Table of Contents
Your destiny is too big to get there on your own. And God has already arranged certain people to speak faith into you. e.g. Abram and Lot(Genesis 12:5) to inspire, challenge you, to help you grow and accomplish your dreams. But the reason some people never reach their highest potential is because they never get away from the wrong people who are not going where God is taking you.(Psalm 1:1) .
You will move in the direction of the people that you associate with, so it is important to associate with people that are better than yourself. make some good friends.You run around with losers; you will end up a loser. unknowingly you will pick up their way, habits, attitude about life, if you’re around negative people all the time, you will become negative.
If there are a lot of negative people in your life, don’t look at them. Look at what u are doing to attract them. What’s the difference between a gazelle and a lion? I know that they’re made to run, but what’s the difference? And what I discovered is that the gazelle is running from something.
So as long as the lion is chasing the gazelle, the gazelle is running. But as soon as the lion stops chasing the gazelle, it stops. And that’s what most do, you will run, you’ll do what you’re supposed to do.
As Long as you’re getting pushed and always you get motivated, as long as somebody is encouraging you, if somebody is giving you a reward, you’re moving. But as soon as that stops, you stop.e.g.in the office we are behaved than at Home surrounding yourself with the people who push you to think differently, to do the uncomfortable things, to grow, to go outside your comfort zone.
But if u surround yourself with nine losers and you’ll soon be the 10th. Getting comfortable is the worst thing you can do if you want to achieve anything of significance in life. comfort zones are dying zones.Who do you want to be in the world? not what do you want to do, or achieve? What is the kind of person when they’re reading your eulogy? Do you know the answer to that question? Philippians 2:2
I want to be around people that can encourage, empower me, people that I you can learn from. Can contribute to your growth. with people who think like you, people who dream like you, people who want more of like people that are stretching and searching and seeking some higher ground in life. Set your life on fire.
So, connect with people that understand your destiny, that can call forth your seeds of greatness, not people that are always pushing you down, telling you what you can’t become, don’t approval, no matter how good you do. Life is too short to drag people along. some of you, the only thing that’s holding you back is your inner circle, those closest to you, but they’re not really for you. (Dead weight).
You’re constantly having to persuade them that you’re OK and convince them to get on board. You’re spending all your time and energy on someone that doesn’t understand your destiny.
You should accept the fact that this is a new season and where God is taking you? They aren’t going to be able to come. ur attitude is, you think I’m too much of this are not enough of that. And that’s fine. You have a right to your opinion. I respect that. But I also know I don’t need your approval. I have almighty God’s approval, and he’s the only one that really matters. Little by little, I begin to pull away.
Ask yourself how expensive is your time? Is it too cheap that losers hang around you?
How many people in your immediate environment, are on the same mission? If you look at your last five text messages, are those people feeding your flames or downing your fire? Put your phone down for just a second and look around. Look to the people around you. Are those people throwing logs on your fire or they putting it off? The people you spend time with are going to make or break your dreams. Everybody don’t deserve to be around you.
I don’t care what their title or role is in my life remove them from being friends even if family members. This can make them change their minds to exploring new horizons. set goals that will make you stretch towards others ahead.
I found some people you have to love from a distance. They’re still my friends, but they’re not in my inner circle. Matthew 7:6 says, don’t cast your pearl(gift)among Swine., your personality. It’s who you are when you get around true friends, people that really believe in you. They won’t be jealous of your gifts. They won’t constantly question who you are.
They won’t try to talk you out of your dreams. They’ll help you polish, develop, , grow your pearl. In other words, they’ll give you ideas. connect you with people they know. They’ll help push you further along. You shouldn’t stay around people that don’t value your gifts and appreciate what you have to offer.
Those closest to you should be people that celebrate who you are, are happy when you succeed, not someone that’s always trying to outperform you, someone that’s quickly pointing out everything you’re doing wrong. if that’s not who’s in your inner circle, you need to start to pull away. You can still be friends from a distance, but your time is too valuable to spend it with people that are not 100 percent for you.
It’s not the quantity of friends that’s important, it’s the quality of friends. When you surround yourself with people who judge you, attack you, criticize you.It hits you at spiritual level. And it does affect you. 1 Corinthians 15:44 If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
I would rather have two good friends that I know are for me 100 % then to have 50 friends that are only for me 80% in Luke 8:49-55
Who you surround yourself with is the key to your success? you may not have an option. e.g. your family just limit ur exposure. If you listen to Radio or watch TV or read books from great teachers on a daily basis, u are spending time with them and they are influencing your life as well.
Jesus would not let anyone go with him except Peter, James and John. That was his inner circle. Those other believers, they loved the Lord. Why was that? Jesus knew when he got to the room, he needed people that wouldn’t question who he was, Are you sure you’re the son of God? Have you ever done this before? What if it doesn’t work? Do you have a backup plan? No.
When you’re in the heat of the battle, when you’re in a situation where you need God’s favor, you need divine healing, you need a legal situation to turn around. You can’t afford to have people in your inner circle that are saying things like, do you really think you’re going to get well,
I’m not going to tell you ten reasons why you can’t do it. My declaration is you are well able see, you need people that will come into agreement with you and release their faith, not people that will tell you what you can’t do and release their doubt. Jesus got to the room where the little girl was and everyone was so distraught.
Notice Jesus asked them to leave. He showed them the door. His attitude was, I don’t need your doubt. I don’t need you telling me what I can’t do. You may be around people today that are constantly pulling you down, telling you what you can’t become. While you’ll never be successful, understand it’s scriptural to show them the door.
Jesus could have healed her in front of the crowd with them laughing, mocking, jeering at him. He’s the son of God. But I believe Jesus wanted to illustrate this principle. Who you have in your inner circle is extremely important. if he was that concerned about his inner circle, surely you and I should be that concerned about our own. Matthew 26:36-37
You need to evaluate who’s on your team, who’s speaking into your life, who are you given your time and energy to? In other words, who you eat lunch with every day at the office, who you’re talking to on the phone so much, are they building up or tearing you down? Are they inspiring you to go further? Are they telling you what you can’t do? Are they modelling excellence, integrity, generosity, godliness, or are they lazy compromisers not going any place in life? No. Don’t spend your time with people that don’t make you better.
We didn’t realize how much one person in our inner circle, not totally on board could affect the rest of the team. Judas Some of you don’t realize how much that one negative influence is holding you back. You don’t know how much more you would accomplish, grow, how much more you’d enjoy life if you just make necessary changes.
What if I hurt their feelings? What if they keep you from accomplishing your dreams? A lot of times we think I know this person is not a good influence. I know they’re keeping me from growing. But if I make a change, I may not have any friends. I may be lonely. And yes, you may be lonely for a season, but you never give up something for God that he doesn’t give you something back better in return.If you’ll make the change, God will not only give you new friends, he’ll give you better friends.
As long as you allow it, they will drain the energy out of you, dump their problems,Now they’re relying on you as a crutch. They don’t have to take responsibility for their behavior. They don’t have to learn to encourage themselves. They know you’ll always come running, you’ll bail them out, you cheer them up. What they’re really doing is manipulating and controlling you. But friends, you have a destiny to fulfill. You need to surround yourself with people that are not constantly taking something from you, but with people that are putting something into you.
Proverbs, 27:17, says As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. Let me ask you, are your friends making you stronger? Are they challenging you to become a better parent, spouse, giver, leader, person?
You cannot soar with the Eagles as long as you’re hanging out with the ducks. There may be some toxic relationships. that, make you negative, make you complain. you cannot help a person that will not separate themselves from that toxic relationship.
Luke 1:39-42
39Soon afterward Mary got ready and hurried off to a town in the hill country of Judea. 40She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby moved within her. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and said in a loud voice, “You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43Why should this great thing happen to me, that my Lord’s mother comes to visit me? 44For as soon as I heard your greeting, the baby within me jumped with gladness. 45How happy you are to believe that the Lord’s message to you will come true!”
God has designed people to come into your life that will make your baby leap. People that will speak life into your dreams, people that will let you know those promises will come to pass.
Mary was a divine connection. She was sent there, to bring hope, faith, vision into Elizabeth’s life. She didn’t even have to say anything profound. She just said hello. And the promise came to life.And when you get around the right people, they can simply say good morning and your baby will sleep. If you keep answering the door and your baby never leaves, then you’re answering the door for the wrong people. Don’t answer the door. When a gossip knocks, they’re not gonna make your baby leap. Don’t answer the door. When a complainer stops by to tell you how bad life is and how you’re never going to make it, they’re not going make your baby leap.
Mary was pregnant with Jesus, the son of God. Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. When the promise in Mary connected with the promise in Elizabeth, it was like an explosion of faith. When you get around the right people, when you connect with people that have big dreams, then the promise in you is going to connect with the promise in them. You’re going to see God show up and do something supernatural in both of your lives. Like Elizabeth, many of you have a promise on the inside.
You know, God has spoken to you, but it’s been a long time. You haven’t seen anything happening., did I hear God right? I believe God sent me today to be one of your memories. That situation that you think is over, God is saying is still going to come to pass. The promise is in in you. It’s alive and well. You may not see anything happening. You may feel like you didn’t hear God. Right. But God is still on the throne right now. He’s arranging things in your favor.
Pastor Nathaniel
