If we were a Bible character; our life, men had read.<\/p>\n
From the pages of Scripture, just what would be said?<\/p>\n
If God were writing our profile today,<\/p>\n
To record in His Word; just what would it say?<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Demas hath forsaken me<\/span><\/span>, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.\u201d II Timothy 4:10<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I would say the majority of those who are familiar with the name \u201cDemas\u201d are also familiar with the few words that follow his name \u2013 \u201cFor Demas hath forsaken me\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>The fact that the apostle mentions Demas forsaking him is evidence, I believe, of the hurt it had caused. Paul was in a deep valley. Paul was suffering persecution. Paul needed the comfort of his friends. What did Demas do? Demas forsook him.<\/p>\n In a recent Bible time, Anna shared from II Corinthians 7 where we read of another trying time in the life of Paul:<\/p>\n \u201cFor, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.\u201d II Corinthians 7:5<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Have you ever felt as Paul described in the above verse? No rest – Troubled on every side – Fightings without – Fears within.\u00a0<\/strong> Do any of those phrases hit too close to home? Are there circumstances of your own that come to your mind at this very moment? I like what the next verse says\u2026<\/p>\n Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;\u201d II Corinthians 7:6<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Praise the Lord for friends like Titus! As the above verse says, God comforts those that are cast down, and one way He does is through friends. I am not speaking of \u201cgossiping friends\u201d. Too often, the presence of those whom we may consider friends actually leave us feeling more miserable by all the \u201csupposings\u201d, \u201cwhat ifs\u201d, \u201cif onlys\u201d, and other vain imaginations. The friends I am speaking of are \u201cpraying friends\u201d, \u201clistening quietly friends\u201d, \u201ckeeping it to themselves friends\u201d, \u201coffering comforting words from Scripture friends\u201d. Those type of friends know that prayer can give grace, having a listening ear without fear\u00a0can allow for a releasing of\u00a0emotions, Scripture can give comfort. Those types of friends are rare. Those types of friends are with you through thick and thin.<\/p>\n Thinking about both of these friends of Paul, as well as reading the following verses this morning, has caused me to think about true friends.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cYet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. The righteous<\/span> shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.\u201d Psalm 107:41,42<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous<\/span> shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 142:7<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In both of these passages, the Psalmist is speaking of being delivered from affliction. In both passages, he specifically mentions who<\/strong> is rejoicing with him \u2013 the righteous. Why are the righteous rejoicing? I believe, as in the case with Paul and Titus, the righteous are rejoicing now<\/strong> because they were\u00a0there\u00a0with him through the time of affliction. The Bible says in Galatians 6:2, \u201cBear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>Righteous friends bear the burdens of their hurting friends. In Romans 12:15 we are commanded, \u201cRejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Righteous friends are not just there in the good times. Righteous friends are not fair weather friends as in the example of Demas. Righteous friends, like Titus, stick with us through thick and thin. When the storms are raging high in our lives, they are there to pray, listen, and offer words of hope from Scripture. Then, when morning comes (and it does come!), those same righteous friends are right there with us in sincere rejoicing because our burden\u2026our affliction\u2026had actually become theirs too!<\/p>\n While writing this post today, I was reminded of the times that I have fallen short in this area of being a true friend. As a result, I missed out on the opportunity to be a blessing to a hurting individual. But, I also missed out on the sincere rejoicing with that individual when their morning finally came. Their burden had not become mine therefore I was not able to truly appreciate their time of rejoicing.<\/p>\n I pray that these thoughts will be a blessing as well as a challenge to each of us\u2026that we would allow the Lord to continue to \u201cgrow us\u201d in this area of true friendship. There are many, many hurting people in this world. In our relationships, when God allows us to see one who is hurting, instead of taking the fair-weather-friend route of Demas\u2026let\u2019s set our own<\/strong> comfort aside and allow that person\u2019s burden to become ours as well. As in Titus, may it be our desire for God to\u00a0use US<\/strong> to comfort those that are cast down!<\/p>\n \u201cA friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.\u201d\u00a0 Proverbs 17:17<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n ~ Rachel ~<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If we were a Bible character; our life, men had read. From the pages of Scripture, just what would be said? If God were writing our profile today, To record in His Word; just what would it say? \u201cFor Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.\u201d II Timothy 4:10 I would say the majority of those who are familiar with the name \u201cDemas\u201d are also familiar with the few words that follow his name \u2013 \u201cFor Demas hath forsaken me\u2026\u201d\u00a0 The fact that the apostle mentions Demas forsaking him is evidence, I believe, of the hurt it had caused. Paul was in a deep valley. Paul was suffering persecution. Paul needed the comfort of his friends. What did Demas do? Demas forsook him. In a recent Bible time, Anna shared from II Corinthians 7 where we read of another trying time in the life of Paul: \u201cFor, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.\u201d II Corinthians 7:5 Have you ever felt as Paul described in the above verse? No rest – Troubled on every side – Fightings without – Fears within.\u00a0 Do any of those phrases hit too close to home? Are there circumstances of your own that come to your mind at this very moment? I like what the next verse says\u2026 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;\u201d II Corinthians 7:6 Praise the Lord for friends like Titus! As the above verse says, God comforts those that are cast down, and one way He does is through friends. I am not speaking of \u201cgossiping friends\u201d. Too often, the presence of those whom we may consider friends actually leave us feeling more miserable by all the \u201csupposings\u201d, \u201cwhat ifs\u201d, \u201cif onlys\u201d, and other vain imaginations. The friends I am speaking of are \u201cpraying friends\u201d, \u201clistening quietly friends\u201d, \u201ckeeping it to themselves friends\u201d, \u201coffering comforting words from Scripture friends\u201d. Those type of friends know that prayer can give grace, having a listening ear without fear\u00a0can allow for a releasing of\u00a0emotions, Scripture can give comfort. Those types of friends are rare. Those types of friends are with you through thick and thin. Thinking about both of these friends of Paul, as well as reading the following verses this morning, has caused me to think about true friends. \u00a0\u201cYet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.\u201d Psalm 107:41,42 \u201cBring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 142:7 In both of these passages, the Psalmist is speaking of being delivered from affliction. In both passages, he specifically mentions who is rejoicing with him \u2013 the righteous. Why are the righteous rejoicing? I believe, as in the case with Paul and Titus, the righteous are rejoicing now because they were\u00a0there\u00a0with him through the time of affliction. The Bible says in Galatians 6:2, \u201cBear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Righteous friends bear the burdens of their hurting friends. In Romans 12:15 we are commanded, \u201cRejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.\u201d Righteous friends are not just there in the good times. Righteous friends are not fair weather friends as in the example of Demas. Righteous friends, like Titus, stick with us through thick and thin. When the storms are raging high in our lives, they are there to pray, listen, and offer words of hope from Scripture. Then, when morning comes (and it does come!), those same righteous friends are right there with us in sincere rejoicing because our burden\u2026our affliction\u2026had actually become theirs too! While writing this post today, I was reminded of the times that I have fallen short in this area of being a true friend. As a result, I missed out on the opportunity to be a blessing to a hurting individual. But, I also missed out on the sincere rejoicing with that individual when their morning finally came. Their burden had not become mine therefore I was not able to truly appreciate their time of rejoicing. I pray that these thoughts will be a blessing as well as a challenge to each of us\u2026that we would allow the Lord to continue to \u201cgrow us\u201d in this area of true friendship. There are many, many hurting people in this world. In our relationships, when God allows us to see one who is hurting, instead of taking the fair-weather-friend route of Demas\u2026let\u2019s set our own comfort aside and allow that person\u2019s burden to become ours as well. As in Titus, may it be our desire for God to\u00a0use US to comfort those that are cast down! \u201cA friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.\u201d\u00a0 Proverbs 17:17 ~ Rachel ~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faithfulness","category-friendship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4o6C2-5F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2054,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions\/2054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}