Jesus, help me be able to tell when a casual friend is ready to join me in a personal friendship. As they start responding positively to my non-threatening, personal questions, help me know what to do next. I thank You for helping some to gradually start trusting me; thank You for helping them start to believe I sincerely care about them. Thank You for helping me become someone they feel they can trust with important, personal, sensitive, even embarrassing things.

Jesus, once a casual friend starts becoming a personal friend, and I am being allowed to increase the intensity of my personal questions, help me ask the right questions. If You want me to start asking them how things are going in their life, or, how a certain issue turned out, or, is there anything they would like me to pray for them about, let me ask that. But, if You want me to ask any other personal question, let me ask ones that give them an OPPORTUNITY to show me how open and honest they are willing to be.

Jesus, if a casual friend starts sharing more intimate, personal issues and I can see they trust me, help me see if they will allow me to pray for them. If the setting will allow it, help me pray for them right where we are. If not, help me just let them know I will BE praying for them. Let me always be careful that I don’t go to any private setting where their and my integrity is jeopardized.

Jesus, teach me that some people are VERY open to advice and may want my opinion on what I think they should do. Teach me that if I haven’t had a chance to test the friendship by asking more intense personal questions, then I will need to avoid giving that advice. Make it clear to me that my story is by far the better way of answering people’s questions. Help me see that if I give advice, then it is open for debate, it looks like it is just my personal opinion, and, it can be one of many things they are considering. But, if I tell them what You have done for me, then they can’t argue with me about it.

Jesus, teach me that there are people who spend a lot of time simply collecting advice from all kinds of people. They are just looking for those who will agree with them and support them in decisions they have ALL READY made. Once they find out I don’t agree with them, they will move on to other people who will give them additional support. But, by me just giving them my story, they will have information that has proven to work; that causes them to reconsider their decisions.

Jesus, if I keep avoiding giving casual friends and personal friends advice and keep asking questions, help me see that I will be better qualified to offer personal stories that are more relevant to their situation. Even if their mind is already made up because they don’t see any other way of getting the happiness or solutions they are seeking, You can help me show them a better way. Help me see that if my questions help me find out what their deeper motives are, my story will be able show them a better way. That can take them from being a person with their mind made up, to a person who is then considering other options.

Jesus, teach me that during the personal friendship level, I am asking questions JUST TO SEE if You have prepared their heart for sharing and how much and how deep they willing to go in that sharing. Help my questions to ALWAYS be for the purpose of looking for what You have done in their life up to that point. Help me realize that You are answering my prayers; You are helping them get to the place where they want His help. If they aren’t willing to go very deep into their issues or I run out of time to talk about them, then help me let them know I am available to talk to them about these things at a later time. Help me make time for them!

Jesus, if they are willing, let us start making appointments to get together so I can listen to more about their concerns and issues. Show me that they need time so I can let them feel my non-threatening attitude about what they are going through. Help me see that if I have more time, I can let them experience my relaxed relationship with them. I will be able to demonstrate the fact that I won’t push them; then help me do this by empowering me to back off of anything they avoid or resist.

Jesus, there are people that I can make arrangements to spend more time with. They want me to have more time to listen to their problems, ask them questions that lead them into sharing deeper information, and ask questions that help me see if they are ready to move into a sincere friendship. Teach me that the more a person demonstrates that they are ready to spend more time with me, and the more they are willing to move to the next level, the more time I will need to spend with them; work with my schedule so I can do that.

Jesus, teach me that in order for me to take a personal friendship, where they are willing to open up and tell me what their problems are, to a sincere friendship, where they show a willingness to let me share my story with them, I need to give them a very short version of my story. Let this be a test to see how receptive they are to helpful information. Teach me how to watch to see how interested they are in what I have to say. Let me read the signs in their face, body movements, and responses to the information.

Jesus, let me give them a quick presentation where I just share with them a little taste of what You have done for me; show me how this can tell me a lot about their sincerity. Help me tell a part of my story that is in the area of their concerns; then let me use it as a test to see if they are ready to start listening to me. Let it be a process where I can see if I can gain their interest in hearing more.

Jesus, if a personal friend is moving into a sincere friend, help me tell them things that create a desire to keep hearing and learning more. Help it not be a story about my life that shows the solution; let it be a part of the story that creates interest in finding out more. Let it also be an attempt to see if they can gain a certain amount of confidence in my experiences with You. Show me that they may be listening; but, they may be listening with reservations. They believe I am trustworthy and sincere; but, they may not see that I qualify to help them. I have to not only be a trustworthy person, my information must be PROVEN to be trustworthy. Help me establish that fact through the proof of Your Word.