“And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses”. 1 Kings 22:4 KJV.
It is a common saying that birds of the same feather flock together. Whoever you associate with will affect your behavior. This is why the bible enjoins us to watch our association. In our memory verse, in a response to an enquiry by Ahab as to whether Jehoshaphat would follow him to war in 1 Kings 22:4 KJV “And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art , my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses”.
Whoever you associate with will influence your behavior and so you need to be conscious of this so that you make deliberate effort to influence any unbeliever you associate with and bring them to Christ. Otherwise you should be wary of such association. In our passage, the King of Judah influenced the king of Israel to enquire from a man of God but none of them took the advice. It is not enough to know the word of God, it is more important to obey.
In our environment today, we have many associations some of which are with unbelievers. The question is what do we do in such situations? Firstly, ensure you seek the face of God on all matters concerning you and your associate; then obey the word and advise your associate to obey. If the associate is a senior partner and is unwilling to abide by the word of God, you can leave the association but where it’s impracticable for you to leave, then you need to find out God’s plan for your being in that relationship. In all situations, you need to constantly pray for that associate that God will touch him/ her so that he/she would accept Jesus as his/her Lord remembering the word of God that says in 2 Corinthians 6:14 KJV. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
Prayer: Father, take away from me whatever circumstance that will make me consider denying you.
Bro, Biodun Oyapero