Blog 16: Friends

Hello everyone! Happy Word Wednesday. I have a good word ( 😉 ) for us today. Friends. A person who we trust and like to hangout with. They can either bloom us into the prettiest flower ( or the best version of yourself ) in the world or into the deadly pit viper. Believe it or not your friends have a BIG impact on your life. That’s why you should choose carefully who you hangout with. I wonder who has the biggest impact on your life right now. Who can you think of? Is that certain person making it difficult to believe in God because of what he or she is saying or the actions of that person? Keep reading to find out how to continue growing your relationship with God without being weighed down by the people around you.

For us to connect with God and have some type of understanding of why we should pick good friends I found a man in the Bible who had some pretty bad friends. Before we talk about that I would like to share something with you guys.

When I decided to be a Christian it was really hard for my friends to accept that I was changing. It’s not easy at all but I chose to think about it like this. If they don’t support me they weren’t my real friends in the first place. Some of my friends still to this day are still my friends from back when I made that decision. But majority of those friendships stopped because they didn’t support me. If I held on to those relationships do you think my walk with Jesus would have been easier or difficult? If you guys are dealing with a similar situation right now may God speak to you through this story. It’s hard at first guys; I will admit. I know because I went through it but it will get better. God will see the change in you and will bless you for it.

You may have heard of the story of King Rehoboam’s important decision. If not, let me tell you a little bit about him. ( 1 Kings 12:1-15 ) In this part of the story Rehoboam is the King of Israel. He was in Shechem, an ancient biblical city in Israel, when all of Israel had come to ask him to be their king.

Later, the people came to their new king and asked could their huge tax load be cut that was originally started by his father, King Solomon. King Rehoboam told the people to give him three days to think over it. He went to ask some leaders and his friends for some advice. It’s important to have good friends because when you need to ask them for advice you need to be lead in the right direction. First, King Rehoboam asked the old counsel who helped his dad when King Solomon was king. The old counsel said to Rehoboam ( 1 Kings 12:7 ) “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” Basically they were telling him, “If you give the people a break and be nice and kind to them they will work for you forever.” But The King didn’t listen to them. He then went on to ask his close friends who he had been raised with. What do you think, he asked? They replied with, ( 1 Kings 12: 10-11 ) “My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” His friends were telling him to say, “You thought my father was hard on you? I’ll be worse. You think you had a lot of work before?You will have even more.” Do you think thats bad advice or good advice? It’s bad advice. Saying those things are mean and also do you think the people would still want to be ruled by him? So when the three days had passed king rehoboam had decided to say what his close friends advised him to say. Can you guess what the people replied with? They were upset. Ten tribes left his rule and became self-sufficient but he still ruled the cities of Judah.

In the end, taking this wrong advice from his friends lead to horrible consequences for him. He loss half of his kingdom. Instead of ruling all of Israel he only ruled some parts now. God says to be kind and love others even those who serve you or work for you. So, let’s pick some good friends who will help us and give us good advice when needed. I encourage you to go into your Bible and read this word for yourself. Have a great week and don’t forget to come back next week to read a BRAND, NEW POST on May 25. Sending prayers, Sarai.

#BEYOU #NEEDS&WANTS #1KINGS12:1-15 #FRIENDS