EVERYDAY LIFE - THE ONE HABIT THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING. FOR GOOD!

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” John 15:4 (NKJV)
This passage is one of my most favorite scriptures. Verse 4 reflects the core teaching: abiding. The word ‘abide’ occurs 7 times in these 8 verses. It means, make yourself at home in Jesus. It's a whole new way of doing life. Our fruitfulness depends on this abiding. About 40-50% of what we do everyday is instinctive; habits. Habit creates who we are. We live in a transient world. People used to stay in jobs longer, live in one location but now change keeps happening at ever faster rates. We can lose stability and consistency. These are the things that make character.
God can’t just give us character. Character is built over time.
“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.” (Samuel Smiles)
The definition of habit is an acquired pattern that has become almost involuntary. Habit is how you achieve things in life. Character is only built by repeating the same things. Character is built into your life.
The best way to break a habit is to start another one in the same area of your life.
Character doesn’t come from experiences. Inspiration needs to morph into habit.  What we give ourselves to are our priorities, which then develop habits which become the making or unmaking of our lives.

Prayer
Jesus was a man of habit, prayer habit. Luke 4:16 (NKJV) describes that it was “His custom” to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath day to read. He did it habitually. Jesus had predictable patterns to His life. He rose early to commune with the Father in prayer.
When you’re doing one thing, you're not doing something else. When you pray, just pray! Undistracted! 'Watch and pray' doesn't mean watch TV while you're praying, or Instagram or facebook. Jesus said, 'When you pray, shut the door'.
We should all have a habit of prayer. A daily habit. The more we do it the more we’ll want to do it. That’s what experiencing Jesus is about. Prayer is communication with God. It’s how we have friendship with Jesus.
If we give Jesus time every morning in prayer we’ll have more time during our day.
 
Make prayer a key daily habit in our lives.

See you in church!