son of King Saul, his humility led him to become good friends with David. Rather than being jealous of Davidโs accomplishments as his father was, Jonathan helped David several times and even warned him of Saulโs threats towards him (1 Samuel 20). Their friendship was very close, even until Jonathanโs death (2 Samuel 1:17โ27). In his lifetime, David also surrounded himself with good people in both the battlefield and leadership. As we obey Godโs call for our lives, we need to surround ourselves with people who will build us up and point us to God. Who are the people who mentor you and walk with you? How do they help you live out Godโs call for your life?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Aside from David and Jonathanโs example, what do godly friendships look like? How should you view friendships based on todayโs discussion?
โข Are there people you open up to and allow to speak into your life to help you live for God? How may you build a healthy relationship with them?
โข Are you helping others live a godly life? Who are the people you can connect with this week?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for the gift of friendship and for sending people who will challenge you to live for Him.
โข Ask God to continue surrounding you with genuine friends who will help you fulfill Godโs call. Pray that you would not resort to comparison, but become an encouragement and a blessing to those around you.
โข Pray that God would use you to be a good friend to others. Ask God to protect your friendships so that you may point others to Him.