Iron Sharpens Iron

In the Monthly Prayer Meeting on 3/9, Pastor Joshua and C-Mo shared that our lives can be built through discipleship as well as friendship.

“When a cell member faces any problems in life or struggles in martial relationship, he is likely to seek help from his cell leader. One thing I notice is when a particular issue recurs in marriage, one party may threaten the other not to tell their cell leaders about it. Gradually, they don’t want others to know their marital issues. Moreover, they do not want to cause cell leaders troubles, they are embarrassed and they may even avoid facing their cell leaders altogether.

Co-worker couples Boaz and Debbie, and Lemuel and Justin are good friends of ten years. By chance, I found out Justin dared not to challenge Lemuel, her husband, fearing of confrontation while Debbie was bold to challenge Lemuel. Being challenged by his friends, Lemuel’s experienced breakthroughs and improvements. This is the outcome of the interaction of a healthy friendship. May I recommend couples to find couple friends to whom they are close, with whom they are willing to share and open up their lives. As said in Proverbs 27:17: “Iron sharpens iron.”

If brothers and sisters always go to their authorities whenever they face problems, they may be stressed. But between peers, we edify one another and speak the truth to one another in love and give constructive ideas. Better still, a deep friendship can be built. Singles can also go to their good friends or friends of the same cell group, building up one another. If there are a number of couples in a cell group seeking the help of their cell leader, the cell leader may struggle to handle them. Cell leaders may try to pair up couples to build friendships so that they can help one another. In this way, the discipleship of cell leaders will be made easier and more effective.” • [2020.09.27]