January/25/ 2015
Key thought: It’s often the the small things that no one sees which result in the big things that everyone wants.
Resolve can’t change what routine has created.
3 things about habits:
1. Bad habits are EASY to form, HARD to live with and HARD to break.
2. Good habits are HARD to form, EASY to live with and easy to break.
3. Our goal should be to COMMIT to the habits of a disciple which will cause us to grow into all the God wants us to become.
How do we change our habits?
1. Start at the beginning
The miracle is in the monotonous.
2. Stay focused on the ending
Discipline = choosing what you want most over what you want now.
I Corinthians 9:24-27 “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
3. Don’t quit in the middle
Romans 7:15 and 18-20 “ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate… I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it…”
Verse 24-25 “But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
