Commitment

Many have accepted Christ, but does the Bible ask us to have a full commitment to living in His will? Many have committed to quitting porn. But does God expect us to make a full commitment to spending enough time each day fighting it?

Before you get too mad at me, understand, I am fully aware that quite a few people have made a large commitment to quitting, and I believe that you will make it.

Psalm 37:5 ESV
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.”

We want God to act. Study this verse daily if you want Him to act.

Proverbs 16:3 ESV
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Recently I wrote about planning. This verse tells us how to get our plans to work.

2 Timothy 4:7 ESV
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Galatians 6:9 ESV
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Commit to doing good if you want to reap freedom.

Proverbs 18:1 ESV
Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Commit to loving God.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

This is a great promise to people who commit to obedience.

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 65 helpful votes
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Consider memorizing and meditating on this verse often.

Consider praying: “Father, help me to commit to following this verse.”


Consider having a commitment to a time to work on quitting daily.

Think about a commitment to a time to pray daily.

Consider having a commitment to a time to read the Bible daily

Think about a commitment to a time to pray about purpose daily

Commit - Fight – Win.

 

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Increase your commitment to keeping your eyes clean. Think about that commitment often. EC = eyes clean. If you are bored at work or at school write EC. Are we mocking God when we try to see how much looking we can get away with? Today consider setting an alarm on your phone to remind you to say every hour:

“I praise you Lord with eyes clean.”

An awkward phrase. But a phrase that can start to turn around your thinking.

Background: (David used praise and thanksgiving often in prayer and in everyday life. Paul recommended and practiced praising God, and giving thanks during prayer.)

Why should we consider this awkward sentence? Because David did a lot of prayer and praising before Bathsheba. Then he awkwardly mocked God (with eyes unclean) with his lust. Then he reaped what he sowed.

Instead of copying him say, “I praise you Lord with eyes clean,” every hour. Now I am sowing to please the Spirit. If I pray regularly for God to fill me with the fruits of the Spirit (I pray regularly over each of the fruits) Galatians 5:22–23, I am sowing to please the Spirit.

What three Godly things will you make a commitment to thinking about consistently this week.

Second, use a focus on the harvest in verse nine as one of the secrets to finding joy. You are special and you have a special skill that God can use to change the world.

Third, consider memorizing Galatians 6:7-9.

Finally, the Bible predicts the future when we “Sow to the flesh,” and when we “Sow to the Spirit.” Now you can predict it also.

 

When tempted, and when preparing for temptation, we should practice mindfulness. Instead of thinking, “I want this,” we should think about the whole experience. The whole experience includes:

#1 Destruction: Consider Googling/studying, “Verses destruction,” and “Verses destroy.”

#2 Loss of contentment. Consider rating how important your loss of contentment is.

#3 Loss of peace. Consider rating how important your loss of peace is.

#4 A decrease in our ability to have great relationships.

#5 A loss of Joy.

#6 Decreasing faith.

#7 An inability to find full purpose.

#8 An increasing space between us and God

#9 Becoming dead inside. Losing the ability to enjoy other things.

#10 List your top three losses that are part of the experience.

Rate your top three “losses” that are part of falling. Now go to war this week with researching new ways to fight back. Let's say that a “Loss of contentment” is one of your top three. With this information, you could plan to pray:

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

You can pray this prayer 500 times this week if you have identified, “Loss of contentment” as a key loss for you.

Second, consider taking your top 3 losses and changing a few words in that prayer until it fits your exact situation. Then repeat it (With full sincerity) until you know it.

Third, when I fell I hated the darkness and felt so separated from God. Late in my addiction, I would think when tempted: “This will ruin my week. This will cause destruction. This will take away my favorite thing, “Praying at night before I go to sleep. Then... I would fall and later feel really dumb.

Fourth, if you add up all the bad things... They are way worse than the sinful thing was fun (Short-term fun with added destruction).

Fifth, we need to put all of the bad things in the spotlight before temptation. We need to know them inside and out. We need to think about them and pray about them.

Today, consider rating the “losses” that are part of the experience. Then think about them, pray, and use them to plan a more effective way to fight.

 

Jesus died on the cross which which led to the Holy Spirit being available to every person. But how do we access the Holy Spirit? Step one is right in the name: Holy. The first step is to go to war with sin. But even the great Biblical Paul was not perfect, what chance do we have?

In war, you always try and you always go forward if you are going to win. There are 2 groups of Christians reading this. Group one is ready to fight aggressively and willing to try to do God's will. But many are in group two, willing, not confident, not feeling like the Holy Spirit will ever work in them. If that is you consider making it a habit to practice “Rapid Repentance.” With rapid repentance we take every sin seriously. With each sin, we pause and pray:

“Father, I am sorry for ________. I want to do things Your way. I want to be filled with Your Holy Spirit.”

Then we form a plan on how we can stop doing that sin.

God is looking for people who want to be filled with Him. We are supposed to be filled with-the-spirit.

Today, consider taking time and making room for the Holy Spirit to fill you so that He can do something great in your life. Today, consider making a commitment to spending a block of time in prayer every day to see what being filled looks like.

Finally, why did even Paul struggle (A bit) with sin? Because he was only 99% filled with-the-spirit. When he did things “his” way temptation ramped right up.

I am not filled with the spirit like Paul was, but, I work daily to be filled enough so that I can go to war with blatant sin, and try to do God's will.

Easter is about Jesus dying for our sins, but if you want to be free from sin, Easter is about the date that the Holy Spirit became available so that even people like me, could find freedom.