Once my relationship with God and family are established and supported, the relationship with the rest of my family becomes the next priority. By extended family I mean those that do not live in the same household as myself. My mother, father, brother, aunt, and so forth fall in this category.
Ministry and Friends are both very close to each other; they are fighting for last place. Ministry took precedence over friends because, in a sense, friendships are a sort of ministry at times. Furthermore, ministry is also closely related to my relationship with God. Jesus gave us the great commission to go out and make disciples, not friends. So ministry has a slightly higher importance in my life than friendship.
Finally, we all need people to come along side of us, encourage us, build us up. Fiends are a joy and add great value to life. Similarly, they have great potential to help one grow and learn. Carefully selecting your friends is something that I could not stress enough. Good friends will push you up, bad ones will pull you down. I encourage you to look at the friends and people you spend your time with and ask yourself the this question, "Will these relationships help me in achieving my life-long goals?" If you have selected your life-long goals carefully, asking this question is not selfish, it is wise. If your answer is no, then the group of people that you call friends should change. That is not to say that you should completely eliminate those relationship altogether. In some cases that is definitely needed, in other cases these people just need to move from your group of friends to the group of people that you minister to.
Father, help us live lives that are in balance, that are pleasing to you and bring you glory. Guide us and teach us as we make you the centerpiece of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Let our relationship with you fill us to overflowing and, from that, spill into all the other areas of life. Let us be givers of live. Let us be an expression of your love to everyone we come in contact with, whether it is wives, sons or daughters, mothers or fathers, brothers, friends, or strangers.
Ministry and Friends are both very close to each other; they are fighting for last place. Ministry took precedence over friends because, in a sense, friendships are a sort of ministry at times. Furthermore, ministry is also closely related to my relationship with God. Jesus gave us the great commission to go out and make disciples, not friends. So ministry has a slightly higher importance in my life than friendship.
Finally, we all need people to come along side of us, encourage us, build us up. Fiends are a joy and add great value to life. Similarly, they have great potential to help one grow and learn. Carefully selecting your friends is something that I could not stress enough. Good friends will push you up, bad ones will pull you down. I encourage you to look at the friends and people you spend your time with and ask yourself the this question, "Will these relationships help me in achieving my life-long goals?" If you have selected your life-long goals carefully, asking this question is not selfish, it is wise. If your answer is no, then the group of people that you call friends should change. That is not to say that you should completely eliminate those relationship altogether. In some cases that is definitely needed, in other cases these people just need to move from your group of friends to the group of people that you minister to.
Father, help us live lives that are in balance, that are pleasing to you and bring you glory. Guide us and teach us as we make you the centerpiece of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Let our relationship with you fill us to overflowing and, from that, spill into all the other areas of life. Let us be givers of live. Let us be an expression of your love to everyone we come in contact with, whether it is wives, sons or daughters, mothers or fathers, brothers, friends, or strangers.
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