|
Several
Habits
Pastor George Pearsons exhorts the congregation
of Eagle Mountain International Church in Fort Worth
TX that being strong in the Lord requires practicing
good habits daily.
Read
the Bible
Daily Bible reading is a must if you
desire to grow and experience the wonderful life that
God has planned for you. Did you know that your
attitude is what will make this a law for
you or a delight?
Psalm
1:2-3, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be
like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings
forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also
shall not wither, and whatever he does shall
prosper.”
James
1:25, “But he who looks into the perfect law of
liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful
hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be
blessed in what he does.”
Prov.4:20,
“My son, give attention to my words, incline your
ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your
eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart; for they
are life to those who find them, and health to all
their flesh.
Keep (or guard) your heart with all diligence
for out of it spring the issues of life.” See also
Matt. 12:35.
Listen
to the Bible
Rom.10:17,
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God.”
If you read the Bible
out-loud or listen to good Bible teaching on tapes,
faith will come, and faith is what gets the victory,
according to I John 5:4. Daily listen to one teaching
tape, or read one article, or a chapter in a good
teaching book. If
you genuinely feel like you don’t have time, ask God
to show you how you can do this.
Speak
the Bible
How to use your Sword and Shield is a
brochure that may provide verses which you want to
happen in your life.
Put these on 3x5 cards or on a list for you to
read every day. If
you do it twice or more times a day, you will see
results faster. For
the importance of this, get my brochure about how
faith works. It’s
called, If it’s God’s will, why doesn’t it
always happen?
Josh.
1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out from
your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day
and night that you may observe to do according
to all that is written in it. For then you
will make your way prosperous, and then you will have
good success.”
For
more study on this, see my brochure called What
difference does it make what I say?
Think
the Bible
Phil. 4:8 tells us what we are to think about;
things that are true, right, and lovely. In
Psa.101:2-3, David says, “I will set nothing
worthless before my eyes.” Similar is Psa.119:37. II
Cor.10:5 tells us that we must control our thoughts.
John 14:1 and 27 command us to not allow ourselves to
troubled or afraid.
If you don’t know how to do that, get my
brochure titled, How to use your sword and shield.
Praise
and worship
Psa.34:1,
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise
shall continually be in my mouth.”
Heb.13:15,
“…let us continually offer the sacrifice of
praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving
thanks to His name.”
Praise can turn bad situations around! For stories on that, read my brochure titled,
Praise God, Why?
Pray
in tongues much
I
Cor.14:4. “He who speaks in a tongue edifies
himself.”
This habit can also help you receive guidance
and direction from God.
With practice, you can pray a sentence in
tongues and then one in English, and it
just could be the thing you need to hear from
God!
Get
rid of excess baggage
Heb.
12:1, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us.”
In Matt. 7:24-27 is the story Jesus told of the
wise and foolish builders.
He said that the wise ones were the ones who heard
the Word of God and did it, and the foolish ones
heard but did not do.
If you don’t want the storms of life to
destroy you, then you need to be doing what the
Bible says to do.
The more Word you know, the more you can align
your life accordingly, and the more you will find God
is working and blessing your life!
My brochure called Spiritual Growth
gives the characteristics of a mature Christian, and
also the steps to change.
Any habit can be broken or changed in
twenty-one days. This has been scientifically proven.
Developing
prayer-life
Probably most Christians pray a few times to
many times a day. This is practicing God’s presence and working toward the
instruction in I Thess.5:17 to “Pray without
ceasing.”
But another issue entirely is the Christian’s
closet time. (The
King James version uses the word closet in this
next verse instead of the word room.
Matt. 6:6, “But you, when you pray, go into
your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to
your Father who is in the secret place, and your
Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
When I was learning to do this, I found that in
the night (when I had to get up anyway to go to the
bathroom) was the only time that Satan couldn't
arrange an interruption or disturb me. But I resisted it for nearly
a year. God would wake me up and I couldn’t go back
to sleep. I
got angry, wanting to sleep! Once God told me, “Some
people worship their sleep.”
Ouch! That
worked!
Mark
1:35, “Now in the morning, having risen a long
while before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and
departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed.”
***
Work on one habit at a time, and see
your life take on new excitement and purpose! God will
be at work in you as long as you do your part. |
