Dealing With Your Personal Giants II – Overcoming Bad Habits

WHAT ARE HABITS

• Habits are many and they form part of our lives. They can be good, and they can be bad but keeping the good habits is more challenging than breaking off from the bad ones. Habits are growths that we feed by ourselves. They are personal giants we took our time to raise and nurture.
• They can even be things that are so uniquely peculiar like Cell phone addiction. Listening to side talks, gossiping, never finishing projects, Nail-biting, Shopping as entertainment Cluttering, Self-criticizing, watching too much television, driving too fast, eating late, talking too much, dirtiness, looking unkempt, sleeping too much, over-eating, gisting, phonography, sexting, whatsapping, facebooking, instagramming, shouting, masturbation etc.
• Do you like to dominate others? Anywhere You are, if you are not in charge, you lose interest.
• It is a bad habit. If you are emotionally unstable, sometimes you get mad and angry and later you now cool down and people would wonder. if you were not the person who got angry and flamed up just now and would be surprised. So, when you are approaching people they never can tell whether you are coming to shake their hands or slap them. It is a very bad habit.
• Some people may do terrible things and later go back to be broken. As Christians they repent over and over again over the same issue. Some people also have very deep problems with lust and they are easily tempted, they frequently get into temptation and later put up a bold face.

PRINICIPLES OF DEALING WITH THE GIANT OF BAD HABIT.

• Principle of Sincerity and Genuine Repentance and Crying Out for Help.
  
  Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. This is the first road to help. Admittance, brokenness, repentance. From this above scripture we could se sincerity, openness, readiness, and willingness to be helped. He cried. No man can help an unbroken person. Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Those who cover up will be consumed. Proverbs 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? There are things you cannot harbour. It will burn you up. Bad habit is a fire in the bosom. Stop hiding fire in your bosom. Spill it out. Come out for help before it destroys you. Matthew 14:30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. Peter cried out. There are things you need to cry out for. You need to reach out for help. Be sincere, be humble enough, admit that you need help. 

• Understand all habits are breakable.
  Genesis 27:40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. Have you ever broken a plate before? How easy it is to break one. That is how habits are. They are breakables. Don’t ever think that the habit in your life cannot break. Don’t ever have this notion you are bound with this thing for Life. Don’t ever believe that you shall be slave to the Midianites for life. Understand that everything that has the breadth of life can die. So also, habits have breath, they are living in us, and they can die. All yokes are breakable all eggs are breakable. You can break from that addiction.

• Understand God desires your freedom than you envisage.
  Matthew 14:30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? There is an Immediate JESUS who is ever present when we reach out for help. The more you drop to your lowest ebb, that’s when he much more willing. Don’t stay in the dredge of your addictions, don’t think he is not with you in that mire to bring you out. Peter was sinking so low yet the master stretched out his hand. Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should nothave compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Ezekiel 13:21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. God is more than willing to help us.

• Principle of Self Recognition.
  Judges 6:11 And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. Gideon was hiding to survive but God was looking at him as a mighty man of valour. Understand you have the strength. Many people believes that the giants is stronger than them and has actually ruled them for years. This is a mind problem. Goliath worked on the mind and mentality of the armies of Israel. He made them to believe that they are nothing and they will be defeated. He boasted of His power and might, his “almightiness”. I Sam 17: 23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. 42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. No doubt this how our habits have looked on us and we acted like the armies of Israel in verse 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. That is what we have been doing all these years running away from our giants. STOP! And face your giant. Face that habit. Have the confidence and boldness of David that the uncircumcised philistine called addiction, lust, phonography, sexual sins, will not end your life and send you out of Gods purpose for your life. David had an inner confidence to overcome. The First principle is the principle of self-recognition and self-worth.

• Principle of Listing.
  Make a list of all the habits you want to make and all the ones you want to break.

• Principle of Isolation:
  I Kings 2:1 - End: Solomon had enemies that will not allow him to reigh effectively. This goes for bad habits. They don’t allow us to reign in Christ. But Solomon tactically isolated each enemy and dealt with them one after the other. The way to victory starts by isolating each habit and dealing with the in succession. If you focus—one at a time—on those you want to break, eventually you will conquer them all. But if you look at them all at once you will probably feel overwhelmed and be defeated before you ever begin. Working toward a change is much easier if we take one thing, one day at a time, and stick with it until we experience breakthrough. Don’t ever be discouraged with yourself because you have not arrived at success, but instead be pleased that you are pressing toward it.