Monday, 03 September 2007

• Friends // Toxic (Part 3)

  Yesterday, we talked about how friends should "sharpen each other". Today, we will talk about gossiping, how your friends determine who you become, and what a godly friend is. This is the last part of the series. Enjoy!
  
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  *All the following quotes are from Joel Osteen (unless biblical).
  
  
  "When you hear about people talking about somebody you know, you have a responsibility to put an end to it."
  
  "Don't think you can sit at the lunchroom everyday for an hour, and let people fill your mind with gossip and not have it effect you. That poison is going into the inside. If you stay there long enough, you'll become a gossiper just like them. What's the solution? Find somewhere else to eat lunch, sit at a different table, go outside. Yes, they may talk about you, but listen, people like that, if they're not talking about you now, they're gonna be talking about you later. Your time's coming. You just need to rise above it. You have a destiny to fulfill. You are going places - keep that poison out of your life!"
  
  When you hear someone gossiping about somebody you know, don't listen to it! You have a responsibility to stop that junk! Wouldn't you want someone to stop them gossiping about you? Then you do the same. Gossip is a poison. If you're friends are gossiping, get away from them! You don't want that junk in your life! So what if they talk about you? They are eventually gonna talk about you anyways (if they already haven't). Rise up and stay away from gossip.
  
  1 Corinthians 15:33:
  "Do not be fools; Bad friends will ruin good habits."
  
  "What you won't walk away from is where you stop growing. If you won't separate yourselves from toxic influences, you won't rise any higher. Until you do what you know in your heart you should do, you're gonna be stuck. If you have the wrong people in your life, God can't bring the right people in. You become like the people you hang around."
  
  "If you wanna know what you're gonna be like 5 years from now, just take a look at your friends."
  
  You need to get rid of bad friends! If you keep hanging around them, you will become just like them. God has special friends to come into your life, and if you don't break out of your circle of bad friends, you'll never have those friends.
  
  A godly friend...
  -will warn you when he/she sees you go astray.
  -will really love you enough to point out your sin.
  -will encourage you to be godly.
  -will encourage you to be faithful to God.
  -will encourage you to stop doing worldy things.
  -will pray for you when you need it.
  
  Prayer:
  Lord, what do You think of my friends? Please lead me toward friends that will encourage me to be closer to You God. I want the friends You have for me. Please give me the strength do get rid of or limit the time I spend with the friends that don't help bring me closer to you or that gossip. God, I thank you for the godly friends you have blessed me with and pray that you would continue to send more my way. Help me to see which friends I need to stop hanging around and who I do need to hang around. Thank You for everything. In Your name I pray. AMEN!

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