Do not be misled, bad company corrupts good character.

 

Do not be misled, bad company corrupts good character.

 

1 Corinthians 15:33 – Do not be misled, bad company corrupts good character.

 

Come back to your senses as you ought and stop sinning. This is an add on to yesterday when I was writing about good and bad fruit. Misery loves company.

 

Our Heavenly Father has cautioned us to be careful, to pray continuously or we will be deceived.

 

It is very important to surround ourselves with people who are filled with love.

 

People who are hurting inside have a tendency to grasp on to those who are also hurting inside. That way they can share their misery and pain and the other person will understand them and show compassion and sympathy.

 

On the one hand this is good when two people are able to open up and share their lives. Each is typically a good listener and both share their tales of woe, self-pity or sorrow. They grumble, mourn, complain and vent.

 

However on the other hand they do not do anything positive to bring themselves out of their pain.

 

They would rather complain than to grow from the experience. It is much easier to do nothing about your situation and find others who will listen sympathetically.

 

Change is difficult for most people, especially when it requires a paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is a radical change of behavior which is usually 180 degrees different than the previous behavior. An example of this would be smoking to not smoking, drinking to not drinking, non-religious beliefs to religious beliefs. Each of these requires an individual to think, act and behave differently than they were before.

 

It is much easier to talk about not drinking, not smoking, desiring to go to church than it is to actually take the steps to change from one pattern of behavior to another.

When one finds themselves without the spirit of the Lord dwelling within them the naturally gravitate to others who think and do likewise. This is why Paul said bad company corrupts good character. You see Satan is looking for a tiny opening to come in and destroy an individual. He preys on people 24 hours a day 7 days a week and patiently waits for an opportunity to destroy good character.

 

When people stop praying, stop reading the scriptures, start depending on the world for their acceptance, affirmation, acknowledgement, etc., they gradually dismiss the counsel of the spirit for the counsel of other men or women. When these people are counseling one another apart from what the Lord has to teach, only pain, misery and suffering, fear, uncertainty, doubt – all seeds of Satan can enter in.

 

When a person who loves the Lord stops spending time with him, it is only a matter of time before Satan has entered into this person. It is a fact; the Lord does not dwell in the unholy temples. We are the temple of the Lord. We house the Lord's spirit.

 

Stop praying, reading the scriptures and see what happens. Stop hanging around people who likewise have stopped praying and reading the spirit and see where that takes you.

 

Where the Lord is not present, you have sin and darkness, pain, misery and suffering.

 

That is why the Lord has told us to pray continuously to find joy in everything.

 

We need to walk among the non-believers, but we must continue to follow the commands of the Lord. It is not good enough to just believe in God and Jesus Christ our Lord and savior. We are told by Heavenly Father to put our feet where our mouth is, let our actions do the talking. It is one thing to profess knowledge of the Lord; it is another thing to live the lifestyle of a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

 

Take a look at those you spend time with. What kinds of activities do you do together, what types of things do you talk about, are your conversations filled with praise of our Lord and savior, are they positive, optimistic, filled with love, are you speaking about acts of service, your faith. Or are you complaining, consoling, grumbling, moaning, arguing, criticizing, negative, pessimistic, and critical.

Are your conversations filled with solutions to problems, action plans, passion about the future or are they negative, filled with tales of woe, grief and sorrow?

 

You be the judge, anything good positive, lovely, optimistic, service oriented comes from our Heavenly Father, everything else comes from Satan.

 

Do your friends uplift you, encourage you, push you to do and be better or are they sounding boards sharing in your tales of pain, misery and sorrow.

 

Remember the Lord gave us free will to choose how we will act and feel.

 

Remember to pray continuously, live your life for Christ, choose carefully those friends that love the Lord and follow his commandments.

 

Don't share your tales of woe with anyone but the Lord, don’t let others share their tales of woe with you, it will only bring you down. I have seen it time and time again. People stop coming to the Lord for love and support and seek guidance and counsel from other men who don’t have a good relationship with the Lord. What can come out of that type of relationship?

 

More pain, more misery, more uncertainty, more fear, more doubt, more suffering, more confusion. Nothing good comes from sharing your tales of woe with men who don’t know, love, serve and follow the commands of the Lord. Satan loves it when we rely on man, rather than the Lord. He is into destroying relationships, families, friendships and will wait patiently for even the strongest believer in Jesus Christ to have a moment of weakness. That is all it takes for him to wedge himself into your life. Once you let him in a little, he will keep trying to take over more and more of your life until you are in total misery, pain and suffering. At the point you have probably stopped praying and reading the scriptures. Don’t let this happen, be on guard, he is waiting to attack. His mission is to destroy that which the Lord has made.

 

Remember to pray continuously, read your scriptures, follow and obey the commands of the Lord and stay away from relationships that are not positive, optimistic and full of ways to solve problems, not live with them and moan, complain and grumble.

 

Thank you Lord for my life. I love you Lord. Be with me every minute of every day Lord, I commit to seeking you always, to put my trust in you and I will come to you with my tales of woe. Thank you for listening and thank you for answering my prayers. Amen.