Prayer and Bad Habits

Prayer and Bad Habits


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• Matthew 14:23 NIV

  After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
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  Jesus prayed and prayed often and we would do well to follow His example.  Prayer is our communication with God and Jesus, a mighty tool to help us in our daily lives, and a gift of God.  Best of all, in our prayers we further build our relationship with Him.
  
  
  Jesus being Jesus did not have any bad habits.  But, if He did, He would have prayed about them.
  
  
  We form habits in much of what we do.  The way we get up most mornings, our rituals for getting ready for bed, and in about everything we do, we seek to form habits and for good reason.  Habits makes it easy to get things done as we can do the everyday mundane things without having to think about them too much.  This forming of habits should also involve our devotional and prayer life as well.  Not that prayers should just be habitual, but doing things including Bible Study and prayer on a regular basis helps us to organize our time, insures consistency in what we do, and demonstrates what is important in our lives.
  
  
  But, in many of our habits there is a problem.  We form habits that are not good for us leading us to thoughts, things, and behaviors we should not do.  Some habits become sinful when the habits interfere with our relationship with God.  Our problem is our humanity.  
  
  In our humanity, we come to do things we like to do even knowing they are not good for us.  We keep telling ourselves "I have to kick these habits," but because we like the results of the habits we know many times we cannot 'kick it' by or through ourselves.  We have to have help.  Here is one suggestion if you are serious about purging or getting rid of a bad habit and especially a sinful habit.  This especially helps other avenues, even professional avenues we use to break bad habits.
  
  
  

  We must trust that God never asks more of us 

  than what we can do for ourselves 

  in conjunction of what He can do with and for us.
  
  
  Therefore, simply pray for the Holy Spirit to help you kick the bad and sinful habits. In all avenues of life add this to your processes.  If you are sincere in desiring to give up a habit and you pray daily for that habit to be removed, it will be done. In seeking to give up a habit: EVERY time thoughts, ideas, or the temptation of those habits come to your mind, IMMEDIATELY and without fail sincerely pray diligently for God through the Holy Spirit to remove them. In our greatest weaknesses, the Holy Spirit will lead us to our absolute strength. In addition, remember, Jesus set another example for Spiritual behavior in his desert temptations.  It is not recorded He prayed but in the stress of the devil on Him, He immediately quoted scripture (see Matthew 4)!
  
   Even in our habits and especially in our sinful habits honest authentic prayer helps us and works and for  two reasons.  First, just as good parents like to help their children, God wants to help us and it is through the Holy Spirit His help often comes.  Second,  it is hard if not impossible for us to be involved in sorry habits when we are focused in prayerful desire for those habits to be gone.  Our minds simply cannot do both- thankfully.  
  
  
  Pray often, everyday, especially where ever you find yourself with those bad habits creeping in. Even pray when you are driving, just do not close your eyes!  If something comes on the television that leads to sinful thoughts, turn off the tv and pray; if necessary, leave the room.  If you have things or objects that lead you to desire bad habits, pray and get rid of them.  But, above all, when thoughts we should not have, or these bad habits comes to mind or enter our lives, pray and pray and pray for them to be gone.  Again, use professional help if necessary, but add this to the process.  If prayer does not seem to be working, pray harder, more often, and be patient, but pray.
  
  
  One of the great consequences of this diligent praying is the significant results.  When we put forth the effort, a true righteous effort, and do not give up, results will come.  It is truly startling to one day realize, "Hey, I have not had thoughts in over a week of that bad habit I once loved to hate."  Then, thank God, feel great about answered prayer, and pray for the absence of sorry habitual thoughts and behaviors to be continued.
  
  
  When we see our prayers answered, our trust in God is magnified and we pray more often and most earnestly for our needs to be met.  In that, like a loving parent, God is most pleased with us.

Praying- it works.

Thanks Be to God
© lonnie coggins


                             

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Publication  0168