My Secret
Welcome to a new month.
At the beginning of each new month, I will share a powerful secret that has helped me in my journey of life and ministry with The Lord.
For this month of February, The secret of the month has to do with habits.
Am sharing this with you now at the beginning of the year because, from experience, new year resolutions, setting lofty goals and dreams at the beginning of the year to enhance massive productivity and fruitfulness, do not work.
However, I found out also from experience, that habit formation is definitely more productive and guarantees fruitfulness.
One of the questions I’ve been asked the most is,
“how have you stayed on fire for God for 2 decades?”.
The answer is simply.
I do not function by inspiration, neither do I function by motivation.
I deliberately force myself to do things weather or not, I feel like it.
The Bible discourages us from functioning by inspiration.
Paul was Counselling his young protègè Timothy. He gave him the same advice, I give you now.
Go beyond inspiration to living a deliberate life devoid of feelings.
What it simply means is that, when I am inspired to take an action, I have to move beyond being inspired, to taking up certain actions on a daily basis, until they become habits that will ensure that the inspired thought I had becomes a reality.
It means weather or not it is convenient for me, I do what I have to do irrespective of the feelings, convenience or inconvenience of the momen.
2 Timothy 4:2 NLT
[2] Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
Notice that after the exodus out of Egypt, the Hebrews’ lives were upturned during their time in the wilderness.
Though life in Egypt had been harsh, they missed some aspects of it such as knowing where their next meal would come from. In the midst of the hardship, they lived a largely predictive life. They knew that the Egyptians did not want them to die because, the Egyptians depended depended heavily on the Hebrews workforce for labor. Thus, the Hebrews knew without a shadow of doubt, that they would be fed daily by the Egyptians.
Numbers 11:5 NLT
[5] "We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted.
Like all humans, the Hebrew people were creatures of habits formed from living so long in Egypt. So God changed their behavior in the desert by forcing them to develop new habits of trust in his provision
Exodus 16:4 NLT
[4] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.
Notice they had to carry out the activity of going out to get Gods provision each day.
Habits are powerful because, they drive our behavior, which in turn forms our character. This is why understanding how to make and break habits is such an important skill for spiritual formation and fruitfulness.
To be continued throughout February