What Are You Surrounding Yourself With?

We become what we are with. Have you ever heard a phrase similar to that? It’s true. What you pour into your life is what will come out of your mouth and out of your heart. Your words and actions will show what you have been allowing into your heart and mind.

Are you watching TV every spare second you have? Is there a limit to what TV shows you will allow into your eyes and ears, or is nothing off limits to you? How much evil is pouring into you through the TV on a daily basis? What movies do you watch? Are there 18A movies that you watch consistently? When my children were young, I told them that I was not old enough to watch an 18A movie. I was joking, of course, but what I meant for them to catch was that 18A movies were not even an option for me. How would I get some of that material out of my mind once it was in? Best not to put it there in the first place.

Who are you hanging out with? Do you spend time with people who complain about their families and hate their spouses? Then you wonder why you begin to feel the same way about your family and spouse. What you have allowed into you begins to come out. Are you hanging out with people who try to speak with the most foul language and imagery that they can come up with? Then you wonder why your vocabulary has worsened significantly, and your conscience is bothered by the foul things you say. What you let in has begun to come out. Has pornography become a part of your life? I have never heard of a happy marriage where pornography has played a part in it. It can’t happen. The evil this brings into a marriage comes out and destroys.

In Bible times, God wanted Abraham to follow His ways, but Abraham’s relatives were moon worshipers. God needed Abraham to get away from the evil influence of his family. While Abraham was living in Haran with his relatives, God told him in Genesis 12:1-3, “Go for yourself (for your own advantage) away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you (with abundant increase of favors) and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing (dispensing good to others). And I will bless those who bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you) and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed (and by you they will bless themselves).”

So now God has told Abraham to give up his home and his family and everything that is familiar to him. He is to move to a strange land. No doubt Abraham had some sleepless nights over this one, but he did the greatest thing he could. He obeyed God, and because he obeyed, God could be close to him and speak to him and guide his life into the rich Blessing He had prepared for him.

Abraham was not perfect, however, just as none of us are. Even though he was to leave his family behind, he took his nephew, Lot, with him. This did cause Abraham grief as time went on, but then disobedience to God always does.

Because Abraham obeyed God and got away from the evil influences in his life, his life was blessed abundantly. Genesis 13:2 tells us, “Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.”

If you only fill your heart and mind day after day with ungodly things, you will become dull to God’s way. The evil becomes the norm, and you become used to it. It doesn’t ever bother you anymore, but now the voice of God has also become dull. You aren’t in tune to God’s voice anymore, and He can’t help you and direct you and save you from disaster when your hearing has become too dull to notice His voice.

You also become so weak spiritually that the devil can do anything he wants with you. If you have no food coming into your body day after day, you become extremely physically weak. If you are not being fed spiritually day after day, you cannot ward off any of the devil’s attacks. I encourage you to feed yourself spiritually every day. Download some free audio onto your phone or iPod from Kenneth or Gloria Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Keith Moore, or Bill Winston, to name a few. Listen to one teaching session from them every day. Read a chapter out of your Bible every day. Get ahold of Barbara Billett’s book, “Praying with Fire”, or Joyce Meyer’s book, “The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word”, and speak God’s Word over yourself, your family, and your circumstances every day. Talk to God every day, and give Him a chance to speak to you. Listen for His still, small voice.

Pour good into your life, and you will find that good begins to flow out of you. Luke 6:45 says, “The upright (honourable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure (stored) in his heart produces what is upright (honourable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.” Matthew 15:18-20 says, “But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles (him). For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputing and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech. These are what make a man unclean and defile (him)…” Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”

Protect and guard what you allow into your heart and mind. Put good into your life, and good will come out.