Morning by Morning, August 19 - Loving Correction of a True Friend
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and trust in Your grace to seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ...
“Open rebuke is better Than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:5-6).
As expressed in the Easy English Bible Version of these Verses:
“When a friend is not afraid to warn you that you are wrong, it shows that he really loves you. You can trust a friend when he says things that hurt you. But when an enemy kisses you, he is deceiving you” (Proverbs 27:5-6 EASY).
Thank You for true friends who will speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Though they may wound our hearts in the moment, we can trust a true friend’s correction when spoken in honesty and love. When they love You and their hearts are surrendered to Your heart, their words are an expression of Your words, just as their heart is an expression of Your heart.
So we can receive the correction, even embrace the rebuke, as a means of Your grace to help us learn and grow. And that’s the point--to learn and grow up into the image of Christ, to be conformed to the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). We’ll always need Your conviction and correction on our spiritual journey into Christ-likeness—"until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
Where I’ve fallen short, where I’ve disappointed, where I’ve failed, help me learn from my mistakes of failing to love my friends as I should. And through repentance and prayer, saturated in mercy and love, may You make my true friendships even stronger than before, as You redeem all things and set all things right again (Romans 8:28).
“As iron sharpens iron, So a (a person) sharpens the countenance of (their) friend” (Proverbs 27:17).
Thank You for the iron—even when the blade is sharp and forged in fire, but coming from the heart of a true friend who loves You and loves me. Thank You that “Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Thank You that “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). And even though I do sometimes, You never do. You never have and You never will.
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; (Your) mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is (Your) faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today. In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may be free to embrace the loving correction of a true friend expressed from the heart and love of God on your spiritual journey into Christ-likeness, in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you, my friend! And you have a great day!
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Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries 502 North Milam Street Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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