Don’t Waste Your Influence

God always works for His glory and your good.

2 Kings 5:1-3, 15

It was a servant girl that led a valiant soldier to his healing. She served his wife after being taken captive and put to work there. However, despite the circumstances, she saw that she had the ability to influence the outcome of the situation around her.

You and I have extraordinary influence. It doesn't matter who we are or where we are. We have the power of influence. One word from you, one act from you, one prayer from you can change someone else's direction, alter their course, and change history. You don't have to be famous to have influence. Fame and influence are not interchangeable. Fame is recognition. Influence is to change something.

Ephesians 5:15-16

Be careful how we live. Make the most of every opportunity. God has put you in the exact position you're in to change the outcome of the situation. It's a setup! People are looking up to you more than you realize. You were put there at the right moment to do the right thing.

Many people have wasted their influence. Pilate had the ability to release Jesus, but he gave into the pressure of the mob and released a known criminal instead. See Mark 15:15. He wasted his influence. Yes, it was God's plan for Jesus to be crucified, but Pilate still could have done the right thing, and God still would have fulfilled His purpose and plan to give His Son for the sins of the world.

Luke 2:7 - The innkeeper lost his influence.

Matthew 26:14-16 - Judas sold out Jesus for cash and lost his influence.

Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:10 - Demas is a cohort of Paul, but he walked away from the Church and lost his influence. He traded everything God had for him for a party.

Esther was different. She leveraged her influence. Nothing about her life said that she should do anything great. She was a Jew in a foreign land not by her own choosing and an orphan. Mordecai, her cousin, used his influence to take her in and raise her. She would grow up to use her influence to save her people. In Esther 4:14, Mordecai said to her, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Her decision changed history. Yours may not change history, but it may change one person's destiny. Recalibrations aren't giant, but they give giant results.

Don't waste your influence: by seeing your current station as God's assignment for bringing freedom to others.

The nature of the Church is to be influential. We are the light of the city.

How to be Influential

1) Recognize that God is sovereign over your circumstances.

You are a person ordained by God to be in the moment you are in, and the one thing you have 100% control over is how you use your influence.

Joseph went through all of his suffering for the salvation of others. He knew that God put him there in advance to save people from the famine. He understood that just because the circumstances weren't of his choosing, his influence hadn't been diminished.

Mordecai challenged Esther by saying if she didn't step up and use her influence for the saving of God's people, God was still going to do it, and someone else would step up into that place to fulfill the plan and purpose of God.

God's story is going to go on no matter what, but you can be written into His plans and into that story by not wasting your influence and knowing God is sovereign over your situation. When things go south, think to yourself, "Maybe this is a setup."

2) Be intentional with the influence you have right now.

When you are given a moment, you have stewardship, and when you have stewardship, you have influence. So back your thinking up to before the moment even happens and think about what you want to do with your stewardship and influence.

3) Seek greater influence.

Ask God to increase your influence with the time you have left on the earth. This is accomplished by being faithful to the influence you currently have. See Matthew 25:23. It's seeing little places to influence that inspire God to increase your influence. It's very unlikely that God is going to skyrocket your influence if you haven't stewarded well the influence that you have.

4) Be under the influence of the Spirit.

See Ephesians 5:16. Ask the Holy Spirit to influence you by:

• carry a positive belief into every situation.
• develop the fruit of the Spirit, especially joy
• build up others with your words. Ephesians 4:29
• offer forgiveness as Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
• speak the truth in love. Ephesians 4:25
• look for opportunities to be generous to others. Ephesians 4:28
• pray always and everywhere for all people. Ephesians 4:15

Jesus didn't waste his influence. His decision to go to the Cross, to die for your sins, and to be raised on the third day changed everything for you.