Healthy Habits of a Blessed Believer
It is easy to become a Christian in our world.
No persecution, no pressure.
The enemy is not as concerned with people becoming Christians as with them letting it become real in their lives and leading to a full life of discipleship.
The enemy would rather we conform to the pattern of this world.
Paul calls us to do something different:
Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The call to discipleship is not a feel good message that will make us feel all warm and fuzzy.
Jesus’ call to discipleship was clear:
Deny yourself
Take up your cross
Follow me
You cannot put yourself in a position to see God work in ways that are immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine if you are not doing those things Christ called you to do.
It is easier to conform to the pattern of 2015 Christianity.
Healthy Habits of Blessed Believers
What are the healthy habits of blessed believers that will put us in the center of God’s will?
1. Prayer
Prayer needs to be an unceasing part of our lives.
PRAYER = MARRIAGE COMMUNICATION.
What if we communicated with our spouses the same we communicated with God?
Would our marriages be strong or dying due to lack of communication?
The Lords’ prayer
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray NOT how to pray. (Luke 11:1)
They wanted to have the real kind of prayer life Jesus had with the Father.
This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, PRAISE
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. SEEKING HIS WILL, NOT OURS
Give us today our daily bread. ACKNOWLEDGING GOD AS PROVIDER
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. SEEKING FORGIVENESS AND STRENGTH TO FORGIVE
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from the evil one PROTECTION FROM THE EVIL ONE
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO FORGIVE OTHERS THEN WHY EVEN BOTHER TO SEEK GOD’S BLESSING THROUGH PRAYER?
2. Giving
Oh no, the preacher is going to start talking about money!
Malachi 3:8-10
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
2 Corinthians 9:7
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
God owns it all- it all belongs to him.
“I will wait until I make a little more money, then start giving more.”
Tithing or not tithing has very little to do with amounts of income and expenses. It has more to do with the heart and obedience and recognition that everything belongs to God.
I cannot imagine the scene that mostly likely plays out in the life of many Christians every week.
Sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon
On a very comfortable couch
Heated nice and warm
No shoes, toes comforted by nice carpet
Watching the football game on a flat screen
Signal provided by a fancy satellite
Eating junk food
Living the American dream
Just an hour earlier was at church and chunked in a $20 bill in the offering plate.
I could not do that and not feel like I was robbing God.
God has blessed my family abundantly more than I could have ever imagined.
All I have is his. He doesn’t ask for it all…
3. Bible Study
Christian illiteracy is sadly at an all time high.
Do we spend more time watching television, surfing the web, entertaining ourselves than we do in God's Word?
Daily time in the Word.
10 Minutes a Day
Why?
Helps to know Jesus better.
Makes us wise.
Feeds our souls
Helps us avoid sin.
Draws us closer to God.
Makes us a stronger soldier for Christ.
Gives us an anchor for difficult times.
4. Outreach
God makes us part of something bigger than ourselves.
Local outreach:
Community
Family
Friends
World outreach
Mission Trips
Prayer for nations
Supporting missions
5. Love Jesus
What motivated Jesus? LOVE
Our love for Jesus should be the motivating force for everything we do.
And now these three remain- faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love.
Are these things in your life? Are they such a part of your life that they would almost be considered habits or natural?
There is nothing more important in your life than your relationship with Jesus Christ!
