A careful reading through the life of the Apostle Paul will yield insight concerning those who surrounded him. In this brief devotion, I want to focus on two of Paul’s friends — Luke and Demas.
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Looking at the relationship between ālove and affectionā (“chiba” in Hebrew) and āobligationā (“chova” in Hebrew), we find another closely related word, āchaverā, one of the Hebrew words for āfriendā. Friends are people with whom we share love and affection and also a sense of obligation. Our God and Father wants us to be His friends, to share love and affection with Him and to carry the sense of responsibility and obligation which friendship requires.
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A program by National Geographic gives a powerful illustration for us. In the great annual wildebeest migration in Serengeti National Park in Africa a giant herd, thousands of wildebeest, slowly move in groups across the plain. They are invariably followed by stalking lions. But the lions never attack the herd – they simply watch carefully for the stray wildebeest, either careless or seeking greener grass, who separates himself from the larger groups of animals. The isolated wildebeest will become the sudden prey of the lions who attack with lightening speed and ferocity.
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As David grew in stature those who stood by him increased in number, devoting themselves to fight with him. Though it was a time of adversity for David, and a time of warfare, he found that there were many willing to join their lives to his; “…a brother is born for adversity”; and “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”. Again we note that David’s anointing and his character made him a friend to many…and many became his loyal friends.
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Just about every Hebrew prayer begins by saying, āBaruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha Olamā which, translated, means, Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe. Now think about it, King of the Universe! Wikipedia defines “universe” as, “the composition of all the planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, and all matter and energy”. Hmmā¦thatās a lot to be king over!
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Some time ago there was a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and a line tugging in her mouth.
...continue reading this devotion.Anyone thatās been a believer for very long realizes how small the world is these days and how the Lord has connected millions of people with one another in miraculous ways. We meet hundreds of people from various backgrounds, and Iām often amazed how lives of those we meet are crossed over with others that we know.
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