There is no such thing as a quick fix or a magic formula. It Takes real commitment to create a positive transformation. The majority of people attending conferences around the world see no improvement in their lives. Some of that is because the content of ministry is poor. Mostly though, people do not take time to implement what they learn.
Good discipleship will lay proper foundations for focus and commitment and then build on it by handling specific issues. The reason most people fail in their focus is because they are used to passivity and procrastination.
The Enemy loves passive believers. They are compliant, never a threat, mostly resigned, and easily persuaded to inactivity.
Majesty breaks passivity because it opens people up to all the claims of sovereignty. When we understand and receive God’s supremacy as a fact, then our experience produces assertiveness. Faith is active; unbelief is passive. If we are not engaged, we do not believe.
Life is about choices and how we respond to situations. Bad choices promote disaster; good choices increase our blessing and favor. Our everyday preferences determine abundance or poverty. Good, consistent choices lay the foundations for good habits to emerge that will enhance our long-term future.
A consistent lifestyle is founded on values and principles that guide our internal and external behaviors. It is important that we identify how habits really work, both for and against us. Check out unproductive habits and develop a framework to produce successful practices. Focus on what works, not on what doesn’t?
A habit is something that we do so often that it becomes easy! It is a behavior that we keep repeating until it becomes automatic, like driving a car. At the outset, we wonder if we will ever master everything without killing somebody. A few years later, the practice is so ingrained that it is become second nature.
The Holy Spirit is astonishing in his ability to empower us to do the opposite to what troubles us. Empowerment is a choice. So is disempowerment. We all have beliefs about ourselves that need to change:
We disempower ourselves when we say-I’m not good at prayer. I don’t ever feel God. I’m not creative. God will not meet me. I can’t speak publicly. I’m too nervous, too fearful. I could never do that. I’m not worthy of being loved.
Disempowerment is always concerned with our perceived or actual performance. Some people cannot see themselves doing something, so they don’t try. Other people fail, but don’t learn.
Empowerment is rooted in God’s nature. I can do all things in Christ who strengthens (empowers) me – Philippians 4: 13. If we build our devotional time on who God is in himself and on who he wants to be for us, then his strength comes into our weakness automatically. We are fully empowered by focusing on who he is for us. He consistently empowers us to become. As we behold him, we become like him.
The Holy Spirit is fabulous at reframing our thoughts and reprogramming our behaviors. In reframing, he adjusts our perceptions and thoughts about ourselves, life, and circumstances. When our language is adjusted, we think better.
I heard a story about a woman who got her dream job. But she had several negative comments about herself. She doubted her ability to compete in this new environment, her capacity to do the job effectively, her experience in management, and her technical prowess in using different products. Her final comment was, I am really fearful of starting work there.
But the question is what if you’re not fearful; what if you’re just apprehensive? Such a high-powered company would not employ underpowered people.
Her perception of herself was disempowering her. God had given her a dream job and was therefore engaged in empowering her to do it! Whose report would she believe?
It’s a version of the Canaan spy syndrome. Twelve Special Forces guys were sent out; only two came back. The other 10 went out as warriors and returned as wimps– Numbers 13. They were so intimidated by what they saw that their perception of themselves was- we became like grasshoppers in our own site.
Joshua and Caleb went out with a sense of God’s majesty and what they saw only increased it! The main issue of our life should always be to please the Lord. If he is pleased with us, he will give us the land. Do not rebel against the Lord; these people will be our prey. Their protection has been removed and God is with us.
God had given this woman her dream job as an empowerment, and she was talking herself out of his provision. It’s normal to be apprehensive in a new and unknown situation. The father, however, has a known quantity of filling in the gap between our current experience giving us a new learning curve!
What if the father is excited about all that he gets to be for you in this new season? Your dream job needs a dream upgrade in your relationship with him. What does that look like? Her posture changed. Her eyes became bright, her voice animated. She began to understand the father’s goodness and all the possibilities it would generate.
She began to be excited at what the father had planned for her. What if you’re not apprehensive, but quietly apprehensive and mostly excited?
She began to understand about the genius of the Holy Spirit and his cheerful exuberance. She smiled and laughed. It is wonderful to rely upon the Holy Spirit.
Her face shone. I can’t wait to start work and believe God, she said.
What if you’re not quietly apprehensive, but faintly nervous and mostly intrigued by what God will be for you? Her eyes twinkled. Okay, I get it! The one who gave me the job will empower me to do the job!
Exactly. That is reframing – subtly altering the picture by using a series of frames to create a new image. As our thoughts become reframed, our behavior can become reprogrammed.
From an anxious, intimidated posture we can become excited and purposeful about depending on the Lord. With a different attitude comes a different approach. The adjustments we make become new habits as the Holy Spirit empowers and enlightens our hearts and lives. We get to keep our breakthroughs and establish ourselves in the goodness and kindness of God. We become consistent with who God is for us.
We make no provision for the flesh – Romans 13; 14 – which can also mean that we do not make allowances for failure or negativity. Failure becomes good as we learn, and horrible if we do not.
Passivity and procrastination are habits of the flesh. We are dabbling at life rather than being engaged with it. Habits determine our quality of life and/or future destiny.
Our identity must be firmly established in that we are in Christ, learning to be Christ like. Successful people do not drift to the top. It takes focus, discipline, and energy – all of which the Lord Jesus has in abundance!
A warrior knows that it is our inner life that is the key to consistency. Learning to be faithful in our small adjustments will empower us to make big changes over a prescribed period. That is what times and seasons are in the Spirit. They are prescribed periods of promise and provision that lead to breakthrough, upgrade, and promotion. In the prescribed period, we have the pleasure of being reframed and reprogrammed in the Spirit – made more Christ like.
In this prescribed period, take time to adjust perception. Warriors will take time to explore and expand their permission and increase their awareness of God.
Whatever we do in a certain way will give us a predictable result – good or bad. The Holy Spirit redeems our routines so that we become accustomed to life at a new level.
When I see certain behaviors (good or poor), my question is the same; what is it that this person is believing about themselves that make them behave this way? If it is not a good behavior, I like to encourage and empower them to see themselves differently. Reshaping personal beliefs is a key discipline tool.
When stress levels rise, people can slip back into old habit patterns. Developing internal rest has been a huge part of my journey. When time, energy, and effort are at a low, we are in stress. Personal rest will enable us to focus on the Holy Spirit so that we can abide in Christ despite circumstances.
More than three quarters of our normal behavior is based on an acquired habit. Our outward behavior is the truth. Our inward perception of our behavior is often an illusion.
Our environment can shape our belief systems and our habits. Warriors are making choices about who they hang out with and are therefore influencing their behavior. People do not have to be bad to influence us negatively. Just having no focus or passion will create a climate of mediocrity if we hang out with a bunch of drifters, we will drift.
Negative environments will produce; low self-esteem, fear, unworthiness, lack of confidence, passivity, procrastination, deception, lack of passion, no vision, and cover up.
A positive environment creates; warmth, energy, supportive relationships, truth, belief, confident expectation, opportunities, a sense of adventure, and willingness to take risks.
The beauty of the Holy Spirit is that he is totally committed to our development. There is always another level to go to! Warriors are rightly concerned with the long-term consequences of unproductive habits.
As a local church, we need to make some key decisions that will define who we want to be as a community of believers. It will be a huge turning point for us as a company of like-minded people.
Usually, our new habit is either the opposite of the one that is not working or an upgrade on one that is doing okay. Start with the benefits and rewards of going to a new level. Create a clear picture of what developing a new/better habit will do for you.
It is best to work towards something rather than away from something. For Israel, getting away from Egypt was clearly their priority rather than moving into Canaan.
Closure is not enough by itself. We must be converted to new habits and behaviors. A rabble of slaves must be converted to a disciplined army that could take territory. Israel never adjusted because they did not understand the conversion process that would develop them into warriors who could receive their inheritance.
There habits did not change; they lost focus and were incapable of possessing the identity required to enter the fight. After the conversion process has achieved its aims, we can be commissioned to enter into our inheritance. Commission produces authority that arises out of an upgraded identity.
Warriors are focused people, centered on Christ and fully alive in the Holy Spirit. They are persistent, consistent, and undeviating in their approach to the father. They are accustomed to fighting and overcoming. They have a passionate disposition and established routines that bless the Lord. They are clear thinkers with distinctive actions that define their spirituality. They are consecrated and concentrated.
Assignment – what are your unproductive habits? Identify your bad habits and ask for feedback from family and friends. How has the enemy rendered you docile, compliant, resigned to life, and resistant of change? How will you and the Holy Spirit counter that and develop new routines?
Commission – what is the Holy Spirit empowering in you? What is your current prescribed period of adjustment? What do you want to be, regardless of circumstances? What do you want to become, regardless of the pressures? Make a power of your life message; decisions that define you, a list of decisions that will define the quality of life you want to cultivate.