Habits Can Make Or Break Mark 1:35 Revelation 1:9-11 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 Colossians 4:12-13 Proverbs 31:25-27 Proverbs 24:30-34 Ecclesiastes 10:18 Song of Songs 2:15 Jeremiah 8:10-12 Jeremiah 9:12-14 Jeremiah 22:14-16 Ephesians 5:15-17 11.28.18

HABITS CAN MAKE OR BREAK

BREAD

³⁵ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  Mark 1:35 (NIV)

⁹ I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹ which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” Revelation 1:9-11 (NIV)

²⁶ Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷ No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (NIV)

¹² Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. ¹³ I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.   Colossians 4:12-13 (NIV)

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. ²⁶ She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. ²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.   Proverbs 31:25-27 (NIV)

³⁰ I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;
³¹ thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. ³² I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: ³³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- ³⁴ and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.   Proverbs 24:30-34 (NIV)

¹⁸ If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.  Ecclesiastes 10:18 (NIV)

¹⁵ Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.  Song of Songs 2:15 (NIV)

¹⁰ From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. ¹¹ They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. ¹² Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.   Jeremiah 8:10-12 (NIV)

¹² What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? ¹³ The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. ¹⁴ Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” Jeremiah 9:12-14 (NIV)

  
¹⁴ “He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red. ¹⁵ Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. ¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.  Jeremiah 22:14-16 (NIV)

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.  Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Vigilance is an essential component to the spiritual discipline of watchfulness. To be vigilant is to be on guard. The sentinel of a city is vigilant. He watches for the approach of the enemy. Warriors are vigilant. They’re watchful and wary of their antagonist’s every move. People become vigilant when they realize they’re in jeopardy. As soldiers of the cross, we are surrounded by enemies.  Watchfulness, therefore, is as necessary to a healthy spiritual life as meditation and prayer. Jesus tells his disciples to ‘watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation’ (Matthew 26:41). The letters of Paul, Peter, and John sound the same note, urging us to exercise moral vigilance and watchful prayer (1 Corinthians 16:13; Galatians 6:1; Colossians 4:2; 1 Timothy 4:16; 1 Peter 4:7; 2 John 8). And Hebrews commands mutual watchfulness and exhortation while also reminding us to obey those leaders who keep watch over our souls (Hebrews 3:12; 13-17).  Yet despite this biblical emphasis, watchfulness is one practice that rarely gets mentioned in contemporary manuals of spiritual disciplines. Watchfulness is the whetstone of the spiritual disciplines, the one practice that keeps the other habits sharp. This requires the cultivation of self-examination, where we take regular inventory of our personal tendencies towards particular sins, what the Puritan Isaac Ambrose called “Delilah sins.” Delilah sins, like Samson’s Philistine mistress, like to sit on our laps and whisper sweet nothings in our ears, but they will betray us to our foes in a heartbeat and cut off our moral strength. These are the specific sin patterns we’ve cultivated through willful and habitual sin. Like deep ruts that furrow a muddy road, these vices are etched into our lives through daily routines, self-justifying rationalization, and continual repetition. The discipline of watching is like a home security system.”  Excerpt from Watchfulness:  Recovering a Lost Spiritual Discipline (Reformation Heritage Books, 2018)

“Habits are to the soul what veins are to the blood. The very course of our life depends on them. Random acts of greatness pale in comparison to habitual acts of faithfulness.”   Ann Voskamp

“Change your habits, change your life.  We only have one life to live – don’t waste it.”  BHY

“The majority of children acquire the characteristics and habits of their parents.  What are they learning from us?”  Billy Graham

“The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of complete laziness. A little folding of the hands to rest is all they desire, and they have a host of reasons to show that this indulgence is entirely legitimate. Yet by these "littles" the day runs out, and the time for work is all gone, and the field is overgrown with thorns. It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They do not intend to delay for years—a few months, they say, will bring the more convenient season—tomorrow they will attend to serious things; but the present hour is so occupied and so unsuitable that they beg to be excused.  Like sands from an hourglass, time passes; life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers. Oh, to be wise, to catch the fleeting hour, to use the passing moments! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, because otherwise a poverty of the worst kind awaits us—eternal poverty that will want even a drop of water and beg for it in vain. Like a robber steadily pursuing his victim, poverty overtakes the lazy, and ruin overthrows the undecided: Each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he doesn't pause on the way, for he is on his master's business and must not delay. As an armed man enters with authority and power, in similar fashion want will come to the idle, and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape.  O that men would become wise and would diligently seek the Lord Jesus, before the solemn day will dawn when it will be too late to plow and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is useless to lament that the seedtime was neglected. As of now, there is still time for faith and holy decision.”  C. H. Spurgeon

“What are believers saved from?  From their former position under the wrath of God, the dominion of sin, and the power of death; from their natural condition of being mastered by the world, the flesh and the devil; from the fears that a sinful life engenders, and from the many vicious habits that were part of it.  How are believers saved from these things?  Through Christ, and in Christ.  Our salvation involves first, Christ dying for us and second, Christ living in us and we living in Christ, united with Him in His death and risen life.  This vital union, which is sustained by the Spirit from the divine side and by faith from our side, and which is formed in and through our new birth, presupposes covenantal union in the sense of our eternal election in Christ.”   J I Packer

“Habits matter because: Habits are the spine of our self-control. You change your life when you change what you do every day.”   Ann Voskamp

 “Hear the prayers of Your people as we call out to You. Give us self-control on those occasions when we're tempted to demoralize and put people down. Make us aware that a godly life preaches an unforgettable message to the unsaved. Help us remember that we're soldiers away from our home in heaven, living in a culture that's lost its way and is in desperate need of Jesus Christ. Keep us easy to live with, strong in faith, unbending in our convictions yet full of grace toward those who are bound by sin and captured by habits they cannot break. Enable us to shock this pagan culture with lives that are authentic, that stay balanced, that are still fun, and that ultimately glorify You, O God . . . just like Jesus did.”   Chuck Swindoll

“He makes it a habit to hope. Even in the middle, even when you have to begin again.  Change your habits and you can change anything into a possibility. The patterns of our lives reveal the form of our souls.  Read more words on papers than on screens.  A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over.  A whole life can be lost in minutes wasted… in the small moments missed.  Make gratitude your attitude of habit — there’s no other way to make joy your life.   Every little day just has to be just a little bit better: Small things done consistently, consistently make the biggest change.”   Ann Voskamp

HEART SAVOR

• ·         Watch who you follow – take your actions to the Word – what does God say?  Is this a pursuit of holiness?   A pursuit of Christlikeness?  ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.   1 John 2:6 (NIV)
• ·         Nothing good ever comes from sin, nothing.  Watch your life and doctrine closely.
• ·         Little foxes (habits) can ruin your vineyard (life).