Have Any Old Habits??
Replace old habits, instincts with new ways!!
There is no doubt that we have deeply rooted relationship instincts. But those instincts do NOT have us.
Your past constantly vies for control of your future, but at the end of the day YOU and I have a CHOICE.
Your domain is this moment, and every
moment, when you can DECIDE to write a new script. “Moving Forward”
At any time, in every time, YOU can
decide to be the master(with the Lord’s Truths) of your destiny; rather than a victim to your past.
This, by the way, is the real value in
understanding your past and your childhood roots.
So that you can consciously REJECT what you know doesn’t work and replace old habits with new ways.
This, of course, is no simple task. Not only because it’s hard to break old habits and learn new ways,
BUT also because most people, if like me, are more comfortable doing what’s familiar yet destructive rather than what’s constructive but unfamiliar.
In other words, most people are happier doing what they know doesn’t work **than they are working on something that they don’t know.
But that’s what it takes to be a “transition person.”
A transition person is someone who
breaks free from unhealthy relationship patterns that have been in their family for generations.
We are by no means a product solely of our heredity or environment.
There is a third element: YOUR DECISION!!!!
And that trumps ALL past events.
By the way, this, in my opinion, is the real meaning of counseling education…educating someone
to acquire the ability to CHOOSE their behavior by the Renewing of their Minds in God’s Truths Found in our Bible.
A successful situation is not something that just happens; you have to craft it. It’s a result of deliberate and conscious decisions to make a new way in your relationships or circumstances.
These kinds of decisions tend to have multiple acceptable options within the scope of God’s revealed moral will, his commandments.
Yet God cares deeply about the details and course of our lives.
So what guidance does God give to help us navigate ambiguous decisions?
God says,
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).
What does this mean? It means that God has a design in the difficulty of discerning.
The motives and affections of our hearts, or “renewed minds,” are more clearly revealed in such decision making.
If God made more things explicit, we would tend to focus more on what we
do rather than what we love.
* Like Pharisees, we would tend to whitewash our tombs with the appearance of obedience — to impress others — rather than deal with the dead bones of our self-righteous pride.
But in decisions that require discernment, the wheat is distinguished from the tares.
*We make such decisions based on what we really love.
If deep down we love the World, this will become apparent in the pattern of decisions that we make — we will conform to this world.
But if we really love JESUS we will increasingly love what HE loves — we will be transformed by renewed minds. And our love for him and his kingdom will be revealed in the pattern of small and large decisions that we make.
I say “pattern of decisions” because all of us sin and make mistakes.
But conformity to the world or to Jesus is most clearly seen in the pattern of decisions we make over time.
That’s why God makes us wrestle. He wants us to mature and have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
*The wonderful thing to remember in all of our decisions is that Jesus is our Good Shepherd.
* Jesus laid down his life for us so that ALL of our sins (including every sinful or defective decision) are covered.
*God will never leave or forsake us. He has a staff long enough to pull us out of every hole and a rod to guide us back when we stray.
And someday we will see that it really was him leading us through the confusing terrain of difficult decisions.
The “new willpower” we receive when we give our Lives to Christ, is the key to our Christian walk. We can now choose to either live God’s Life…or our own.
* “So choose life in order that you may live…by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in other words, get in to and study the word of God.
*”Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17). *”Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18a).
* Talk to the Father about everything. *Give thanks to the Father for everything.
* Sing songs of praise and make melody in your heart lifting up the name of Jesus.
* Live a true real sacrificed holy life before Almighty God, when you do this He will lead you into and you will come into the knowledge of what is His perfect will.
For it is the Lord’s desire to lead you to complete freedom from bitterness and ungodliness. I am speaking to you, beloved. Don’t ignore your responsibility to look at yourself and not others in this regard.
Father in heaven I bless your wonderful name today. I thank you Lord for all your
goodness and all your mercy upon my life. I give you Lord all the praise, all the
glory, all the honor for you Lord are worthy, worthy, worthy. I bless you Lord for being my help in the time of need. I give you praise Lord for protecting me from the enemy of my soul. I want to be
ever so close to you. I want to hear your voice and follow your leading by the renewing of my mind. Dear Lord, help me step outside my world and to see people with Your eyes. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.