Key Verse: 1 Samuel 19:4
Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.”

Solomon, David’s son, had no doubt heard from his father about Jonathan. As a result, Solomon put these words in Proverbs 18:24b: “There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” David needed a true friend. Historian and philosopher Henry Adams wrote, “One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.” Jesus has been called, “the Friend of sinners.” Matthew and Zacchaeus took Jesus home with them. We may want to meditate on Jesus’ relationships with these “sinners” (Luke 19:1-10 and Mark 2:13-17). We could consider the woman at the well and the woman taken in adultery. If we had the opportunity to ask these people, “Who are your friends?” Jesus’ name would probably be the first one they would mention. A friend is there for us! A short time after they met Jesus, these two men and two women experienced what He promised in Matthew 28:20b: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The phenomenon of people prophesying, as in our reading, is an experience we read about throughout religious history. It may be of God (check the content to see if the words spoken are according to the written Words of Holy Scripture). It may be simply the result of the human spirit, excited because of emotional activity. It may also be from the evil one. Be very careful here. In our day, what is called “personal prophecy” can appear to be of God and sometimes seems supernatural. However, people have been seriously sidetracked from God’s will for their lives by those who use this means to manipulate them. We need to check with our pastors, wait on God in prayer, and consistently read God’s Word, the Bible.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I give my whole life to You for this new day. I’m in Your Word daily. I’m in prayer daily. Please protect me by Your Word, Your Spirit, and by the solid Bible-based teaching of my local church. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I’ve given a great deal of thought to what is called “prophesying” in the New Testament Church. Philip, a deacon of the first church, had four daughters who were “prophetesses” (Acts 21:9). I believe that we need to let the Bible interpret the Bible. Revelation 19:10 tells us that, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” I also believe that these Philip’s daughters were winning souls to Jesus on the streets of Samaria, where their Dad had a revival (Acts 8). The “Testimony of Jesus” happened on the streets of Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 2. Peter said on that occasion, quoting the prophet Joel, that “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy.” These girls were not foretelling the future. They were not lying naked on the ground like Saul in today’s reading (verse 24). They were telling everyone about Jesus! Witnessing for and about Jesus is the continuing evidence of keeping filled with the Holy Spirit. I don’t think that anyone should claim to be keeping filled with God’s Spirit if they fail to give the “Testimony of Jesus” consistently. Prophecy, one of the gifts of the Spirit, referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:10 and also in 1 Corinthians 14, is for the edification and comfort of believers. I need this gift. Prophesying, as it happened on the birthday of the Church, is something different which continues to happen every time we testify, in order to win a precious never-dying soul to Jesus.

Yours for New Testament prophecy,

David