Day 17
Here are the next 3 verses to pray over for 20 minutes:
Proverbs 23:31 ESV Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
Romans 13:4 ESV For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
Proverbs 8:13 ESV The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
Quitting probably takes longer than you think. Forming new habits probably takes longer than you think. It takes 66 days on average to form a new habit. Some people are so obsessed with quitting and with new habits, so they think about forming new habits “All the time.” That leads to more rapid success. Others who are completely determined to quit still struggle after 126 days. Let’s look at 3 people who are trying to quit. To start, they are each using 3 techniques. #1 Daily Bible reading. #2 Learning the habit of turning from tempting thoughts. #3 Learning new activities to replace the high-risk activities that caused them to fall so easily.
Mike
Mike has signed up for a “Through the Bible in a year app. To inspire himself to do it every day he has memorized the verse: “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I should not sin against thee.”Mike has printed out many turn from temptation articles.” He spends 5-15 minutes per day studying them, and he puts them on his lap when he watches TV, or is in any tempting situation at home. He says 5 times per day: “I will work on this habit every day. I will form this habit even if it takes “All year.” Mike has a list of 7 activities that he will go to instead of doing high-risk activities that he used to do. He says 3 times per day: I will do my best to enjoy this new activity, but it is not for fun. I am doing this activity so that I will quit. I will praise the Lord while doing these new activities. I commit to doing things God’s way.
Lisa
Lisa has decided to read a chapter in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament daily. She has a time and a place where she will read. Lisa has memorized 3 prayers from turn from tempting thoughts articles. She has set an alarm on her phone for every 30 minutes. With each alarm, she prays one of the prayers. Lisa has a list of 5 activities to do to replace high-risk activities. She has them listed in her phone so that she can access them immediately.
Ralph
Ralph is totally determined to quit. He says quitting prayers constantly all day long. But he loses a lot of momentum when he slips up the next day. Next Ralph tries reading a chapter of the New Testament the next day. But, he is a bit discouraged when temptation overwhelms him again. Finally, Ralph tries sports as activities to replace high-risk activities. But it is the same old story.
What I failed to mention earlier is… Mike, and Lisa also fell after one day. They are both completely addicted, and they have multiple other problems in life. But both of them went back to their new habits after falling. Mike says: I am going to do these new habits all year. I don’t care if it kills me.
Lisa says: I am going to plan even more, and set even more alarms in my phone. I will keep trying no matter what. Finally, both Mike and Lisa are doing some smart things. I like their odds. Ralph is bouncing from one miracle quitting technique to another. He is very confused and frustrated because nothing he tries ever seems to help.
6 months later Mike is 62 days free and Lisa is 19 days clean. Even more importantly, both are starting to understand that God’s ways are best. They are more motivated than ever to do things His way. They have finally established some new habits, and the new habits are starting to help.
Finally, complete all the daily steps listed on day one.
