Thank God for your Friend Judas

Encouragement for Today
Bible Verse: Psalm 55: 12-14 and 16-18

Have you grieved for a friendship before? I mean have you really grieved for a friendship? Did it feel like your heart was torn out of your inside?
I want you to understand what I am talking about, not a silly misunderstanding, or a little argument.
I'm talking about the betrayal of a friendship that hurt you so much. So much that you cried your eyes and heart out.
I'm talking about one you didn't see coming, one that you can never quite forget even though you may have forgiven.
If you haven't, praise the Lord for you. May you never know such hurt.

I was quite fond of a friend, so fond of this friend that even when she offended me quite deeply once, I went to her to apologize. During our intimate relationship, we had shared so much of our feelings on practically everything with each other. I told her and she told me what was going on in head every time we met. However, I made a huge mistake. In the course of our friendship I had talked carelessly about other people with her. How that grieves me to think of it.
When she did realize that she didn't want to be friends with me anymore, she told one of our mutual friends the things I had said about her. Some things she did tell her however, were told with so much malice and hatred, that when this mutual friend eventually confronted me about it, it had gone very sour in her heart. There was no amount of convincing I could do, except apologize.
The truth was even though, I felt truly, the things I had said, I didn't understand then that my words would cause her pain if she heard about it.
This betrayal caused a lot of division among our mutual friends, even some who had mentioned the very same things to me based on their observations withdrew from the situation. Some fueled the strife while some reached out to me to see if I was doing okay. I sought out a peacemaker among our group of friends, but I found none.

I felt so betrayed, stabbed and so angry. I cried for days, for having been thrown in the middle of the hot mess. Nevertheless I cried out to God.
I heard the Lord say to me in my sad state to arise and to begin to pray for my betrayer, my friend Judas. I asked the lord why? Why should I pray for someone who hurt me so. The lord told me to quit the self righteous act. He needed me to forgive and release all my hurt to Him.

So the first thing I had to do was to forgive. Forgiveness doesn’t excuse your betrayers behavior. Forgiveness prevents their behavior from destroying your heart.

Secondly He asked me to pray that my other friend too forgives me and I did.

Thirdly, He told me that even though my betrayer friend and I were both guilty of gossip, and she had agreed with me on everything we discussed and then turned on me, that I was wrong and at fault because I gossiped.
Gossip is wrong. It is nothing like safe and trusted talk between friends. It is sinful and is no different from murdering a person physically. As the lord took me through this, I felt convicted.

The lord told me again, that some relationships are not profitable, it was better to be around people who feared the lord, that even if I felt so strongly about someone, I would take it to Him, unburden my heart to him and not talk carelessly...I mean gossip about it.

Lastly, He told me to be grateful for my friend Judas. The betrayal of this friend brought me on my knees to God.
 It made me cry out to the Lord in a way that I hadn't done in a long time. It helped the lord to purge  and cleanse out a lot of issues inside me that needed to be dealt with.
 In the days that followed, He led people who had no clue of what was going on, to send me spirit filled messages. So much was the out pour of Gods love that I started thanking God for my friend Judas.
I have since forgiven, forgotten and moved on. Sometimes the enemy tries to bring the remembrance of the pain I felt to my mind, and I tell him to depart from me.
I have the mind of the Lord and I choose to take responsibility for my actions and to love my Judas even more and wish her well.

Where are you today? Are you still stuck in a betrayal that happened years ago? or maybe it is still fresh. Arise! The lord wants to heal you.
He wants to also teach you lessons that will make you a better person. Begin to bless and praise the name of the Lord. Praise Him for your friend Judas and watch transformation take over your life. Be blessed.