From: "Beverly French" <frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us>
To: "Heritage" <gheritage@juno.com>
Subject: Blessings To All
Date: Sunday, February 03, 2002 7:09 AM

"A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity."
Proverbs 17:17  Amplified Bible

Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary says, "A friend will show
his or her true colors in times of adversity.  Our Scripture is describing a
true friend and, as a brother, is there for support in times of misfortune,
calamity or distress.  Other translations say,

"A friend is loving at all times, and becomes a brother in times of
trouble."  NT in Basic English
"A friend is always a friend, he is a born brother for adversity."
NT, A New Translation, James Moffat

A true friend is unchangeable, he/she loves at all time and is always a
friend, but the desire for many friends can be perilous as Proverbs 18:24
tells us,
"The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a
bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

And of 'a friend of the world' James 4:4 says,
"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is
hostility toward God?  Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God."
That is a powerful statement and should cause us to develop our friendships
wisely.  Did we not caution our children to do just that when they were
growing up?

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us how profitable it is to have a friend;
"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
 "For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion,  But woe
to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
 "Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one
be warm alone?
 "And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him..."

And the truest friend of all is Jesus our Lord!  For He said in John 15:15,
"I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is
doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from
My Father I have made known to you."

True friends have an intimate relationship and are like minded.   As
Believers we are one in Christ; if one in Christ should we not be like
minded?  For to be any other way would be at emnity with Him and the
promise of Matthew 18:19-20 could not be fulfilled; for Jesus says,
"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that
they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
For where two or three have gathered in My name, there I am in their
midst."

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope
of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all
who is over all and through all and in all."  Ephesians 4:4-6

A friend of Jesus!  What grace!  How awesomely wonderous is our God!