6 Reasons You Need Godly Friends

🌺  Written by Brittany Ann

If you aren't surrounding yourself with Godly friends, you're missing out. Here are 6 reasons you NEED godly friends in your life.

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 Equipping Godly Women

About the author

Brittany Ann is an ECPA bestselling author of “Fall in Love with God’s Word” and “Follow God’s Will” and the founder of EquippingGodlyWomen.com, a popular Christian-living website dedicated to helping busy Christian moms find practical ways to go "all in" in faith and family. Her work has been featured on CBN, The Christian Post, Crosswalk, and more.

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  1. Having Christian friends is SO important, and I’m lucky to have several. It’s nice to know that you can count on fervent prayers when you need them. 🙂

  2. Great post with great points. I always say I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies…. Friendship is all about quality not quantity and strong godly women in your life is priceless. Great post!

  3. I’m so thankful for the ladies God has placed in my life. As an introvert I don’t think I have quite as many close friends as some, but that is okay, I have a few who do offer Godly advice and encouragement. I think sometimes it is also difficult for stay-at-home mommas who aren’t able to get out much, when they do they want to enjoy their time out rather than get into the difficult stuff, at least, that is my experience at certain times. 🙂

    1. I’m the same way. I don’t have very many friends, but the ones I do have, I am very close to. And as an introvert, I like it that way. Some are online, but I think having a least a couple real-life friends is important too.

  4. Please take a step back and consider how you approached your two articles on friendship. One was on the importance of having Godly friends and the other on the value of having non-Christian friends. Although I believe your article made many valid points, I felt your premise of Godly friends being Christian was very presumptuous. Many of the spiritual friends in my life, some who help me to aspire to a more elevated and Godly life who are not Christians but do have a belief in God and shared values. Conversely, there are Christians I know, who do not hold themselves or me to a higher standard, making them less than ideal friends. Just a thought….

    1. Hi, Allison! Thanks for your thoughts 🙂

      I totally agree that not all Christians are Godly (though the two SHOULD be synonymous, they aren’t always). That’s why I put “Godly friends” and “Non-Christian Friends” instead of Godly and non-Godly or Christian and non-Christian. With these two articles, I was only trying to focus on the two groups and not all the others for the time being.

      But to address the point I think you are trying to make–yes, friends who aren’t Christians but who aspire to live a good life are important to have. BUT they can only help so much. After all, if they don’t believe all the same truths you do, they can’t hold you to all of those truths or encourage you in all of those truths the way that other “Christian AND Godly” friends could. I have had friends who have encouraged me and challenged me who aren’t Christian, but you do need friends who are actually practicing Christians as well.

      To give an example: If you really wanted to learn how to be an Olympic swimmer, you wouldn’t just hang out with friends who weren’t swimmers who could encourage you to practice. You would need to hang out with other really talented swimmers who really need the ins and outs of the sport as well. Hope that makes sense!

  5. I really appreciate this article it has helped me to realize that I need to wait on God to send me Godly friends and not try to make it happen myself. I love to pray for people and encourage them but I want sincere godly friends to do all of these things for me that’s listed in the article. I would do it for someone else. Trying to make friendships with women in your forties is not easy. Everyone is busy with their own life and family and all the other aspects of life. I do not want friends who are only interested in me to boost their career or ministry or selfish desires. I am happy when women are successful in every area of their life. I want women who really care about me as person and daughter of God not what I can do for them. I live in Paterson and many women will not come to my city to pick me up if I needed a ride. I want friends who will not judge me or share my information with the world if I share it in confidence. I want friends who talk with me not against me or look down upon me because I do not have a college degree or a job or whatever it is they feel I should have in order to be in their life or seen in public with them. For me life is not about what I have or do not have it’s about my genuine relationship with God and people. I know that people are busy but I take very good care of my family and I am loyal when I know someone is truly sincere and truly think about me instead of their own needs all of the time. I am tired of consistently trying to make everyone else feel good about themselves while I get their left overs or silence. I know all about God’s love and how we are suppose to love one another. Yes, I am sincere when I give someone a compliment or encourage them I do it from my heart. No one likes to feel like they are being taking for granted or truly unloved or not even appreciated, especially women. Women need to feel loved and men need to feel respected. I think I will take time in pray to work through my feelings and disappointments and allow God to heal me. I really love this article and I am in the process of learning how to be a healthy friend. I have a lot of regrets from past friendships that ended weird. Please keep me in pray. Thanks.

    1. I don’t think those things are too much to ask at all. And I also don’t think it’s a “40s thing” too–people are just busy. Have you tried connecting with other women at church, at work, or through volunteering? Most people won’t be a good fit, but once you find a few good friends–they are definitely worth holding on to!

  6. Pingback: You Don't Have Time to Pee But You DO Have Time For God - Here are 5 Ways to Work Him In to Your Busy Day - For Every Mom
  7. This has really been a tough topic for me that i have been praying about. I have friends who are both Godly and non-Godly and i have been really wondering what to do. Well, i’ll rethink alot for sure. But maybe God uses the non-Godly friends you have for you to help them become closer to Him. Sooo, let’s just pray about the people we have, ask Him to make us know Godly friends who will move us up and towards Him and also for Him to use us as a vessel for Him.

    1. Absolutely. I know I can think of a couple of times right off of the top of my head where my nonChristian friends kept me in line and my Christian friends didn’t. I don’t think it’s necessary to discriminate against one type or the other–both are good–but I do think you need some of both.

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