Do you struggle with consistency in your walk with the lord? I do. Sometimes I just amaze myself at how I can spend daily quality time with Him and be in a prayerful attitude all day for a number of days in a row, then struggle in meeting with him all the while shooting out “emergency” prayers. I used to think that it was just a matter of discipline and establishing a routine, and in part it is, but I have found that it also involves faith.
Living a life of faith involves a change from old ways and habits. We have all heard the phrase, "Old habits die hard." It is oh so true. Have you ever tried to break a habit you have done for years? Yet God tells us in Col. 3:9 that the old (old man, unregenerate self with its evil practices) has been “stripped off”. If that is the case, why do we still do the things we do? Verse 10 gives us the answer:
“And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it.” AMP
God knows our old habits die hard. He knows our frailty and he provided a way. Our old is stripped off as we grow and know more and more of Him, thus renewing our old into new. It is not a once-and-for-all procedure. It is an ongoing process.
How does this help me? I have found a repeated pattern in every successful effort of life by faith. This is often (though not always limited to) the process He uses in my life to affect this renewal in me:
1) There is a need in my life
2) I recognize it and ask God for help
3) I receive what God has provided for it and act in obedience to what He directs
4) I realize and give praise for the fullness and deepness of what God has done
When I apply this to my problem of inconsistency I find:
1) I need an ever deeper, growing, consistency in my relationship with God
2) I have recognized this need and ask God to fill it
3) He has instructed me to make it my FIRST priority to have a quiet time with Him every morning. It has to be done before I do anything else. “Jesus first” has become my mantra. I have been obedient in spending time in His Word and prayer (conversation with Him) and allowing the Word of God to do its job as the sword cutting and exposing the subtle differences between the soul (where my mind, will intellect and emotions dwell in what they think is independence) and my spirit (where the deepest part of me that KNOWS God is dependent on the indwelling Holy Spirit.) (Heb. 4:12) AMP
4) I praise God that in my obedience He has strengthened me in consistency and I am growing closer and closer to Him.
What an adventure this walk in Christ is!
