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renewing the mind

March 20, 2013

7 Steps For Good Habits

I am not sure who originally authored the steps below. I cannot remember from whom I picked it up and I think I have altered them. I have used the ideas for several years, so by some “preacher standards” – they are mine now! The wisdom is too good not to share.

Here are seven practical steps to start, establish, and maintain good habits.

Step One: Desire

You must start with a strong desire. You must be internally motivated. External motivations don’t last. If you start only half-heartedly, you will never make it to the success point. “The desire of the righteous turns out well, but the hope of the wicked leads to wrath.” (Proverbs 11:23 HCSB)

Step Two: Decide

Begin right now! Don’t wait. Don’t procrastinate. You don’t slide into a new habit. “One of these days” never arrives. You must have a starting point. “And you must keep on while there is still a time that can be called ‘today’.” (Hebrews 3:13b CEV) It’s easier to break a bad habit today than it will be tomorrow!

Step Three: Declaration

Announce your intentions publicly. Make a covenant or resolution. The power of a vow is awesome.  “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, be prompt in fulfilling whatever you promised him.” (Deuteronomy 23:21a NLT) It is particularly powerful if you put your commitment in writing.

Step Four: Determination

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Remember, the enemy does not want you to develop habits that help you grow spiritually and make you like Christ. “They [Folks opposing Nehemiah] were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.” (Nehemiah 6:9 NLT) Satan will do all he can to tempt you, cause you to slip, or discourage you.

Step Five: Just Do It!

Whenever you feel the slightest urge or prompting to practice this new habit – DO IT THEN! Don’t wait. Seize every opportunity to reinforce your habit. Those feelings will not last, so whenever you feel inclined to perform your new habit, do so! Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.” (Luke 9:62 MSG)

Step Six: Double Up

Get a partner who will support you and encourage you. Choose wisely. “Don’t be fooled: Bad friends will ruin good habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33 ERV) Find someone who is willing to hold you accountable and check up on you especially in the early days before the habit is firmly rooted in your life.

Step Seven: Depend on God

Rely on God’s power to help you establish the habit. “And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with Him.” (Colossians 2:6 LIVING) Pray! Yield to the Holy Spirit. Draw from God’s gracious strength. Keep going. You are walking into a good habit.

 

March 19, 2013

Simple advice for overcoming addiction or hidden sin

The Lord wants to unlock the chain of addiction binding your life. The steps below are easy to read, but will take lots of effort. This isn’t an exhaustive list but these seven steps will get you going down the right path.

#1 Honestly evaluate yourself.

Ask the Holy Spirit to shine His spotlight of conviction upon any area of your life needing freedom. Holy Spirit is good at His job; He will convict you if necessary.

#2 Admit it.

Accept personal liability. Repent! Confess your sin, repent and receive God’s forgiveness. Don’t continually beat yourself up and live with condemning guilt-feelings.  Godly sorrow prompts repentance, not shame or condemnation. Godly sorrow involves your emotions but is so much more than grief or tears.

#3 Call it by name.

Don’t rationalize your sin. Face it frankly. You don’t get out of the spiral of degradation by “wishing” it away or by redefining sin. Sin kills. Even “small” sin wrecks havoc. Don’t whitewash your issue.

#4 Take drastic measures.

Radically alter your lifestyle. Get rid of the stuff. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” (Romans 13:14 NASB) You don’t have to have internet access, cable tv, printed material, alcohol to “cook” with, your grandpa’s pipe – if it has a hold on you, cut it out! Don’t keep a secret stash as a backup plan in cause you backslide. Get rid of what you can’t handle.

#5 Get help.

Don’t try to walk it out alone. You haven’t conquered it yet by yourself, so quit thinking you can. Admit your struggle. Find a good accountability partner. Yes, you need to confess your sin to God and receive His forgiveness, but to overcome addiction or hidden sin you need to take the NEXT STEP of confessing to real live human being.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16 NIV) Notice the connection in James 5:16 with confession and prayer. Prayer is a vital resource. Talk to God for yourself and have others pray for you!

Find someone spiritual mature with wisdom and good common sense. Some of you need to seek out a Godly Christian counselor because your addiction is just a symptom of a deeper issue.

Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also. (Galatians 6:1 AMP)

#6 Replace the sin with something righteous.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21 NASB) Do you remember the effort, time, and finances you put into your addiction? Well, put that effort, times, and finances into living your life in freedom. Make a willful choice and determination to avoid sin.

#7 Change the way you think.

Get more insight into this step from my March 15, 2013 post RENEW YOUR MIND. Pray and read the Word of God. You can’t just white-knuckle it through temptation; you need the supernatural resources including God’s Word.

  • Read the Bible DAILY. “[The Scriptures] shall be his constant companion. He must read from it everyday of his life so that he will learn to respect the Lord his God by obeying all of his commands.”   (Deuteronomy 17:19 Living)
  • Memorize Scripture that applies to your situation. “Guard my words as your most precious possession. Write them down, and also keep them deep within your heart.”  (Proverbs 7:2-3 Living)
  • Meditate upon God’s Word. “(Those) who are always meditating on His Laws … are like trees along a river bank bearing fruit … they never wither and whatever they do prospers.”  (Psalm 1:2-3 Living)

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Why all this stress on behaviour? Because, as I think you have realised, the present time is of the highest importance—it is time to wake up to reality. Every day brings God’s salvation nearer. The night is nearly over, the day has almost dawned. Let us therefore fling away the things that men do in the dark, let us arm ourselves for the fight of the day! Let us live cleanly, as in the daylight, not in the “delights” of getting drunk or playing with sex, nor yet in quarrelling or jealousies. Let us be Christ’s men from head to foot, and give no chances to the flesh to have its fling. (Romans 13:11-14 PHILLIPS)

March 15, 2013

RENEW YOUR MIND

Two thought systems incompatibly collide, clashing within your mind. Earth-grounded-fleshly  and Heavenly-Kingdom-centered are the options. Which will dominate your thoughts? You have the power to choose what you think. You are the rancher for your own mind so get those wayward thoughts herded back in the right direction.

I am proud daddy today. Yesterday, my daughter Rozy spoke to the incoming president of ORU, Dr. Billy Wilson (during his listening tour of the university). Rozy was asked to represent the ORU School of Education, and she shared from her heart about the mission of the school and the call upon her heart to be a transformed educator that will transform the lives of others. Great job, Girl! I am certain you did awesome! If I had pictures, I would certainly post them. None yet, so this recent pic of Rozy playing a game will work for now. Simons aren’t competitive; we just like to win!

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NLT)

“Transformed” is a powerful word – like the change of caterpillar to butterfly or from tadpole to bullfrog – God’s Word is speaking of a radical, complete change from one form to another. Paul uses that same idea in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (HCSB), “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed  into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Allow the metamorphosis God wants within you. Don’t adopt the standards of this world, but allow Christ life to be formed within you. “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within.” (Romans 12:2 PHILLIPS) Don’t let the media that floods your thoughts on a daily basis push you into thinking like a person without a personal Lord and Savior.

Here are seven practical guidelines for allowing TRANSFORMATION in your mind.

#1  Fix and focus your thoughts on God.

  • “So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe.”  (Hebrews 3:1 MSG)
  • “Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” (Colossians 3:2 MSG)

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#2  Speak a determined “yes” to the Holy Spirit’s transforming power in your thought life.

“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them – living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about.” (Romans 8:5-9 MSG)

#3  Submit your thoughts to God.

  • “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.”  (Psalm 139:23 NLT)
  • “Lord, try me and test me; look closely into my heart and mind.”  (Psalm 26:2 NCV)

#4  Ask God to reveal His thoughts.

  • “Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” (Isaiah 55:6-8 MSG)
  • “That’s why we have this Scripture text: No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it-What God has arranged for those who love him.”  (1 Corinthians 2:9-16 MSG)

#5  Take control of what you think.

  • “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV)
  • “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”  (Philippians 4:8 MSG)

#6  Read and meditate on God’s Word.

  • “Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.” (Joshua 1:8 NLT)
  • “I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways.”  (Psalm 119:15 NLT)

#7  Be quick to obey and to act on God’s Word.

  • “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” (James 1:22 NLT)
  • “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner on solid rock…Make daily choices to change our wrong thinking and mindsets.”  (Matthew 7:24 MSG)

Thinking and meditating upon God’s Word has a powerful impact on your thought life. If you apply God’s Word to your life, you will be transformed!

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