So we’ve been on this journey of the mind over these last two months. Thoughts become beliefs; beliefs become words; words become actions; actions become habits, and this is where we are. Habits. Got any?

From the time we’re young, we might hear from a well meaning relative, “Don’t do that, you’ll develop a bad habit!” It might be a negative physical habit like biting your fingernails, tapping your fingers incessantly, or a tendency to talk too loudly. Full disclosure, when I’m tired or trying to relax, I still twirl a section of my hair. It’s a habit that began when I was around three years old. It’s a non-invasive habit that is just how I relax. When I’m stressed, I tend to nibble the sides of my fingers and cuticles. Don’t look at my fingers this week! This habit is a bad one. When I am doing it, I tear up the edges of my fingers, sometimes one of my fingers gets sore, it may bleed, but it also makes my fingers look unsightly. I have tried many times over the years to avoid doing this in times of stress, but it has become an unconscious bad habit. The habit is a mindless response, and yet it is undesired. The action that came as a solution, can become a habit which becomes a problem.

Maybe you over eat, maybe you under eat. Maybe you forget to drink enough water during the day– we’re all subject to these actions now and then, but the issue comes when it’s an everyday occurrence, aka habit. If I were to compare my finger chewing (not an everyday habit) to former habits that the Lord has delivered me from like smoking weed (everyday), cigarettes (everyday), cursing (everyday), and drinking (occasional), it seems mild. These were all negative, destructive habits that dictated my life. The habits dictated where I went, who I was with, and what activity I was involved in for most of my adult life. 

In understanding this, we can see how negative habits are so closely tied to sin. Often bad habits involve self satisfaction or instant gratification. They’re an itch and by acting on them, we scratch it. What becomes habit will become part of our character. The qualities we’re made of   based on moral choices, ethical convictions, and our mental process (how you think)– these are what shape our character. But character can also be shaped by events out of our control. Maybe at just the mention of that, you had a painful memory flash of an event that you know forever changed you. It’s etched in your mind like a laser engraving and changed the way you felt or thought about something. The most life changing moment in my life that forever altered who I was was the moment I opened my heart and gave my life to Jesus Christ. Asking Him to be the Lord of my life was like removing a costume of the character everyone thought I was, only to find that who was underneath was nothing like that facade at all. 

So with that, let’s dig into HABITS.

A habit is a practice, a custom, an action you have established as part of your life. No one else can create a habit for you. Someone may influence a choice initially, but only you can give space to that thing to occupy your life. 

By just those three sentences alone, think of your own life and consider for yourself:

Is living for JESUS a habit? Is godliness a habit? Is seeking after God a habit?

What first becomes practice will then move to habit. You decide to allow the habit, whatever it is, whatever multiple things they are, to abide with you. It’s often said that if you want to make a life change, you stick with it for 90 days. After that it becomes part of your lifestyle. You do it because it has now become part of your daily routine. Repetition is a learning tool.

What are some things we must do to make living a Christ like lifestyle a habit?

There are key ingredients to instill a habit, negative or positive, and they are: cue, craving, response, reward. I want you to look at the Christian aspects of living for God in this manner.  

1. There’s a cue. You feel an urge. You have an urge to pray; you have an urge to read the Word; you have an urge to be in His presence. This is the Holy Spirit quickening you. To quicken is to stimulate or provoke. This isn’t in a negative sense, but the way someone might tap someone on the shoulder to get their attention after speaking to them didn’t result in action. So your cue that the Lord wants to see you may be spoken to you or an urging in the Spirit. Either way, they’re both Him requesting your attention and for you to enter into communication. Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV – And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
2. There’s a craving. Jesus said in Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” It’s not an actual physical feeling of hunger or thirst that you feel, but it’s a spiritual longing. You have a distinct need to connect with God. The longer you’re in a relationship with Jesus, the more intense this longing and craving becomes. If you’re in a true covenant relationship with the Lord, you’ll find that it’s very much like a romantic relationship in the heart sense. Whoever in your natural life has ever been the object of your intense love, you likely said in your youth, “if I don’t see them today, I’ll just die!” In our day, (the days of dinosaurs), if a few hours passed without talking to them on the phone, “I just had to call you because I needed to hear the sound of your voice!” Is this our heart’s cry towards our God? “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen. I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.” [Luke 10:23,24] The disciples were living, and abiding with, and talking with God made manifest in the flesh. Are you?
3. There’s a response. When we’re obedient to what God has told us to do, you absolutely cannot describe the feeling of overwhelming joy you receive. The feeling of the Lord smiling on you is to feel a fraction of what Jesus felt in the Jordan River as the words were spoken from the Father above, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” There is nothing like doing that which pleases GOD. Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV – The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet [you] with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Psalm 18:19 NKJV- He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me. Psalm 4:3 NLT – You can be sure of this: The LORD set apart the godly for Himself. The LORD will answer when I call to Him. There is the key. Are you set apart for the LORD?
4. There’s reward. We read Psalm 18:19. Verse 20 [NASB] says, The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me. Man’s righteousness is as filthy rags according to the Word of God [Isaiah 64:6], so where do we get this from? Psalm 24:4-5 NKJV – He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 

Righteousness can only come from the LORD. Living godly with godly habits can only come as a result of His righteousness in action in you.

Romans 3:21, 22 NIV 

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

Romans 5:21 NKJV 

So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:21 NLT

So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The last book of the Bible is of course Revelation. It has 22 chapters and there are 21 verses in chapter 22. In that final chapter, read part of what is deemed as the final message:

Revelation 22:11-13  

KJV 

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward [is] with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

CSB 

Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy. 12 “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

His righteous, our choice. His way or ours? Our habits or His? Matthew 6:33,34 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day [is] its own trouble.”

That brings us to a lot of habits that are birthed out of stress. I already mentioned my own. 

What are some of yours?

Smoking cigarettes is spoken of by those that do it as a stress reliever. As is drinking alcohol, and recreational weed use. It’s how people “relax.” The truth is that’s all a lie. Cigarettes are a stimulant. Alcohol is a vasodilator meaning at first it causes a blood pressure drop as it widens your arteries, but over time, it constricts (like a snake!) blood flow and increases the release of stress hormones leading to an increase in blood pressure. Weed is so potent now that it is poisoning people due to the high levels of THC. This ain’t the dope of the 60s and 70s. This is diabolically being cultivated to levels that are causing serious paranoia, delusions, hallucinations and even psychosis. Overeating will lead to serious health complications. So will undereating. I’m not saying over or undereating is a sin, but in general, sin grooms us by the habit to do (and do again) and never question, “why am I doing this?” Regardless of your habit, it definitely come with shame or self disappointment leading to depression, leading to the furtherance of the habit. Satan’s very intent is for you to not take a moment to question “why am I doing this?”

Many habits are intensively destructive. Drug use goes from casual (intermittent with friends) to recreational (frequent) to addiction (daily use). Alcoholism has the same pattern. So does smoking. All of these habits can and will cost you your health and ultimately your life. Many others have consequences that can lead to the same destruction or spiritual death. An addiction to pornography will destroy the mind, establish deceit, pervert relationships between a married couple or boyfriend/girlfriend. An addiction to gambling will destroy a family due to the intense financial difficulties it brings, but also again the deceit of those things done in secret. Both of these examples could very easily toss someone out into homelessness as a fallout and all the perils that come with that. Many habits come with deceit. There is an undercurrent of lies that flow forth with habits that involve addiction, whether food, phone, porn, drugs, drinking. Habits themselves ARE the addiction! That’s why we say a habit is “hard to break.” 

Think about your own habits– whether they are bad or seem harmless to you. What do you think would happen in your life if the things of God replaced those habits?

Psalm 119:133 NLT 

Guide my steps by Your word, so I will not be overcome by evil.

Psalm 119:133 KJV 

Order my steps in Thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Habits tap into our strong self will and the habit’s desire to survive. Yes, you read that right. Dominion is ruling power. The desires of your flesh and your self will want to survive, because SIN has become our nature from birth. Winston Churchill said, “At all costs, victory in spite of all terror (fear), victory however long and hard the road may be (suffering); for without victory, there is no survival.” Jesus is our victory. We can overcome the dominion we give habits in our lives in victory through Jesus Christ. He has given us the victory and it is yours to have. You simply have to ask for it. Habits are a fleshly convenience. Remember cue, craving, response, reward. Habits bring satisfaction to our flesh. 

Romans 8:5-15  

NLT – Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

KJV – For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

Look at verse 15. 

Ask yourself: Do you obey your own flesh being a fearful slave to sin? Or do you obey and desire to do well because you are a child of God and want to please your Father?

A 19th century author named Samuel Johnson wrote an allegorical book, about a character named ‘Habit.’ The book acts as a warning of the dangers found in pursuing momentary happiness. The character Habit cleverly bound the unknowing in chains; once they were incapacitated in those chains, they were taken to the “caverns of despair”. Profound, huh? How often do our binding habits, especially those that are very severe, allow Satan to lead us to the caverns of despair? Look at this passage from the book. 

“It was the peculiar artifice (clever devising) of Habit not to suffer her power to be felt at first. Those whom she led, she had the address of appearing only to attend, but was continually doubling her chains upon her companions; which were so slender in themselves, and so silently fastened, that while the attention was engaged by other objects, they were not easily perceived. Each link grew tighter as it had been longer worn, and when, by continual additions, they became so heavy as to be felt, they were very frequently too strong to be broken.”

The chains came link by link. They were too light to be felt. They were placed under distraction.

There’s a song by a Christian rock band from the 1980s called “Mourner’s Parade.” It’s about the songwriter’s experience seeing people in this world with spiritual eyes. Seeing people every day who are in chains of bondage to the things of this world and they’re completely unaware. This “parade” of people is a Mourner’s Parade, because they are the dead walking. We are only able to see this “mourner’s parade” when the veil has been removed from our eyes by the Holy Spirit. In this song there is a lyric: “You only find out you’re a prisoner when you try to escape.” Link by link, the chains are added until they’re too strong to be broken.

Do you have any habit chains that are silently and slowly, link by link, binding you? 

The good news is JESUS CHRIST is able to break every chain and set you free from bondages like habits! Jesus preached Isaiah 61 standing in the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth.

Isaiah 61:1-3 NKJV

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

TRADE UP!!! Stop being a slave to unrighteousness and start being a servant to the Lord. Put your focus on the Lord. Put your focus on His word. When the temptation comes to engage in a bad habit, replace it with a godly act. Resist the devil and he will flee. It’s easy to give in to self because it’s convenient; but to DO THE THINGS OF GOD and BE CHANGED BY THEM takes commitment on your part. Something is required of you! Micah 6:8 NKJV He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. 

Only then will you LIVE Romans 12:2:

NLT – 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. 

KJV – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

When you exchange your habits of this world for habits that glorify the King of kings, it will forever mold your character into the image of Jesus Christ!

-CC