Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2.
It is very easy for you to get into a bad habit. There are certain things you do now that you promised yourself was only going to happen once. The body we inhabit is of the earth. That means that it is attracted to the physical things of the world and not the spiritual things of God.
Your body longs for the day it can return to the earth from which it comes. Your senses are designed to react positively to this earth’s good and glittery things. This is what causes you to sin and feel no remorse for it.
When men lived in the flesh, they didn’t have any sympathy for their fellow men. They went about their wicked ways and caused God to be angry all the time. Whenever they encountered the riches of the world, they neglected the word of God and did wicked things.
When Christ came, he took upon himself the form of flesh and was crucified for our sins. When he was resurrected in three days, the new man was born. This was a man born of the spirit.
Anyone who believed in Christ and confessed his deeds was also born again with the new spirit which is called the Holy Spirit. This spirit was left here on earth to intercede for you, guide you, protect you, strengthen you, and help you live in a way that will please your spiritual father in heaven.
The difference between the flesh and the spirit is that the spirit lives forever even after the body returns to the soil. This is the basis for the main text today. It is up to you to reject the old ways and be renewed by the new spirit so that you can live in a way that will please God.
10 bad habits that can destroy your life
Negative speech
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
(Ephesians 4:29)
The things that come out of your mouth are things that have been mauled over and digested by the mind. God spoke most of the creation into being and he has imparted his spirit into you. That means that anything you say has the power to create or destroy. This is why you must abandon the habit of always saying negative things concerning your life.
The things you say today may be your reality tomorrow because you are no ordinary being. Speak blessings unto your life and your future will take the shape of your fulfilling words today.
Always playing the victim
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
(Hebrews 6:10).
If you have a habit of always playing the victim role, please stop it now. Do not always anticipate being the one who will be hurt, abandoned, or betrayed in the end. When you do that, it makes you paranoid enough to believe that everyone is against you.
Do not look for reward amongst people but rather do good deeds in the name of the Lord. Do not expect your kindness to be reciprocated but rather lean on God for all your rewards. When you do good deeds unto others, you really do it for God.
Remember that God works through humans because he is spirit. Your good deeds simply mean that God is using you to answer another person’s prayer. There are much more blessings in that from God than anything the person can do for you. Do not always look for an excuse to be disappointed in people but rather be happy that you were there for them and you shall be rewarded by God himself.
Substance Abuse
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
(Titus 2:11-12)
If your body has been enslaved by a substance abuse habit now is the time to break it. Your spirit will never be free to fulfill God’s plans for your life if you don’t have self-control.
Addiction is the devil’s way of trapping your body in a sequence that makes you feel unworthy of God’s love. Addiction causes you to doubt your own abilities and strengths as a child of God. You have been given the power of the Holy Ghost to bind and lose any demonic hold on you.
Today is the day to renounce that earthly passion that keeps swaying you away from godliness. You are stronger than you think because the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead is amongst the living lives inside you. Use it to free yourself from the shackles of addiction so that you can move on with your life and be happy.
Lacking discipline
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
If you find yourself mingling with the caliber of people mentioned in the text, then you lack self-control. The habits mentioned will make you stray away from God and the ways of the Holy Spirit. Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the impure things in the palace because he wanted his spirit to be clean.
It is not godly to mingle with such evil things because it does not set you apart. It puts you in with the crowd and gives you an unclean spirit as well. When adversity came Daniel’s way, the Lord was able to deliver him of it because he saw him distinctly from the evil that surrounded him.
Set yourself apart from the chaff if you do not want to be burned with the trash. Abandon these bad habits so the Lord can take you as high as he wants to.
Carnal thinking
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned
(1 Corinthians 2:14).
Your progress in life will depend on whether you strengthen your spirituality or physicality. Since you have been saved by the spirit of God, you must live in the spirit and abandon carnality.
There are those who read the bible as if they are reading fables. These people are unable to understand the true interpretation of God’s messages to his people and end up questioning and doubting every other thing in the Bible.
Carnality is of the devil. It encourages you to abandon the Holy Spirit and only believe in the physically seen and proven. Living in the flesh denies the existence of God since he is spirit. Stop living in the flesh and meditate on God’s word through prayer and adoration. This is how you can fully experience God’s wisdom and direction for a happy life on earth and in heaven.
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Always pleasing the flesh
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
(Romans 7:18).
Paul tries to differentiate the yearnings of the flesh and the yearnings of the spirit. There is a willingness to do good by the flesh but in the end, the good doesn’t get done. The Holy Spirit is the medium through which you can overcome the flesh and do good deeds anyway.
Before you can truly forgive, you must allow your flesh to forget all the pains and sufferings it went through at the hands of your tormentor and that is almost impossible to do since the flesh naturally remembers every pain.
Without the spirit in you teaching and guiding you about how to let go, you will always be bitter and never let things go. It is nice and satisfying to please the flesh but the end is always disastrous. The ways of the spirit are gentle and pleasing unto the Lord and its end is always gracious and victorious.
Covetousness
Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.
(Luke 12:15).
Your life does not consist of your possessions. That is why you shouldn’t allow greed to rule it. Your possessions on earth are your body and spirit. Everything else you acquire will be lost in death. It is very easy to follow the possessions of this world and neglect your spiritual growth.
Being jealous of what others have and coveting them is a habit that will not make you grow in spirit and happiness. Do not forget that wealth has no limit and if you spend your life chasing it, you will never get to where you want to be because someone will always have more than you.
When your heart focuses on earthly possessions, it is never satisfied. It will always envy what your neighbor has because it is better than yours. This will cause you to do whatever it takes to get it and there will be no end to your selfish greed.
Remember that the body must perish sometime though and your deeds will determine where your spirit ends up after death. So focus on what God has given you and be content with it so you can find true happiness.
Low self-esteem
I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
(1 Corinthians 2:3-5).
Imagine what it was like for Paul to come back to the Christians after persecuting and torturing them for ages. However, through his weakness and trembling, he mustered up the courage to spread the message of God because he knew that they were not his own words.
When God is in control of your destiny, there is no need to fear. There are some people who look at the size of the task ahead and start devaluing themselves. You should know that the Lord who has called you to this mission will accomplish his good work in you.
Do not dwell on your own words or understanding but let the wisdom and direction of God be your light and direction. David did not look at his size before facing Goliath because in his spirit he felt like ten times the giant Goliath was because the Lord was in him. Be the David to your Goliath problems and never look down on yourself.
Listening to words of fear
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.
(John 1:9).
Stop the habit of letting fear into your heart. Do not dwell on fearful thoughts that cause you to tremble. Meditate on the words of the Lord so you can be strong and courageous.
Fear destroys strength and causes you to fail. It doesn’t matter the size of the task ahead, do not let anyone convince you that it is impossible. Do not be fearful. Be courageous and avoid the company that causes you to doubt the power of the Lord. Destroy the habit of fear and let the Lord fight for you.
Lack of contentment
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it
(1 Timothy 6:6-7)
If you are never satisfied with what you have, you can never be happy in life. The Lord knows all that is good for you and he will not forsake you. Do not look at what others have and think little of your own. Though your beginnings may be small, the Lord will glorify himself in your life in the long run. Always look at what you have and look to develop it.
God has given everyone a gift and he expects us to increase those gifts to his glory. Look at what is in your hand and grow that. Do not go after another person’s talents but be content with what the Lord has given you and let him guide you.
