As Christians, we pray for every single thing in our lives. If you are a student, you pray about your studies, school, classmates, and teacher. You even pray for yourself, that God will give you the grace to study well and be faithful at it. If you are a working professional, indeed, you pray for matters regarding your work—whether things are excellent in the work that you do, having a good relationship with your boss and workmates so that you can disciple them, and more. Even when making decisions in life, we pray to God about them. We ask God for wisdom and discernment as we decide on something, especially if those are big decisions that significantly impact our lives.
Another aspect of our lives that we also pray about and should pray about (if you are not already) is our friendships. A Christian can pray about two kinds of friendships: their friendships with their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and their friendships with people who are not Christians. Depending on the situation, there are different ways you can pray. Nonetheless, we pray to God regarding our friendships because, in the end, we want to submit every area of our lives under the Lordship of Christ, which includes our friendships. As followers of Christ, we want to make sure that our friendships honor God.
Luke 6:46
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
1 Peter 1:14
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
Father in heaven, give me the grace to always make sure that my friendships honor You. I pray that the friendships I have with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will set a good example for unbelievers of what real friendship is. I pray that I can use our friendship to preach Christ to them. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
A Friendship Prayer
What is a good prayer for friendship?
There are many things you can pray for in a friendship, but remember—the things you pray for vary depending on whether the friendship is with someone who is a fellow believer or someone who is not a Christian. Indeed, all of us have friends who are not Christians. We should build a relationship with them and preach the Gospel to them as we disciple them. With that, one of the things that you can pray for is for God to use that friendship so that you may be able to preach the Gospel to your unbelieving friend and disciple him or her.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Here is how you can pray for God to use your friendship so that you may be able to disciple your friend:
Heavenly Father, I pray that I will be able to use my relationship with name of friend to speak to his/her life and preach the truth that he or she needs to hear, which is Christ. In the years of our friendship, I pray that he or she shall see how Christ has changed my life from who I was when I was not yet a Christian to who I am now that I am in Christ. May they see the compassion that I have for them by preaching Christ, by Whom they can have eternal life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Another thing that you can pray for regarding your friendship with an unbeliever is the wisdom to know whether you have to cut off your relationship or not. By all means, we have to maintain our friendship with unbelievers even when we become Christian. You should preach the Gospel first, since you already have a relationship with them, and share with them Jesus, Who changed your life. You are more effective than a stranger preaching to them would be. Plus, if indeed you repented and had a changed life, your life itself will be a testimony to them to the power of Christ that saves people. However, there are times when we also have to think about whether the wise thing to do is to cut off a relationship. That is the case if you see that you are being dragged into their worldliness rather than finding you can disciple them. In other words, if you see yourself starting to get unequally yoked with them, then perhaps it is best to cut off the relationship. It does not mean that you have to snub them or ignore them, but you just have to place boundaries. You can still keep in touch with them so that if ever there is an opportunity to disciple them, you are not like a stranger.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
2 Corinthians 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?
James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Father in heaven, give me the wisdom and discernment to know whether I have to cut off my relationship with name of the person and erect boundaries so that I may not be unequally yoked with him/her. Convict me, Holy Spirit; help me be wise enough to never let myself be influenced by the worldliness of others. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
A Friendship Prayer
When you pray for your friendship with fellow believers, you are praying things from the Bible. The Bible tells us what genuine and biblical friendships are. Therefore, we pray that our friendships will follow what the Bible says they should be. For example, Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that as Christians we have to stir up one another in good works; that we should not neglect meeting each other so we can encourage one another. If this is required of Christians, surely it is required and expected of Christians who claim to be friends. Biblical friendship is not just about hanging out together but also having a fellowship with which you can encourage one another, stir up each other in good works, and even pray for each other. What differentiates hanging out with fellowship is that fellowship involves God.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Acts 2:42
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Father in heaven, I pray that I and name of friend/s will never neglect to meet each other and have a fellowship that we can use to encourage one another and stir up each other in good works. I pray that we will never let anything hinder us from meeting each other, but rather, we shall make time for it and fight for it, knowing the value and importance of having fellowship with one another. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
A Friendship Prayer
Genuine friends are friends who will not only stay by your side when things are right and happy and they gain something from you, but they also stay with you through thick and thin, even in the season of adversities. That is what a genuine friend is, according to God’s Word. A friend who loves at all times sticks by you no matter what season you go through, is selfless to even lay his or her own life down for you, and will weep with you as you go through hardships in life. A perfect example of this is Christ. That is why, if we want to be Christlike toward our friends, we have to be genuine friends with them. There should be no room for superficial friendships among Christians.
Proverbs 17:17
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Proverbs 18:24
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Father in heaven, I pray for me and name of friend/s, that we shall value and pursue authenticity in our friendships. Help us be a friend who weeps with our fellow friends, sticks by them even in times of adversity, and loves them at all times. May we always love with an agape kind of love—a selfless love in which we will be willing to lay down our lives for each other. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Another thing that you can pray for in your friendship with fellow believers is that you will not hesitate to correct each other and that you will always speak the truth to each other. Of course, you still do it with love and gentleness, but what you should tell your friend is not always what they want to hear yet what they need to hear.
Proverbs 15:32
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Ephesians 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Heavenly Father, I pray that in our friendship, we shall always see that we speak not what the other person wants to hear but what he or she needs to hear. May we always speak the truth to each other in love and give reproof or correction to one another when we need it, and may we receive correction with a humble heart. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
A Friendship Prayer
Lastly, the best thing you can pray for in your friendship is that it be rooted or founded in Christ. Just as Christ should be the center of our work, studies, marriage, etc., Christ should also be the center of our friendships. That is also a kind of prayer that you can pray for your friendship with unbelievers.
Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Colossians 3:17
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Philippians 2:9–11
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Heavenly Father, I pray that Christ shall always be the center of my friendship with name of friend/s. I pray that everything we do as friends is always rooted in Christ and submission to His Lordship. May Christ be glorified with the friendship that we have. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
If you are a Christian and looking for genuine friends, they can only be found in the church. Non-believers don’t understand the concept of being selfless, weeping with our friends, having fellowship, and correcting each other. But genuine Christians do because all of you submit to one Lord, which is Christ.