The people you have chosen to do life with are your divine alignments. Our alignments (friends, family, associates) have the power to speak life into us, propel us to walk into our divine destiny, or they have the power to paralyze our attempts of pursuing our dreams.

Paul and Silas had a balanced alignment. Silas not only walked with Paul during his times of victory and great anointing, but he also walked with him during his time of hardship. When they shared a prison cell for preaching Christ, Silas was of one mind and one spirit; he took the same beating and worshipped God along with Paul, even if he was not the main speaker. This is an area that should be carefully and strategically observed in our own life.

• Are we aligned with people who are readily available during our victorious times, but are nowhere to be found during our hardships?
• Are we aligned with people that seem empathetic during our hardships, but are not there to applaud our victories and great successes?

Before King David was king, he was called in to play for King Saul. A distressing spirit had come upon Saul and his servants sought out a skillful player, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and handsome person, and the Lord was with him. [1 Sam. 16:18] Saul was so blessed and impressed by him that he sent a message to Jesse, requesting he send David to him. Verse 21 says, “And he loved him greatly and he became his armor bearer.” The sad news is that Saul was unable to love David during his great successes. When the women of the city sang in praise of David’s defeats, Saul resented him in his heart and later sought to kill him.

It is important to strategically choose our alignments and quickly identify who we allow in our life. We all need people that will be a comfort in time of need, but who will also have the caliber and self assurance to applaud our great success. I believe we should exercise the same care in choosing friendships as we do in choosing a mate. Friends are people we will be sharing life with and they possess the power to speak life into us, or paralyze our efforts with their words and/or behavior.

Prov. 18:24 “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”