Friend: an associate; assistant; companion; supporter; buddy; pal; mate; one attached to another by affection & esteem; an intimate associate who encourages & supports; a trustworthy companion you can trust & confide in; a helper in a struggle or cause.
GOD IS ABRAHAM'S FRIEND: JAM 2:20-24 He was called the friend of God. 2CH 20:7 Jehoshaphat quoted God: "Abraham your friend for ever".
HOW TO BECOME GOD'S FRIEND: JOH 15:14 You are my friends, "IF" ye "DO" what I command you. JAM 4:4 Whoever will be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.
BENEFITS OF HAVING GOD AS YOUR FRIEND: Knowledge of God: JOH 15:15 I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Having you prayers answered - LUK 11:1-13.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT FRIENDS...
1. WEALTH AND FRIENDS: PRO 19:4 Wealth makes many friends.
2. GOSSIP AND FRIENDS: PRO 16:28 A sinful man sows division: and a whisperer separates close friends. PRO 17:9 He that covers another's sins seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates close friends.
3. ANGER & FRIENDS: PRO 22:24 Do not make friends with an angry man; and do not associate with someone who gets angry easily or else you may learn his ways, and get yourself ensnared.
4. FRIENDS & CORRECTION: PRO 27:5-6 Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
PSA 141:5 Let the righteous smite me; it will be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it will be an excellent oil, which will not break my head.
5. ADVERSITY & FRIENDS: PRO 17:17 A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity. PRO 18:24 There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. "A true friend is one who walks in when others walk out."
6. FRIENDS & ADVICE: PRO 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.
7. MAKING FRIENDS: PRO 18:24 A man that has friends must show himself friendly. "There's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for my friend" a man said, "and there's nothing my friend wouldn't do for me. That's the way our friendship is. We go through life doing nothing for each other!" "You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the best way to make a friend is to be one."
8. TREAT FRIENDS WELL: PRO 27:14 He that blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it will be counted a curse to him. PRO 25:17 Withdraw your foot from your neighbor’s house; so he does not grow weary of you, and hate you. PRO 27:10 Do not go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.
9. FRIENDS & INSPIRATION: PRO 27:17 As iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. "A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you've been, accepts who you've become and still encourages you to grow."
10. FRIENDS & BETRAYAL: PSA 41:9 Mine own familiar friend (Judas MAT 26:50; JOH 13:18), in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
11. FRIENDS & FAITHFULNESS: PRO 27:10 Do not forsake your own friend and the friend of your father.
12. PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS: JOB 42:10 The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
