OLD HABITS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Old habits die hard don’t they?

Do you ever find yourself slipping back into them from time to time?

I know I do; especially when the pressure is on.

John Climacus says it this way…

“Just as iron, even without willing it, is drawn by a magnet, so is a slave to bad habits dragged about by them.”

I retreat instead of trusting GOD.I“react” rather than “being still and listening”. I cater to “me” in unhealthy ways (sweet way of saying I sin). I allow my fuse to shorten and my temper to surface. I have plenty more, but in other words I allow my flesh take the lead and that is something I should never consider following. They were “bad” old habits before and nothing has changed to suddenly make them better regardless of the circumstances.

I was sitting with a beautiful but beaten down young lady at the TREE yesterday.She was a second generation“addict”.Daddy was an alcoholic. She had tried and used just about everything under the sun to get high and sadly now her son had put out his shingle in the METH business.

But she is doing well.She is embracing recovery! I was proud of her resolve! And while she mourns the loss of her daddy to alcohol and laments her adult son’s choices, she realizes that going back to her “old habits” in order to HANDLE her PRESENT PAIN is a failed and doomed strategy!

There is an old truism. “You make your habits, and then your habits make you.”

And for us in recovery, those “old habits” just about did us in. Praise GOD He gives us the grace to put those old ones away and develop new habits will bring us closer to HIM!

Ephesians 4:22-24

...put away the old person you used to be. Have nothing to do with your old sinful life. It was sinful because of being fooled into following bad desires. 23 Let your minds and hearts be made new. 24 You must become a new person and be God-like. Then you will be made right with God and have a true holy life.

If you sincerely desire to improve your spiritual health, you must honestly examine the habits that make up the fabric of your day. And you must abandon those habits that are displeasing to God and replace them with NEW GOD PLEASING HABITS!

GOD WILL HELP!

Titus 2:12

God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.

If you trust God, and if you keep asking for His help, He can transform you AND your habits. If you sincerely ask Him, God will help you defeat the harmful habits that continue to vex you; especially when the pressure is on or when life starts winning!

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.”

John Maxwell

Let's start some new habits today!

Have a blessed weekend!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

Pastor GDelaney