BE READY

Life happens and then temptation happens. We need to be ready when work is a mess, school is a mess, relationships are a mess, along with 100 others things that can go wrong. Over the last 2 months, I have written about 20 things to work on that assist in quitting. For most people, it is normal to work on something like praising God for a day or two, and then to forget about it.

The person who is going to “Be Ready” is working on several things and has been working on these changes for several weeks. They probably have a written plan. Now maybe you are not the type of person who will write down a plan in a notebook, pull it out and follow your plan every day. But, if you are not, my question is, do you want to be happy?

“I buffet my body and make it my slave…lest I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27) When we force ourselves to learn new habits we are buffeting our bodies.

https://overcomingtemptation.net/ noted the following:

“Temptation should not take us by surprise. We should expect it to come, and we should be preparing ourselves each day for the battle. We need to “see the evil and hide,” rather than proceeding and paying the penalty (Proverbs 22:3). For example, if you are tempted by lustful thoughts, know that you will be tempted if you go to a movie with lewd content or stare at a person or gaze at a magazine. Anticipate how and when you will be tempted, and avoid exposing yourself to it.”
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)"

Review old articles and pick 3 habits to practice for 30 days. That way, when life happens, you will have increased your odds of success exponentially.

 

Joyce Meyer noted the following:

“As believers, we are spiritual, and we are also natural. The natural does not always understand the spiritual; therefore, it is vitally necessary for our minds to be enlightened concerning what is going on in our spirits. The Holy Spirit desires to bring us this enlightenment, but the mind often misses what the spirit is attempting to reveal because it is too busy. A mind that is too busy is abnormal.
The mind is normal when it is at rest—not blank, but at rest. The mind should not be filled with reasoning, worry, anxiety, fear, and the like. It should be calm, quiet, and serene.”

Pray: “Father, You are a great and mighty God, I trust You to help me through these problems.”

We need to ignore life's problems and let the Holy Spirit guide us. When we live life God's way, He will guide us and He will start to make our lives better.

A Christian who is getting into the Word regularly, and focusing on obedience can get some guidance and help. Here is how I try to get help. I almost never ask God for the things I need or want. My prayers revolve around learning how to obey, love, and how to care about souls. But here is a secret. God knows exactly what I want, and He really knows exactly what I need. So I rarely bring those things up. I know I need help in becoming a better Christian, so that is what I usually ask for.

One week ago I thought I had huge massive trouble and challenges. But, I tried to put God first and tried to do what He wanted done. One week later I realize, I can work through my problems... And my big huge God sometimes gives me what I need, plus a lot more.

Follow God, believe, wait (that's a hard one) and see how He will help you through those problems.

 

If you know the movie is lewd, yes. If you didn't know in advance, you have the opportunity to turn from the sin. But my source was encouraging people to avoid the lewd movies that we know are lewd in the first place.

 

Proverbs 22:3 “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”

We try a new TV show. A prudent man foresees evil and prepares. He prays, is ready to fast forward, and is ready to turn it off. He has prayed, “Father help me to turn from temptation” 5 times before temptation happens. He is currently thinking about trying to have a great life instead of some short-term pleasure.

Why do so many of the people who have 100-plus days clean go to such great lengths to “hide themselves?” Because they are starting to see what life can be like when they start doing things God's way.

Memorizing the above verse is step one to becoming a prudent man. Why? Because we forget the last 3 words of the verse.

Second, a prudent man will be ready and prepared every day for the next 365 days. Because of that, they will avoid what happens to a simple man in the verse.

Third, if you have to go to the beach or someplace where hot chicks will be about, prepare. Bring a Christian book. Bring some key Bible verses. If you see yourself about to get into a tempting situation pray the above prayer 5 times before the temptation even gets heated up. Then focus on your verses for a while, then focus on your book.

Last, I have been writing a lot about trying to start getting the Psalm one blessing. Most of us are screwed up enough that it will probably take a few years of changes before it happens. But... doing the above things are also the exact same things we do to start down the road towards blessing.

 

Be ready to avoid temptation. Thelampstand.com.au noted: “There may well be people or places or activities or media that we know in advance will challenge us: and we may strike a personal deal not to put ourselves in the way of temptation. When God has said “Thou shalt not”, we are wise to steer well clear of the forbidden fruit.”

Second, be ready to think about other things.

Third, be ready to always work daily on having deep spiritual roots. The Bible, prayer, and good works will make your roots deeper. We need deeper roots to quit for good.

Fourth, thelampstand.com.au noted: “Reject temptation decisively and emphatically
An important factor in the Lord’s victory was his decisive, emphatic rejection of each temptation with a clear statement from Scripture. He knew what he believed, he saw the temptation in terms of a key principle (trust, humility, worship), he went straight to a key passage and he flatly rejected the alternative logic that was being presented to him.

Compare the Lord’s approach with that of David. Spiritual lethargy put him where he should not have been, his eyes lingered where they should not have looked at all, he asked questions that he should never have asked, he ignored the implicit warnings of his servants, he deliberately put himself in the way of temptation (2 Sam 11). After that, his fall is hardly surprising. What does shock us are the lengths to which David will go to cover up his sin – and, perhaps, to consolidate his ‘possession’ of Bathsheba. Even if he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, a swift appeal to God’s megaphone-clear command – “Thou shalt not commit adultery” – and an emphatic rejection of any tempting thoughts, perhaps followed by an immediate journey to the front line, would have saved enormous heartache for David and so many others. In a similar way, Samson also fell into Delilah’s clutches by stages, inching slowly and playfully toward the moment of truth, with its terrible consequences (Judg 16:4–21).

These step-by-step slides into sin teach us something critical. Don’t negotiate! Determine that God’s law will be your first and final authority. Refuse to question what God has said. Accept the reality of His stringent warnings against sin. Reject the twisted logic and the false promises of temptation. Puncture the illusion that sin will make you happier and more fulfilled – it will not! Trust God, trust His reasons and motives, trust His process – and send the tempter packing. In the end, God will deliver something that will exceed anything you can imagine (Eph 3:14–21).”

David overestimated the fun of sin. Consider saying 5 times per day. Sin is short-term with added destruction.” David underestimated the destruction of sin... by a mile.

Plan how to “be ready” every day.

 

To "be ready," spend time in Bible study and prayer (In the morning if possible). If you can't do it in the morning, go out of your way to listen to scripture daily on your trip to work or school. If you can't spend a block of prayer in the morning, set a time for when you will do it later. We need to put God first in as many ways as possible.
Second, we should praise God first. Psalm 150:6 ESV Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
In the past, I probably said, "When a lustful thought hits, reject it and praise the Lord." But David (Who God loved intensely) praised God first. When he stopped praising God he started staring with lust. After his disaster, he resumed his great habit of praising God and giving thanks.
I still like my idea of rejecting a lustful thought and praising the Lord, but praising Him first is even better.
Third, improve how you look at things. If I stare at something that is borderline, my fun meter goes up a bit (for a short time) and my joy meter is ruined for a long time. When I am really living right I forward fast on Netflix way too often. Why? I have my joy, I have it all the time, I want to keep living this great life.
Today, consider raising the standards on turning from lust and from staring. Instead of keeping risky standards consider praying:
"Father, take away this lust and help me to care about souls."
"Father, show me how higher standards will lead to me finding Your joy."
Be ready, and find a great life.

 

If I look with lust or if I stare at something that is borderline, my fun goes up a bit (for a short time) and my joy is ruined for a long time.
Looking at the wrong things strengthens our habit of overestimating short-term fun. Consider praying:

“Father, help me to run from lust, and help me to stop overestimating wrongful short-term fun.”

It would be hard to pray this prayer too much. I need to pray it a bunch, and I need to stop overestimating pleasures which get me in trouble.

Second, we always underestimate the destruction that lust causes. To break that habit pray for 5 minutes per day over the verse that says: “The wages of sin is death.” For 5 minutes daily, ask God what that verse means. God is not keeping any aspect of that verse a secret. He will show you exactly what it means if you keep praying about it.

Third, when we have a regular focus on the verses for quitting, we naturally know what God wants, and we learn the destruction of overestimating the wrong things.

Fourth, fill your mind with good things. Purelifeministries.org noted the following:

“Romans 12:2b goes on to say “…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Be transformed? What does it mean to have to have a renewed and transformed mind?

A transformed mind is one that draws its thoughts and motives from an increasingly vibrant relationship with God. Any time you “put off the old,” you must also “put on the new” (Ephesians 4:22, 24). Hollow and deceptive fantasies need to be replaced by something more wonderful. If you do, the Scriptures promise that you will “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Ephesians 4:23)

A new and transformed mind is filled with thoughts of Jesus and His love as it was revealed on the Cross. A transformed mind meditates day and night on the life and power available through His Word. A transformed mind causes the flow of your life to be reversed, so that instead of everything flowing toward you—your wants being preeminent and your desires being catered to—things are flowing toward others. You must come to a place where you are truly putting others ahead of yourself. In the same way you once gave over to lust, you must be given over to meeting the needs of others.

God wants to renew and transform our minds. He wants to transform our ugly, self-centered, lust-filled minds and give each one of us a “beautiful mind,” one that truly pleases and glorifies Him.”

Finally, focus first on fighting back the bad, then replace it with something great. That is how we gain momentum.

 

When you are presented with a lust opportunity, be ready to acknowledge the seriousness of the sin. We can downplay its deadliness by thinking, it's not murder, it's not adultery. Oops, Jesus said it is adultery. And with David, lust led to him being a murderer. So why does God make lust into this big deal? #1 It corrupts the mind, twisting and warping it. #2 It keeps us from our full purpose. #3 It starts to form a bigger and bigger gap between us and God. #4 It starts to kill our ability to love. #5 If we sow lust we will reap destruction. #6 It is a sin against God. (Psalms 51). #7 Since it does not satisfy, we need more and more. And the more we look, the emptier we get. #8 Lust keeps us from the glory of God. If I am dead in my lust, why would anyone want to be a Christian like me?

When tempted consider reviewing this list. Then write your own list. It will help you see reality, and it is a smart step toward “being ready.”

 

To be ready, we do everything and anything to remind ourselves of what we want to do when the test comes. I am moving, so I am selling some of my junk. For the last 3 people who came to buy stuff, I was not ready to even pray to the Holy Spirit to see if He wanted me to talk to them. After I forgot for a 3rd time I started doing everything I could to be ready. I prayed at night, when I woke up, and when my day started. I put out reminders to “Be ready.” I am now obsessed with being ready. My #1 focus is to be ready today.

Note: I have no interest in talking to anyone who has no interest in hearing. But I need to improve in the way I help others, and I need to open my mouth if the Holy Spirit wants to speak through it. Note: I can't witness personally effectively. But I can be available for God to help me. That is all He wants any of us to do.

Second, obviously, many reading this want to “Be ready” to fight lust.

To be ready practice underestimating the fun of sin. Plus practice overestimating the destruction of lust. You will probably still underestimate it.

Third, pick 3 habits you want to acquire this month that will help you be ready. When will you work on them every day? Then pick 3 more things that you will do today to “Be ready.” Become obsessed with being ready. It works.

 

Be ready with your phone. To “Be ready” consider having a sentence or two saved from a favorite article ready. When temptation hits, click over to your saved info. If you start to habitually do that, you will memorize some key sentences and prayers. It is so hard to form a new habit like praying:

“Father, take away this lust, and help me to be content.”

But if you are tempted constantly, and you click to this prayer constantly... at some point, you will have the habit of praying it.

What prayers, or sentences do you need to keep on the front burner in your phone?

Second, reading articles is great, but putting them into action is better, starting to form a habit with key ideas is even better, and forming a habit like turning from lust is a real home run.

Third, be ready in the location and at the time you are tempted most. Have your phone ready and be ready to fight. If you are 100% ready you will 100% win.

Fourth, here is a video that is well done.