JOSHUA 9:9(10-27)
One of the biggest strategies of deceptive friends is their ability to shower praises. Notice how the Gibeonites started praising the exploits of Joshua and His God.
(Joshua 9:3-8) There are genuine friends who will genuinely praise you in your success, but they are also quick to rebuke or correct you when you go wrong. If all your friend does is only to praise you without pointing out your faults, take a second look at him or her, he or she might just be a deceptive friend or faking. Be very careful when friends meet you for the first time and begin praising you.
I noticed this when the young man (name withheld) was living with me. In my desire to test the loyalty of all the boys living with me, I will sometimes give them a loyalty test. Whilst most of the boys will suggest what to do, he will be praising me, without knowing it was a test. I began to watch him keenly and from afar, even though we were working together, staying together and sometimes even sleep together in the office or go home during the weekends. We had just started Liberty House Christian Centre (church) and Liberty House foundation (NGO) to help the poor, needy and the vulnerable in society, and so I needed to pray more and work extra hard. Besides, some benevolent people helped me with their resources and I needed to work even harder to justify their investment and win their confidence.
Deceptive friends are very jealous and envious. In his bid to destroy me, he first lied to my sponsors that, I wasn’t always available in the office, and I was always at home. Whilst they were getting angry with me, my family was also blaming me for not always being available for them. I was busy having retreats and midnight prayer sessions that, I wasn’t always home. He was secretly exposing me through lies and deception to the people I had taken as my second family. One of the things you must note is that: “Don’t ever ignore someone’s past track record”. Whether they are his successes or failures. Don’t hold his faults or mess against him, and don’t also allow his achievements to deceive you, just let them guide you. Deceptive friends always puff up their own importance, and believe without them, you can’t do anything. Their ego is bigger than them, and they will deceptively compliment you in the presence of others, and mock you in your absence. They appear very humble but gossip endlessly about others to you.
“Deceptive friends are like shadows, always near you in your moments of brightness, but nowhere to be seen in your darkest times”.
“Genuine friends are like stars, you don’t always see them, especially during the day, but they are always there”.
Stay blessed always and remember to love someone and mean it.
#sociallysignificant #Lukebarson #Libertybreakfast
Rev. Prophet Luke Luki Barson is the Senior Pastor at Liberty House Christian Centre at Tema Community 25.
He has studied at the University of Ghana, the Methodist University College and the Christian Service University College.
He is currently a PhD student at the University of South Africa.
Source: BestNewsGH.com
