YOU CAN PULL DOWN STRONGHOLDS AND BREAK OLD HABITSby Casey Treat
Have you ever thought about why you think the way you do? It's a critical question, because the way you think is the way you live. Your thoughts and habits are what control your life!
There is a desire in all of us to be more than we are today, but often old habits get in the way. A habit is a repeated thought or a way of thinking that causes us to function in the same routines all of our adult life.
Most habits, whether good or bad, were picked up by watching the habits of those around us. If kids grow up where Mom and Dad take showers, comb their hair, and dress properly, most likely they will do the same.
You can develop habits with sex, money and food. Habits are formed by repeated thoughts and actions. If you think something and do it repeatedly, it will become a habit.
Your spirit, soul and body are designed to grasp things and hang on to them. God's idea is that we get the Word of God (the Bible) in us, hang on to it and not let it go. If we pump negative into us, the same thing will happen and become strongholds.
One great thing about being a human being is that you can break old habits. You can stop the process. You can turn the repeated thoughts and behavior, or strongholds, around.
Most people just want things to happen quickly: crash diets, the lottery, drive through lunch, microwave dinner. We spend years doing certain things, then we want them changed overnight. We follow the devil twenty-seven years, come to God, and say, "Straighten me out, Lord." We spend years with bad eating habits and want everything to be different in thirty days or less. That's just not realistic.
Habits are not so much stopped as they are replaced. It's not just a matter of stopping the negative; it's a matter of developing something positive to replace the negative.
Foolish parents say to their children, "Don't do that." Wise parents say, "Come over here and do this." When you say, "Don't do that," a child's immediate response is, "Why?" Wise parents replace the thought and the action.
Smoking is not a big deal, but it's better to replace it with positive health habits like breathing! Eating Cheetos isn't a big deal, but it is better to replace them with fruits and vegetables, and real food. Rather than stopping the negative, you want to replace it. You can replace overeating with, "I'm going to get healthy"; anger with, "I'm going to start being kind"; and cursing with, "I'm going to speak words of kindness."
If you focus on what you are stopping, you will probably never stop it. A wise coach doesn't say to his player, "Stop swinging the bat that way." Instead he says, "Swing the bat at this level." Get focused on what you want, not what you don't want.
The Bible says in Philippians 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things. NKJ
Notice, it does not state all the things that you are not supposed to think about. It lists the things you are to focus on. Breaking a habit is not stopping something as much as it is starting something.
Some to the keys to breaking old habits and building new ones are:
As you make progress, don't allow yourself to slip back into your old habits and routines. This is where people get into the cycle of ups and downs. Habits are like ruts in a road. It's easy to slip into ruts, but it's harder to get out of them. Getting into them takes little or no effort, to stay out of them takes conscious effort. So be alert to keep from slipping into some of the old routines again. It's time to break those habits that limit you.
Identify the habits that hinder your life, break those habits, and build new ones that will bring positive lasting change to your life.
This article is an excerpt from the book by Casey Treat, Pulling Down Strongholds and Breaking Old Habits, which is available at www.caseytreat.com.
December, 1969 WWW.THETRUMPETER.COM
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