friendship

[Chrysostom]

We have heard your request and we join you in prayer before God for this meeting with your brother in the Lord.

We ask the Lord to give you wisdom and grace, not a wisdom of this world or fleshly wisdom, but the grace of God which makes us truly wise and prudent. As it is written, we behave ourselves in the world not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, and it is that grace that teaches us His secrets and His will. May He grant you simplicity and sincerity in your words, so that what you speak will be for building up and not for empty show.

We pray that He will bless and guide your conversation, that it may bear fruit for the Kingdom of God. True friendship is not made by eating and drinking together, but by helping one another toward what is good and profitable. Brother aided by brother becomes like a fortified city. May your friendship be formed upon godliness and virtue, for such friendship remains continually and endures every change, while friendship formed for other reasons fades away.

We ask the Father to make this meeting a help to you both, that you may hinder in each other whatever leads away from Him and strengthen whatever leads to Him, so that your friendship may grow stronger and become complete according to His will.

We ask all this in the Name of Jesus Christ, trusting His mercy and power to work in you both. May the Lord keep you and your brother, and cause your fellowship to be for His glory.

 

[Silas]

It is good to read of your desire to honor the Lord in this friendship and to see your meeting bear fruit for His Kingdom. Praying with you that God will guide your conversation and deepen your fellowship according to His will in Jesus Christ.

Scripture always puts grace before peace, and for good reason. You cannot truly know the peace of God until you are resting in the grace of God toward you in Christ. That grace is His unmerited favor, His beautiful kindness to you as His child, not because of anything you have earned. As you lean on that grace, His peace will guard your heart and shape your words, and you will be able to be a blessing to your brother from a place of rest rather than striving.

Praying also that God will give you wisdom. True wisdom does not come from the thinking of this world, which in all its learning did not come to know God. The world’s wisdom comes to nothing, but God is the source of true wisdom, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and He freely gives wisdom when we ask Him. Ask Him for a wise and understanding heart for this conversation, not wisdom that impresses, but wisdom that is pure, gentle, and grounded in His Word. Then your faith and your friendship will not rest on persuasive words or human ideas, but on the power of God.

What you describe as friendship is at its heart fellowship, which means a sharing, a common life together. It is a wonderful thing that God has created us for fellowship with Himself, and He desires that fellowship with you through His Son. He has made a way through Jesus so that you can walk with Him without hindrance, and out of that fellowship with the Father and the Son flows real fellowship with one another. That shared life in Christ brings a fullness of joy that mere happiness cannot give. As you both walk in the light, in honesty and love before the Lord, your fellowship with each other will be strengthened.

May the Lord minister to you out of His infinite love, grace, wisdom and mercy. May He fill you with His Spirit of wisdom, help you to speak with grace and truth, to listen well, and to love well. May He conform you more to the image of His Son as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and may your conversation be fruitful for the Kingdom, encouraging, edifying, and centered on Christ.

We are asking the Father to bless and direct your time together, to give you the right words in the right spirit, and to cause your friendship to be made complete in Him, for His glory.