I pray that you will experienced God’s strength and presence in a
whole new way this month. That you will conquer your battles, achieve your goals and find joy in the simplest of things. Amen.Is going to be a month filled with good news, blessings, healing, peace
and breakthrough. God will come through for you. This will be a month
to remember.

Well, the title of this message is the seven habits of a God led life.
You should get every one of them down, ask yourself the question. Are you a Godly person?
So, first of all, I want to define a couple of things.
And first of all, I want to define what a habit is.
And a habit is a recurring, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
That’s what a habit is, something we do over and over and over again.
The second definition is simply this, what, what is a Godly life? So what’s Godly?
It’s a life no longer seeking satisfaction through a sinful lifestyle, but is now surrendered to God and His will for your life.
What is a Godly life a life no longer seeking self satisfaction through a sinful lifestyle, but is now surrendered to God and His will for your life.
In other words, we would call that a sanctified life.
Not perfect, doesn’t mean you never sin, but it means that your life is fully surrendered to him.
So I wanna give you seven habits that every single believer ought to make as a part of their life.
And the first one is this, the habit. First habit is a life of prayer.
And you’ll recall one of my favorite passages very simple in the Mark that first chapter when the disciples, they, they never quite got a hold of this.
But the scripture says in chapter one of Mark verse 35 in the early morning while it was still dark.
Jesus got up, left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there, Simon and his companions searched for him.
They found him and said to him, everybody’s looking for you.
And so that’s sort of typical about the way people operate.
Sometimes Jesus is doing the most important thing in life and they don’t quite get that.
And, um, then again, for example, in the fourth chapter of Luke and the 42nd verse when they came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place and the crowds were searching for him and came to him and tried to keep him from going away from them.
And he said to them, I must preach the gospel and so forth.
Now, when we talk about a life of prayer, we’re not talking about it once in a while.
We’re talking about that every day, you sense the need, the desire and the joy and the awesome power that comes through praying, talking to the father that is, it ought to be a habit.
Something that is recurring in your life, not just when you get in trouble, when you get in need.
But because you love God, because you’re grateful for who he is and what he’s doing in your life.
And for example, on the 11th chapter of Luke, uh the disciples came to Jesus and said, now, would you, would you teach us to pray?
Like um uh John, the baptist teaches his disciples to pray.
And so they saw something absolutely different about Jesus praying.
It wasn’t some ritual that people usually would go through in those days.
But they could sense that he was talking personally to the heavenly father.
So when I look at these verses and uh think about it, the truth is you can’t live a Godly life unless you have a prayer life, you’re not, you can’t, you live in a world.
We all live in a world of temptation and trials and heartaches and burdens and sin and everywhere you turn there it is.
You cannot live a Godly life. I didn’t say a life without any sin, but a Godly life.
And we defined what that meant.
You can’t live a Godly life unless you have a good prayer life because the prayer life keeps you connected to Almighty God, sensitive to his will and his purpose and his plan for your life.
You don’t pray, you won’t live a Godly life.
And if you’ll think about it, it’s the most important activity of your life.
I’ve been a Christian 73 years and I got started off praying because my mother taught me to pray and taught me how important it was.
And it would remind me since my father died when I was nine months of age, which I’ve told you, uh, it was she and myself and, uh, we didn’t have much else, but the two of us, she taught me to pray, to trust God not to worry and Fred, but just, just to trust him and watch him work in their life.
So that’s what I’ve been doing all these years.
And the second thing about her praying was that she wouldn’t let me lie in the bed and pray.
She had me to get out on Mondays beside her and pray.
The greatest lesson my mother probably ever taught me.
And so when I think about how powerful that is in every single area of life, and I remember later on, I was already finished college and I was in seminary the second year.
And I remember my place to pray was over in the corner of the living room because we only had, I was married, then only had uh uh living room and a kitchen and a bedroom.
And so had to find me a place to pray. But my mother had made me an African.
So that’s where I stretched that over in the corner. And um I’ll never forget one evening.
I don’t have an idea exactly when I was praying.
And it’s like God said to me, whatever you accomplish in life you’ll have to accomplish on your knees.
You can’t trust your education, you can’t trust your, your abilities and talents and skills, whatever you accomplish you’ll have to accomplish on your knees.
That was a great message to me as a young guy because what he was saying is this whatever I do in your life is gonna be a result of what you are willing to do in the area of submission to my will, giving me time and listening to me how grateful I am for that simple lesson.
And if you’re gonna live a Godly life, you’ve gotta have a life of prayer.
Secondly, the second habit is trust or faith, whichever word suits you best.
And I, I love that 103rd song.
And the 19th verse and uh the Bible says, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules overall.
So if you think about what that verse says, if God Almighty has established his throne in the heavens and watches his sovereignty, that is his all knowing supernatural, divine power rules over everything.
And what does that do? That gives me an awesome foundation to believe him, knowing that he’s in charge.
It doesn’t make any difference what happens how it happens through whom it happens for whatever reason I know that God is in control and I can trust him for whatever he allows in life.
And I think that’s why that verse is so important is because if you don’t, if you don’t trust him, if you don’t trust him, you’re not gonna pray.
And you have to ask yourself the question. Well, where is, where is trust in your own spiritual life?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not to your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he’ll direct your path.
And I quote that verse to you very often because it is a basic verse.
Now somebody says, well, what happens when we don’t do that? Well, I’ll tell you exactly what happens.
And if you’ll turn to the 37th Psalm because people who do not pray and trust the Lord as they should.
Here’s what they do. And this passage of scripture warns us about it in the 37th Psalm in verse 13 times in these first uh non verses.
He says, what do not fret because of evil doers.
And he says, do not fret because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
And he says, we do not Fred, it only leads to evil doing so I have a choice and I can either trust him or I’m Fred about things.
Now, let’s be honest, how many of you fret about things? I sure you do.
We all have fretted about things. So remember this a Godly life has stepped beyond Fred to trusting.
In other words, you have a choice when you start threatening about something.
If it’s something, wait a minute now, who’s in charge? The Bible says God for his sovereignty rules over all.
Therefore, uh therefore, if he rules over all, why am I threatened?
I’m fretting because for the moment, I’m not believing, I’m not trusting, I’m not believing that he can handle this situation.
So three times in that Psalm, he says, Fred, not, Fred, not Fred, not.
And when you’re not trusting Him, what happens, it builds intimacy with Him.
And intimacy means that I have a relationship with Him. I don’t have to introduce myself to him.
An intimate relationship with a person means that, that you are close, not only to their heart, but their thinking the way they think the way they feel an intimate relationship is what every husband and wife ought to have all the days of their life.
Intimate relationship with God is you and he talk together.
He listens to you, you listen to Him, you obey Him. He guides you.
That’s an awesome sense of intimacy in a life that trusts God.
And if you wanna know whether you’re a trusting person or not, ask yourself this question, what am I worried about?
If you can look around and say I’m not worried about anything there because you’re trusting Him.
Whatever you’re worried about is God’s long awesome thing of saying you’re not trusting me at this area of your life.
A Godly life is a life of trust.
3rd, 3rd habit, in this awesome life is the habit of meditation in the word of God.
Now, I don’t know how you describe how important this is.
But uh the scriptures are, are, are, are there.
And I wanna look at it for just a moment and the psalm is said in the 63rd chapter in the sixth verse.
Listen, when I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you and the night watches for you’ve been my help in the shadow of your wings.
I sing for joy. My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me.
Now, what does it mean to meditate? It means that I read it.
It means that I think about it.
I search my heart in the light of what God is saying.
I ask Him whatever questions I have on my mind.
I surrender whatever he brings to my mind and meditating upon Him. Here’s what meditation does.
Meditation is like looking into a mirror, but it is also looking beyond the mirror that is, I see what God sees and then I see beyond that and I see Him, your focus is on Him.
And when you begin to focus on God, here’s what happens.
Worries, drift away, concerns, drift away your, your mind is no longer contaminated with all kind of things that do not do you any good at all.
And, and for example, in 100 and 19th song and the 133rd verse, listen to what he says, establish my footsteps in your word.
Do not let any. They have Dominion over me.
Meditation keeps us fresh and alert and sensitive to whatever God wants to do in our life.
So ask yourself the question. Well, let’s put it this way.
Do you have a time in your life when just you and the Lord is together by yourself?
And you have opened His word and you are reading the word and you’re asking God to speak to your heart and let me ask you this question.
What do you think most people do last before they go to bed? What do they do?
And we’re not talking about how you dress.
What, what do most people do right before they go to bed, they turn up, most people turn off the television right before they go to bed.
Amen. It’s the truth. They turn off the television. So what do they do?
They carry it to bed with them all the bad news, all the bad movies, all, all, all the things that are going instead of with God, they fill their minds with what the world has to say.
Listen, if you meditate upon God’s word, you are not gonna threaten and worry.
Wake up in the middle of the night and churning over this and that and the other.
For the simple reason, your mind is full of the world stuff.
Meditation is an absolutely essential part of living a Godly life and where there’s no meditation, you’re not gonna live a God in life.
You can’t. You think about when you get up in the morning, how much of the world crowds itself into your thinking?
You have to get dressed, of course, and eat breakfast and you gotta get in your car and drive down the expressway or somewhere and finally get to work.
And as soon as you do is chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter all the day, all the keyboards flying all the day and your mind is full, then you’ve got to get back in your car, get back on the highway and uh and dodge the traffic again all the way home.
And when you get there, you undress and try to relax and then there’s dinner.
I can fill up your day and not even know you because that’s what we do.
And so where is God? Where is, where is God’s private time with you?
What leads to a Godly life is the time of being alone with him, longing for him, meditating upon him, thinking about him.
And as I say again, the last thing you should do before you go to bed is not watch television.
Listen to this. It’s listen, you can listen to what the, you can listen to what these commentators say about the world and they don’t agree.
You can listen to the voice of God and you got it right. That’s the choice you have.
You do not have to carry the world with you to sleep every night.
You carry God Almighty with you. And then there’s 1/4 habit.
Very important one and the one you hear me say all the time, obey God.
And I wanna go back to Deuteronomy uh 27 all the way back in the Old Testament because he makes it so crystal clear in this 27th chapter in the 10th verse, God speaking through Moses to his people.
Here’s what he said. He said, you shall therefore obey the Lord, your God and do His commandments and His statutes, which I command you today.
And then down to chapter 28 verse one. Now it shall be listen to this.
If you diligently, you know what that means, consistently diligently obey the Lord, your God.
Being careful to do all His commandments, which I commend you today.
The Lord, your God will set you, listen, set you high above all the nations of the earth.
He was talking about Israel, but put yourself in that position.
When you and I obey God, we listen, we think about this. We’re walking on a higher level.
Think about how the world lives. They live with all kinds of evil thoughts and busy, busy, busy.
No time for God. You have chosen to follow Jesus and to follow Him means you live on a higher level.
It doesn’t mean that you’re looking down on other people.
It just means that you have chosen to live by a standard that’s higher than the world standard.
It doesn’t mean that we’re better than somebody else, but it means our lifestyle is better than the lifestyle of the world.
And so I ask yourself the question now, do I have a habit of, of really praying and trusting and meditating upon the word of God?
And would I be considered an obedient child of God?
So I would ask you this question, what in your life is the greatest threat to your obedience to God?
Now, stop right there. What’s the greatest threat in your life to your obedience to God?
What is that temptation, that trial or whatever is going on that just threatens your desire or your willingness or you think your capacity to obey God?
And how many times have you said it?
And you said as well as I can, the wise way to live is to obey God, then leave all the consequences and circumstances to God.
Now, I will do that only if I’m have a life of prayer.
Only if I’m trusting, only if I’m meditating upon him. That’s the only way I’m gonna do it.
So these are simple habits that make your life, what God wants it to be.
And let’s think about this. There’s nothing that can keep you from obeying and walking in these seven habits nothing except the choice you make.
You see, you have to, you have to, you have to choose some things, you have to choose to go with them or with God.
Have this or have God walk this way or have God’s way.
And so I, the reason I said seven habits because remember we said a habit is a recurring, often unconscious pattern of behavior that’s acquired through frequent repetition, something that you and I do continuously.
Now, each thing I’ve mentioned so far you can do.
The reason you do not do it is because you don’t think it’s important.
Now watch that the reason we don’t do things that are absolutely sacred. Godly awesome.
Life changing lifting habits is because we’ve decided to choose the world’s way and no matter who you are, how gifted you are, how much money you have, how wise you think you are, how much education you have.
You cannot live a Godly life, the best life without practicing these seven habits.
Now, what is the fifth one? The fifth habit is dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
And uh somebody says, well, what does that mean?
It means that I surrender my life, listen to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
And I remember what Jesus said to his disciples. He said, sit down, wait in Jerusalem until you be endured.
That is until the Holy Spirit comes into your life.
And when he does, then you’ll be ready to do uh what I have called you to do.
So I’ve given you some, some scriptures here, some of them are familiar to you.
Maybe some of them are not.
But uh in Ephesians chapter five, you remember what uh the scripture says in this particular passage?
And um let’s look at verse 18, the scripture says, do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation or waste, but be filled with the spirit.
Now, if I took a quart size jar and set it up here and uh I had it half full of water, you would say, well, it’s only half full.
It would only be full when it’s up to the top brimming complete.
When he says, be that, that Greek verb says be ye being filled, which means it’s a continuous thing in the morning when you get up amidst your prayer or before you, when you’re meditating before you even get out of the bed, you should say, Lord, I just want you to fill me with your spirit today.
And here’s what that means. Jesus said to his disciples and Luke before you do what I called you to do, wait in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued until the Holy Spirit has come upon you to dwell you.
For the simple reason, you are not equipped to do what I’ve called you to do apart from the end dwelling, presence of the Holy Spirit who will empower you.
He will empower you teach you how give you guidance and direction to do what I’ve called you to do.
Now, most people don’t have any idea who the Holy Spirit is.
You are as a follower of Jesus, as a believer of Christ. You’ve trust in him for your salvation.
You are now already by the third person of the Trinity who is the Holy Spirit, he’s dwelling within you or why is he there?
Listen to what Jesus said to his disciples. He said, sit down in Jerusalem until you’re, you’re not ready.
You’re not ready till the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
The truth is you and I are not ready each day of our life to live out our life apart from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, that is the third person of the Trinity who listen, who indwells each one of us.
And if you, if you look at these verses, uh Ephesians, look at Ephesians chapter one in Him.
You also after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Having also believed you were sealed in Christ, in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
That is one of his works.
One of the works of the Holy Spirit is the sealed, that is when you got saved, you were sealed, the Holy Spirit sealed you as a child of God.
And the scripture also says that you had that you are sealed. The fourth chapter 31st.
Uh you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
That is you are sealed to the day God calls you home forever.
So that when you and I choose to disobey God, we choose to sin against the Holy Spirit who is within us and whom God sent into our life to enable us to become, to be, to do, to accomplish whatever He has in life.
So you’re, you’re never alone. You’re, you’re by God, the Holy Spirit who is there to enable you?
Help you encourage you, strengthen, you, heal you, you name it.
He’s there because we need God in our life and he knew He would.
And so what you have to ask is this, are you depending on what the Holy Spirit to help you do.
What God wants you to do, are you, for example, do you sense that you sort of living your life and it’s the world against you or you again?
And many people feel that way. They feel like that.
Uh Well, I’m a Christian but, but, and they name all these things that are tough in life.
You have God living within, you ready to release in and through you that which you need at the moment to have whatever God has in mind and listen.
Otherwise, how can you live within the peace? Peace isn’t something we conjure up.
Peace is the awesome gift of God.
So when you’re not waking in the mornings, our first thoughts ought to be about him.
And this is why I said habits, something that habits continually and amidst what we are thinking early in the morning, we thank God that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us and point us in the right direction and put it this way.
You’re in the midst of doing whatever you’re doing.
You get a phone call or some interruption and something you think you have a decision to make.
First thing you should think is God got me.
Show me what to do, help me to know your will.
In this situation, you have the answer, the Holy Spirit living within you to give you clear direction in your life at any moment, you need clear direction and also to empower you or to give you the courage and the faith to do what you need to do.
God doesn’t leave us alone to live it out.
He gives us whatever we need to do whatever he’s called us to do at any point in our life at any time.
If we trust Him, if you see this is why I’m saying these are seven habits.
This becomes so much a part of your life. You don’t even have to think about it at all.
It’s just the way you live. It’s who you are. These are the habits of your life.
They are life changing habits. They are Godly habits that enable you to live the kind of life that you really and truly want to live.
And then of course, there is the sixth one and that’s giving to God and to others.
And uh in the sixth chapter of Luke, which is a very, very familiar chapter.
Um You remember what he says, give and it should be given to you. Good measure.
He says, listen, they will pour into your lap.
A good measure, pressed down, shaking together, running over for by your standard a measure.
It would be measured you in return.
When I think about giving to God, my favorite uh example of that is um I was thinking about this last night.
My first Sunday school teacher was this, I was probably three or four years old somewhere there about because I started school at five, which was too early.
Never ever caught up and, and, and then uh but I went to Sunday school every Sunday and I remember all the chairs were different colors, green, red, yellow, blue and so forth.
And then the Sunday school teacher was this, I don’t know how tall she was, but she looked like she was about 10 ft tall to me.
I was sitting down, she had black hair, sweet, wonderful lady.
And they came around to, to take the offering and I remember my mother would always give me a few pennies to drop in.
Oh yeah, she would never let me go without having something to give.
So before I could count, my mother taught me to give to God.
So when I got my first job, which was a paper out, I made $4 a week.
Well, I was grateful to God. I thought I can’t get God change.
I gave him a dollar which was 25%. I never thought about that.
I just thought I, what did God get? Then after that I had a paper, I made $16 a week.
And so I gave God more than a on that.
And then all of my life, I’ve never just never, for the simple reason, I learned very early in life.
You cannot out give God and watch this. Secondly, you can’t even predict what you’re gonna need.
And if you can’t predict what you’re gonna need, how you gonna manage all of that.
So we give to God and trust him to do exactly what he promised to do.
And so I gave you this simple example that many of you heard before because it’s one that so impressed my life.
I knew the Lord. He called me to preach. He’s finishing high school. I want to go to college.
No money. I had $75 to my name.
And uh I told my friend one night standing on the street corner that I uh I, I felt like God was calling me to preach and I needed to go to school, but I didn’t have any money.
And so we were standing there talking and by the sovereign power of Almighty God.
The pastor of the church came walking by.
This is in the evening we’re standing on a street corner and those days we didn’t have TV.
So you sort of met on the street corner and talked.
And so he said to Miss, he said, Mr, come on me just a moment.
He said, Charles is, he believes God’s calling him to preach.
He wants to go to school, but he, he doesn’t have any money. You think you can help him?
So he said to me, he said, well, come by and see me and let’s just talk, went by to see him in a couple of weeks, sat down, told him my heart about what God was doing.
And in a few short weeks, I had a letter giving me a four year scholarship with all my expenses paid to go to college.
Now that began, that didn’t begin with my $4 in the paper route that began with when my mother taught me to give to God.
So I never questioned the matter given to God when you obey God and that becomes a habit of your life, you will never be in need any further than God is using that need to do something in your life.
So you have to ask yourself the question is that gonna be one of the habits in your life?
And the Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver. So if he loves a cheerful giver.
What about those? Who, what about those who are stingy who don’t give God God, I tell you, you know, I’ll tell you why God’s not pleased.
But guess here what it says I can do without him. I’ll handle it. I can manage.
I don’t need God to manage my money. Think about how foolish that is.
Your money could burn up overnight. The situation can be that you lose it all over the night.
You have nothing but you listen to.
You will never be in the situation where you don’t have anything because you have God living within you and everything you need.
God has promised to provide an awesome habit in our life.
Then I would give you the seventh uh habit and that is very important one and that is the habit of forgiving other people and the scripture, one of the very clear scriptures in Ephesians chapter four.
And uh we’ve all read it many times before, but it’s the truth and we read it again and again and again.
And the scripture says, listen, be angry and yet do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, do not give the devil an opportunity.
Very, very important passage. And then he says, don’t grieve in verse 30 don’t grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed to the day of redemption.
Then he says, in verse 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander.
Be put away from you along with all malice, be kind to one to another and 10 the heart in forgiving each other just as God and Christ has also forgiven you.
Is that always easy? No, it’s difficult sometimes to be forgiving to people uh who have done certain things to you.
And I think one of the worst situations is when you’ve been betrayed, when you have trusted, really trusted somebody done your best to help them in lots of ways and then they betray you.
They, they do what would be the last thing you think that they would do in your life.
And yet we have to be forgiving and think about Judas of all the people who ever lived who had a great opportunity who blew it.
He was a traitor to the son of God. He betrayed him.
He lived as if he were one of them.
He lived as if he were a true genuine disciple and he betrayed the Son of God.
Betrayals are still out there.
And yet we have to be willing to forgive and to trust God to take care of that no matter what happens.
So if I love the Lord, I will forgive no matter what. Now, here are seven habits.
Listen carefully. I could have done this in a lot of different ways, but I wanted you to see every verse and they get all seven habits down.
So that every single person in here fully understands the seven habits by which you live a godly life, a life that will be blessed over and over and over again in many, many different ways.
But it’s a, it’s a, it’s a choice you make.
And I would suggest that you make a choice right now.
We’re gonna pray in a second and in this prayer, I’m gonna pray that you’ll be wise enough and say to God, Lord, I want these seven habits in my life and I will begin today, working them into my life.
It’s a working process into your life. Would you, would you live up to all of them every day?
No, but here’s what you do.
You ask God to forgive you, show me why I tripped up on that one.
Lord and I just reaffirm my desire to be forgiving to others or whatever it might be.
And Lord, I, I was too busy this morning.
I got up and ran off, forgive me for not stopping to meditate upon your word, to surrender my life to you, yield myself to you made a mistake.
God, I don’t wanna do that again. You don’t think God will correct you. Yes, he will.
He will correct you. He’ll give you enough trouble one morning after you get up and ignore him that you won’t forget it.
Listen, you know what it’s because he loves us.
Think about the, the there’s a whole bible full of truth.
But I believe those seven habits absolutely will transform your life and lead you to be able to accomplish in life more than your heart could ever desire.
Now, if you’re here this morning and you, you’re not a Christian, you’re not saved.
You never trusted Jesus as your savior. I understand. This is probably a little bit beyond you.
But let me say this, you will never understand or be able to enjoy life at its best until you surrender your life to Christ.
Because you can’t ever lose. Surrendering to Jesus. Never you say, what do I have to do?
You ask the Lord to forgive you of your sin?
Not because you deserve it, but because Jesus went to the cross died on the cross, shed his blood for you paid your sin debt in the Bible says, and therefore, when you ask God to forgive you because of what He has done for you.
He paid your debt. God forgives you and makes you child of God.
Then you began the practice of these seven habits. What an awesome life you had before you.
And I trust that you’ll do it.
Father, we love you and praise you and thank you for the word of God from Genesis 11 to the last verse of the revelation.
And this morning, we are praying that you’ll give us wisdom to recognize they were these seven habits.
Everything else will fall in place that we will open the door to the best of your blessings.
And I pray for somebody here today who is unsaved, who’ve never trusted you as their savior, that they would be willing to ask you to forgive them of their sins.
Believe that Jesus went to the cross and paid our sin debt in full and by trusting his death at Calvary, the shedding of his blood, that confession and repentance brings for salvation and following salvation.
We would develop these seven awesome life, transforming habits in our life.
And Lord I pray that for all of us today and that somebody seated here who is not saved would be willing to ask you to forgive them and they cleanse their heart and surrender their life to you right now.
And we thank you for it.
In Jesus name. Amen.