Bad Habits And Weaknesses

I think back on my stories that I have written and would like to touch base on personal struggles. Everyone has struggles of some kind. If you have followed any of My Stories, you may have picked up on a few of my own.

This is the time of the year that many start thinking about their New Year’s Resolution. Every year it seems like most are centered around better health. Attitude is also on a few minds out there. But how about using that attitude ally to work on strengthening faith so you can help that attitude.

Over the years, my faith keeps building and I understand more than ever how the devil loves to pick! People fear seeking The Lord on count of this concept that the more your faith grows, the more the devil picks. Honestly, he does. Or, does he?

When we strengthen our faith, we become aware of our personal flaws. Plus, one must realize that we are in a battle of good verse evil. The devil will do everything he can to break your faith and cause you to stumble or even turn away from The Lord.

I am just going to say that I am not immune to the devil’s whims! No one is! Every, I mean EVERY, being on this earth is his target whether you believe in God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit or not! The thing is, we have to fight evil and his ways!

Bad habits and weaknesses that do not align with God’s Word are usually the devil’s targets. When I was young, I worked for a family whose every other word was a cuss word. I was so young, maybe the age of 11, that I picked that up. I thought it was cool to say bad words that seemed to be just normal word to me at that time.

Those people were bad influences on me and their workers. They were church goers who went to church with me. It seemed natural to just fit in and follow along. Wrong! The best of good people may not be what God desires. I was to blame for following their bad habits and can’t blame them. God will deal with all of us in His time.

Putting blame on others for your own actions is not right. We each have a responsibility for our own actions. Habits are hard to break but this is how the devil gets the upper hand. He uses circumstances and people to get under your skin and influence you.

We have to do everything we can to fight this evilness. I love the Bible message of Luke 11:24-25. In these verses, it symbolizes the heart being cleaned. The evil that once occupied this heart was washed clean but roamed around looking for another heart to occupy. Not finding what he looked for, he came back with more evil spirits to fill the empty heart.

If we clean up our hearts and minds, we are going to have to fill it back up fast. We fill it with Jesus and His Word! We fill it so the evil spirits have no where to make a home. If we don’t clean up our home, our hearts, then the evil remains there. It invites more of his buddies to join him and it makes it harder to break away from bad habits and sin.

The more we fill our hearts with Jesus, the devil is squeezed out. It takes time for some and for others it is quick, but either way, we have to win this battle because we only have two choices for our eternal future and that is either Heaven or hell!

I know someone who has really struggled all of their life and I mean they have been sexually abused, their spouse left them for someone else, their child died, and I can’t tell you how much more. That person loves The Lord, yet they struggle with the whys and maybe blame Him. The devil has made it hard for faith to succeed.

I know another who allowed the influence of others to make them think they were someone they were not. Another struggles with drugs while the other sexual sin. My own dad struggled with alcoholism and our family was not what it was meant to be in God’s eyes. Everyone has their own struggles! I am not as bad as I used to be, but I also struggle with anger issues. Something can set me off and I might say a naughty word.

This is where we must recognize our issues! Jesus promised that He was not going to leave us alone. He gave us His counter part the Holy Spirit. We are not alone. The Holy Spirit groans for us and we have to go to Our Lord, who in turn goes to God on our behalf. We must fill our hearts with Him!

We have to do our part to change. God says in Romans 6:3 that through Baptism we are buried with Him, Jesus, so that along with Him, we too may go to Heaven. He says we walk in the newness of life. We have to change our attitudes and fight for our eternal life in Heaven!

It takes a while to change habits and over the years, with the grace of Jesus, I am conquering issues. What ever you struggle with, you can empty that house and fill it with The Lord. You got this! One way that helps me is asking myself these questions: Who is in charge? The devil? Jesus? Of course I know! The answer is Jesus but the devil wants to take over.

Another thing I do is just stop. For example, the devil picks on me by my klutziness. I can be in an amazing mood and suddenly I might stub my toes, which is frequently and usually my foot with Morton’s Neuromas. I am always dropping things on that foot or something! It really hurts a lot and when that happens, I’ll yell out a bit in anger.

I have learned to turn that anger and just breathe before I fly off the handle. I ask myself those questions and look up! Jesus hears me and sees my behavior. And when I fail, I reach out and ask for forgiveness! I seek help and read His Word that comforts me! He is my therapist and healer. He is your therapist and healer!

So as this horrible year of 2020 winds down, consider your New Year’s Resolution to include cleaning your heart and filling it up with Him! Choose which side of either good or evil you want to be a part of. Your heart and soul is priceless!