We are called to be set apart, holy, marked!  Our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions should reflect our heavenly citizenship rather than being entrenched in this world.  Where is your focus?

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[D]ear brothers and sisters, you are now made holy, and each of you is invited to the feast of your heavenly calling. So fasten your thoughts fully onto Jesus, whom we embrace as our Apostle and King-Priest. (Heb 3:1 TPT emphasis is mine)

I sat yesterday considering those that are my family and those I do life with.  I thought about where I invest my time, my talents and my treasures.  And I thought about how my life is impacted by those I surround myself with.

I am only as good as the company I keep.  Consider matters of sin and addiction.  I will either be sharpened or dulled by the company I keep.  Who are you keeping company with?  Who is helping shape and define your faith journey?

If I surround myself with non-believers and those who are less-than kingdom-minded and assume that simply because I call Jesus Lord – that I won’t be led astray, I am walking naively.  We need only look at believers who have aligned with issues that seem contrary to the heart of God and how far left many have gone in their political views.  Look at their teachers, leaders and speakers.  Look at their fellowship.  Who we keep company with matters!  While there are lone rangers maligned in their beliefs, more often than not, it is a pack that gravitates in that direction or a particular voice, a particular narrative, or a particular bent.

So search your hearts every day, my brothers and sisters, and make sure that none of you has evil or unbelief hiding within you. For it will lead you astray, and make you unresponsive to the living God. This is the time to encourage each other to never be stubborn or hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. For we are mingled with the Messiah, if we will continue unshaken in this confident assurance from the beginning until the end. (Heb 3:12-14 TPT)

We must practice discernment when we find fear or unbelief creep into our thoughts.  We must practice discernment with who and what we allow to speak into our lives; who do we give authority to?  For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.  What are you filling your heart and mind with today?

Invite the Holy Spirit to walk with you today.  Ask the Lord to search you and see if there is any offensive way in you (Ps 139).  Ask Him to convict you and lead you in the way everlasting.  Ask Him to lead and guide your interactions and relationships.  Ask Him to grow you in discernment that you might be wise in your investments and interactions.

“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!  John 14:16-17 MSG

If you are struggling with doubt or unbelief, prayerfully consider WHO you will seek out for counsel. Don’t assume that the right person to go is the one with whom you feel most aligned.  We EACH can surround ourselves with only those who “look like us” – unity is a powerful thing!  But don’t miss including those in your circle who will challenge you, call you out and sharpen you!  As much as you need those who encourage you, you just as much need those who help refine, purify and sharpen who you are. Consider where you grow the most – it is in the struggle, not in the ease.

Embrace the community and “family” the Lord places you in.  Do not run from hard relationships.  Ask what the Lord wants to teach you in the now?  More often than not, I have found that those hard relationships are where I grow the most, where I learn to use my voice, and where I find confidence to go out and then embark on that thing I never imagined I could possibly do.

Beyond Relationships

Our relationships are not the only thing we need to pay attention to.

Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach you, and pay attention to all that I have to say. Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep into your spirit. Then, as you unwrap my words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being.

So above all, guard the affections of your heart,  for they affect all that you are.

Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.

Avoid dishonest speech and pretentious words.

Be free from using perverse words no matter what!

Set your gaze on the path before you.

With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions.

Watch where you’re going!

Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you.

Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness.  (Prv 4:20-27 TPT emphasis mine)

Follow the steps below to take every thought captive (2 Cor 10:5) and guard your heart:

• Meditate on His Word day and night (Ps 1:2).
• Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Him (2 Cor 10:5); this can best be accomplished when we are filling our minds with His Word. Listen to it, read it, discuss it.
• Watch your words. The God of the Universe SPOKE the world into being. We are created in HIS image and in that same vein, our words carry the power of life and death (Prv 18:21).  Speak words that ALIGN with Him and His Kingdom!
• Check in with Him and ask if there are any places that are keeping you from living fully surrendered to Him (Ps 139:23-24).
• Allow His Word to change, refine, renew and transform you that we might live a life worthy of the Lord who calls us into His Kingdom and glory (1 Thes 2:12).
• Do not conform to the world but live be transformed into one who lives for our King.

Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].  (Rom 12:1-2 AMP)

• Consider the company you keep and surround yourself with those who sharpen, encourage, and edify you.
• Watch what you allow into you heart and mind. Consider what you watch, what you read and what/who you listen to.
• Worship! Worship alone the One who is worthy of all of our praise!

We have been marked!  We are HIS.  The precious people we surround ourselves with, the ones we interact with in public and on a daily basis, those who see us out and about in our neighborhoods – they should all see something different about those of us who KNOW our citizenship is not of this world!

How are you setting yourself so that you are fully abiding and fully surrendered to Him today?

Suni Piper is a writer and passionate intercessor for the nation and for the Church. She is determined and surrendered to be a voice of truth and encouragement to the Body of believers. Follow Suni at her website ASurrenderedLife.com. (Photo Credit: Unsplash.)