friends - Jenniferinspires

RHEMA TODAY

Elizabeth picked up her bookbag and slung it over her shoulders. Mickey looked up from her textbook surprised that she was preparing to leave the room again. “Where are you going?” “I have a meeting in 10 minutes.” “What meeting?” “A church meeting” “Girl! you just got back from a prayer meeting.” “Yes, this next meeting is a discussion group.” Elizabeth hurriedly slipped through the half-open door without another word to perplexed Mickey. Mickey shook her head. She felt pity that the young woman was losing herself to religiosity. She is a Christian too but unlike her roommate, she has no motivation, whatsoever, to be involved in extra-religious activities and has stayed true to her choosing. Nevertheless, something about her roommate tugged at her heart; something extraordinary yet beautiful, but at the same time difficult to explain. Two hours later there’s a gentle tap on their door. Mickey rose to get the door but before she could reach it, the handle turned and the door opened. Mickey winced for forgetting to lock it. A neighbor popped her head through the open door and smiled at Mickey. “Is Lizzie home?” “Hi Gee. She’s not. Is there a problem?” “Oh no!” Geeti pushed the door open and entered properly. “It’s time for youth Bible study and I wanted to know if she is ready.” “I guess she would if she were home but she’s not.” “It’s okay, I’ll just dial her number.” “She’s at a meeting. I don’t think she can take a call.” “Okay, I’ll send her a text then.” “Can you guys not go on without her today? She’ll join another time.” “We can but she’s a coordinator; we need her to lead the teaching today.” Mickey was going to reply when Elizabeth walked in. “There you are!” Geeti exclaimed. “We were just talking about you.” “Welcome back Lizzie.” Mickey waved nonchalantly and walked back to her desk. Elizabeth turned to Geeti. “I’m sorry I’m late. My meeting went overtime today.” “It’s okay. Glad you’re here.” Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and picked a set of comfortable flats. “Are the youths gathered?” “Yes. I left them in front of apartment C to get you.” Elizabeth finished putting on her shoes and bounced out of the room with Geeti in tow. Again, forgetting to properly shut the door. Mickey looked at the door left ajar and sighed. Sometimes it took all the virtue of patience she had nurtured to put up with this habit of her roommate. She was shutting the door when a force pushed it open from outside narrowly missing her face. The next few seconds she watched, alarmed, as a group of young teens and a couple of older youths filed into the room waving a brief hi and hellos and taking up the space in the single room. Mickey’s mouth flew open. She was gearing up for an angry outburst when Elizabeth pulled her aside and explained quickly that the other space they booked had been taken by another group. Begrudgingly, Mickey let them stay but knowing she couldn’t concentrate any longer on reading, she gave it up and watched the meeting unfold while laying on her bed. Elizabeth directed everyone to be seated. As little as the space was, everyone found a seat, and the conversation started. “Who knows about the burning bush?” Elizabeth asked Hands shot up. She randomly selected from the raised hands. In bits and pieces,, the young people happily described the biblical story of Moses in the burning bush and God’s messages to him about rescuing Israel from Egypt. “Very good. When I read Moses’ encounter and the other books of the prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel in the Bible, I wonder at the word of God that was so present at the time to those people. The word of God was so tangibly present with those men of God that when they say “Thus says the Lord.” The words following that sentence will surely manifest in the physical realm. Those words were called prophecy – which could be about tragedy or deliverance. That is why those men were called prophets. Also when something was about to happen, God told it to his prophets first who went ahead to either proclaim, warn, instruct,, or comfort the people about what God had said was about to happen. Now when I look at those impressive communications and compare them to today when ‘Rhema’ which is the spoken word of God is not as common, I wonder what changed? We still do have prophets, of course, but why is the spoken word of God not as common? Is God no longer near humans? Or He just doesn’t wish to talk to this generation? Or maybe He does not find too many worthy messengers among the people of today? Or can we say He has nothing to say to us? The thing is, in this dispensation of the new covenant, we have the written word of God called ‘Logos’ which is contained in the Bible you have in your hands. Let’s have the Bible itself explain. Can someone open his or her Bible and read the book of Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 please?” All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “Did you pay attention to the first part that says the words are inspired by God? That means that the words contained in the Bible are the words of God. So when you carry around your bible you carry around God’s word. Next, there’s the Holy Spirit who is the spirit of God. Do you know where to find that spirit? I’ll show you. Open your bibles to the book

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Friends, really?

Author: Jenn Azu A note to self and to whom it may concern.Maneuvering relationships remains one of the most complex things I have encountered in my life. This is mainly because relating with others involves human emotion and oh, boy! what a roller coaster that can be. Whether a relationship is with a sibling, parents, a spouse or friend(s), it has to be consciously built else it will fetch a person nothing or worse still, deteriorate. I learned, however, from a dear friend that it takes more than one person in a relationship to build a solid relationship. This knowledge would have saved me many heartaches had I known it earlier. It brings me to the analysis of the concept of friend-relationship, at least the way I understand it. One sunny afternoon while at lunch with a colleague, she enquired about my friendship with someone we both knew. “Actually, we’re not friends,” I replied, to her amazement. “We’re acquaintances, not friends.” I tried to explain to her that friendship depends on how you define it. Although the word “friend” is used frequently, sometimes we actually mean acquaintance when we say friend. To me, a friend is someone you have chosen to build a relationship with and you both are aware of the budding relationship and are mutually investing into it. The desire to build a relationship does not only have to be between a couple. A platonic relationship can and should be nurtured. Before I go on, let me differentiate an acquaintance from a friend. The dictionary definition of an acquaintance is “a person known to one, but usually not a close friend.” An acquaintance can have something in common with a person such as age, school, work or nothing at all. Acquaintances could do you favors you might or might not return. They easily walk in and out of your path in life, and you will find it easy to cut loose from them as well. For example, saying goodbye to your work colleagues when leaving a job. Therefore, an acquaintance should not be confused with a friend. Understanding this difference will save you many emotional troubles. By my definition of friendship, there is always something that serves as the bond to keep friends together. It could be a habit or an activity, but it is always something that is most delightful when done with your friend. For instance, your friend could be your partner in gossip, a fellow book lover, an accountability partner or someone you share your thoughts, ideas or intentions with and trust them to care for what you have entrusted to them. If your relationship is doing well, you tend to confide in your friend a little more than you would in a stranger, so your friend can sometimes boast of knowing you better than anyone else. However, if you do not understand this concept, it is easy to assume just anyone who sticks around long enough to be a friend.The danger is, when you assume, you don’t set boundaries to how you relate to the people around you otherwise known as acquaintances, and when you do not set boundaries you tend to reveal information about yourself that can possibly hurt you when misused. Why choose your friend? If you come from certain families where parents are well invested in the entirety of your upbringing including the quality of your character and relationships, you must have heard counsels like “choose your friends wisely.” Those words may sound cliche’ but are unfortunately ever relevant because a friend can influence your life in much larger ways than you think. Your friendship is powerful enough to direct the path your life takes – yes, the relationship is that powerful. You could get a job, marry a person or pursue a career through the influence of a friend. Personally, I had this experience back in high school days where I got a whooping 98% in math one term (semester) because my friend suddenly became hype about studying math. Unfortunately, a friend-relationship has the power of a bad influence like it has of a positive one. A friendly influence can also be the beginning of a destructive addiction, character weakness or poor decision. Proverbs 13:20 puts it this way “He that walks with wise men shall be wise” and you can guess what he will likely become if his companions are unwise. Therefore, It is very important to possess the maturity to evaluate your relationship(s). Sometimes, it is difficult to admit or even realize that one is in an unprofitable relationship especially if you value or strongly desire acceptance, but it will never hurt to appraise your relationship at times and answer certain questions. Is your relationship building you or not? Or at least not hurting you? The quality of a friendship, notwithstanding, is the quality of the people involved in it. Your individual priorities, values, character, knowledge and maturity level carry over into your relationship, and although your relationship could evolve overtime if it lasts long enough, you will greatly influence each other, it would be wise therefore to be intentional about it. Friendship is a great thing to have in our journey through life. If man was made to tread the earth in loneliness, we will not arrive in company of the unit called family. I am simply pointing out the powerful influence friends can have on our lives and therefore the need to be deliberate about that aspect of life. “A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother” Proverbs 18: 24