5 Reasons Why You Need To Be Surrounded By Real Christian Friends

Hello beloved one of God, I hope you’re fine by God’s grace.
I hope you’ve had a wonderful week by God’s grace and that you’re ready to start an awesome week in The Lord.
Today I want us to talk about friendship, but not any type of friendship. I’m talking about friendship with other Christians. Real friendships with people who not only say they’re Christians, but people who really live their lives in a way to honour our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not to say that there are perfect Christians (none of us is perfect) but I’m talking about people who have accepted The Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour and who persevere in the faith, people who do everything to submit their lives to God and to keep walking in His ways.
So, maybe you don’t know why it’s necessary to be surrounded by real Christian friends. Maybe you’re a Christian and you’ve been used to being alone and you don’t think you need to be surrounded.
Perhaps you think you have enough friends and you don’t need any more friends or maybe you just don’t know what we’re talking about here.
Please just follow, because here below are 5 Reasons Why You Need To Be Surrounded By Real Christian Friends.

1. You Need Real Christian Friends To Pray For You

Ephesians 6:18‭-‬20 NLT

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.

At times life is really tough, we go through things which we never imagined we would have to go through.
For example we may find ourselves in financial, emotional, or physical difficulties which we would never have anticipated and in such circumstances we need people to pray for us.
We weren’t meant to do it all by ourselves. At times the simple fact that you share your issue with a trusted Christian friend makes you relieved to know that they are praying for you and that you are not alone.
Paul wrote a good part of the New Testament, but that didn’t stop him from being humble enough to need prayer, to ask for it, and to open about his difficulties. In Ephesians 6:18-20 Paul is asking other Christians to pray for him, we all need to know other Christians who can pray for us when we need it.

2. You Need Real Christian Friends To Have Constructive Conversations About God’s Word

2 Timothy 2:22 NLT

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

It’s so easy to become friends with people just because they are in our class room or just because we see them every day at our work place.
Nevertheless, befriending anyone just for the sake of having a new friend may not always be a good idea. At times we become friends with people who only have the type of conversations which draw us away from God and which makes us sin.
If your friends are only talking about drugs, alcohol, parties, and sex then you should ask yourself “Why do I have this type of conversations?” and “Is this really who I want to be or who God wants me to be with ?”
You need real Christian friends with whom instead of gossiping, mocking at others, judging others, going to indecent places, feasting on drugs and alcohol, or having inappropriate conversations, instead of doing all the wrong things, you’ll be talking about God’s Word, sharing Bible verses and exchanging your favourite parts from your daily Bible studies.
You need people in your life who whatever you’re talking about always bring it back to and around God. This will keep your mind focused on God’s Word so that you won’t forget it.

3. You Need Real Christian Friends To Keep You Accountable

James 5:16 NLT

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

If you have to be honest with yourself, you know that there are times where you did things which you never imagined you would do.
We are not God, we are not perfect.
It can happen to anyone to fall in a particular sin through a series of wrong decisions, and here again when we’re in the middle of those wrong decisions we don’t always anticipate what will come next.
Unfortunately, when you fall in sin the only thing you want to do is hide in shame, you don’t want anyone to know because you’re afraid that by telling someone they may change their opinion about you or they may tell someone else and everyone will know.
That’s where the necessity to have real trusted Christian friends is so so important. Here, you have to be very careful to open up to the right person who has earned your trust. That’s why it’s so important to cultivate Christian friendships because with time you’ll know who you can turn to when you need to be reminded of God’s grace and forgiveness and of God’s power to save us from sin.
A Christian accountability partner will help you through your journey to overcome a repetitive sin (or to make sure that a sin doesn’t become an addiction). This person doesn’t have to be your age mate and the person doesn’t have to be an elder either. It’s not about age, it’s about the person’s maturity in Christ and the person’s attitude towards sin.
You need someone who will not judge you and throw stones at you but who will help you pray and find solutions to keep yourself out of that sin.
Even in your relationships, if you’re dealing with unforgiveness, gossiping, lack of self-control or sexual sin, you need an accountability partner who would stand by your side in your journey against sin.
I think it’s best to have an accountability partner before temptation comes. Also, a friend may have difficulties with keeping you accountable because they don’t want to offend you, but an elder, a Pastor or a Christian counselor may be more appropriate depending on the issue.
I know it’s not always easy but you can start by being the type of accountability partner that anyone would want to have, and God will also send an accountability partner for you.
It starts with you making your heart ready .

4. You Need A Real Christian Friend To Keep You Encouraged

1 Kings 19:10 NLT

Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

Do not forsake the gathering
I am the only one left
If we are really honest with each other, we all know that the more we grow up the more we are aware of horrible things which are going on in the world. It looks like “everyone” is doing what they want to do, living in disobedience against God, we see it in our examination halls when our classmates or students cheat and act as if it were normal, we see it in our daily lives where people live in corruption, sexual immortality, theft, violence, drug abuse etc.
This is not to judge and condemn anyone but just to say that for those who are really trying their best to serve God, at times they can ask themselves
“Am I the only one left ? The last one serving God?”
Elijah too when Jezebel was persecuting him and God’s prophets thought that he was the last one left.
When you don’t have real Christian friends, you have the impression that you are the last one who is truly trying to live in obedience to God. It is very very easy for you to become discouraged (or to be filled with pride) if you think that you are the only one left.
Fortunately, Elijah wasn’t the only one left , there were 7000 left who served God Faithfully and didn’t go for idolatry. In the same way you aren’t the only one left either. Me too I had that impression, but when I joined a community of Christ-centered believers at Elevation Church, I realized that I wasn’t alone and you aren’t alone either, there are billions of people who are really living for God, you’re not the only one.
1 KINGS 19:18 AMP

Yet I will leave 7,000 [survivors] in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed down to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

It is even worse when you only have friends who say that they are Christians but who are intentionally living the opposite of what God asks them to do. Now you ask yourself ”Is there a problem? Where are we heading to?”, and when out of love you try to reason them they give you the impression that you’re the one who is too strict and who has a problem. This is very very bad.
You need real Christian friends by your side who will always cause you to raise your standards. People who really love God, you need people who are persevering in God’s ways even if they’re not perfect, people who are doing everything to remain in God’s Will for them.
People who are not afraid to call sin sin, and who have the discernment of The Holy Ghost to distinguish between right and wrong. This will encourage you to keep persevering in faith and to keep growing in your relationship with God.
Don’t say “I am hanging with these people because I want to change them, I want to convert them to Christianity”
You cannot convert what you conform to. God doesn’t want you to hang with people in a way which will make you enjoy their sins and fall in those sins. This is not His plan for you.
1 Corinthians 10:12 NLT

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

Galatians 6:1 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

First make sure that you have a good network of believers with whom you hang. This will make you better equipped when dealing with getting close to someone to bring them to Christ.

5. You Need Real Christian Friends To Correct You

1 John 5:16‭-‬17 NLT

If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.

Galatians 6:1 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

MATTHEW 18:15‭-‬17 AMP

“If your brother sins , go and show him his fault in private; if he listens and pays attention to you, you have won back your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two others, so that every word may be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses . If he pays no attention to them [refusing to listen and obey], tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile (unbeliever) and a tax collector.

This is the hardest part of having a real Christian friend, and I want to recognize that I need God’s help on this so much.
When you have a friend you love this person and you want your relationship to be smooth all the time.
I love it when my friends love me and when they are happy, smiling and when they have fun with me. For this reason, it’s often hard for me to bring up certain conversations mostly when I know that these conversations are going to bring either conflict or anger outbursts from the side of the other one.
It’s hard to tell your friend ” This isn’t what you should be doing” , it’s hard to send many Bible verses to your friend and to call them or text them or meet them face to face to tell them that they are heading in the wrong direction.
It’s hard because we don’t want to lose the friendship, but let me tell you something, you’re going to lose the friendship anyway.If you let your friend become a drunkard, who goes from party to party, on the long-run you’re going to lose your friend to alcohol. Either your friend will keep hanging around with the wrong people and will leave you, or something worse may even happen. Your friend may die of an alcoholic coma.
If you pray for your friend and take time to correct them with love, with Bible verses and with the right conversations, God may use you to bring your friend back on the right track.
However, if you don’t do anything and don’t say anything because you are afraid to lose your friend, your friend may take a road which they’ll have a hard time changing.
This is not only to push you to be the type of Christian friend who corrects their friend with love when you see that they’re heading in the wrong direction, this is also to push you to surround yourself with Christian friends who will indeed correct you.
This requires that you live transparently, that you act in a humble way, you have to be open enough so that when your Christian friend tries to correct you, you don’t reject what they say but you listen prayerfully and you turn to God asking Him to show you where you’re wrong and what to do.
Your friend doesn’t need you to first tell them that there’s something wrong before they try to correct you. If they notice something they should be able to ask “Are you alright?” or “Can we talk?”
It’s really important.
Here’s a summary graphic which you can share on social media.

Are You Interested in being surrounded by real Christian Friends?

I have a few suggestions for you :

• Join a group in a Bible-centered church and try to study the people in your group, little by little you may find God’s choice for you in terms of friendship
• Join a Bible study group. This will be a great start for you since it will start with God’s Word and from there you’ll be able to build Christ-centered friendships.

I am part of an online Bible study group at Elevation Church. We call it an eGroup. We meet online once every week for 2 hours through audio call and discuss the sermons from Elevation Church, The Bible, and right now we’re studying a Book by Pastor Holy Furtick on Building Friendships That Last.
To join an online eGroup you can click on this link

Prayer

Father Lord God King of Glory, my Good Father, I thank You for creating friendship. I thank You because I know that You want me to be surrounded by real Christian friends who will pray for me, who will encourage me, who will keep me accountable, who will correct me, and with whom I’ll have the right type of conversations about Your Word. Lord please help me to become this type of friend, and please help me to find and keep this type of friends. Please Lord forgive me for the times where I had the wrong type of friendships and the times where I wasn’t the good type of friend. In Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.

It’s Now Your Turn

Are you surrounded by real Christian friends ? How have they been impacting your life ? Please share with us in the comments section.
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Invitation

Click here if you’re looking for a church. I recommend Elevation Church to you. A wonderful Christ-centered Church in which you aren’t limited by your location and in which you can see what God can do through you.
God loves you so much
God bless you
Victoria Eyog