That's What Friends Are For

I don't know about all ya'll out there, but I certainly feel blessed to have the friends I have. You know the kind I'm talking about: real friends. Not these people that will call you their best friend and then talk about you behind your back, not treat you right, or leave you when you need them most. Good friends, on the other hand, will stay with you through thick and thin no matter the circumstance. Yeah, I'm a pretty lucky girl, and I hope you can speak from the same point of view as me. Sometimes, keeping up a healthy friendship isn't easy. We may disappoint the other sometimes, get our feelings hurt, and just get plain mad at them. Like any other relationship, a friendship isn't going to be perfect. Trust me. There are always going to be places of improvement. So, for this entry today, that's what I'm going to deal with: true friendship.

Now, when you think of a group of friends in the Bible, who comes to mind? David and Johnathan? Paul and Silas? The disciples? Yeah, that's what generally comes to my mind too. However, lately I've found other friendship that's not really noticed. At least, I had never noticed it before. It's in Daniel Chapter 3. Yeah, that's right: the Three Hebrew Children. Often times we get our mind set on the miracle of Jesus walking in the fiery furnace and the children coming out unharmed, and that's good!! Don't forget that! To me, it's one of the most powerful stories in the Bible. But for a moment, I would like to focus on their friendship.

I encourage you to open your Bible to this story, but if it's not handy, I will summarize it for you. I'm sure we all know the story. King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue and told everyone to worship it. Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do so. So, as a punishment, the king order them to be thrown into a burning fiery furnace. The King even order them to heat it seven times hotter than usual. So, they threw the children down bound into the furnace. Well, a little time goes by and Nebuchadnezzar looks down into the furnace to find, not three men, but four men loose and walking around, and one is likened unto the son of God. The King let's them out and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come out unharmed.

As I said earlier, this is a huge miracle, and we often just set our minds on that and nothing else. However, once you think about it, look at the friendship these Hebrew children must have had! I discovered a few similarities about these three men.

Number One: They stood out. "There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Daniel 3:12. They were the only ones not worshiping the golden image. Others might have looked at them like they were strange. The truth was, there wasn't many like them. They were noticed, and not always in a good way. But, God was saw in their lives. When you find a real friend, you'll notice how they stick out. You'll see that their beliefs are practically the same as yours and notice the power of God in their lives. You might even stick out together to where the world may see the power of God in your lives.

Number Two: They stuck together. Daniel 3:12. When you see these men mentioned, they are always as a group: Shadrach, Meshach, AND Abednego. They stayed together and didn't leave even when they faced judgement and the threat of the fire. It wasn't just Shadrach, or it wasn't just Abednego who got thrown in. It was all three. When you are faced with the troubles and the trails of this life, it's good to have a real friend by your side. They won't leave you in the fire, in fact, that's when it seems they're there the most. They don't worry about themselves and won't abandon you because of the treat to them. They'll stay no matter what.

Number Three: They stood their ground. "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Daniel 3:18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's idol. They set in their minds that they would not betray their God no matter the cost. We all need to have this kind of friendship. We need to all stand for God no matter what the world may say. Our friends will stand for God no matter what, and won't go after the "new," "popular" things the world puts out.

Number Four: They survived the fire. "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth and come hither. Then, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire." Daniel 3:26. The three Hebrew children all when into the fire together and all came out together. I'm sure the fire got really hot, but they didn't leave each other. We may h ave certain friends that will say they'll go with you all the way, but when the going gets tough, they'll leave you to basically fend for yourself. You need to have a friend that won't leave you in the midst of the fire, and you need to be the kind of friend that won't let them give up and quit. We need to be there for each other, to encourage one another, and keep running the race.

Number Five: They were surrounded by God. "He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Daniel 3:25. When the Hebrews were in the fire, God was with them. They weren't alone. Your friendship should be so strong because of the fact that God is ruling in your lives. You don't have to only rely on your friends, because, as I said, they may fail you sometimes. None of us are perfect. However, God is someone you can always depend on. He is our truest friend, and nobody can steal him away. But, he does decide to send certain individuals in our life. I've heard it said before: When God puts friends together, they stay friends forever. A real friendship is one built on the Lord, and it will never work unless you allow God to be in control. A lot of friendships nowadays are built upon wealth, popularity, etc. But, only a friendship on the things of God will survive the fire.

So, how about it? What kind of friends are you surrounding yourself with? What kind of friend have you been lately? Most importantly, what kind of role does God play in your friendship?

Didn't I Walk

Not For Sale

Yes, I realize I haven't posted an entry in a while. I'm sorry. That's my own fault. It just seems that lately, the devil has been putting everything in my way in order to tear me down and distract me from God and his work. I know none of you have ever felt like that, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. He does that to everyone both young and old. And, for some reason, we tend to follow him a lot. Am I right? He's starts dragging us back out into the world hoping we will throw our sword down and give up on God, and, being the humans we are, don't usually notice until we've strayed really far away. That's how I have felt anyway. However, this morning I was on the computer and ended up on YouTube, and I came across this song that really encouraged me.

You see what I mean? A part of this song says that the devil will come at us with everything he's got in order to tear us down. Well, that's when we tell him we aren't for sale. When we got saved, Jesus bought us with his blood. If he bought us, we belong to the Lord, not the world, and certainly not the devil. If God owns us, who is the devil to think he can take us back? Well, he can't. 

"For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be ye not the servants of men." -I Corinthians 7:22-23

Today, so many people  have sold out and given up on God. Some to more extremes than others, but even churches nowadays have compromised. The devil has beaten them down to where they sell out their beliefs and try to fit the world in every spot possible. Things just aren't what they use to be. Christians have lost their backbones. They will negotiate and compromise in order to please those who don't want anything to do with the Christian walk and Christian life.  I believe we need to reach out to those who don't know Christ, but we need to get them in with the old old fashion way of doing things. We've given up hope that the old time way still works, but, friend, I'm here to say it still does. We just need to be studied and prayed up in order to ensure that when the devil come our way trying to break us that we will have enough faith and trust in God to see us through. I know I'm not one to talk because that's been my struggle lately. But, I challenge you. Leave no room to negotiate, deal, or compromise with the devil. The next time he starts beating you down, just turn and say you not for sale!   

It's Been Worth Every Mile

The Dixon's 

Rooted

Lately we have been experiencing alot of storms in our town. These storms would consist of anything from large rain downfalls, hail, and wind. Well, one morning after one of our big storms, I rode  through town and I saw several disasters caused mainly by the winds of the previous night. There were several trees on the ground, limbs missing, a building missing half its roof, and a fallen billboard. Yes, a billboard was down for the count. But as I was on the road, God gave me a thought. I wonder why all of those things fell, came apart, etc.? The conclusion... they weren't rooted well enough. Also, the aftermath of the storm reminded me that we don't only go through natural storms, but we go through spiritual storms too. And if you haven't, you will. Trust me on that. So, God gave me this verse:

"As ye have therefore recieved Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." -Colossians 2:6-7

In this day in time, we as Christians seem to be becoming few and far between. So many people will get saved and be on fire for God, but, when the first storm comes, they fall down and give up. We need to make sure that this doesn't happen to us. We need to be rooted in Jesus for he is the true foundation. If we aren't, then when a storm comes along, we will fall over and never get back up.

Sometimes, in a storm, we will see the trees swaying back and forth. I don't know about you, but that makes me a little uneasy no matter how big the tree may be, and it's never a pretty sight. It's never good for Christians either. When the storms of life come our way, we get down and defeated, and we just feel like throwing in the towel. During this time in our lives, we may begin to sway back and forth on some things. There are many things involved with this statement, but, for example, the things that would convict us or the things that bothered us wouldn't bother us as much as they would without the storm. It happens to the best of us. But, the Bible says:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." -Galatians 5:1

We need to stand fast and stand firm to the best of our abilities given to us by Christ. Those are the only abilities capible of withstanding the storms. Because under our own power, we would fall. We need to dig our roots down deep so that we can stand in the midst of the storm. I'm not saying that the storms will stop coming because they won't. They may even seem to get worse at some times. But, be of good cheer. If we are rooted in Jesus Christ our Lord, we will stand. Oh, and don't forget your umbrella!

Cloudy With a Chance of Fog

A couple of weeks ago, me and a few family members went to a chicken sale. Yes, a chicken sale. Well, we did really good with our sales and stuff. However, on our way home we ran into a bit of fog. Well, now that I think about it, that's an understatement. It was a bunch of fog. This huge blanket of fog was also on a mountain that I'm not too familiar with, so that in itself made me quite uneasy. But, that's besides the point. Finally, we toppped the mountain and the fog cleared causing me to breath a sigh of relief. However, as we travelled down the mountain, I looked a little ahead and saw a deer crossing the road. Don't worry. The deer made it, and we didn't even come close to hitting it. But, it made me think. What would have happened if that fog on the other side of the mountain hadn't have been there? Here I was really wanting to hurry and get home while complaining about how terrible and unnessesary the fog was. However, it could have been there to protect us from the dangers we could have faced by hitting the deer. The fog had slowed us down just enough to avoid a collision. Well, have you ever wondered what God has sent our way that has kept us out of trouble, and all we have done is saw the bad?

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"   
-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Sometimes we get in such a hurry to do or go somewhere. Then all of a sudden something comes up to hender us from the task. It may frustrate us and make us wonder why. Well, do you ever think that this thing that you consider a burden could really be a blessing? Sometimes, God will send us through vallys because there very well could be a danger (deer) up ahead that he's protecting us from. At the time, we may look at the problem and think of it as unnessesary and bothersom. But if we just stop and look ahead, we may see that it was for the best. God knows what he's doing, and he has our best interest at hand. Plus, just think how much damage that deer could do to a car!

A Greater Yes

The Dixon's ~ A Greater Yes 

Really Inspiring Song :)