The Power To Change

Creating Holy Habits

Pastor John Talcott
Christ's Community Church

Read Part 2

(10/14) We are continuing this morning in our message series, The Power to Change, and last week we saw the people of God transitioning from desert wanderers to those who are possessing the land of their inheritance. They’re in the Promised Land, they renewed their covenant with God, and God was making certain that they weren’t going to look like what they’ve been through.

In other words, God is doing a new thing, that’s what Isaiah tells us (Isaiah 43:19).

And so, there wasn’t going to be any sign of where they’ve been because they weren’t going to be carrying with them any of the trauma from Egypt.

Last week we talked about stopping some of the things that we are doing because of the promises that we have. And we saw that with the circumcision God removed the reproach of Egypt, he cleaned them up so that they would not have any residue remaining on their lives. And today I want to pick up where we left off in Joshua chapter five, and verse ten, as we continue this theme of The Power to Change.

"On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover" (Joshua 5:10).

"The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan" (Joshua 5:11-12).

In other words, the people of God had experienced a forty-year miracle as he fed them with the bread of heaven, but after they entered the promised land the miracle of the manna stopped.

God had in fact prepared a table before them in the presence of their enemies (Psalms 23:5). Because when the inhabitants of the area saw this great nation approaching, they fled to Jericho for safety just as it was time for the harvest. And so, as they entered the land flowing with milk and honey, grain was plentiful, and the miracle of the manna was no longer necessary.

The Lord, sometime God removes things out of your life because you don’t need them like you used to need them. And so, just because God stops doing something, just because he stopped doing what you are used to, it doesn’t mean that he’s not still with you. In fact, I want you to see this in verse thirteen, because Joshua is still marching ahead.

"Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" (Joshua 5:13).

Now, this wasn’t just any man, this is a supernatural pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus Christ himself. In fact, you may remember how the Lord came to Abraham as a mysterious traveler and shared a meal with him. Or when the Lord came to Jacob in the night and wrestled with him until morning. Even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego met the Lord in the fiery furnace as their comforter and companion.

And so, here in this text, Joshua is confronted by this mysterious man and Joshua is a lot like the apostle Peter, because he would take you on, he would cut off your ear in a heartbeat. And so, when Joshua looked up and saw the man with a sword in his hand, he wanted to know if he had come to fight. He’s like, "Are you for us or against us," because he was still thinking like a military leader, but now he has taken the place of spiritual leadership, and all of that was about to change. The Lord replied,

"Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come…" (Joshua 5:14).

When Joshua discovered that this mysterious man was the Lord it must’ve been a great encouragement to him as this was a powerful and personal confirmation of the Lord’s promise to be with Joshua just as he had been with Moses. And so, he may have felt alone, but the Lord was changing his methods, because as commander of the Army he hadn’t come just to help, but to lead the army of God because apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Joshua now realizing that he is second in command and that he’s not going to win this battle with the sword has enough sense to drop his sword and humble himself before the Lord. The Bible says,

"Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" (Joshua 5:14).

"The commander of the Lord's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy" (Joshua 5:15).

In other words, Joshua’s strategy has to change, because it’s as he humbles himself before the Lord, learning to walk in faith around the walls of Jericho, that he’s going to get the victory without the fight. But first his methods have to change, he has to come out of his sandals, coming out of his old ways, and the Bible says,

"Joshua did so" (Joshua 5:15).

He was willing to change his methods, because the only thing he was really concerned about was hearing what the Lord had to say to him. And so, he didn’t care what people thought, or what he looked like, because he just wanted to be in the presence of the Lord.

My prayer is that there are some of you who recognize that you need to change your methods, coming out of your attitude, and out of your old habits because this is a holy place. The Holy Spirit is here, this is holy ground, and he said,

"Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

I wonder if there are any of you that have something specific in your life that you are hoping to change. Maybe you’re hoping to improve your marriage, get out of debt, or get in better physical shape. I don’t know what it might be for you, but you’re hoping for something to change.

I want to encourage you not to give up, to keep hoping, because you have the power to change. In other words, hope is good, dreams are good, but hope alone won’t change your life. And so, more than hope, you need to have the right habits, because many of the things that we do on a daily basis are not the result of a conscious decision but the result of a habit.

For example, let’s consider the story of Daniel, he was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC with the intention that he and his friends would be indoctrinated into the ways of the Babylonians. However, Daniel and his three friends stood out among the others who have been taken captive because of their commitment to walk in obedience to God. And so, from the very beginning,

"Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine" (Daniel 1:8).

In other words, he and his friends were committed to God, it was their habit to obey God, and so they begged their guard to be allowed to continue following his dietary restrictions. And so, instead of requiring them to eat foods that God had prohibited, their guard allowed them to have a diet of vegetables and water on a trial basis. And so, they did that for ten days and afterwards they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the other young men who ate the king’s food.

Their commitment to walking with God, their lifestyle of obedience, doing only what God had allowed paid off, because the Bible says,

"To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds" (Daniel 1:17).

This was very helpful because before long King Nebuchadnezzar began to have some really weird dreams that were troubling him. None of his magicians or astrologers could interpret his dreams, but after hearing about the king’s dream Daniel interpreted it. And the king was so blown away by the power and wisdom of Daniel’s God that the Bible says,

"He fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him" (Daniel 2:46).

Daniel found great favor with the King and was promoted to be ruler over the entire province of Babylon. It wasn’t long before Daniel’s interpretation of the dream came true and Nebuchadnezzar lost the kingdom, but the king’s advisors became increasingly jealous of Daniel.

They began to plot against him, trying to find some weakness, some flaw in his character so that they could discredit him. The only problem was that they couldn’t find any flaws in Daniel’s character, and so they finally came to the conclusion,

"We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God" (Daniel 6:5).

And so, the king’s leaders, the administrators and the satraps conspired together to appeal to the king’s ego, honoring and exalting the king. They proposed,

"That anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den" (Daniel 6:7).

The new King, Darius, was pleased with their idea and put that decree in writing, but the Bible says,

"When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem" (Daniel 6:9-10).

And now we are about to discover that one habit that made Daniel the man of God that he was. We’re about to see the power of a habit in verse ten,

"Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before" (Daniel 6:10).

These leaders went to the king and said, "Daniel broke the law, he’s been praying to his God."

Of course, this greatly upset the king because he liked Daniel, but he was bound because of the law, and so…

"The king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den" (Daniel 6:16).

This turn of events devastated the king, in fact, he was up all night worrying about Daniel. But at the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion’s den. Agonizing he called out to Daniel,

"Servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" (Daniel 6:19-20).

He was relieved to hear Daniel reply,

"My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight" (Daniel 6:22).

Daniel was saved by his faith. We are always saved by faith and the key to Daniel’s deliverance was that his faith had increased because of his intimacy with God.

In other words, it was this one habit of praying three times a day that strengthened his resolve, giving him the confidence to stand firm where others would tremble and flee. It was this one habit that enabled Daniel to say no to temptation and literally changed the spiritual trajectory of his life.

My prayer is that these illustrations of Joshua and Daniel’s faith encourages you to get into the presence of God, because he often does big things as a result of one small act of faith. In fact, the Bible says,

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years" (James 5:16-17).

And so, we shouldn’t underestimate what God will do when we start regularly and habitually seeking the presence of God.

We believe that prayer changes things and as you develop this one small God honoring holy habit of prayer God will do big things in your marriage, in your finances, in your health, in your relationships, and in your church. And so, what is that one habit that you need to start to propel you toward the spiritual trajectory you have charted for your life?

Maybe you want to know God better like David who said,

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation" (Psalms 5:3).

Some of you may want to leave a spiritual legacy, being a spiritual example to your kids, a godly witness to your neighbors, or the people at work or at school. Maybe you want to be someone who manages your financial resources for the glory of God, and so based on who you want to become, what is one habit that you need to start?

Your one small holy habit may be that you want to pray with your kids every night before they go to bed? Like Moses said, you want to talk about the word of God when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" (Deuteronomy 6:7). And so, you’re going to read the Bible together and talk about it at dinner and when you go to bed because you want to instill faith in your children.

Maybe you want to be a godly example, growing closer to God, and encouraging your friends to do the same? And so, your one habit may be as the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10,

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…" (Hebrews 10:25).

I know that most of you do that right now, but for those of you that don’t, and you’re looking for a habit, you’re going to start to attend church every week. Gathering to worship God, hearing his Word, hanging out together and encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

What one habit do you need to begin to do, to become who you want to become, based upon the spiritual trajectory you’ve charted for your life?

In the remainder of our time, I want to talk to you very practically about how to create a new habit. And the first thing I want to encourage you to do is to give yourself some sort of reminder, some kind of prompt, something that you see. And so, you want to make it obvious so that when you see it, it creates a desire, which when followed by an action, results in a reward.

As we understand these elements, applying these principles, it will help us to create holy habits. For example, if you want to change what you do, change your prompts and make it obvious. And so, if you want to take your vitamins every morning, before you go to bed take them out and put them by your toothbrush. Then when you get up and brush your teeth, assuming that you already have the habit of doing that, you see your vitamins and take them.

Or maybe you want to start reading your Bible daily, because like David you believe,

"God’s word is a lamp to your feet and a light for your path" (Psalms 119:105).

And so, if that’s how you’re going to start your day, make it obvious, take your Bible out of the drawer and you put it by your cereal bowl, the coffee pot, or whatever you do in the morning. You could even put a reminder on your phone, getting a notification, but you do whatever you’ve got to do to make it obvious.

The second thing you want to do is make it easy. For example, let’s say you want to pray with your spouse, but you’re nervous because you’ve never done it, and so you make it easy. You might just grab your spouse’s hand before you go to bed at night and say, "Let’s thank God for one thing." And so, you lower the threshold and start small because the Bible says,

"Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

And so, maybe you’re like, "God, we thank you for our home," or "we thank you for our kids," or "we thank you for our jobs." But whatever it is, you just start small, you thank God for one thing, and the next thing you know you’re thanking God for two things and then three things because you’re creating holy habits.

Today, whatever it is, you’ve got to start somewhere, and so you make it obvious, you make it easy, and then you start building, stacking your habits one after another. For example, Daniel began by sticking to his diet, and then he prayed three times a day. Now, we don’t know, but maybe his hunger was prompting him to pray. Maybe he prayed before breakfast, lunch, and dinner but he created a holy habit to help him become who God wants him to be.

You see, once you’ve identified who you want to become, or what you want to do, you simply create a habit to take you in the direction God wants you to go. For some of you it might be first thing in the morning or after you put the kids to bed, but you grab your spouse’s hand and thank God for one thing. And so, if you’re hoping to change something, you want to develop a pattern, a habit, because hope will get you started, but habits will keep you going.

You have the power to change, and it begins one small habit at a time. The Holy Spirit encourages us in Zechariah chapter four saying,

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin" (Zechariah 4:10, NLT).

In other words, the Lord rejoices to see you put forth some effort, because when you begin with one small habit, one step of faith, he can do so much more than you would have ever thought or imagined.

This is really personal to Dana and I because there are so many things about our lives today that are more God honoring than they were many years ago. But one step at a time, little by little, we started creating these little holy habits like going to church every week. Then we decided to honor God with our finances as the Bible says,

"On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income…" (1 Corinthians 16:2).

And so, we started the habit of tithing, giving our first fruits, ten percent of all that we receive to our local church.

Then we began to pray together, not for long, but we prayed together. I wish I could say that we pray for hours every night but I always fall asleep. And so, I usually don’t pray much at night, but we always pray together, praying at mealtimes or whenever throughout the day.

And so, the marriage Dana and I have today is a reflection of the habits we have created over many years. It’s those little habits in conjunction with the Holy Spirit that have helped me to change and become more like Jesus. Now, I confess I’ve still got a long way to go, but I have created holy habits, daily devotions, regular exercise, and reading through the Bible every year. That’s so important because it helps me to fight off the temptations of the evil one, remaining focused on the will of God, and being confident of who I am in Christ.

I tell you that to encourage you because you have the power to change. Right now, is a great time to begin by deciding who you want to become because the Bible says,

"Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).

And so, what holy habit do you need to start? Not hoping to change, but knowing you can, because you have the power to change. And when you do,

"The Lord rejoices to see the work begin" (Zechariah 4:10, NLT).

And so, as we close, let’s never underestimate what God can do through one small holy habit.

Read Part 4

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott