Devotion for Wednesday, November 30, 2011
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Proverbs 1:10-19
One of the things that confused me when I was young was when people who claimed to be my friends would do things that made our friendship difficult. I had friends that every time I hung out with them I ended up doing something wrong and getting in trouble with my parents. I thought they were my friends, but really they were just using me to get what they wanted.
Proverbs warns us about people who try to get you to do wrong with them. I have found that when people do wrong things, they try to get others to do wrong with them. They don’t feel as bad or guilty when they aren’t the only ones doing wrong things. It’s almost like they think that God is ok with our sin if we sin in groups. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s how we think some times.
When people, who claim to be our friends, speak into our lives and their voices are pushing us to do wrong, at that moment they aren’t really being your friend. If they were your friend, they’d be looking out for your best interest. If there is a pattern of them trying to get you to do things that aren’t good for you, then they aren’t really your friend.
The author here gives great advice in that situation, “”My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path.” If that is the kind of relationship you have with them, it’s time to end the relationship.
Application
How does this apply to you today?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
Well I had a friend like that and I thought she was my friend and stuff then when she found someone better people she ditched me for them do I guess she was like using me until something better came along, but I forgave her. I really don’t have friends who get me in to trouble who pressure me to do things (bad things) and I don’t get me friends in trouble. I don’t have friends who take me to the dark side haha!! but I bet when I go to high school and make new friends I guess I will have that problem but I will remember that God doesn’t want me to get involved with them he wants me to refrain from them, from there path and to follow his path.
I like the first verse! “if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” that’s a lot to say in just one little verse. Last Sunday in connection groups, John was talking about how when we’re already Christians satan will try to ruin our testimony. I think sometimes the wrong friends can help with that. If you think “they’re my friends, they would never hurt me.” then you end up getting influenced in a bad way by them, I hate to say it but you probably aren’t as close to them as you think.
I think because we have a sin nature, sometimes it would be easier for us to be influenced to do wrong, rather than us influencing our friends who do wrong, to do right. That’s not always the case though, thanks God 🙂 I really don’t know how to balance out trying to talk to your friends about Christ without being influenced to do wrong (Like Megan was talking about yesterday!)
& Even though I don’t have to worry about this right now, I know there will probably be times ahead where I will need to be careful about who I “walk” with.
Hope you guys have a good day! See you tonight 🙂
Hey guys sorry I have not been on line i’m a slacker. But what I got out of this is that people who tell you there your friends dont always mean it they could be just using you and that has happen to me but the best thing to do is talk to them say hey you know I don’t think I can hang out with you because it’s against what what my parents say and what my God says.
Like Pastor Ben said: Friends might use you to get what they want. Sometimes we should try to get to stop, like I’ve heard pastor Ben say: if you consult them and they don’t listen get someone else to go with you.
just because your friend is doing it,doesn’t mean you have to.i know this is something everyone struggles with.its very hard to deal with.right now i don’t have that going on.i know it will happen later on in life.sometimes some of my friends would be like oh lets go do this.and i’d be like no.we need to watch out for stuff our friends want to do.be careful not to get tempted.see u guys sooon!!! 🙂
Today it is talking about being around people who use you or try and get you to do things that you should not do. So what I got was that people who are a bad influence in my life I need to get away from them.
I have had people in my life all along the way that were deterring me away from what was right and godly. It happens when you are in school and make friends with those around you and I believe it continues as you are an adult with those around you at work. When I was in bible college working at an insurance company with other bible college students (they were from another bible college) they were even saying things that were trying to tare down my beliefs and were trying to speak “their truth” into my life. It was unbelievable at times how awful it was. I think in times like those we have to rely on the one Truth that we know and that is the Bible and what God says to us through His Word. Situations like these help our faith to grow if we keep a right head on our shoulders.
I know that since those times I have had a much better time although sometimes I feel as though I am living in a different world. I am everything church and I love it but I have to keep myself in check to make sure that even those who claim Christ are speaking God’s truth to me and not “their truth”. Our church does an amazing job of this with our unbelievable church family. I am so blessed.
I’ve unfortunately fallen into this trap many times before. I’ve let other people influence me to do things that I shouldn’t have even if I knew it was wrong or not. Still to this day it kills me thinking about it. I always think why? But I’ve come to the point in my life where I’ve made many mistakes, and if I continue to worry about the past and spend time thinking about all my regrets, I can’t move forward. The things in my past are in my past, whether I like it or not they have made me who I am today. I’d like to think I’m a way better person then I was, and wiser. God has directed me unto His path, and really showed me how important it is not to be negatively influenced. Right now I don’t have any negative influences in my life because I’ve chosen wisely when it came to decisions and prevented things. But it’s so easy to fall into the trap.. We have to be so careful!
Youth group was amazing tonight. God placed a few people onto my heart tonight that I need to talk to about Jesus. I’ll be praying for all of you as you go through the same thing. It would be cool if you could pray for me too! I need it! Thanks guys! Love you all, and keep up everything you’re doing!