I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Inner Circle of Friends Credit: Creative Commons

Proverbs 27:17 (Message) “You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.”

Coffee with a Friend 

I was having coffee with a friend yesterday (one of my favorite pass times) and we got on the subject of friendship. 

As we talked we discovered that we held in common one belief: Everyone can have friends, but the core group directly around you (your closest friends) is the most important, especially when you are a leader.

I have two examples for you.

Moses, Aaron and Hur

Moses and Aaron were brothers. These two are mentioned together in the Bible 139 times. Often, when God was telling Moses something, Aaron was right there, getting the same download. When the people complained and murmured against Moses, Aaron was being complained about too. When Moses needed a spokesman, Aaron knew his brother’s heart so well; he spoke on Moses’ behalf. These two were a powerhouse. When Hur was added into the mix, nothing could stop these guys. Moses relied on Hur just as he did Aaron.

Exodus 24:14 Moses told the elders, “Stay here and wait for us until we come back. Aaron and Hur are here with you. If anyone has a dispute while I am gone, consult with them.”

When Moses grew tired during battle, who had his back? Aaron and Hur.

Exodus 17:11-13 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel would start winning the battle. Whenever Moses lowered his hand, Amalek would start winning. But Moses’ hands grew tired. So they took a stone and put it under Moses so he could sit down on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side of him so that his hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

Moses was undoubtedly the leader of the Nation, but Aaron and Hur were his right and left hands.

Peter, James, John

The three closest to Jesus were Peter, James, and John. These were the ones he spent the most time with. The ones he prayed with. The ones he loved the most. Each friend brought a different thing to Jesus as a friend.

Peter was brash. A tell it like it is kind of guy that swings swords first and asks questions later. He is the one that first called Jesus the Christ. He also had an impetuous streak. When Jesus was going to wash the disciples’ feet, Peter pitched a fit until he realized Jesus was sealing their friendship with service, and then he was ready for a sponge bath. The guy was funny like that.

James was special. He was a fisherman. As Jesus walked by them on the shore he recognized something in James that sparked. Has that ever happened to you? You meet someone and you immediately “click”? James was a leader. He brought his brother and even his mother to follow Jesus.

James was quick to react, and had a bit of a temper, though Peter got stuck with the bad rep of being the hot head. Jesus nicknamed James and his brother John the Sons of Thunder, because they wanted to call fire down on a guy for not believing.

John did have a tender side though. Jesus held a tender affection for John. He trusted John to always do the right thing. John was a details person. He was the one Jesus wanted to set up the Passover meal. He was the one he trusted with His mother. Jesus had brothers. They could of and should have taken in Mary. Jesus trusted his friend John.

These three men were Jesus’ inner circle. They saw the everyday Jesus and they saw the Christ. They were all passionate but each had something slightly different to offer. We can learn something from these men and from Moses, Aaron and Hur.

1. Friends are not all interchangeable. Each friend brings something different to the table.

2. We need friends who tell us like it is, but remind us how it should be too.

3. We need friends who will pray for/with us and friends who will go to battle for us.

4. We need friends who are trustworthy.

5. We need friends who will go above and beyond the call of duty and minister not just to us, but our families as well.

If you have friends in your life who embody these qualities you are truly blessed. These people will stick with you and can make all the difference in the world!

What are characteristics you look for in a friend?

Who Are You?

She Needed His Mercy

I am Mary Magdalene, adulteress, and prostitute. I met Him after He saved my life. He was the reason I am free from my old life. He is the one that loved me, though I was so unlovable. 

He did not want what other men did. 

He wanted my heart, not my body. 

He wanted me whole, not broken and used. 

He was my Savior and they have killed him.




He Washed His Hands

I am Pilot, governor over the territory of Jerusalem. This back water town is full of trouble, but every place is. I have to keep order and maintain the Roman way, but walk the line and keep the Jews happy too. 

Now they send me Him. Jesus. He is blameless. I find no fault. My wife is weeping in the other room. She has begged me to stay out of this. How can I? It is my job. I have to judge Him. 

He is innocent. 

The people want him dead. 

How can they want Him dead? What has he done? 

I will give them what they want. I cannot deal with an uprising if they become unsettled. 

I know they are wrong but I wash my hands of it all.



He denied Him

I am Peter. 

He just asked me to watch and to pray. I couldn’t stay awake! I should have seen them coming. I could have gotten him away from there! 

After the soldiers took him, I followed to see where they would take him. The courtyard was packed. They wanted Him dead. 

He knew. 

He told us last night. 

He has been telling us. 

Someone called me out! “Aren’t you one of his?” they asked me.

No!

“Yes, you are!” NO!

NO!

When that rooster crowed, I knew He had told me the truth.

What have I done?

When He asked me to follow Him, I did. When He asked me to walk out to meet Him on the water, I did. I watched him feed 5,000. I saw Him heal the blind. 

He even raised our friend from the dead. He washed my feet. 

He loved me like no one has ever loved me. He saw me: me, with my bad temper and big mouth, and He loved me anyway. I just deserted him. I left Him to them. Now He is dead.



He got a second chance

I am Barabbas. I was on death row. I was all set to die. I had been killing men and boys for years and I had finally been caught. The truth is, I was a little mad. 

When the soldiers brought me before Pilot, I thought, “This is it. I am going to die today.” I was prepared. 

Then I saw Him.

He just stood there, with his body bloody from a beating, looking at me. 

I felt like He saw everything I had ever done.

 I had heard about Him. He was all I would never be. 

Perfect. Holy. 

Pilot asked “Who do you want to be released?” and I cannot believe what I heard. “Barabbas! Barabbas! Give us Barabbas!”

He took my place. I deserved to die. I still deserve to die, but instead, He is dead. 

Him: not me. 

Jesus.




He did his job

I am just a soldier. A Centurion, proud to serve Caesar! I show up every day for duty and do what I am told. 

Today, well, today I wish I had any other job in the world but this one! 

I usually have guard duty, but today I got put on crucifixion detail. 

Why today of all days did I get ordered to do this? 

He was so beaten, so bruised. His body looked like a bloody animal carcass.

Through it all: the mocking, the spitting, He hung there, drowning as His lungs filled with blood, praying for us. 

He asked God to forgive us! 

Who is this man? 

Surely, He is who He says. He is the Son of God. What have I done? I just killed the Son of God!

I am Mary, adulteress

I am Pilot, judge

I am Peter, deserter

I am Barabbas, murderer

I am a Centurion, executioner



He was a carpenter, a builder, and architect

He was a brother, a Rabbi, a friend

He was a lamb and a Shepard

He was the bread and the wine

He was giving and He was given

He was offered and He offered

He was man and He was God

Today is Good Friday. 

Today we remember what Jesus did for us. He died for us, as a stand-in for us, so we could have relationship with God. 

It was always the plan. God's way to redeem us back to Him. 

Are you Mary? Are you Peter? Maybe you are Pilot, indifferent to God? 

Are you Barabbas, filled with hate and anger and not sure why? 

Maybe you feel like you are a pretty good person, just keeping your head down in life, doing your "job" and not doing anything too bad- that would make you the Centurion. 

Jesus died for every one of us, no matter who you are, or what you have done. If you have not acknowledged Him as the only way to God, won't you do so now? 

Ask for forgiveness. He gives it freely. 

He loves you, if He didn't none of this would have been necessary. 

Thoughts: Who are you? 

"Just Keep Swimming" The Lesson I Learned from a Cartoon.

Sometimes when I write these devotionals, I have no problem figuring out what to write. Sometimes, the words are pressing so hard against my heart and fingers they fly out of me like a geyser. Shooting into the air, my words become water on the page, at least for me, because as I write I am the student of God too. 

Then there are those days, like today, where I am sitting at my desk, praying, looking at the blank screen in front of me and wondering how am I going to come up with something edifying to say right now? What do I do when this happens? I write anyway. 

Why? How? 

Disney/Pixar all rights reserved

It is the lesson God taught me just recently as I babysat two very precious little boys I know. They wanted to watch a movie. After much deliberation, they settled on Finding Nemo, a Disney Pixar Film. As I sat there with them, cuddled under blankets, I heard something that sparked inside of me. Dory, said “Just keep Swimming”. 

I know it is crazy that a grown woman has anything to learn from a Disney movie, but God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. 

Her persistence in the movie spoke volumes to me. “Just Keep Swimming” 

I don’t know about you but I usually give up. If it gets hard, I walk away. If I got offended in the past, I left. If I started a book and got stuck on the story line, then I would scrap it, lie to myself and say “it wasn’t a good idea anyway” and be frustrated because I wanted to be a writer. 

I am a writer, and Dory was a fish. She swam. I write. “Just keep swimming” 

Persistence is important. 

No one knows this better than God. He is faithful. He persisted throughout time after man. He wooed us, He chastised us, and He loved us. 

Now it is our turn to be consistently faithful. To follow after God with our whole heart, our whole body, our whole mind, to love our neighbor as ourselves, these are the call of God for every man and woman in Christ. 

Persistence is defined as tenacity, holding firm in pursuit. We need to focus on what we are pursuing and then be persistent. 

Choose you this day whom you will serve. 

Jesus looked at Peter and said “Follow me” and Peter did. He made mistakes along the way, he even got so discouraged that Jesus had to re-enforce in Peter his calling: Feed my sheep. 

But Peter’s persistence lead him to be the one who preached on the Day of Pentecost and thousands came to the Lord. His persistence caused him to be faithful unto death. 

I want to be that persistent. I want to be told at the end of my life, as I stand before my Father, “Well done, thy good and FAITHFUL servant” “Just Keep Swimming!” 

Let the past go, press on into what is ahead toward the high calling of Christ Jesus and run your race! 

Be persistent and JUST KEEP SWIMMING! 

Can you share with us about a time you felt like giving up or giving in and you persisted anyway? How did that affect you? 

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember persistence is a noun.

Impetuous Peter and the Journey to Self-Discovery in Christ

When you think of Peter, what is the first thing you think of? Cutting off a guy's ear? Standing in front of the "Pearly Gates"? 

Who was Peter? 

Impetuous Peter had a whole slew of qualities. Let’s look at some of them.

Peter walked on water; he slashed off a man’s ear. Peter recognized Jesus as the Son of God, and then he denied Jesus three times. Peter was a fisher of men, but could not watch and pray for a few hours. He was prone to legalism but dreamed of freedom from the law. He did not see the big picture before the crucifixion but preached on the day of Pentecost and thousands got saved. 

Peter ran from the horror of a trial and then hanged out in a cramped room full of believers in the days following Jesus’ death. Peter was a man of God and he had a temper. He was a fisherman and he was a brother. He was not rich but gave what he had. Peter heard a voice in the desert then followed a Savior. He was a twin with identity issues and he stood out to all those around him. He was prideful then let Jesus wash his feet. He failed then he was restored.

We are like Peter! 

Every time I think I have life figured out, I seem to find one thing or another to fail in and mess things up. Peter was no stranger to this phenomenon. But God still used Peter and He can use you and me! God uses the things the world puts no faith in, and He confounds conventional wisdom because there is success anyway, strength anyway, peace anyway.  

Peter was an Expert

Peter had something that we need. He had time with Jesus. I have heard it said that it takes 10,000 hours of work, research and time with a subject before you become an expert. That is 1 year, 1 month and 21 days (roughly) of one on one with the subject of study. Peter walked and talked, and was taught by Jesus for nearly three years. He was an expert. He was a believer. He was a founding apostle developing doctrine and teaching countless men and women throughout his life. And he still had issues.

So if all this is true, what does it mean for us? 

It means we can be an Impetuous Peter too. 

We can make mistakes, and have tempers, and fall on our face with pride issues, but if we continually surrender to God and allow Him to grow us, guide us, and lead us by the belt, then we can impact the world too.

Growing up I always thought of Peter as a weak willed man. He denied Jesus. I had no empathy at all for him. I could not figure out why Jesus went out of his way in John 21 to restore Peter and encourage him the way He did.  Part of my confusion was a lack of understanding the Jesus’ character, but now, I understand what it takes to be a real follower, and I know that Jesus is the lifter of my head. This was Jesus’ whole purpose on earth: restoration, forgiveness, and teaching. Now I realize that I am an Impetuous Peter, and I need restoration, forgiveness and understanding that can only come from Jesus.

I know that there is a long history and spiritual ancestry that is behind me. I know that like Peter, I will make mistakes. Like Peter, I have a calling on my life. Just as you do. For this purpose did I come, to testify to the truth!  

Like Peter I cannot get caught in the past, but have to allow myself to be renewed, and restored and made usable every day. I have to proclaim the glories of God and remind people the time is NOW.  Tall order? Maybe, but with God all things are possible.

So I want to close with a few questions.

1. Are you like Peter or is there another person in the Bible that you identify with more? Why?

2. What is your purpose? Have you defined who you are supposed to be in Christ yet?

3. Have there been moments in your life that made you think “That’s it, I really blew it now!” and made you feel like there could be no way you could move forward?

4. If you answered yes to #3, has there been a moment that Jesus restored you like in John 21? Reminding you there are things you still have to give and to do?

These are not easy questions. They are designed to make you think about your life and to press in to figure out first who you are in Christ and secondly to figure out what God has called you to do.  We overcome by the word of our testimony. I have to remember mine almost daily.

What is your story?