Godly Soul Ties: Friendships and the Body of Christ

Understanding Soul Ties Today’s Focus: Godly Soul Ties Part 1: Friendships and the Body of Christ Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1-3; 19:1-3; John 15:13; Greetings Sons of God: Now that we see the impact of negative soul ties, let’s look at some positive soul ties and how they benefit us in the Kingdom and House of God. When we examine friendships within the Body of Christ we must understand that true friendships within the Body of Christ are based in love and self-sacrifice. Let me show you: John 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you These are the words of Jesus to the disciples and understand that Jesus is saying you are friends if you follow and obey His Words. So another aspect of true friendship within the Body is that they share the mind of Christ which unifies the Body. Now in the Bible there was a unique story of a Godly soul tie friendship between two, possible unlikely people and they are Johnathan and David: 1 Samuel 18:1-3: And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the SOUL of Johnathan was KNIT WITH THE SOUL of David, and Johnathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. Then Johnathan and David MADE A COVENANT, BECAUSE HE LOVED HIM AS HIS OWN SOUL. Johnathan was Saul’s son and his soul was knit to the soul of David. Understand at this point in the story David had slayed Goliath and brought his head back to Saul. Saul became all the more extremely jealous of David to a point that he continually plotted to kill him but watch how powerful a godly soul tie is when it is ordained by the Lord watch this: 1 Samuel 19:1-3: And Saul spake to Johnathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore , I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself: And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art and I will commune with my father of thee and what I see, that I will tell thee. Now I urge you to read the rest of the story because it is phenomenal but understand, the covenant bond between Jonathon and David was so strong that Jonathan would risk his life by betraying his father to protect his friend from death. Jonathan in 1 Samuel 19:4,5 would plead with his father to not slay David because of all of the blessings and good works that have been done for Israel by him and to slay him would be to shed innocent blood. Jonathon laid his life on the line for David because he loved him just as his own soul. As the story would go, of course Saul would not keep his promise out of jealousy and continue to hunt David to kill him, even trying to use his personal messengers to try to kill him. The Lord was with David and Jonathon was connected to grace and in subsequent actions he would serve David to help him along the way. We in the Body of Christ who are connected by the Spirit should present this same picture one towards another. We should always be ready to lay down our life for someone else to live. Do not expect the enemy to do this because that is not in his character but it is in the character of God because it is the greatest show of love to lay down your life for your friends. We need to take a deep examination of what a true friend is biblically and then ask the Lord to show us who our true friends are and show us and cut loose those who are not godly and will hinder our walk with the Lord. In the next message for the sake of time we will look at the early church and the power of the godly soul tie. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.