THE RACE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD (3)

<<< HOW WRONG ASSOCIATIONS PLUCK SOME AWAY

TEXT: 2 Samuel 13:1-14

Yesterday we saw how Gehazi lost out on God’s plan, purpose and power because he became distracted. The love for money took the place of purpose. In the end, he had the money, but he lost his purpose. He was a victim of substitution; the devil gave him money and took his divine destiny.

Many people have become ensnared by the same strategy that worked against Gehazi. Some are “busy” making plenty money and have forgotten about God’s purpose and calling. Others have risen to great heights in career such that heeding God’s (original) plans for their lives appears to them as “coming low”.

Today, we consider yet another way some are pulled out of the race – WRONG ASSOCIATION.

Association in life not only determines acceleration, it also determines how well a man will end.

“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20).

Wrong association is a spiritual weight that ultimately becomes so burdensome that the race is distorted. It makes the man so vulnerable to wrong counsels, and where counsel is wrong, decisions may not be right.

Wrong association promotes iniquity and as the atmosphere of iniquity builds up, grace exits. The day Amnon raped her sister was not the day he slept with her physically, but that day he accepted the counsel of a wrong friend called Jonadab (2 Samuel 13:3-14).

You must be careful who you attach yourself to. You must screen whose counsel you listen to. You must separate yourself from every wrong relationship whether friendship or courtship. Any relationship that relegates fellowship and promotes iniquity is a setup; you should flee!

Friend, is there any wrong relationship or association you have been managing, trying to work out when it is obvious God is working against it? It is time to let go, let God and return to the race. May you receive that grace this moment in Jesus’ name.