OK You’ve been struggling and have gone through the steps in the other blogs. Things are better but far from perfect. So what to do now? Whenever a sports team is struggling they go back to the basics. When a business is foundering they need to make sure they are following the basic principles necessary. That same is true of a marriage. Where you need to start is with the basics. That will set your foundation and you will grow through the other things. These are the basics:
1 Spend time with Jesus every day, preferably in the morning when you first wake up. Read your Bible. Start in Luke 1:1 and read from there, keeping on going to the end of the book. Ask God to teach you about Himself as you read. Then spend some time in prayer. Confess any sin you are aware of in your life which you haven’t confessed before. Confession means agreeing with God that it is sin. Spend some time praising Him for who and what He is and thanking Him for what He has done for you. Then pray for the needs of others and finally for your own needs. If you can, do this in the morning and evening. Here is a prayer that is good to use when you start to pray. Remember, it’s the thought that counts.
“Gracious God, I acknowledge that You are worthy of all honor, glory and praise. I am thankful for the victorious work of Your Son, Jesus Christ at Calvary for me. I apply His victory to my life now as I willingly surrender every area of my life to Your will.
“Thank you for the forgiveness and righteousness that has been given to me as Your adopted child. I trust in Your protection and provision daily. I know that your love for me never ceases. I rejoice in Your victory, my Lord, over all the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. In faith I stand in Your victory and commit myself to live obediently for You my King.
“I desire that my fellowship with You become greater. Reveal to me those things that grieve You and enables the enemy to secure an advantage in my life. I need the Holy Spirit’s powerful ministry in my life; bringing conviction of sin, repentance of heart, strengthening my faith and increasing perseverance in resisting temptation.
“Help me to die to self and walk in the victory of the new creation You have provided for me. Let the fruits of the Spirit flow out of my life so that You will be glorified through my life. Fill me with your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
“Please place your hedge of protection around me, my possession, my family and all my descendants. Protect us from anything the enemy would try to do against us.
“I know that it is Your will that I should stand firm and resist all of the enemy’s work against me. Help me to discern the attacks upon my thoughts and emotions. Enable me to stand upon Your Word and resist all the accusations, distortions and condemnations that are hurled against me.
“It is my desire to be transformed through the renewing of my mind, so that I will not compromise with the ways of the world, or yield to the enemy’s attacks, but be obedient to Your will. So give me the mind of Christ in order that I may have His perspective, wisdom, compassion, holiness and truth.
“I draw upon those spiritual resources that You have provided me and I attack the strongholds and plans of the enemy that have been put in place against me. I command in the name of Jesus Christ that the enemy must release my mind, will, emotions and body completely. They have been yielded to the Lord and I belong to Him.
“Lord, enable me to become the person You created me to be. Help me as I pray to be strong in faith. Show me how to apply Your Word in my life each day. I know that I wear the full armor of God when I am committed to and stand firmly upon Your Word. I want You to have the supreme place in my life. Give me a hunger and thirst to know You better, to read Your Word more deeply, to pray more readily and to keep you first in all my thoughts all day long.
“I surrender myself completely to You, Lord. You are always faithful and You extend Your grace to me constantly, even when I do not realize it. I claim Your promise of forgiveness and cleansing in its fullness. In faith, I receive the victory today that you have already put in place for me. I do this in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior with a grateful heart. AMEN”
2. Make sure there is no sin in your life. We all sin and continue to sin, that’s why we confess it. But if there are any sins that are ongoing and you aren’t stopping, they must be stopped. Sin breaks our fellowship with God and opens us to attack by the enemy. Ask God to give you the strength to overcome these things. They may be hard at first for they are long-time habits and the enemy doesn’t want you to stop them, but they are important to stop. Commit to stopping. If you do fail confess it and don’t’ do it again.
3. Make sure you have a church that preaches the Bible that you attend regularly. It is important to worship and fellowship with other Christians. Make sure you do this as often as you can. If you work Sunday mornings try to change your schedule or go other times during the week when you can. This is a great way of growing and sharing strength from others.
Start working on these 3 each day and you’ll build a solid foundation with God. It took you a long time to get into this place you are in and it will take some time to grow out of it as well. If God just quickly removed everything and made your life perfect you would soon be tempted to get back into some of those things, or something else. That’s why its important to grow spiritually and get stronger so that as these things fade you stay close to Him.
If you had to grade your spiritual life on a scale of 1 to 10 what grade would you give yourself? What can you do to improve? When is your best time to have a daily prayer time with God? What can you do to assure it isn’t interrupted or postponed?
(If I can answer questions or offer personal counsel, or if you would like a free copy of my Spiritual Warfare Handbook, email me at Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org or download it from http://sw.christiantrainingonline.org/. My next book, Spiritual Warfare in the Bible, which is a more advanced treatment of spiritual warfare, is also available there for free.)