7 Day Devotional

Day 1: The Friend You Actually Need

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“Jonathan said to him, ‘Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it for you.'” — 1 Samuel 20:4 (NIV)

Day 2: You Are Not Going to Die

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“‘That’s not true!’ Jonathan protested. ‘You’re not going to die.'” — 1 Samuel 20:2 (NLT)

Day 3: The Friend Who Has the Least to Gain

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.” — 1 Samuel 20:17 (NLT)

Day 4: Taking On Our Part

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“‘Never!’ Jonathan exclaimed. ‘If I had the least inkling that my father had determined to harm you, don’t you think I would tell you?'” — 1 Samuel 20:9 (NLT)

Day 5: Bridges of Hope

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“May the Lord be with you… and when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies, may the covenant between Jonathan and his family always be kept.” — 1 Samuel 20:13–16 (NLT)

Day 6: The Sanctuary of Honest Friendship

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“‘Come,’ Jonathan said, ‘let’s go out into the field.’ So they went out there together.” — 1 Samuel 20:11 (NLT)

Day 7: Greater Love Has No One Than This

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

“I no longer call you servants… I have called you friends… Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:13, 15 (NIV)

Day 1: The Friend You Actually Need

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“Jonathan said to him, ‘Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it for you.'” — 1 Samuel 20:4 (NIV)

Devotion

Humpty Dumpty is a good metaphor for people everywhere. He had risen to the top of his game, perched on a wall, looking down over everything he’d accomplished. And then something happened. He landed hard. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put him back together again. The government sent help. The investigation happened. But at the end of the day, Dumpty was still broken at the bottom of the wall.

What Humpty needed was never the king’s horsemen, it was a friend.

We spend a lot of energy into friends — Facebook friends, Instagram followers, and people in our every day life. But if we let the Bible reframe how we see friendships, we’ll find its preoccupation is not with having friends but with being one.

That subtle shift of a simple participle seems harmless, but the difference in perspective is significant and the implications are life-changing.

We’ll look at how Jonathan stood tall when David could barely stand at all. It wasn’t out of obligation or convenience but a choice, to be a friend rather than to have one. That is the invitation this week.

Reflection

When you think about friendship, are you more focused on what you receive or what you give? What does your honest answer reveal?

What would it look like this week to make one deliberate choice to be the friend rather than to evaluate the friendship?

Prayer

Lord, shift my posture in friendship. I’ve spent more time measuring what I have than becoming what someone needs. Give me the courage and the love to show up simply because that’s what You do. Make me the kind of friend I wish I had. Amen.

Day 2: You Are Not Going to Die

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“‘That’s not true!’ Jonathan protested. ‘You’re not going to die.'” — 1 Samuel 20:2 (NLT)

Devotion

David arrived at Jonathan breathless and bruised — three questions tumbling out of him in urgent succession: “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father?” He’d served the king faithfully as a servant and a warrior. His troubles hadn’t come from disobedience; they came from walking in faithfulness. And now, despite his record and his popularity, he was facing the world of exile. Three times Saul had tried to kill him with a spear. Surely David thought: one of these days, he’s going to be successful.

It was in the midst of that flagging faith that Jonathan spoke. Not a strategy. Not advice. Just this: “You are not going to die.”

This is the first ingredient of friendship: friends speak peace into our hearts when we feel overwhelmed.

John Wesley, dying in his bed, got word that his friend William Wilberforce was despondent and about to give up on abolishing slavery after decades of opposition. From his deathbed, Wesley wrote: “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Do not be weary of well-doing.” Wesley died six days later. But Wilberforce fought for forty-five more years and saw slavery abolished in Britain three days before his own death. One letter. One voice speaking peace into the middle of a friend’s exhaustion. It changed the trajectory of a life and of history.

Reflection

Think of a moment when a friend spoke peace into your overwhelm — a word, a letter, a conversation that reoriented you. What made it powerful?

Who in your life is currently in a spiral of fear or discouragement that needs a voice speaking a different reality into it?

Prayer

God, give me words that carry peace into someone’s overwhelm. Let them be real, anchored, faith-filled words. Show me who needs to hear today that they are not going to die, that You have not forgotten them, that the battle is not already lost. Let me be the voice of peace You send into someone’s fear this week. Amen.

Day 3: The Friend Who Has the Least to Gain

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.” — 1 Samuel 20:17 (NLT)

Devotion

Jonathan had every reason to let David go. David’s rise was Jonathan’s diminishment. God had said the kingdom was moving from Saul’s line to David’s, which meant Jonathan’s throne, his future, his inheritance were all walking out the door in the person of his friend. He knew it and He befriended David anyway.

Jonathan knew knew that to befriend David was to offend his father, and yet he warmly befriended him because he knew David was ordained by God. There was no disturbing jealousy. Only unrequited loyalty.

This is what makes Jonathan’s friendship staggering: he had the least to gain and the most to lose.

Robert Frost once said that home is the place where they have to take you in. Not so with friends. Friends choose to do what family is obligated to do.

Proverbs 18:24 makes it even stronger: a faithful friend stays closer than a family member. Blood is thicker than water, we say. Maybe. But the Bible is saying there’s something even thicker than that. It’s deep, genuine friendship. Jonathan chose David knowing it would cost him the throne… and it would cost him his life.

Reflection

Is there a friendship in your life where you have the most to lose by staying loyal? How are you navigating that tension?

Have you ever experienced someone choosing your side when it cost them something significant? What about Jesus?

Where might comparison or jealousy be quietly eroding a friendship, and what would it look like to choose Jonathan’s posture instead?

Prayer

Lord, I want to love the people in my life the way Jonathan loved David. Where jealousy has taken root quietly, pull it out. Where I’ve been keeping score, help me stop counting. Make me the kind of friend who chooses the people I love even when it costs something real. Amen.

Day 4: Taking On Our Part

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“‘Never!’ Jonathan exclaimed. ‘If I had the least inkling that my father had determined to harm you, don’t you think I would tell you?'” — 1 Samuel 20:9 (NLT)

Devotion

The Psalmist put it plainly: “Insults have broken my heart so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none” (Psalm 69:20).

There’s a cartoon image that captures that ache. Charlie Brown pours out his soul to Lucy at her five-cent psychiatric booth. She tells him he’s not alone, that there are things to do, great things to be accomplished, and then when he says “I have friends!” she replies: “Oh yeah? Name one.”

The loneliness of being in distress without a Jonathan is one of the heaviest weights a person can carry. People like Jonathan are hard to find — people who care enough to be genuinely available, to listen even when someone is drowning, to say “I will not let you be destroyed.”

This is the second ingredient of friendship: friends take our part when others are trying to take us apart.

Jonathan was honest enough to disagree with David when he thought David was wrong — but when the moment came that David genuinely needed someone to stand between him and what was pursuing him, Jonathan was unambiguous. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?” He would have been the captain who picks you first even though he knows his six-year-old sister could outplay you blindfolded on a pogo stick. A friend not only defends your reputation. They become involved with your problem.

Reflection

Think honestly: when a friend is in genuine trouble, do you tend to step in or stay comfortable on the edges? What shapes that response?

Is there someone in your life right now who is being “taken apart” — by circumstances, by criticism, by their own shame — who needs someone to take their part?

Prayer

God, make me the kind of friend who gets involved, not just concerned. It’s easy to feel for people from a safe distance. It’s harder to become involved in their problem. Show me who needs someone to take their part right now. And give me the courage and love to actually do it, not just mean to. Amen.

Day 5: Bridges of Hope

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“May the Lord be with you… and when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies, may the covenant between Jonathan and his family always be kept.” — 1 Samuel 20:13–16 (NLT)

Devotion

Jonathan took David into the solitude of a field away from the busy activity of the city and any eavesdroppers. There they entered into a solemn covenant. Jonathan bound himself to faithfully communicate the state of affairs with Saul. Then he asked something remarkably small given what he was giving away: that when David became king, he would show kindness to Jonathan’s family.

He was in possession of all the rights of the throne. He relinquished them all and threw himself on the mercy of the one who possessed nothing — conferring on David the future throne of Israel, where David would possess royal powers and bestow royal grace. Jonathan could not see how it was all going to come out. He only knew that David would survive and he probably would not. And yet, this did not keep Jonathan from working for the good of his friend.

A hospital chaplain once walked into a room on the 17th floor of Princess Margaret Hospital to visit a patient named Henry. Henry was furious — cursing, yelling, abusing everyone in earshot. The chaplain stayed anyway. After Henry had exhausted every curse he knew and lay like a beached whale on the bed, the chaplain moved in. Meeting after meeting followed. In the end, leukemia took Henry’s body. But before that happened, Jesus came into his life and took his soul. The chaplain’s stretch — to be a friend to a person who was desperate for a future when he couldn’t see one — saved him both in this life and the life to come.

This is the third ingredient: friends build bridges of hope even when there’s nothing in it for themselves.

Reflection

Is there a friendship in your life where you’ve been keeping a quiet tally of what you’ve given versus what you’ve received? What would it look like to release that ledger?

What is one thing you could do for someone this week that has no personal benefit to you?

Prayer

Lord, give me Jonathan’s heart — the kind that gives without calculating the return. Where I’ve been keeping score, help me close the ledger. Where I’ve been waiting for friendship to be convenient, challenge me to show up anyway. Show me someone who needs a bridge built toward hope. And let me be willing to build it even if I never see what grows on the other side. Amen.

Day 6: The Sanctuary of Honest Friendship

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“‘Come,’ Jonathan said, ‘let’s go out into the field.’ So they went out there together.” — 1 Samuel 20:11 (NLT)

Devotion

Jonathan took David to a safe, unhurried space where they could both speak openly and honestly. These were friends who care enough to be genuinely available, who listen without rushing to the solution, and who can be both honest and safe.

What is it about discouragement that strips our lives of joy and fruitfulness? One reason is simply this: we don’t have a refuge. We don’t have a haven, a safe space, a sanctuary. Jonathan held the space long enough for David to pour out his fear, and then he spoke into it with peace and loyalty.

This kind of friendship requires slowing down enough to be genuinely present. Not half-there while checking a phone. Not mentally preparing our response while someone is still speaking. Not secretly relieved when the conversation ends.

True availability is a gift given with your full attention — and it is one of the rarest, most powerful things you can offer. The ear you lend to someone’s fear is often worth more than any advice you give afterward.

Reflection

Are you genuinely available to the people you love, or are you present in proximity but absent in attention?

Who in your life needs the kind of haven Jonathan created?

What is one thing you could change this week about how you show up in conversation with the people who matter most to you?

Prayer

Lord, make me a safe place for the people in my life. Remind me to be fully present, understanding, and slow to speak. Let the people I love know they can pour their fear into me and find someone who will stay. Amen.

Day 7: Greater Love Has No One Than This

General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •

Purpose In Your Friendships

“I no longer call you servants… I have called you friends… Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:13, 15 (NIV)

Devotion

The closing scene of 1 Samuel 20 is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Two friends embracing, weeping, vowing their enduring friendship. “Go in peace,” Jonathan says, “for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord.” And then David left and went back. Jonathan returned to face a court hostile to his dearest friend. In a little while, Jonathan would die on the moors of Mount Gilboa alongside his hopeless father. And David would return to the path of suffering.

But with all of his heart, the preacher believed this: the heartaches must have been easier to bear for the future king of Israel, knowing that Jonathan lay in bed at night carrying David, his loyal friend, in his heart.

David was saved through Jonathan’s sacrificial friendship. In the same way, you and I can only be saved through Jesus’ sacrificial friendship. Jonathan remained absolutely faithful to David — which cost him the throne. And faithful to his father — which cost him his life. Jesus looked down from the cross at people laughing and accusing and sneering, and He stayed fastened there in the greatest act of friendship this world has ever seen. His arms weren’t just open wide. They were nailed open. For you.

If you are a believer, you are saved by that friendship. And that friendship should compel you to be a friend as genuine as Jonathan was. We don’t need Facebook friends. We need genuine biblical friends. Friends who speak peace. Friends who take our part. Friends who build bridges of hope when there’s nothing in it for themselves.

Be that kind of friend. We need it in here. Let’s go be the church out there.

Reflection

Looking back over this week, where have you been most challenged to be the friend rather than to evaluate the friendship?

Which of the three ingredients — speaking peace, taking someone’s part, building bridges of hope — do you most need to grow in? What would that look like practically?

How does knowing that Jesus calls you friend change how you move through your relationships this week?

Prayer

Jesus, You called me friend. Not when I had earned it. Not when I was easy to love. You showed me what friendship looks like at its deepest, all the way to the cross. Let that love be the source I draw from in every friendship I carry. Make me someone who speaks peace, takes parts, and builds bridges even when it costs me something real. Others need to see You in me. I want to be that kind of friend. Amen.