Choose Your Influence ~ Pastor William Kumuyi | DCLM Daily Manna 21/2/2015

TOPIC: Choose Your Influence

DATE: Saturday, February 21, 2015  

TEXT: GALATIANS 4:8-23

Key Verse: “But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you” (Galatians 4:18).

God has created us to interact with other people and not to live in isolation. As a result, we are greatly influenced by the people we interact and relate with. In the formative stages of our lives, we hardly had any choice about the kind of influence we should have. But as we grew older, we accepted responsibility for whatever and whoever we allowed to exert influence on us.

The Apostle Paul in our text was worried about the kind of influence the Galatian believers were allowing in their lives, particularly as it affected their faith in the gospel. He wondered why they allowed the influence of the Judaizers to make them to mix-up their faith in Christ with the observance of the mosaic laws as necessary for salvation. These teachings were weakening the faith of believers whom Paul had laboured so much to bring to the gospel. They were being brought again into the bondage of the law which they had not been able to keep in all their generations. Paul blamed these believers for opening up themselves to such negative influences.

Our spiritual growth and health will be largely affected by the types of influences we allow in our lives. Many people have had unstable and stagnant Christian lives because of who they interact and relate with. If you care about your spiritual life, then you will be careful as to the kind of people you associate with. To live a victorious life and grow consistently, be sure you have the right kind of influence.

Once we have been brought into the faith like new born babes, our personal growth and spiritual welfare become our sacred responsibilities. If we fail to do the right things about this, it is certain that we can lose our liberty and slip back into Satan’s captivity. So, we must guard against being lured back into bondage by those who seek to influence us.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JUDGES 11 - 13

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Be on the lookout for poachers on your soul.