I love to go to the bank and deposit money! This is a great feeling and a blessing to deposit or put money in to my account. Deposits are good as it relates to the bank but what about deposits as it relates to our lives? Whether you realize it or not people who are in your life are doing one or the other: making deposits or withdrawals. It’s usually not hard to tell which transaction is taking place, just examine how you feel as a result of your dealings with a particular person. Are you invigorated, empowered, inspired and ready to take on the world? Or are you drained, zapped of energy and find it taxing to be in this person’s life which proves daily to be an uphill battle? Are they adding or taking away? It really is that simple.
There’s an old adage that says: you are the company you keep. As a teenager I didn’t fully know what this meant, I always thought I was my own person so it shouldn’t matter who I hang with; I’m me and they were them. As an adult I’ve come to see that this is far from the truth. ‘You are the company you keep’ goes far beyond the surface of the actual cliché but it delves into spiritual territory. Who we let in our inner circles is a matter of life and death. Here’s why:
- What people speak into your life, matters. Proverbs 28:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”. Words matter. What you speak over yourself matters. What you let others speak over you matters. It is about the deposit. I heard the preacher say on this past Sunday, “Don’t be someone’s garbage can”. Watch your company because they can speak Death into your life, death into your situations, and death into your circumstances all of which can affect your future.
- The presence of people in your life, matters. Having the wrong people around you can erode your character over time. Their very presence can make the difference on whether you succeed or fail. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’." Other translations of this verse reads:
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Be not deceived, evil discourse corrupts pleasant minds.
Get the picture?
3. The wrong people having access to your vision, matters. The wrong people can be a hindrance to your goals and dreams, choking the very life out of you until you are immobilized and never accomplish that which you set out to do.
Beware of the:
Vision Assassins - the ones who shoot your vision down as soon as you share it with them or even get it off the ground.
Vision Abortionist – the ones who kill the vision before it’s even born.
(Sermon, Pastor Craig Oliver, Elizabeth Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA)
Who is transacting in your life? What transactions need to be voided? God is the “Manager on Duty” who can alter the transactions in your life; he can approve all voids. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), He makes all things new!
My Mom wrote me a letter a couple of years ago and I’ll end this post with it.
“Whenever you try to do anything for your future, Satan sees your success and he begins his attacks on you. WEED OUT the people in your life that are not going anywhere. They are your hindrance. Nowhere leads to Nowhere! WEED OUT all thoughts that do not please God. Ask God to give you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you (Psalms 51:10). THINK and BELIEVE THIS DAILY – THE ENEMY DOES NOT HAVE WIN OVER YOU. A retroactive blessing is on the way only if you do it God’s way.
Read Psalms 91 Daily
I hope this blessed you like it blessed me.