Questions of Influence

Whenever I start to lose sight of my dreams or let the negative people in my life affect me I read this article. I hope it blesses you as much as it has me. plk


Kingdom Quotes: A Weekly Teaching by Dr. Myles Munroe - BFMI
originally published March 6th, 2004


Questions of Influence

The law of association states that you become like those with whom you spend time. We often underestimate others’ influence in our lives. There are two words that most accurately describe influence: powerful and subtle. Often, you don’t know you’re being influenced until it is too late. Whether you realize it or not,however, the influence of those you spend time with has a powerful effect on how you will end up in life, on whether you will succeed or fail.

What we call peer pressure is simply this: people with whom we associate exercising their influence on us, trying to direct our lives in the way they want them to go. We should stop telling young people that they alone have peer pressure. Adults have it too. They find it hard to disregard other people’s opinions. There are people who are sixty, seventy, and eighty years old who give in to peer pressure; almost everyone is affected by it.

You must be careful whom you allow to influence you because your vision will be either encouraged or destroyed by others. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are with you and those who are against you. I have learned that people have the potential to create your environment. Your environment then determines your mind-set, and your mind-set determines your future.

Therefore, you must choose your friends wisely, selecting those who are with you and not against you. You should generally choose friends who are going in the same direction you are and who want to obtain the same things you do, so you can reinforce one another. In light of this truth, I want you to ask yourself three questions.

First, “With whom am I spending time?” Who are your closest friends; who are the people you are confiding in?

Second, “What are those people doing to me?”

In other words, what do they have you listening to, reading, thinking, doing?

What do they have you settling for?

Most important, what is being around these people causing you to become?

For example, if you associate with people who spend more money than they make, the chances are high that you also will spend more than you make.

Third, ask yourself, “Is what other people are doing to me a good thing in relation to my vision?”

When you start telling people where you’re going to go and what you’re going to do, they may (even unconsciously) begin to say things to try to hinder your dream.

You need to ask and answer these three questions for yourself truthfully–and regularly– as you progress toward your vision.


Bahamas Faith Ministries International

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Where Are You Going…What’s Holding You Back?

By Dan Miller
48days.com

There is a season in every year when boat owners pull their boats out of the water and put them in dry dock. Certainly not what boats are known for, but a necessary process nonetheless. Over time, various forms of debris accumulate on the hull. Foreign particles and parasites attach themselves to the hull, hoping for a free ride, but creating increased resistance to the smooth flow of water and slowing down the boat itself.

We all experience this process of build-up, sometimes in ways that are slow and difficult to detect. Inaccurate beliefs, unhealthy assumptions, lack of pure faith, succumbing to criticisms and feeling defeat may cause us to slow down and limit our effectiveness. We may even become numb to our original values, dreams and passions. A job loss, financial pressure, low self-esteem and feeling stuck can literally stop us from moving forward.

“He who cannot endure the bad, will not live to see the good.” Jewish proverb

Immediately following a recent seminar on following your dreams I had a man approach me with a questioning look in his eyes. He explained that he had been a pharmacist for 17 years – and in that period of time had totally lost touch with his dreams. He is an example of what I call the “frog in the kettle” phenomenon. We know that if you drop a frog in hot water, he’ll jump back out immediately. But put that frog in lukewarm water, slowly turn up the heat, and he’ll cook to death without moving.

Maybe it’s time for you to strip the boat. Put yourself in dry dock and commit to removing all the debris that has accumulated on the hull of your life. Take a fresh look at where you are and where you are going. Hopefully you’ll uncover those old childlike dreams once again. The vulnerability of stripping down to the hull may feel threatening, but it’s not as threatening as continuing to drag along through life with the weight of unfulfilled dreams and the baggage of misdirected activity.

Business, relationship, financial and health failures often bring us to this point of weakness. And yet it is there that we have the freshest opportunities for new, invigorating growth. Embrace these times as opportunities for reflection, rest and meditation, confident that on the other side will be renewed strength.

"One of the final challenges for human beings is to get old with as much verve and gumption as possible." --Alison Judson Ryerson