August 4
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)
So what are some specific things that we can do to develop lasting discipline in our lives, lasting change in the core of our being, that will help keep us from sin the rest of our lives?
I wish I had a simple formula, and maybe there is one which I haven’t come across yet. But one thing comes to mind that is essential for victory and is something I believe is a gift from God, something that many of us (all of us, perhaps?) don’t naturally have. That one thing is DESIRE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. The question we all ought to ask is, “Where are my desires? What desires are stronger in my life: my desires for righteousness, or my desires to satisfy my sinful passions?” Whichever desires dominate my heart and mind at a given time, I will go in that direction. The goal is for my desire for righteousness to dominate and override my desire for sin all day long, especially every time I am tempted.
So how do I develop and maintain a consistent desire for holiness? Well, like I said, I think that this is not from us, and it is not something we can generate on our own, it is a gift from God. A hunger and thirst for righteousness is not something our flesh will ever put forward, only our regenerated spirit. The person who is motivated to be like Christ and all fired up about it, with a holy disgust for sin and a hatred of it, I believe all of those things are gifts from God. They certainly didn’t come from the natural man. Our old nature is all fired up about the opposite things, the passing pleasures of sin!
For the majority of us who don’t seem to have that “fire in the belly” so to speak to pursue God and His holiness all the time, those of us who find the allure of sin appealing and very distracting, those of us who are “double-minded” and find ourselves yo-yoing back and forth between a love for the Lord and a love for fleshly indulgences, we need to ask Him for this desire for holiness and keep asking Him for it. We need to ask Him for it every single day and every time we find ourselves drawn toward sin. We need a consistent “hunger and thirst for righteousness” that will dominate and override every desire of the flesh, and He needs to put this in us. My first recommendation, then, for those who want to overcome sin but can’t seem to see their way forward, is to make it a habit to pray daily, better, throughout the day, for a hunger and thirst for righteousness, an unquenchable desire for holiness and victory over sin.
Take this one thing, and write it out on a card. Write out Jesus’ words above on that card, and keep it with you, keep it in front of you and close by you, in a place where you will see it often, and every time you see it, pray for godly desires, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, an unquenchable, burning desire to overcome all sins in your life. Make a point to pray for it multiple times a day for at least 40 days, or better, a solid two months.
Every time you feel tempted, pray for a great desire for holiness. The goal is to make this a habit, a reflex, a deeply ingrained mental state that will continue for years to come. After the 40 days are over make sure you keep this focus by having some other reminder near you, such as a daily prayer list that has a hunger and thirst for righteousness as one of the items. Pray for this desire, that it would permeate your thinking for the rest of your life. Ask and keep on asking. The more you ask, the more you make it a habit to seek this and ask for it, the more He will produce it in your life. What a transforming miracle would take place in our lives if our deepest desire, one we sought from the Lord continually, was for holiness!
Tomorrow we will explore other ways we can experience step change improvements in our discipline and diligence in overcoming temptation.