Choosing Grace: Overcoming Old Patterns

Dear readers old and new,

I know it’s been a while since I posted, so thanks for your patience in hanging in there with me. Welcome to a new year and a refocused me. I will be posting at least once a month on Saturdays or Sundays. Once I get into my swing, I will decide which day works best and stick to it, you know, overcoming old patterns. 🙂

Spending time with God is so important and necessary in today’s climate, and I’ve been wanting to share snippets from my prayer time for a while; however, life and my doubts that it wouldn’t fit the format of the “professional” devotional writers I’ve been reading for years got in the way. So I talked myself out of it every time.

However, after reading and reviewing a children’s book this week that highlighted the importance of not hiding or smothering the uniqueness given to us all by God, I was reminded that we all have something to bring to the table.

That being said, I’m going to keep it simple, a title, scripture, my thoughts, prayer prompted by those thoughts and putting it into practice. So here goes!

Choosing Grace: Overcoming Old Patterns

This scripture gives us both encouragement and a warning. It reminds us that the Holy Spirit within us is stronger than our human desires, but also urges us to pay attention to our actions and choices.

Satan can’t force us to do anything. He may suggest or tempt us by using our favorite desires, but in the end, we choose what we do.

Someone who has been regenerated can’t keep on sinning on purpose. This doesn’t mean we’re perfect or never sin, but we try to live rightly, even if we fall short sometimes

The key idea here is “habitual sin.” As God’s children, we can’t keep sinning over and over without feeling convicted.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the encouragement and wisdom found in Your Word. Remind us daily that the Holy Spirit You have placed within us is stronger than our human desires.

Help us to be mindful of our actions and choices, always seeking to honor You. Strengthen us to resist temptation, knowing that the enemy cannot force us to do wrong but only tries to influence our hearts.

Fill us with discernment and the courage to choose what is right. When we fall short, remind us of Your grace and help us to turn away from habitual sin.

Shape our hearts to desire righteousness, and convict us gently when we stray.

May we always strive to live as Your faithful children, being the light before unbelievers and sharing the gospel with everyone who will listen. I love You, I bless You In Jesus’ name, Amen.[/box]

Practice:

Now that we’ve prayed how do we actually live this out? How do we go about overcoming old patterns? There is no one formula that I can give, however the suggestions below will help to set you up for success.

• If you don’t already, begin reading the Bible. The book of John is recommended as a great starting point
• Pay attention to what jumps out at you as you read and stay with it
• Ask yourself these discovery questions:
  • What does the Bible say?
  • What does it mean?
  • How does it apply to my situation in this area?
  • What change must I make?
  • Why should I change?
  • Based on this scripture, what will I do to change/obey? (Don’t try to do everything at once, chose one thing)

At my church, we call it Digging Deeper. Let me know your thoughts or if you have a particular topic or question. I don’t pretend to know everything, but I do have the Holy Spirit, a Pastor, and tools to do research.