Different - Part 2

Notes:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TXYFOtcUB4lU2FL2aapnX_TFZBOm-Hla/view?usp=sharing

DIFFERENT – 2

We are what we repeatedly do.

We form habits and then our habits form us.

Most people have hope their lives will be different but keep the same habits.

(Romans 12:2 MSG) Fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

What I starve dies. What I feed thrives.

Habit #2: Control my thoughts.

I will never change my life until I change the way I think.

(Ecclesiastes 10:2 MSG) Wise thinking leads to right living. Stupid thinking leads to wrong living.

Everything begins with a thought.

(Romans 12:2 NLT) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

What we think determines how we feel.

(Philippians 4:8-9) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things... and the God of peace will be with you.

Our thoughts determine our destiny.

 

Sow a thought, reap an action.

Sow an action, reap a habit.

Sow a habit, reap a lifestyle.

Sow a lifestyle, reap your destiny.

 

(Romans 8:5-6 NLT) Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.

(2 Corinthians 10:3-5) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

Mastering the Habit

1. Find a plan to control my thoughts.

 (Hebrews 4:12) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

2. Find a place to think my thoughts.

Have a daily conversation with God

(Isaiah 26:3 NLT) You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

(Colossians 3:2 NLT) Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

3. Find a person to stretch my thoughts.

(Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT) Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

4. Find a purpose to land my thoughts.

(Romans 12:2) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

5. Find a power to fuel my thoughts.

(Ephesians 3:20 NKJV) Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

(Isaiah 55:9) “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.