Week 3: Accountability Adds Hope

In the third week of our series ifriends (Middle School) and Faithbook (High School) we talked about another characterisitic of accountable friendships. While we want to make sure we are helping our friends and family make the right decisions and head down the right path we also want to be able to help those who aren’t so fortunate. Whether or not they are our friends we all know people who are making the wrong decisions, making the wrong choices and are in pain and suffering. So we asked the teens, “How do you give hope to those who need healing?”
With an accountable relationship you can rely on people to give you the hope that leads to healing; however, how do you give that person hope? We talked about the men who brought the paralytic to Jesus in Mark Chapter 2 and how they would go to great lengths to bring their friend the healing that was needed. Now they knew Jesus was special; however, they didn’t know how exactly Jesus would help their friend. But the paralytic had hope of getting better because he could count on his friends being there until the end.
To bring someone hope you need to be able to commit to being there by their side. You need to make yourself availble to listen to them and to pray with them. It says in James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. When we come together and spend time together we eliminate the fear of facing life alone. The hope doesn’t come from having a bright future, it comes from knowing that we are never alone in our struggles.