Friday Morning Prayer:). February 24, 2022
February 25, 2022 - 6 minutes readThere is not a friend like Jesus
In the trying scenes of life;
He can hear the heart’s faint whisper,
Calm the tempest’s raging strife.
There is not a friend like Jesus,
Patient, tender, kind, and true;
If you’ll be a friend of Jesus,
He will be a friend to you.
There is not a friend like Jesus,
Bid the scoffing world adieu;
For if you’re ashamed of Jesus,
He will be ashamed of you.
There is not a friend like Jesus,
Trust Him everywhere you go;
He has trod the way before you,
Suffered every pain and woe.
There is not a friend like Jesus
When you draw your life’s last breath;
If you’ll be His friend while living,
He will be your friend in death.[1]
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command…. This is my command: Love each other.”[2]
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The pursuit of friendship. God has designed us to be social, to live in relationship with others. In fact, the early developmental years are the essential relational years that set the foundation for lifelong healthy relationships. God’s grace and his indwelling Spirit helps us, as he forms and shapes our new life in Christ; despite the deficits, successes, hit and miss role-modeling, good and bad parenting, heartache, neglect, abuse, brokenness, the redeeming love of God stirs the broken human heart, salvation experienced! Joy, excitement, peace, nothing compares, God’s amazing saving grace manifest! Truly, a subjective supernatural awakening, you, and me too are empowered to love in relationship.
When Jesus was asked, “…which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[3] The greatest relationship, the friendship that is like no other is with Jesus. Do I really believe that Jesus is patient, tender, kind, and true? Have I experienced Jesus as my Savior, Lord, Comforter, Friend? Is my desire for him greater, my reliance more evident, my pursuit of him more intense as the days, weeks, months, years pass? Is he my refuge in times of trouble, stress, uncertainty, anxiety, emotional pain?
Lyrics from a similar hymn remind us of our redeeming friendship, “What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!” Moreover, “Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge—Take it to the Lord in prayer.”[4] Yes! How do I nurture this great friendship? How do I truly love God in relationship? Beloved, I am most satisfied when I am spending time pursuing God in prayer, in Bible study, sitting here thinking through writing, asking for words to encourage you; praying, please Lord, renew, give supernatural zeal and power to live as light in Christ and salt for the lost and broken. I humbly pray that Christ is real for you—that you are experiencing-knowing the Spirit’s fire, ever-growing, constant cleansing, burning love for God, in Christ. A desperate prayer for myself too!
You know those days when weakness prevails, the temptations are overwhelming, the motivation is low, and the flesh, oh man! No! Fight the good fight! Take it to the Lord in prayer. Spend quality time. Nurture the relationship. I enjoy listening to hymns, staying up too late, but the quiet night, no distractions, reading the Psalms, or the gospels, or the epistles, pursuing God in Spirit and truth, trusting and experiencing the presence of my Friend Jesus. Beloved, be ye encouraged to pursue him too.
There is not a friend like Jesus;
What a blessed thought to be
Folded in His arms of power,
Ever in eternity
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Friday Morning Prayer:)… First Baptist Church 1912 Arnold Way, Alpine.
Sisters meet at 0900
Brothers meet at 0730
Join us if your schedule allows. A sweet hour of encouragement and prayer. Always a joy to join with brothers!
[1] No Friend Like Jesus
No Friend Like Jesus
[2] John 15:13-14, 17
[3] Matthew 22:36-39
[4] https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/What_a_Friend_We_Have_in_Jesus/
What a friend we have in Jesus
What a friend we have in Jesus
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