timcia

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.

Day 15

Here are the next 3 verses to pray over for 20 minutes:

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Proverbs 1:7 ESV The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Isaiah 5:22 ESV Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

Consider working often to have control over your phone and devices. Sin is like an old horror movie. Some small vapor comes out of something and it gets bigger, and bigger, and more powerful as every moment goes by. Next thing you know it is killing everyone. That is exactly what the Bible says about sin. It leads to death.
What does “death” mean in regards to our phones/TV’s, and devices?”
Wrong looking leads to wrong thoughts which warps and starts to kill our ability to love. #1 To love God. #2 To love others. We must kill our love for sin, or sin will kill our love for God.
Second, bad thoughts kill our peace. When I was trapped in sin I hated going to bed. In bed, I fully remembered what a mess I had made of my life. In bed, I realized that I had put up a wall a mile high between me and God. In bed, I was frustrated and unhappy with my life… I knew I was going done a dark, bad path.
Third, bad actions kill our gentleness. I just thought, “I am a tough guy.” I was harsh, forceful, and uncaring. In the midst of bad habits, I did not care about anyone or anything. God wants pretty much the opposite of that.
Fourth, wrong looking and thoughts stop goodness. How is it that such a low percentage of churchgoers try to find their purpose so that they will help others? Because, they are staring at satans temptations on their phones constantly. That action stops goodness, and promotes bad habits. Consider praying:
“Father, help me to turn instantly from lust.”
“Father, help me to turn instantly from thoughts of _____.”
I have declared World War III on thoughts of ______(Place your main habit in the blank).
When a bad thought/image hits I might say:
#1 “No, then I say, Praise the Lord.”
#2 “Father, help me to turn from ___.” I often pray this in advance if I am watching TV.
#3 Should I be doing this activity, should I be doing a healthier activity.
#4 This will lead to destruction. It is time to run from it.
Fifth, bad thoughts/looking kills our ability to have temperance. Every time you do one of the above 4 things when a wrong image or thought hits, you build temperance. Every time you sit and stare at the image, or sit and think about the bad thought, temperance weakens.
Sixth, sin leads to sin. Fight all sin and declare WW III on your main habit.
Finally, consider putting a list of what sin kills, into your phone. Then look at that list every time you look at the wrong thing, or think about the wrong thing.

Finally, complete all the daily steps listed on day one.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by timcia.

Day 13

Here are the next 3 verses to pray over for 20 minutes:

Romans 13:12-14 ESV The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
1 Peter 5:8 ESV Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

James 4:6-11 ESV But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

I know someone who allowed sin to linger in their life. When it lingers it often gets worse. In this case, the poor guy is now up on most serious charges.

The wages of sin are emptiness, confusion, slavery, and destruction of emotions. The definition of death means separation. The more I sin, the more I feel separated from God. The more I sin, the farther I am from joy. The more I sin, the more messed up my life is.

2 Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”

If we are entangled again the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. Double ouch.

Today, consider spending a large amount of time praying about the consequences of lingering sin. Pray about what partially dies for you, what begins to die, what emptiness feels like, and whether you lose control of some of your emotions, lose some of your light, and lose some of your joy.

1 John 3:6 ESV No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”

Consider memorizing this verse. None of us understands the seriousness of sin. Verses like this one help us to understand it better. Verses like this one inspire us to learn habits we need to learn to quit.

Third, spend time on the quitting articles that are key for you. That is the first step in stopping sin from lingering in your life.

Finally, complete all the daily steps listed on day one.

Day 11
Here are the next 3 verses to pray over for 20 minutes:
Isaiah 5:22-23 ESV / 88 helpful votes 
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!
Matthew 24:48-51 ESV But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Habakkuk 2:5 ESV “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.”
Psalms 1 says “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

If you are straining to do everything in this program every day, you are doing almost exactly what this chapter in Psalms says to do. Many who started this program don’t love these verses. But those who are pushing hard are starting to prove that their “Delight is in the law of the Lord.” If you are praying over these verses you are meditating on His law. Okay, I am not quite up to meditating on the law day and day, but… at least I am meditating on His law in the areas where I have bad habits.

Verse 3. Life is supposed to be what verse 3 says. But TV preachers never tell us that verse 3 is conditional. We need to be fulfilling “all” of the conditions in verses 1, and 2.

Do we have the right to ask God that our lives become like verse 3 says if we consistently do all of the steps of the 21-day program? But… what if you do that plus doing everything in verses 1 and 2? Then the answer is of course yes.

But, we are all experts at taking shortcuts and then expecting the promises to come true. We are experts at fighting sin for an hour, day, or week and hoping that life will be like in the promised land.

Instead, it is wise to make a “permanent commitment” to fighting sin, and doing God’s will to the end, obeying verse 1 & 2.

When we do that… our lives will be like verse 3 sooner or later.

Key point: It is hard to do. Believe that you can be blessed if you do what the scripture says. But for most of us, it is a massive fight. For most of us, the blessings happen a lot later than we would hope. But for those who have a full commitment, it will happen.

Key point # 2: Keep fighting.

Finally, complete all the daily steps listed on day one.

Day 9
Here are the next 3 verses to pray over for 20 minutes:
Daniel 1:8 ESV But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
Ecclesiastes 10:17 ESV Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
Proverbs 23:31-32 ESV Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.

Why do all of these daily steps? When we are quitting with a short-term goal like, “30 days,” we may be able to motivate ourselves with simple goals like avoiding destruction as well as other things. But, if we want to quit for good we need to have goals that really have teeth. Goals like having joy and purpose. I linked these two goals together because they go together. Biblical Paul had fullness of joy (10 out of 10) in large part because he had fullness of purpose.

This is challenging because finding purpose is sometimes tough. But the good news is that step one to finding purpose is making a commitment to finding purpose. Step two to finding purpose is to go to war with sins that are keeping us from finding our purpose. Therefore, when we go to war with drinking/drugs along with a commitment to purpose we will start to see glimpses of this joy as we start to progress.

Then we focus on these glimpses of joy and ask ourselves: Would fullness of joy be even greater?

Years ago I would read about Biblical joy and I rarely experienced any of it. Now that I am going to war against sin and seeking purpose, I have a lot of joy. My life is way better now.

Consider setting (and praying about) a goal of joy and purpose. It is a huge key to quitting.

Finally, complete all the daily steps listed on day one.