Plan, Pray, Win

I am still trying to learn a new simple disciple skill (it has nothing to do with lust). I have failed so many times that I am wondering if I am a failure. But I am not a failure and neither are you.

But in order to learn a new disciple, we sometimes need to go to extremes. For example: Work often sucks, and “Stan” is in the mad cycle of, getting upset at work, then coming home and falling immediately. #2, “Dan” is in the mad cycle of, constant big fights with people he has relationships with, then immediately falling.

Let's assume they are both open to fighting temptation with the verses for quitting, but... they spiral so fast that they don't even remember to try it.

Key Point: We need to win in advance. Both of these people are thinking about their problems instead of Jesus. Solution: Set an alarm for every hour of the day and read or recite one of the verses every hour. Consistently getting scripture in us starts to get the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit will help us handle our problems.

Secondly, have a backup plan. What if Stan prints out these verses and develops the habit of reading these key verses for one to three minutes as soon as he gets in his car after work. What if he says: When I have a bad day I will read these verses for 7 solid minutes before I drive one minute.

Why will this work? It works because before, Stan would keep thinking about what he thought were his problems on the drive home. After reading these key verses he is reminded of what his real problems are. So as he drives home, he prays and thinks about his real problems. Now that he is thinking correctly, he starts to think about how much time he is going to spend praying over scripture, and then praying over articles on Nofap as soon as he gets home.

Back to Dan. Even if the big fights are not his fault at all, change is needed. Jesus commands me to love others. I don't pray enough about this. #2 Jesus says to turn the other cheek. I don't even consider that. #3 Satan will use anyone to get us to fall (but we are responsible for our reaction, not them). When we realize that “12 we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Then, we realize that we need to fight back with prayer instead of insults or getting mad.

Pray: “Father, help me to love the people around me.” How many prayers do you need to write and how often do you need to pray them in order to get out of the mad cycle? In order to stay calm enough to get to the key verses before the downward slide gets too fast.

Lastly, write out a thorough plan, which will help you win in advance so that you can safely get into scripture before you spin out of control.

Plan – pray – then allow the Word to help you win.