MENTAL DIET: How To Cultivate God First Habit (Part 2)
The habit of your time alone with God is the most valuable use of your time in the course of your life, which makes you live a worthwhile life on earth.
“And He said to them, Be careful of what you are hearing. The measure (of thought and study) you give (to the truth you hear) will be the measure (of virtue and knowledge) that comes back to you – and more (besides) will be given to you who hear.
-JESUS CHRIST.
THE HABIT OF GIVING GOD FIRST PLACE IN YOUR LIFE
“Without God, life becomes a meaningless ordeal, but with God, life is a meaningful ideal”.
-UDEME ARCHIBONG
Commit your ways to God, and good will find its way to you. Acknowledge God in all your ways, and you will act in the knowledge of the good. Good habits are formed and bad habits are broken when you give God first place in your life, for He will empower you to replace bad habits with good ones.
You will never live a life of significance until you recognize and understand the significance of spending time daily alone in the place of prayer, and the study and meditation of God’s Word or Scriptures.
When your spirituality becomes weak, everything else in your life becomes weakened and bad or negative habits keep you in bondage. It is important to note that being religious is not the same as being spiritual. To be spiritual is to be controlled and be responsive to God’s Spirit as your way of life.
To be religious is trying to “act right”; to be spiritual is being right, which leads to living right; and that is a whole world of difference. To be religious is conforming to outward rules and regulations, but to be spiritual is conforming daily to the image of Jesus, and that is a whole world of difference.
The proof and measure of your spirituality is in your love-walk – unconditional love towards others and faith- faith in the omnipotence of God, which produces faith in self; faith in your life’s purpose and faith in people.
In other words, you are making spiritual progress when you function from the state of unconditional love and faith. Therefore, daily growing in unconditional love and faith is making spiritual progress, which affects the outcome of your entire life.
God is the Source of all good, and when we become vitally connected with Him, our lives become filled with good, and goodness flows through us to others. Never live independently of God, talk to Him as you would to a loving father and friend (prayer is about talking to God and listening to Him), and invite Him to help you in your daily decision-making and endeavors.
Listen to Him speak to your heart in the still small voice within and obey its promptings. Never depend on your own knowledge and understanding, but rather rely on His guidance, wisdom, and ability within you. Begin the day with God, and you will begin the day right.
Good intentions without corresponding actions do not make for the initiation and retention of good habits. When you ignore God, you ignite an ignoble way of life. Until you structure your spiritual growth, your life will be structured to fail. When we become addicted to God, we become addicted to good habits.
THE HABIT OF MEDITATING ON SCRIPTURES
The habit of giving God first place in your life will never be possible until God’s Word becomes your number-one priority in life. To know God, you must know His Word. God’s Word reveals who God is, His character, and His will. God’s Word reveals His plans and purposes for our lives and how we can live them out; God’s Word reveals to us our true identity. The Scripture is all-encompassing; it deals with the past, the present, the future, and eternity.
The Bible is the Master Blueprint of living an extraordinary life. It is not a religious book, but rather it is a book filled with Truths and Superior Wisdom for living an extraordinary life. The Bible is a spiritual book, and yet it could be practically applied to everyday living. It is the book when read, studied, understood, and lived out or applied, gives life, sound character, sound health, superior wisdom, prosperity, peace of mind, victories, harmony, and fulfilling human relationships.
It is not just the mere knowledge of the Scriptures that changes lives, but rather it is when you conceive the truths embedded in it, in your heart through the process of meditation is that changes occur within you that create the manifestation of the changes in your behavior and circumstance.
Study the Bible both the content and in context; study it to know God for yourself; study it with an open mind and reprogram your belief system with its truths. Study, meditate, and confess God’s Word (Scriptures) daily and conform your life to it as if your life depended on it because it does. Study the scriptures and let your prayers be based on it.
Study the Scriptures to do God’s will on earth, and you will live an extraordinary life and leave an extraordinary legacy. The Scriptures are the soul’s food for our spiritual growth and earthly relevance and also secure the life hereafter.
“The Lord works from the inside out.
The world works from the outside in.
The world takes people out of the slums.
Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.
The world would mold men by changing their environment.
Christ changes men, who then change their environment.
The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature”.
-EZRA TAFT BENSON.
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