Iron Sharpens Iron Friendships.
This has been a Season of evaluating friendships and relationships in my life. Seeking God about what they all look like.
God’s Word has an incredible amount of wisdom about friendships. His word tells us what types of friendships are needed in our lives to grow. It also tells us who we need to stay away from.
This has caused my heart to be burdened to share with you what God has shown me. In this Friendship Series, I will be talking about different types of friendships. I will share the different qualities we should look for as well as those qualities we need to be alert too.
The first friendship I want to talk about is found in Proverbs.
“Iron Sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
I believe that aside from our relationship with Jesus Christ, these are the deepest friendships.
I have a few of these types of friends in my life. I believe that God gives us a small circle of these friends. Sometimes there is only one. These types of friends are rare and require a trust that can’t be broken.
This picture shows my friend Dianna and I at a youth event. Dianna has been an “Iron Sharpens iron” friend to me. She is as trustworthy as they come and she loves so intentionally, despite the busy life she leads.
She is always there to love on me. Sometimes it is just a quick text, other times it is an hour phone call that ends in prayer.
“Oil and perfume make the heart glad, So a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend.” proverbs 27:9
She doesn’t hesitate to speak truth to me, yet does it in the most loving way. So many of my breakthroughs the past two years have come from the truth she has been bold enough to speak to me and the encouragement she has given as I have walked towards breaking through to my freedom and victory.
She walks with me.
We pray for one another and share our lives together.
Do you have a friend like this? Are you a friend like this?
“A man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps.” Proverbs 29:5
We don’t need friends who say what we want to hear. We need friends who will speak the truth in love. We need friends who will pray for us and love us enough to walk the every day life with us. God desires us to have and has given us friends like this to build us up and edify us to make us more like Him. He provides opportunities for us to be that friend to others.
I think the biggest obstacle for us women is our mouths. We get into conversations we shouldn’t and end up regretting our words. In order to be trustworthy we need to be wise with our mouths and the words we speak.
I know that I have to be on guard all the more if I have not had my time with the Lord like I should. If I am feeling hurt or wounded in some way, I need to deal with my feelings and emotions before getting into any conversations about a person or situation.
“Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, But who can find a trustworthy man?” Proverbs 20:6
I want to be a trustworthy person. I desire to be an “Iron Sharpens Iron” friend for those God has called me to be. I need those types of friendships and you do too.
If you don’t have a friend like this, pray and ask God to show you who could be that friend for you.
Not all our friendships will be this type of relationship. We have to be careful not to expect every friendship to be at this level because that is not how God made relationships to be. We can destroy relationship with putting expectations on them that don’t belong there.
I am thankful for my relationship with Dianna and for the other small few. These relationships help me grow so that I may help others in my life. I am stronger in Christ because of this friendship.
Seek God and allow Him to evaluate your friendships. Ask Him to give you and “Iron Sharpens Iron” friend, other than your spouse. Ask Him to be that trustworthy friend to someone else. Watch how He grows you through the process. We need each other in this life!!
