The, the first step to getting rid of bad habits is to realize that they exist.
You know, we have to identify the bad habit.
And that's where confession comes in.
The Bible talks about the fact that we need to confess our sins to God, number one.
It says, you know, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all righteousness.
But he also says, confess your faults one to another and pray one to another, or pray
one for another that you may be healed.
But he says, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed.
So we need to identify that we have sin in our life.
And we need to identify what are bad habits that we should try to correct and get rid
of.
Then we have to stop and ask ourselves, what is it that's triggering that bad habit?
What is it that caused me?
So let's, let's just use smoking for example, because smoking is a, is a pretty common bad
habit.
And you know, I don't know of anybody in this room who smokes.
I'm telling the truth right now.
I do not know, but I promise you there are people in this room who smoke.
Because I've been pastoring long enough to realize that.
And even though I do not, I could not name any specific person in here that smokes, I
promise you, I can smell it.
No I can't, I honestly can't, I have a horrible, I have a horrible sense of smell.
But I guarantee you, because I remember one time, even when I first started pastoring
and the church was much smaller, I preached a sermon on smoking and four people, four
people thought that sermon was directed just at me.
He found out that I smoked.
And I did not know that anyone was smoking.
I was shocked.
Whoa, you know, people are smoking?
And there were four people, even when the church was small, that were smoking.
Because usually people are pretty good at hiding that.
You know, they know how to pop in a breath mint or whatever.
But I guarantee you there are people here who smoke, even though I don't know of any.
I'd be shocked if there aren't, just because of the experiences I've had, okay.
Raise your hand if you smoke.
No, I'm just kidding.
No, no, no, don't do that.
What I'm saying is, with smoking, there's something that's triggering you to keep smoking.
You know, there's something that's triggering that, you know, maybe you wake up in the morning,
maybe you go on a break, maybe you step out the front door, you know, maybe you get in
the car, or whatever.
You need to figure out what it is that's triggering that habit, and then you need to find something
to replace that habit with.
And tell yourself, okay, every time X happens, you know, every time this trigger happens,
I'm going to do this instead.
And I've talked to a lot of people, what they did is they, let's say they carry their
cigarettes right here as a habit, in their shirt pocket.
They replaced it with a pocket New Testament.
So then, they have a habit of always reaching in their pocket and pulling out a cigarette.
Well every time they'd reach for the cigarette, what do they find?
The New Testament.
That's not what they expected.
But then they pull it out, but it's a habit.
So they're going to, I mean, it's hard to just say, okay, I'm not going to smoke anymore.
So what's better is replace the cigarettes with the New Testament, and then reach in
that pocket and there's the New Testament, right?
Pull out the New Testament and read a few verses.
You know, and maybe even have it marked up to certain scriptures that are helpful.
But just pull it out and read a chapter.
And you know, reading a chapter is probably going to take the same amount of time as smoking
a cigarette.
Read the chapter, put it back.
Now that's not going to give you the same satisfaction as smoking a cigarette, but it's
going to give you a different type of satisfaction.
It's going to give you a spiritual satisfaction of, hey, I learned something from the Bible.
Hey, I'm reading a lot of the Bible.
If you do that, you'll read 20 chapters a day.
Read a pack a day.
That's my new motto.