Blessed by Association

About this book

"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." Proverbs 13:20 There is a law at work in the kingdom of God as dependable as sowing and reaping. Tina Suwa calls it the law of association: what a person carries, they transfer. Walk with the wise and wisdom rubs off on you. Walk with a fool and destruction rubs off on you. You come under blessing or under curse depending on who you keep close. Most believers have never examined their friendships in that light. We choose our company by convenience, by tribe, by who is available on a Saturday, and then wonder why our lives stay stuck while we pray so hard. As the author puts it plainly, some of us are praying for open doors while sitting daily in the counsel of people who close doors. Tina Suwa walks through the Scriptures and shows the law of association at work in the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people: - Lot, who was blessed because he walked with Abraham - David's distressed and indebted men, who became mighty men by attaching themselves to a man of grace - Isaac, who grew mightier than a nation - Laban, who openly confessed that his increase came for Jacob's sake - Esau and Ishmael, blessed simply by proximity to the covenant - Joseph, a blessing at home first and then in Potiphar's house and in prison - The widow of Zarephath and the Shunammite woman, two women who recognised a carrier - Noah, whose whole household was saved on the strength of one man's grace The book does not shy away from the other side of the law. A blessing cannot rest on a curse. Solomon began well and finished badly because of the company he loved, and Rehoboam inherited a divided kingdom. Chapters such as Same Church, Different Spirits and The Flipside of the Blessing challenge readers to examine fruit rather than gifts, to guard their ear, and to discern the difference between ministering to people and walking with them. Every chapter ends with Take These Steps, a set of concrete actions to carry out that week, followed by a prayer, because everything we understand must finally be prayed. The book culminates in the one association of which every other is only a shadow: being blessed by association with Jesus Christ, who took the curse so that the blessing of Abraham might come on us. Blessed by Association is for the believer who is ready to steward their relationships with honesty and courage. Read it with a pen. By the end, the author's assignment for you is simple: become a carrier, a person whose presence makes families, offices, churches and nations better, and stop losing the grace God keeps sending your way because you did not recognize it.