How many friends do you have? five? twenty? one hundred? How many of them are close friends that you can trust with anything? How many of them consistently encourage you and build you up? While it’s easy to gain a huge number of “friends” on social media, we all need more than just a few passing acquaintances who fill our newsfeed with funny cat pictures or pictures of adorable babies. Here are six reasons why you need close Godly friendships too.
Related Reading: Need More Christian Friends? Here are 6 Ways to Find Them
1. They Encourage You
Whether you are having a good day or a bad day, your Godly friends are always there to encourage you. They won’t allow you to wallow in self-pity indefinitely. Instead, they help you remember that God has everything under control and that it WILL be okay, even if it doesn’t seem like it now. They are full of encouraging thoughts, they genuinely care, and they have a wealth of Scripture verses that somehow really do make you feel better.
2. They Ask the Difficult Questions
When you are really struggling and a friend asks you how you are doing, it can be tempting to just say “fine.” Godly friends don’t let you get away this, however. They ask the difficult questions to find out how you REALLY are, how they can help you and how they can pray for you. Whether you are struggling with depression or struggling to stay faithful to your spouse, your closest Godly friends want to know what’s really going on so they can be there for you.
3. They Offer Godly Counsel
Advice is very easy to come by these days. Every time you turn around, you find 100 different opinions, many of which directly oppose the others. Godly friends give you advice you can trust, however. Their advice is based on Scripture and given with your unique circumstances and personality in mind. They won’t just tell you what you want to hear. They’ll help you figure out what God would actually want you to do in your situation.
4. They Keep You Accountable
Being a Godly woman isn’t easy, and we all mess up sometimes. Thankfully, Godly friends keep us accountable. They ask the tough questions to see what you are struggling with, and then they follow up consistently to see how you are doing. They don’t do this to judge or belittle you, but because they truly care about you and helping you be an amazing Godly woman too.
5. They Pray for You
Which of us couldn’t use some additional prayer from time to time? Whether you are sick, you are unsure about a decision, or you just received big news, Godly friends are the perfect people to pray for you and they are always happy to do it. They won’t just say “I’ll pray for you,” and then forget. They will pray WITH you, and then they’ll go home and pray some more.
6. They Have the Resources You Need
None of us has all of the answers. Thankfully, when we band together, we are much stronger together than we are individually. Not only do Godly friends offer the advice, accountability and prayers that you need, but they can connect you with other resources you need as well. Need a ride to church this Sunday? Have a question about the Bible and you don’t know where to find the answer? Need some encouragement for the journey? Godly friends either have just what you need or they can connect you with other people who can help you find it.
Please understand, the point of this article isn’t to say you should dump all of your friends that aren’t Christian and replace them all with Godly friends. There are lots of reasons why you should have non-Christian friends too, but that’s an article for another day. The point of this article is just to say: if you don’t have a few close Christian friendships, you are missing out! Godly friends can offer you so many benefits you simply cannot find anywhere else.
Brittany Ann is an ECPA bestselling author and founder of Equipping Godly Women and Monetize My Ministry. She’s also a Christian speaker, podcaster, and conference host. Her work has been featured on numerous TV, radio, and online ministries, including CBN, MSN, Christianity Today, Evangelical Alliance, Patheos, Crosswalk, and more.
These are great reasons to have Godly friends! I pray to have more of them since I have found a new church home in the area we just moved to. They really do encourage you!
So excited to see your new Friday link ups! Will I receive the notifications for it when I sign up on your site?
Yay! I’m so, so excited too! I haven’t set up email notifications yet (it’s on my super long to-do list), but yeah, go ahead and sign up so when I DO get it set up, you’ll be the first to know 🙂 Tomorrow’s link up is going live tomorrow at 8 a.m. See you then!
Good to have Godly friends because we can discuss issues related to God
Jesus Christ is Lord of my life.My faith describes who I am. I live daily to seek God’s purpose for my life.I am on here to make friends.You can send me an message on my e-mail [email protected]
love this! Oh, how grateful I am for my Godly friends that help me grow and give me much needed support!! What a blessing they are to me always…
Do you have a close network of friends already?
Jesus Christ is Lord of my life.My faith describes who I am. I live daily to seek God’s purpose for my life.I am on here to make friends.You can send me an message on my e-mail [email protected]
Love this post! Scheduled to share it in a Tweet this coming week. Blessings, Brittany!
Oh yay! Thanks! I’ll have to check that out!
Such a great post! Thanks for taking the time to write it …looking forward to more!
Thanks, Janelle! 🙂
thanks for this site
Thanks for visiting, Debbie 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! I am a person who has a LOT of non-christian friends, and it can be hard to find other believers that I really connect with. Thank God for the internet and the communities I’ve joined and amazing women I’ve been able to connect with 🙂 I’m praying I’ll find more Godly friends in my real life!
That’s interesting. I find so many Christians tend to hang out in cliques instead of befriending non-Christian people too. It’s definitely important to have a balance.
Thank you so much for this, this has been on my heart as of late and I am so happy to have read it, I am going to share with my Facebook friends bc it is something that needs to be read.
I will be back on friday
Thanks, Terri! I’m so glad I could encourage you today!
This is a great post and I definitely agree! Thank you for the good advice. I have a few Godly friends in my life and they make all the difference some days.
Thanks, Kori! Having Godly friends is so important, I’m glad that you have them in your life 🙂
A good list. I would add they are the friends who never leave you. With the Holy Spirit as our guide, we are called to a lasting, deeper friendship than non-believers. When we do our part right!
Well, not necessarily… yes, the friendships may be deeper, but there are some friendships that we only need for a short while. We don’t have to stay BFFs with every one forever.
I am struggling with local friendships right now, and while I have wonderful online Godly friendships I am craving genuine face-to-face fellowship. As I read this list I found myself convicted about the kind of friend I have been too, though! I am often too timid about keeping friends accountable and speaking the truth in love when it is tough. Thanks for this reminder!!
Finding real life friends is hard! I’m much better at finding online friends too. And yep, we have to be a good friend too, for it to work! Glad I could encourage you today!