Why God wants you to have 4 friends you are intentional about?

I was talking with my sister a while back, well not that long ago. We were talking about friends and being intentional, I was at loss for words because I didn’t think those 2 words worked in one sentence. Well, I thought about it so much and also told God about it. Which is why I have brought the summary of our conversation here cause I can’t learn alone on this one.

Note: My sister loves making friends but as life got busier and messier, she learnt a lot about the “friends” she had. Which is why I have asked for her permission to share our conversation.

On what basis?

For some reason, our conversation highlighted Mark 2:1-5. The passage is about the paralysed man whose friends took him to Jesus. Although you may have read this scripture several times, I ask that you look at it from the aspect of the friends.

 'Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”' Mark 2:2-5

The paralysed man couldn’t have gone to where Jesus was if his friends did not take him there. Particularly, he would not have gotten his miracles if Jesus did not see the faith of his friends.

Can your friends take you to where you want to go?

In the process of conversing, she highlighted this statement (I added some part). Sometimes, we see a friend in everyone but forget that not everyone has been destined by God to be our friend.

The friends of the paralysed man knew their friend wanted his healing. They were equally determined to take him to where he will be healed. You see when they got there, entering wasn’t possible through the door but they weren’t going back home.

The only option was to go through the roof and boy, was it going to be difficult. The astonishing thing here is they didn’t back out, instead they continued. Can you imagine 4 men carrying a paralysed man up to the roof of a house so he can meet Jesus?

Although the Bible doesn’t record it, I am sure it took an arm and a leg to get the man to the roof, take out a part of the roof and lower him through the roof . Those men did a fine job for their friend without pay , are your friends willing to take you to meet Jesus?

4 friends who are intentional

Why were they so intentional about getting their friend to Jesus when it entailed a lot of stress? When they met the hurdle, they kept their eyes on the end goal.

Ultimately when they got to Jesus, he saw their faith not that of the paralysed man and healed him. Jesus healed the man because his friends had faith, they were going to get the healing by all cost.

Show me your friend and I will show you who you are applies here. Eventually, whatever your friend has or whoever they are will rub off on you. If they didn’t take him to Jesus, how will he have gotten to Jesus?

The Bible records just 4 men not 10 or 20, 4 friends who put in work to get you where you want. Everyone has a choice in who their friend is, what matters is are they intentional about you? Are you intentional towards them?

Life’s Trajectory

Your friends are the trajectory of your existence. With time, they influence everything about you : your decisions, habits and lots more. If you carefully choose your friends then you have chosen the path of life you want to go on.

Did you know that your friend influences your faith life? Who your friends are say a lot about what your faith looks like. If your friends have a belief you are not in tune with, it will rub off on you with time.

Where God wants for you is where your friends will take you if they are truly destined by God.

Note: Being intentional about 4 friends doesn’t mean you should neglect your other friends. It simply says that you should have 4 people that are willing to take you to Jesus and encourage your growth consistently regardless of the condition.

Just as a family that prays together stays together, friends who pray together grow together.