Daily Inspirational Thoughts

 Daily

Inspirational Thoughts

to bless your life.

~

Monday - Sunday

Be sure to check out our Friday devotional on

"Let it to Beaver." 

and

"Andy Griffith" 

Please scroll down to see everything.

~

By Beth McLendon

The topic this week is

Friendship

This page refers to "friends" as close friends.

Of course we agree that

God tells us to be kind to everyone.

Check out the

Friendship movie on Sunday!

Monday

Your friends greatly influence the direction of your life.

Sharman Lawson

Monday Mini-Devotion

We don't choose our family,
but
we do choose our friends. 

Those people we choose to spend time with

and call our friends

make a huge impact on our life.

Wisdom

says to

choose carefully.

People tend to become like the people they spend time with.

Tuesday

Staying faithful to God is easier

when you have friends who truly love God.

~

One of the most powerful things you can do to bless your life is:

Having friends who love God

and

encourage you to be faithful to God.

Wednesday

A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like

is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.

Proverbs 27:19 TLB

The following are
"Wednesday Reflection Points"
for us to consider,
and thoughts
for us to share with our teenagers and pre-teens:

What kind of friends do you choose?

~ ~ ~

Do you choose your friends by their character

or by their popularity?

He that walketh with wise men

shall be wise:

but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 

Proverbs 13:20 KJV

Do you choose your friends by

who is

hanging around you or nearby you,

or

by their character?

Do your friends encourage you to obey God

or

discourage you to obey God?

~ ~ ~

Consider taking time to ponder

how a

poor choice of friends

could destroy your life.

~ ~ ~

Do you choose to spend time with people

who will likely get you into trouble

rather than

choosing to be alone with God?

Thursday

God wants each of us to choose

Him

as our best friend.

~

Would you describe your relationship to God

as one of

best friends?

Are you satisfied

with how close you are to God?

The Highlighted Bible Verse

is

"The character of even a child

can be known

by the way he acts -

whether what he does is pure and right."

Proverbs 20:11 TLB

Choosing friends and developing friendships

is one of the most

important things we do.

Take note that -

there are

lots more on this page

that will inspire and motivate.

Friday

Leave it to Beaver

I am a fan of

Leave it to Beaver.

I enjoy the antics of Beaver and Wally and even Eddie Haskell.

If you have watched the show,

you know that

Eddie Haskell

is not the kind of teenager

you pray for your child to become. 

Yet Eddie does add a lot of drama and humor to the show.

However, if I was Mrs. Cleaver, I would not be excited about Wally choosing Eddie as a close friend. 

Eddie isn’t really a “bad” teenager, but he is definitely leaning that way!

Eddie is not pursuing godliness.

In real life,

a person like

Eddie

could easily find himself in a big pack of trouble,

and

Wally

just might end up

being drawn into the situation and the consequences.

Reaching out to Eddie in the mindset of being a missionary

is one thing,

but choosing him as a good friend is another.

Notice that

Eddie encourages Wally to do wrong things.

Also notice that

Wally is not really making a significant impact

on Eddie's character.

In Real Life...

Our friends exert a peer pressure toward us.

They will either

encourage us to follow God or not to follow God.

Attention:

If Christians choose negative role-model friends,

it is usually the Christian

whose behavior is changed

and not

the other way around.

Christian parents

assume that their children

are

and

will continue to be

invincible.

Here is one of my favorite

Andy Griffith episodes.

This one is packed with wisdom.

Opie has made friends

with a hobo

who is a bad influence.

Opie has started changing his character for the worst.

Andy said,
"You can't let a young’n decide for himself. He'll grab at the first flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it. Then, when he finds out there's a hook in it, it's too late. Wrong ideas come packaged with so much glitter that it's hard to convince ‘em that other things might be better in the long run. All a parent can do is say 'wait' and 'trust me' and try to keep temptation away."

Youtube Comment under the video:

My grandparents watched this show and I never realized as a young girl that it would be my generation that needs this message more than anything. I’m only 28 but realize today the dangers of parents aged 40 and younger being too much of a friend rather than parents to their children today, and it’s starting to show in our society now from the lack of discipline they gave their children.

Children are imitators.

We sometimes forget that fact.

Children are easily swayed toward wrong things.

Many Christians

give their children a lot of reign

to be "missionaries."

Yet

I challenge you to think about this...

We train missionaries

for a

long period of time

before we send them out.

We do A LOT of training before we send them out.

I submit that

we must be careful about thinking that

our children

are strong enough

to handle alone most "missionary" situations in their life.

The movie called

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry

teaches about this topic in an entertaining way.

See more about that further down the page.

It is a life-changing movie for adults!

Christian adults and teens

tend to think that

we will be protected by God

no matter what

decisions we make

concerning the people we choose to spend time with.

And the following

is an important thought to consider...

What does the Bible say?

The Bible tells us

to consider carefully

who we choose as friends.

Proverbs gives us many verses

about choosing friends.

For example:

"Be with

wise men and become wise.

Be with

evil men and become evil.” 

Proverbs 13:20 TLB

That is a strong statement.

I submit that is a verse

that we need to teach to our children.

- - -

The Bible also tells us to consider carefully

who we choose as heroes.

"I will make the godly of the land my heroes."

Psalm 101:6 TLB

When my son was growing up,

he knew that all my heroes were godly heroes.

For example, all my sports heroes were godly,
not just good athletes.

If one of them "fell" into public sin,

then that person

wouldn't be my

sports "hero" any more.

I would still pray for that person,

but to be my "hero" was a special honor

only given to godly acting people.

Saturday

The Consequences of
Choosing the Wrong Friends

Harold Morris

speaks to teenagers and adults

on the dangers of choosing the wrong friends.

I have been in attendance when Harold Morris was speaking to my church years ago.

I do not know anything about his program for schools.

Sunday

Today we have a movie

that you can watch

on Youtube.

After the movie,

we have

1. Advice for dating and for married couples.

and then

2. Prayers you can pray for your friends.

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry

Below is a

great movie

that expresses

Christian values and themes 

on the subject of friendship.

-

I highly recommend this movie.

This is a very inspirational movie!

This movie

will bring you closer to the Lord.

It will inspire you and motivate you

to be a more dedicated Christian.

It will give you
insights into
how to be
kind
to those who oppose you.

It will give you tips on how to choose wisely

in your life.

-

You can watch the entire movie on YOUtube

by this link.

https://youtu.be/X6jEFAqZeYQ?si=wdYEYasgAVWS3nyP

Below is the trailer for the movie.

Here is

the

Trailer

Below we have two sections...

One for Singles and one for Married people.

Dating

Wisdom says only date those who are Christians.

Period.

Wisdom says

only date those who are walking closely with God.

Period.

2 Corinthians 6:14

If you go against this wisdom, you will later regret it.

Consider our Dating pages:

Dating insights for men

Dating insights for women

For Married Couples to consider

A wisdom note for married couples

Married men and women weaken their marriage by choosing
personal friends of the opposite sex. 

-

It is never wise

for a married person

to share personal problems or

emotions with a person of the opposite sex outside of a

professional counseling situation.

-

It is also not wise to be having multiple phone conversations
on your personal cell phone with the opposite sex.

-

Also be careful about Facebook and "old" friends of the opposite sex.
Many divorces began this way.

Praying for our Friends

We have

one prayer

written below.

Yet we have many pages of prayers for friends.

Here are some of them...

Prayer for my Adult Son's Friends

Prayer for my Adult Daughter's Friends

Marriage Prayers for Friends

Uplifting Prayers for Friends

Prayer for a Friend who is fighting a long illness

Prayers for Emotionally Wounded Friends & Family

Prayer for a Friend - various topics 

Below is a prayer that you might like to pray

for one or more of your friends.

Please modify it for a male friend.

Lord,

You are the God who creates beautiful friendships. Thank you for my friendship with _____________.

I pray for my dear friend. She has been such a blessing in my life.

I am excited about the incredible things you are doing for her and through her each day.

Thank you for molding her, preparing her, and positioning her to fulfill her destiny.

Thank you for teaching her and counseling her so that she may walk in obedience and holiness to your calling on her life.

Thank you for your comfort that she may be refreshed and strengthened.

Thank you for your personal ministry to her past emotional wounds that they may be totally healed.

Thank you for your promise that goodness and mercy will follow her all the days of her life.

May she more fully receive your peace for daily life into her heart each day.

In Jesus' Name I pray,

Amen

Copyright © 2012 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

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This page first presented: April 28, 2014