THE BEST SPIRITUAL WAY TO FIGHT TEMPTATION

[Gordon 7]

Having passion for God starts with a passion for obeying His commandments.

Satan says: “Doing ______ will be fun.”

He forgets to say that the fun is very short-term. The fun has added destruction. The fun makes God seem like He is a mile away. The fun leads to complete darkness, maybe even to depression.

A passion for God starts with thinking: “I can have fun in a clean way.”

“I can distract myself from my problems in a clean way.”

Psalm 51:Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.”

Write down 2 clean activities that you will choose between next time you are tempted, or the next time life runs you over.

1. ______________

2. ______________

Second, always keep in mind that if the temptation is overwhelming, you need to run to scripture first. Satan is stronger than we are. Once we are in specific scripture about the habit... The Holy Spirit is way stronger than he is.

Third, once you lower temptation's temperature a bit, then run to the clean activities.

Fourth, having a passion for God includes a passion for the great commission. Consider praying:

“Father, keep me from temptation, and help me to care about souls.”

I have prayed to care about souls thousands of times.

Fifth, Psalm 150 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

David was a man filled with passion for God. David had the praise the Lord habit.

Consider working on a habit of praising the Lord 8-15 times daily. I have the habit of praising the Lord for 5-10 minutes straight every morning.

To increase (or show) your passion for God... work on the praise the Lord habit daily.

Sixth, passion for God means doing His will. Consider praying:

“Father, deliver me from evil, and show me Your will.”

Finally, David had great joy when he did these things and lived God's way. When he sinned, his life became rotten. If you want joy, consider printing this out and making habits of the things that made David great and filled with joy.

 

[Gordon 7]

Loving God means that we love what he loves and hate what He hates.

Romans 12:9 ESV Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”​

Consider replacing tempting thoughts with a prayer:

“Father, keep me from temptation, and fill me with Your love.”

Or: “Father, help me to abhor evil.”

Months ago, I wrote an article like this one, and someone said, “I am trying to hate evil, but I just can't hate it.”

Jesus judges us on judgment day. Therefore, we should commit to “Working out our salvation with fear and trembling.” If you have to read the above verse 500 times to remember to learn the habit of hating evil... then consider doing that.

Second, loving God means that we have a Godly sorrow for our sins.

David sinned. The Bible says that after the prophet convicted David of his sin, David said: “I have sinned against the Lord.” They he stayed face down for seven days.

At that instant, David realized that he had offended the One he loved the most.

David was confused, I am confused, and you are probably confused at times as well. But when we realize what we have done, we can then choose to go to great lengths to work to fight back.

If you slip up, consider spending some time on your face before God. Spend a lot of time so that you will learn to love what he loves, and hate what He hates.

Then, consider working on better habits some more.

 

[Gordon 7]

The most important commandment is to “Love God.”

Does ______ (insert your habit in the blank) help you to love God? Consider praying:

“Father, lead me not into temptation, and teach me how to love You.”

Second, satan has a strategy to draw you into your habit.

Consider writing in your quitting notebook the top things that lead to a fall.

1. ________________

2. ________________

3. ________________

Second, we pray to prepare for temptation. Consider praying:

“Father, help me to turn-from-lust.”

“Father, help me to replace tempting thoughts with the prayer – “Help me to increase in love.”

I always say to pray prayers a bunch of times, but this is a prayer we should be praying constantly every day, all year. This is a prayer (prayers) we should be praying repeatedly if you think a tempting situation is about to arise.

Third, think about it. Satan has a great strategy to bring you down. It is therefore wise to have a great strategy to prepare for temptation, and a great strategy to fight temptation.

Romans 7:20Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

Why do I always say to fight temptation with scripture? #1, because that is what Jesus' did as our example. #2, because the sin is “in me.” If I don't pound it out with scripture, it will still be in me.

Acts 3:19 ESV Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.​

John 8:34 ESV Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”​

When temptation overwhelms, consider reading these verses over and over again. It is vital to find verses that will pound that habitout of you.

Finally, find great specific verses. Pound on that sin repeatedly.

Doing that is loving God.

 

[Gordon 7]

Satan tempted Eve with an apple in the Garden of Eden. She gave in to temptation despite probably knowing God as closely as anyone in the history of the world. Why?

Satan is known as the shining one. When Eve talked with him, he almost had a glow on him. When he talked to her, she took in every word meticulously, as if he had something great to offer. He put on a great show then, and he still puts on a great show now.

Satan will fool everyone who is not prepared for his tricks. How to prepare:

1. Pray before and during every situation where you can be tempted:

“Father, help me to run from lust.” Every prayer must be sincere with a strong desire to change.

1. Focus on the fact that he will make a spectacular offer. It will be shiny and beautiful, and it will promise you great fun. Eve should have told satan about the 5 ways her life would be ruined if she ate the apple. We need to tell satan about the 5 ways our life will be ruined if we listen to him.
2. Spend time in prayer every day. Pray about things you want. Pray even more about what God wants. Pray even more over scripture to learn how to do what God wants.
3. Focus on believing God's truth. Satan conned Adam and Eve into doubting. Instead, consider saying: Following God's truth will make my life great.
4. Focus on increasing in righteousness.
5. I try to increase my focus on turning from lust every day.
6. Believe the Bible, study it, meditate on it, and use it as your ultimate weapon to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Never listen for one minute to what satan is telling you. Fight him as aggressively as he fights you.

Last, the more we do these 7 steps, the more we will start to return to the Garden of Eden.

 

[Gordon 7]

Joshua 1 For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Sign me up. How can we have what this verse promises? Do I tell people to pound verses into them to pound out habits randomly? No... let's read the first half of the verse.

8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you[c] shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.”

Does this mean we can pound key verses into ourselves day and night which will lead to being prosperous, and having good success?

That's what the verse promises.

90% of people want to be prosperous and have good success. But how many readers will meditate on these key verses that I write about all the time?

Second, make a habit of reading your Bible daily. If you 100% want to quit, do the Bible in 1 year program. Others choose 1 chapter in the New Testament, and 1 in the Old daily. Others read 1 chapter in the New Testament daily.

Third, satan has a strategy for tempting you constantly. Pounding these key verses into ourselves is a strategy for blasting him away from us.

Fourth, our goal should be to delight ourselves in the law of God. Consider praying:

“Father, help me to delight myself in Your law.”

Do you believe that your life will be better if you do things God's way? I 100% guarantee you that it will.

Fifth, do you still want your habit? Consider praying:

“Father, show me why Your ways are best.”

I can tell you 1000 times, HIS WAYS ARE BEST. But if you still doubt that, consider praying the above prayer 1000 times.

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”​

Sixth, consider pounding this verse into yourself. As you repeat this verse, think about prayers you can pray to increase in righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

But... only do that if you want your way to be prosperous along with good success.

Finally, don't expect a mighty showering of increase because you did things God's way for 7 minutes. The fastest way to get these promises is to commit to doing things God's way for life.

Then, thanking Him when they start to happen on His timetable (they will start to happen).

Start getting some key verses into yourself and see what happens.

 

[Gordon 7]

Can you increase your pleasure with overindulgence in your habit?

A wise man looks at pleasure over the course of a lifetime, a year, or 6 months. With these timetables, the answer is a loud NO, never, not a chance.

Often, over the course of 1 month, or even 10 days, the answer is still no.

Eve traded a lifetime of pleasure for an apple. Why? She wanted it.

We trade great lives away to do what “We want” right now.

Second, after someone reads my articles for 3 months, they might say when tempted:

“If I give in, it will ruin my day, maybe week, maybe month, and I will miss out on purpose and joy.”

If Eve had said 20 times:

“If I do the opposite of what God wants, my pleasures will sharply decrease.”

Doing that may have caused her to scorn the life destroying apple.

Third, people think that running to sin will have different results today.

Eve thought that great things would happen with that bite. Many readers today think:

Nothing will partially die or begin to die for the wages of sin.

If you are correct about that, then... the Bible is lying when it says “The wages of sin is death.”

Fourth, sin keeps us from bearing fruit.

Matthew 3 Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

God is not against sin solely because we are doing wrong. He is against it because it keeps us from purpose and joy. Consider praying:

“Father, help me to go to war with _______, I want to do Your will.”

Fifth, yesterday I had a plan to have better habits. My great plan lasted about 30 minutes. I was so annoyed that my plan failed that I decided to write a bunch of sentences about my goal. Example:

If you want to learn the habit of running to scripture when tempted, consider writing:

iwrts which stands for “I will run to scripture” (when tempted).

Yesterday, I wrote out my abbreviation of my goal 49 times. My goal was a simple, not very important goal. Since running to scripture is a great, great goal, hopefully someone will write it out a huge number of times.

Finally, learn the habit of thinking long-term. Can you increase your pleasure with new positive habits? 100% yes, yes, yes.

Consider working on new habits every day.

 

[Gordon 7]

There is power in scripture. The more specific the better. The person with a lust issue can search “verses lust” and begin to pound on that habit with Power. The person with a drug issue can search “verses drinking” (Drinking and drugs are both intoxication) and begin to pound on that habit with Power.

Second, satan will pound you with temptation with power. You need power to pound back on him.

Third, what if you are a gambler? “Verses gambling” does not bring up perfectly specific things for you.

But, when we humbly admit that the scripture is right and “I am wrong,” we make great progress with scripture even if it is not as perfect for the habit.

Bottom line is... it still will work if you work at it.

Fourth, yesterday I quoted Matthew 3 which says we must bear fruit.

I can't bear fruit.

But, if I study scripture and pound sin out with power, the Holy Spirit will be in me with power, and the Holy Spirit will start to bear fruit through me. Consider praying:

“Father, I believe in the power of Your Word. I will pound this out, please show me Your will for my life.”

Fifth, my devotion today was Matthew 4, the temptation of Jesus.

What if we say to satan just like Jesus did during temptation (Lust example):

“The scripture says,“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Then say: “I am not doing that anymore.”

Sixth, my memory is terrible. What if I can't quote scripture perfectly?

I might fight temptation by saying:

“The scripture says to run from temptation, and that is what I will instantly do.”

Seventh, I have the habit of running instantly from the temptations of my main habit. I worked to add this habit endlessly. It took forever. Finally, after a ton of work, my new habit was running away, instead of running toward destruction.

Finally, there is great, great power in scripture. If you repent before almighty God and dig into that power, your life will never be the same.

 

[Gordon 7]

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Maybe the #1 reason people can't quit is because they are not filled. They need something. Strongly consider memorizing the above verse.

My days are always better when I strive to obey this verse. My days are always better when I strive to be filled with what Jesus wants me to be filled with.

Second, agree with Jesus that sin is always bad. Consider reminding yourself often that life is “always” better when we do things His way.

Third, consider making “Being filled” a goal. I write 5 articles per week. Yesterday was my day off. I went to the lake, I chased my fav pleasures. I stayed clean, but it was an empty day. Later, I watched some TV, but felt empty and discontent.

I did a bit of what the above verse says to do, but... I was more consumed by my pleasures.

Why am I choosing less joy on my day off? Because I forget this verse. Today I am consumed with this verse, and my joy is very high.

Fourth, when we start being filled, we become more consumed by purpose. When we strive to fulfill purpose, joy increases even more.

Fifth, a person could quit a habit just by making this verse an obsession. It shows us how to be filled. It shows us how to be blessed. It tells us how to do it.

But, it is even better to obsess over this verse and to understand what other habits are important as well. Consider praying:

“Father, help me to want righteousness.”

When tempted, that's a good prayer as a replacement for the temptation. Here is another.

“Father, help me to long for righteousness.”

Finally, consider putting this verse in your phone or in other notes. Consider using it to fight temptation so often that you can't help memorizing it.

It's a life-changing verse if you put it to work.

 

[Gordon 7]

Today, if God said, “Line up for the great battle. We need every person. If you don't fight and do my will, bad things will happen to a lot of people.” In that scenario, most of us would march to the front, and fight for the win.

But that is not what happens. In real life what happens is satan says: You are low on cash, you have the right to _______. But if we are digging into scripture we see that God says: If you start doing things my way, “I will provide.”

#2 satan says: People have abused you and run you over. You have the right to ______. But if we are spending time in prayer we can tell satan: God commanded me to love others, and I am going to focus on loving others and obedience (to avoid destruction).

#3 Satan says: Your job (or going to school) stinks. Life is pure torture. You have the right to ________. In this situation tell satan: Life is awesome when I am living (and learning) “To do” what God wants me to do.

#4 Satan says that: Risky TV shows/movies are better than clean ones. You have the right to watch them. Instead, tell satan: If I watch TV, and do life “In God's presence, I will start down the path toward fullness of joy.

#5 Satan says: Those friends who put your mind into the gutter are way more fun. You have the right to have wild friends. Instead, tell satan. I have this great friend in Jesus. I will live right and I will have a great life.

Finally, here is a great song about the Word. The more you get the Word in you, the better life gets.

 

[Gordon 7]

I passed by a female wearing a bikini today. I did turn away. Until we do start turning away we can rarely rationalize why we should. Our flesh insists that we look. God insists that we turn away. The decision is 100% either short-term pleasure with destruction added, or the beginning of joy and purpose. The decision is saying, “God is right, it will be way better for me to look away.” The decision is saying, “I will quit doing what leads to emptiness and trouble, I will do things God's way. In the long term I think it will turn out great for me just like it did for Joseph who became second in command in the most powerful country in the world.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

1 Humble ourselves

2 Pray​

3 Turn from sin​

4 See your land healed and start to see the blessing.​

Second, my daughter is a volleyball coach. She told me that she has a 6 foot freshman who struggles to even hit the ball over the net from 3 feet away.” She asked my advice. I told her:

Have her stand 2 feet from the wall and hit 100 balls per day, trying to make it all the way to the wall (from 2 feet away).

Some reading this are struggling with habits. They are willing to try anything, but nothing is easy. Well, do something just like this volleyball player is doing. Find a tip that you can do, and do it over and over again. If your life is completely messed up, ignore the last 50 tips I recommended, and succeed at doing 1 thing over and over again. I remember when I was a complete mess. I told God, “I am going to praise You constantly today. I am sorry that I am a complete mess, but I am going to praise You constantly today. I did praise Him constantly that day, and by night I was back to my habit. But the next day, I knew a little more about quitting. The next week, I knew even more. The next month, even more. At some point, I was doing several things per day that are vital for quitting. Now I was close, I could see that progress might be being made.

Third, maybe you have worked on new habits, but you still have not quit. In this case, determine to improve 1% per day. This reasonable goal in no way stops you from quitting for good right now. But, this goal shows you... You can't learn 50 new habits this week. But, you can work daily on one habit and make improvements.

Fourth, remind yourself of why you are quitting often. Why do you have this goal? For example: I want to free myself from some secondary habits so that I can help more people. But the truth is, the Bible says I will start to increase in joy if I live that way. Yes, I want to help other people, but if I want to fight off these very ingrained habits, I need to state a motivation that is alive for me. If I start to fight off these other habits, I will start to have even more joy.

To review:

#1 Find a tip that you can do, and do it over and over again.

#2 Determine to improve 1% per day.

#3 Say often why you are quitting.

#4 Work always on the habit of turning instantly from lust.

 

[Gordon 7]

I watched a video of a rock star today. In 1985 he was one of the 3 biggest stars in the world. His part time job was on a hit TV show.

He said: I thought fame, fortune, and success would make me happy. It did not make me happy.

If he came over to my house today, I would tell him: Work on acquiring the joy habit every day of your life.

To acquire joy we fight sin constantly. Sin keeps us from joy. But people think... I don't care, I want my pleasure, and I want it now.

But you can “never” increase your pleasure with sin over time. You will “always” decrease your pleasure with excess or sin “over the long term.”

Example: Eating ice cream.

A huge bowl seems way better.

A tiny bowl seems... tiny!

Will I get more pleasure from the huge bowl, or the tiny bowl?

I get 77 seconds more pleasure from the huge bowl right now. Then later I get unhappy looking in the mirror. Unhappy with increased health problems. Unhappy with less energy.

With the tiny bowl I get 77 hours of pleasure looking in the mirror (Okay, it was a symmetrical number, I don't look any where near that often). With the tiny bowl my doctor – wait, I don't have a doctor. I don't need a doctor. My health being better will give me great pleasure. With a tiny bowl I feel like being more active. Once again, being more active makes me feel better, and gives me pleasure.

Which size bowl gives more pleasure?

Everyone should pray for about 20 hours asking God:

“Show me how my life will be better after quitting. Show me how my pleasure will actually go up (over time).”

Second, my pleasure from “Doing God's will” by writing these articles is huge. My life is filled with joy when I am doing God's will.

My hero, the above rock star just got constant fame and adoration. He said he has a constant problem with depression.

Third, consider praying constantly:

“Father, I am willing to do Your will. Show me Your will.”

People think that looking with lust, and doing things (habits) in excess, or in sin will bring them increased pleasure. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Every habit is exactly like the ice cream example. You will always have less pleasure over the long-term. You will always have more destruction.

Something always dies, or partially dies with habits.

Last time I checked... Dying was not part of increased pleasure.

Psalm 16:11 ESV You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”​

A war against sin leads us into God's presence. Constant prayers about doing His will lead us into His presence.

Fourth, consider watching my Turn from lust video “Every time” you are tempted to lust.

You might say: “You want me to watch it 77 times daily?”

If you want to start finding joy consider pounding the above verse into yourself. Praying these prayers constantly, and pounding the “Turn from lust technique” into yourself constantly.

Finally, consider making it a habit to say 3 times daily:

“I want to acquire the joy habit.”

It's better than being a rock star, having money, or anything else. Nothing is better!

As always, feel free to print this out for your personal use.

 

[Gordon 7]

Proverbs 10:28 ESV The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.​

We find joy in God's presence. But we will not be fully in His presence if we have unconfessed sin in our lives. If we confess, repent, and have a plan to change, we start making progress.

Once we are in a right place with God we should start to feel His presence. If we don't feel it, we need to ask Him why? Sometimes we merely need to give Him praise and thanks to get in His presence. At other times He wants to show us some unknown sin that is keeping us from fulfilling what He wants us to do.

When I don't feel the presence of the Lord, I react very aggressively and try to get to the bottom of why. I will not live with darkness clouding my mind. Frustrations filling my head, anger filling my heart, or any other condition other than the presence of the Lord. I do this because I insist on living in joy.

Secondly, set your PRIORITIES in Order.

Matthew 6:33, (CSB) – (Jesus said), “But seek first the kingdom of God[and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

Seek God first. Focus on righteousness first. When we live this way, we can start to feel the presence of the Lord.

Thirdly, pray. Someone said it like this, “When we pray, we talk to God. When we read the Bible, God talks to us.” When pursuing after God we need both – to talk to God, and to listen to God speak back.

Fourthly, Seek His Presence with HUMILITY. Through the prophet Isaiah God proclaims, “I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2, CSB).

Humbly seek the Lord. I am always wrong. He is always right.

Lastly, do a soft memorization of John 15:1-11.

John 15:11 ESV
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Making a decision to “Live” the first 11 verses of John 15 is making a decision to “Find” the joy of the Lord.

Seek Him, have the right priorities, and you will find Him.

For the full article click https://chrisvaught.net/2019/02/16/four-ways-to-pursue-the-presence-of-god/

 

[Gordon 7]

I often forget this verse: Matthew 6:15 ESV But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Ouch! But they were wrong. But they are wrong.

The problem is... When we don't forgive, we hurt ourselves almost as much as anyone ever hurt us.

Matthew 18:21-22 ESV Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”

Forgiveness starts to bring us into the Light. Unforgiveness leads anger, resentment, frustration, darkness, and then the real trouble rears its ugly head – it's hard to fight addiction when we stay dark.

Sometimes we need a miracle to forgive someone. But, God loves to do miracles in the area of forgiveness. Click on the link below, then read the first dozen verses ending at Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”

https://www.openbible.info/topics/forgiveness

We can read as many Bible verses on forgiveness as we need to read every day in order to forgive.

Key point: Pray about forgiveness. Study the key verses on forgiveness. Then forgive and forget.

Second, quitting ________ causes us to miss the dopamine rush that our former destructive habit gave us. Music can sometimes help with that. Put on some loud Christian music and see what happens.

Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!”Make some noise, and have some fun.

Psalm 105:2 ESV Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!”

Strive to make a habit of doing what this verse says, instead of dwelling on problems.

James 5:13 ESV Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”

Today, I added this to my verses for daily meditation. Great stuff.

Colossians 3:16 ESV Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Consider shutting off music that tempts you, or music that is just openly evil.

Consider praying:

“Father, help me to turn off the trash.”

Then put on some good stuff.

Psalm 150:1-6 ESV Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! ...”

David praised God eleven times in this passage. Consider reading this passage enthusiastically, exactly the way David wrote it. Then add two or three things of your own to praise God for. Music and praise are two powerful habits to learn to replace the vacuum addiction causes. If we determine to make them permanent solutions, they will help us permanently.

 

[Gordon 7]

Five great things to focus on every day.

We should focus on praying more to prepare for temptation.

Second: Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”


We should focus more on righteousness.

Third: We should focus more on being in God's will. Consider praying:

“Father, show me what You want me to do.” Consider praying this often.

Fourth: We should focus more on increasing overcoming lust skills. Have a time and a place to work on that every day. Consider spending a larger amount of time on that every day. Why? Because the rewards will be huge. When we increase our focus in these four areas:

“All these things shall be added unto you.”


Fifth, we should focus constantly on acquiring the “Turn from lust” habit.

Many focus on adding pleasure, money, stuff, success, and a million other things that don't fulfill us or bring us joy.


Instead, focus on what God wants, and “All these things shall be added unto you.”

 

[Gordon 7]

How do we react when problems arise? God insists that we do His will, so when problems arise consider praying:

“Father, what do You want me to do?”

Yesterday, huge problems started in my life. I reacted by praying about doing God's will over, and over, and over again.

What if we formed the habit of praying (From the Lord's prayer):

“Thy will be done?”

If we give satan an inch, he will take a mile. If we consider our problems instead of fighting immediately, we are giving him an inch.

The intense desire to form the “What do You want me to do” prayer habit has many benefits. It keeps us busy. It does not even give satan an inch. It is doing what the Bible tells us to do in the Lord's prayer. It focuses us on purpose instead of an empty focus on worthless pleasures. It starts us toward finding purpose, which is our great path toward joy.

Second, when Biblical David thought wrong, disaster plagued him. But when he thought right, he was a hero, and blessings followed him. When David was thinking right, it was because he fed his mind with truth.

“David fed his mind with truth in the morning. Psalms 119:147 “I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.” The Word starts our day with an attitude of hope. Or, we can start with an attitude of hopelessness. Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love your instructions! I think about them all day long. Psalm 16:7 I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.”

In the early morning, all through the day and even at night, David was thinking about God's Word.”

“Romans 7:23 “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.” Satan wants to control your mind. He constantly plants sinful thoughts in your mind. But you have the power to accept or reject any thought.”

When satan plants a sinful thought, consider praying: “Father, I reject this thought, please show me Your will.”

When you pray this prayer and prayers like it, you are rejecting that thought, and you are punching satan in the face. He likes to play games with your mind. He hates being punched in the face. When you pray and praise God at all timesyou are punching satan as effectively as a heavy-weight boxer who is winning a world championship.

Lastly, focus on the Word, practice the “What do You want me to do habit,” reject sinful thoughts, think right, live right, and start finding joy.

 

[Gordon 7]

People want to push you into long-term thinking. We want to do what we want to do. People want to push you toward a life of purpose. No, no, no, no, we want to do what we want to do. People want to save your health. Don't worry about the future. We want to do what we want to do. People want you to care more about your finances. We want to do what we want to do. People want you to have this great relationship with God. Um.

You will increase your pleasure for the week, month, and year, if... you learn to do what is right instead of doing what you “Want to do.”

People who always do God's will are the happiest people on earth. Not movie stars, not the super rich, not rock stars. We are always shocked when movie stars commit suicide, or ruin their lives with drugs and alcohol. They are rarely happy. They are always searching for something.

The country preacher with a church of 74 people is the happy person. He lives to help others, and he wants activities that give him long-term joy and pleasure. He ignores satan's short-term garbage (with destruction added.) Consider praying:

“Father, help me to do one of my planned alternative activities.”

Second, have a list with 3 alternative activities at all times.

Third, if you can't substitute ______ with these activities, turn to scripture. Pound some scripture into yourself. At some point you will settle down enough to do the alternative activities.

Finally, never say: “I would be happier doing _______.” Instead say:

“These activities will increase my joy for the week, month, and year. My plan is to think longer-term, and to please God.”

Never say: “I will do what I want to do.” Instead say:

“These activities will increase my joy for the week, month, and year. My plan is to think longer-term, and to please God.”

Consider memorizing what to pray and say. It is the path to joy.

 

[Gordon 7]

You will always fight ______ if you still like it. I often go overboard saying “Pray this prayer 1000 times.” But... you need to like pleasing God more than you like _________. Consider praying:

“Father, take away my lust for liking _________. Fill me with your love/contentment/peace.” Pick one of these 3 fruits of the Spirit that you need most. Then pray this prayer as often as you can.

For me, contentment is greater than silver or gold. If we are content without _________, life can be real good.

Consider saying 100 times: “Quitting bad habits makes life better.”

Second, I always ate a second serving of food at supper. As I age, that habit starts to show on me.

Question: Can my pleasure increase if I stop that second serving?

Answer: My pleasure decreases for the 6 minutes it takes to put away that second helping if I stop. Then... My pleasure increases when I look in the mirror after a few weeks. My pleasure increases when the doctor gives me a good report. My pleasure increases when I feel better more often. My pleasure increases when I have my strength because now I feel like moving more.

How much pleasure do I gain by stopping? Later, do I gain 60 minutes, 160 minutes, or 260 minutes of pleasure?

But I have the habit of just serving up the extra serving, so I am telling myself constantly: “I will increase my long-term pleasure by stopping.”

I have been doing this for 10 days, and it is making sense to me. I am now stopping at 1 serving, and I am happy choosing the longer-term, over the short term (with destruction added).

However, with many habits, there is a spiritual element. Doing this thought exercise is great, but what if you still can't stop? That is why I always say: Pound some scripture in. Habits need to be pounded out.

Second, Jesus said: repent.

Repenting is being sorry for choosing the wrong path. Repenting is aggressively starting down the right path. Repenting is remorse, then spending time with Jesus. Allowing Him to add a bit of power to your fight. Repenting might just be praying the above prayer 1000 times. I have prayed prayers that asked for contentment thousands of times. They are starting to pay off.

Finally, consider making it a habit to constantly think about how bad ________ is. Consider making it a habit to pray constantly about how bad _________ is. The more you work at quitting, the faster you will quit.

 

[Gordon 7]

Temptation hits hard either morning noon or night. When that happens we should practice SRR. SRR is Scripture, Repent, and Replace.

Scripture: Search “verses _______.” Fill in the blank with the temptation. Then read these verses and pray over them until temptation stops.

Repent: If we don't repent of all sin, and start to have a plan to stop it... Temptation will keep happening. Sin leads to sin.

Replace: Stop doing activities that lead directly to temptation. Have a list of cleaner activities. These new activities are not for fun. They are our work. They will not be fun until we “dry out” from the negative effects of the habit.

Second, change activities that tend to lead to temptation. Example, risky TV shows lead to lust. Lust lowers our ability to fight _______. Replace risky shows with something clean.

Write down three activities that make your temptation higher.

2. ______________
   
3. ______________
   
4. ______________

Write down new activities to replace these risky activities.

2. ______________
   
3. ______________
   
4. ______________

Finally, practice SRR with the amount of time you have. If you are out and about, practicing it for 2 minutes might be perfect (Have specific verses in your phone).

If you are home where temptation might last for hours, spend some time with this technique. You might even have to go back to it several times. But, if you want a great life, go back to it as often as needed.

SRR crushes temptation. SRR puts you directly on a path toward a great life.

 

[Gordon 7]

Yesterday I attended my daughter's high school volleyball tournament. At this event, maybe half of the men there certainly were staring incessantly at certain high school players. Some of those men were just consistently looking, not straying into full sinful thoughts. So the question is, why do they keep falling later?

Second, we are watching TV and some person is wearing shorts. Some men's eyes stray about 99 times to those legs (or other body parts) while attempting to watch the show. I could write about this same exact behavior at the beach and at 100 different places.

I will try to list four reasons why this is a huge problem. #1, it is the exact opposite of praying without ceasing. #2, it is the exact opposite of worshiping God. #3, it is the exact opposite of praising God. BJU noted: “We are commanded to praise the Lord thirteen times in these six verses. Praising God is not an option; it is an obligation. It is both our delight and our duty. The greatest truth about God is that He is worthy of our praise, and the deepest truth about ourselves is that we have been created to praise Him.” Praising the Lord is a great tool to use for fighting lustful thoughts. #4, If we keep staring at peoples body parts, we will flunk the upcoming test.

The upcoming test is... that person you stare at will likely cause you to fall into lust. Or, that person on TV that is about to show way too much. If you kept staring all week at just about everything... how in the world do you think you can now turn it off or fast forward? In that case, one has already fallen before they fell.

Instead of staring incessantly, we can choose to be working on increasing how much we pray without ceasing, praise, and worship. Before you are in your next tempting session, prepare. Take one of these three things, do a Google search, and make a printout of what you are going to do instead of staring.

For example: Increasing in love is a great Christian thing to do. To prepare for upcoming temptation one might print out:

1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV Let all that you do be done in love.​

1 John 4:8 ESV Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.​

1 Peter 4:8 ESV Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.​

Now, when you find yourself tempted to stare yet again, read a verse. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Next, consider making printouts of the traits from paragraph three. Repeat, repeat, repeat. These are things we are supposed to be doing. Staring is what we are not supposed to be doing.

Job 31:1 ESV “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?”​

Job never says “gaze with lust,” he just says he made a covenant not to stare. If we make a “Covenant with our eyes,” and keep it, we will rarely “Fall before we fall.”

Consider praying often:

“Father, help me to not stare.”

Be prepared for temptation, have a plan for what to do. When tempted, consider doing one or more of these activities so that you don't fall before a fall.

 

[Gordon 7]

Sorry, I messed up yesterday's posting. Today you have 2 available.
Everyone who can't stop a habit, has habits that “lead directly” to falls.

Example: The porn habit is kept as a permanent habit if the user always “stares” at seductive body parts. Stares lead to lust, which leads to darkness, which leads to falling.

What habit do you have that often leads to falls? Consider praying:

“Father, show me exactly what leads me to falls.”

Praying to quit is good, praying to learn exactly what you need to change to quit is great. Consider spending 30 minutes daily praying about “What leads to falls.”

Second, what will you do instead of the habit that starts you down that slippery slope?

The porn person can learn the “Turn-from-lust” habit. Consider writing down what habit you can start to acquire instead of the prefall habit that haunts you now.

1. ____________

2. ____________

If you don't know, pray about it. Or, ask in this column today, “What should I do instead of _______ which often leads to a fall?

Third, learn the “This is what I should do habit.”

Successful people do what they should do, not what they want to do. Christians fulfilling purpose do what they should do, not what they want to do. People who are determined to quit do what they should do, not what they want to do.

Fourth, the “should do habit” leads to joy. Consider going to war against: “I want to.” God tells you what you “should do.” What a great habit.

Romans 12 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Consider memorizing this great verse. Consider working on these changes today, and this week. Your work proves that you are doing what this verse says to do.