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A Prayer Thanking Jesus for Friendship and Our Friends

     After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 1 Sam. 1:18:1-3
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn. 15:13)”… I have called you friends…” Jn. 15:15
     Dear Lord Jesus, today I’m particularly thankful for the gift of friendship—especially with you. It’s with no effort I sing today… “Jesus! What a friend for sinners. Jesus! Lover of my soul… Hallelujah! what a Savior! Hallelujah! what a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.”
     For, indeed, Jesus, you are the friend who sticks closer than a brother. You are the friend who made yourself our servant in life that you might make us your friends for eternity. You are the friend who laid down your life on the cross that you might lift ours up in glory.
     There is no more faithful friend than you, Jesus. There is no richer friendship; no deeper intimacy; no greater joy, peace and comfort than that which comes to us through union with you. And you are so immeasurably generous with us. Everything that you have, you’ve made ours—including the friends we get to walk with through every season of life…
     I praise you for the kind of friendship shared between Jonathan and David—for friends with whom there’s no need to pretend or pose; no need to qualify every joke or eliminate any emotion. Friends with whom tears are as welcome as laughter; confession of sin flows as easily as acknowledgement of weakness.
     I bless you for friends who provoke me to love and good deeds, and don’t just provoke me to watch the clock and reach for my keys; for friends who “call me out,” and don’t just call me; for friends who can finish my sentences, but don’t; for friends who equally love to pray and play, work and rest, party and be still; friends who love hymns, Motown and silence.
     I thank you for friends can enjoy all things without shame and give sacrificially without hesitation; for friends who love the gospel more than gossip; who love to fish for men and for fish; who repent as quickly as easily as they sin; friends who are sensitive, but not fragile; strong, but not harsh; present, but not hovering.
     Lord Jesus, the bottom line is this… all good friendship simply comes back to you. Only the gospel gives us the kinds of friendship for which we long—for which we have been made. How we praise you for calling us and making us your friends—for this life and the life to come. May we increasingly offer one another a taste of the friendship we only have in you. So very Amen I pray, in your loving and impassioned name.

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