A Prayer for a Friend — sacred illustration
✶ Our Bible Moments No. 208 / 253

Friends & Others

A Prayer for a Friend

Proverbs 17:17

Proverbs 17:17 is one of the proverbs of Solomon, a short saying about true friendship: a love that holds steady at all times and proves itself in hard days.

Lord, thank You for my friend. You know what they are carrying right now, even what they haven’t told me. Hold them close. Give them strength for today and hope for tomorrow. Make me the kind of friend who loves at all times, who shows up in the hard seasons and not only the easy ones. Let my friend feel Your love through mine. Amen.

Proverbs 17:17 is one of the proverbs of Solomon, a short saying about true friendship: a love that holds steady at all times and proves itself in hard days.

The Scripture

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

— Proverbs 17:17

Prayer points from Proverbs 17:17

  1. Thank God for your friend by name.
  2. Tell God what your friend is carrying, as much as you know.
  3. Ask Him to give them strength, comfort and hope.
  4. Pray for the friendship itself, that it would hold in hard seasons.
  5. Ask God to show you one practical way to love them this week.
  6. Ask Him to let your friend feel His love through yours.

About this verse

Proverbs 17:17 sits in the long collection the book introduces as “The proverbs of Solomon,” short sayings about everyday life. This one is about friendship: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” The two halves say one thing in two ways. A true friend does not love only when it is convenient, and a brother shows who he is when trouble comes. Earlier in the same chapter Proverbs says that whoever conceals an offense promotes love, while “he who brings it up separates friends.” Friendship is tested in adversity, and it is often there that it grows deepest. Praying for a friend is one way to love them at all times, even when you can’t fix what they are facing. This prayer is for anyone praying for a friend who is struggling, or simply thanking God for one.

When to pray this prayer

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