October 15
“Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” (2 Peter 1:10-11)
Once we have thought through the disciplines and new habits that we want to form and the goals we want to achieve, and once we clarify in our minds what rewards in this life and the life to come would really get us excited, we are now in a position to bring all of this together into a plan and schedule. One thing we must remind ourselves of and keep reminding ourselves of is that overcoming addictions of immoral lusts of the flesh will require a lot of work and effort. There is no easy shortcut. There is no quick prayer that puts a permanent end to our weaknesses in this area. God certainly can do that, and perhaps in a few rare instances He simply takes away once and for all our immoral lusts, but for the rest of us we will have to daily apply ourselves with hard work and focused effort, getting into the word so that it transforms us daily, developing discipline and self-control in godliness, learning and daily practicing new habits and mindsets that will guard our way throughout the day and the days ahead.
I highly recommend a daily regimen that involves the following:
- Focused Bible Study
- Focused Prayer
- Review of “Helpful Verses”
- Review of “Helpful Things to Keep in Mind”
- Review of Character Qualities, spoken out loud and affirmed verbally
- Review of Critical Transformations
- Review of Consequences
- Review of Reasons to Overcome and Rewards
- Review of Disciplines to develop and Goals to achieve
- Review of Plan and Schedule
The plan and schedule should include in your day a time for each of these activities. I recommend at a minimum a half an hour a day in focused Bible study, a half hour per day in prayer, and a half hour a day to review the Helpful Verses, etc. Yes, I realize that 90 minutes minimum is a lot of time, but think about how much time you waste everyday (probably much more than 90 minutes for most people). What are your priorities, to overcome your degrading addictions or walk in the power of the Holy Spirit? That is the first critical decision you must make once and for all.
You can break it up and do part of it in the morning and part of it in the evening, whatever works best for your schedule. The important thing is that you spend the time praying and studying and reviewing these things every day, and as you do, pray for the strength and wisdom to fully implement these things and achieve victory each day. If your plan includes a mentor or accountability partner, that is great. Be sure to add that to your schedule.
I recommend including in your list of things that you are typing up and printing out this plan and schedule detailing what you plan to do and when you plan to do it. Never mind that your initial estimates may be unrealistic, never mind that you may want to change it later, never mind that you are not 100% certain of what and when and how. That is okay. The important thing is that you give it your best shot and type something up that you can refer to and shoot for and adjust as you go. Keep these documents evergreen, and feel free to change things later as you need to. BUT GET STARTED!!!
More on implementation tomorrow.