How To Make Friends Prov. 18:24 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Prov 18:24 says that you must shew yourself friendly – in other words, when you are a friend it shows – show your love, show your care, show your generosity, show your thoughtfulness, show your gratitude – your friendship is known more by what you do than by what you say.

Having good friends is extremely important in life.  So, if friends are that important and friendships are made, they don’t just happen, then we should have some instruction on how to make friends.  You may not know how to make friends.

You make friends by:

Showing an interest – initially, you should show an interest in the person you are befriending – ask them questions; people love to talk about themselves – and pay attention to their answers; they may say, “remember when I told you about…” – listen; it’s not good to pretend to be interested.

Helping them out – sometimes a friend needs your help and rather than waiting to be asked, offer to help them – when you have an area of expertise in which they are deficient you can provide them with the help that keeps them from hiring a stranger or getting ripped off – be observant and look for ways to help, like the old-time neighbors used to do.

Doing things together – there is nothing like hunting together, fishing together, camping together, shopping together, going out to eat together, playing a sport together, going to church together, serving the Lord together and so forth to build a strong friendship.

Fulfilling a need – people need friends – and so by being a friend you are fulfilling a great need in their lives – you should be a source of comfort, encouragement, counsel, rebuke, and cheer.

Praying for them – there is not enough that can be said about the importance of praying for your friends – God answers prayers – because Jesus Christ is a better friend than we are, he can do things for them that you and I will never be able to do – and he knows their deepest need – and he can alert you to the times when they may need you the most but are too overwhelmed or embarrassed to ask.

Conclusion: Good friendships are invaluable and they are hard to make.  You have to work at good friendships and if you will work along these lines, you will make some good friends by being a good friend.