The Greatest Danger to Winners

“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” 1 Corinthians 15:33

In Genesis 49, Jacob prophesied to his son Gad that although he would stumble, he would triumph in the end. Later in Numbers 2, Gad started camping out in the wilderness with his brother Reuben’s tribe. He remained with this tribe for 40 years. The prophecy Reuben received from his father (the same day he spoke over Gad) was, “Reuben, you’re my firstborn. My might and the beginning of my strength…but you are unstable as water.” He told Reuben that he was loaded with incredible potential but was unstable like water and would not excel because of this instability. Because Gad started being around this instability, his life was negatively affected. 

The greatest danger to winners is hanging out and associating with the wrong people. When it came time for Israel to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land, two tribes stayed on the other side of the river and never entered it—the tribes of Reuben and Gad.

Reuben said, “I like it here. Let’s settle here. It’s not God’s best, but it’s good enough.” And Gad, because of his tight association with Reuben, settled as well. The greatest danger to a winner is who you associate with because negative people will make you settle for less. Dream thieves will take away what God has called you to accomplish because they’ll convince you that you can’t do it. Who you associate with is critical.  

God wants you to be a winner, but you are not going to go to the levels that God wants to take you to unless you quit hanging around the wrong people. Suppose you’re struggling with drugs, quit hanging around drug addicts. If you have an alcohol problem, quit hanging around a bunch of drinkers. If you are a negaholic, you don’t need to be around other negative people. It brings the worst out of you. Stay away from unstable people. Get laser-focused. Get a made-up mind. God has a high calling for you. You were born to win. You can’t play around with losers.

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