Throw yourself a party. I am seeing progress, God is doing great things in my life. You have won the battle with lust for six weeks. Call some friends on the phone and let them pray prayers of thanksgiving for you. You are seeing results. You are concentrating on victory, winning. Maybe you struggle with overspending and for two months you have balanced your budget. You throw yourself a cheap party.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, "Do not worry about tomorrow, each day has enough trouble of it's own." When you start this change process it is not going to feel right. It is easier to act your way into a feeling than to feel your way into an action. Alcoholic's Anonymous says, fake it until you make it. God, I want to be obedient to You even though it seems weird to me, I am going to do it. And once you start that process, God will allow the feelings to catch up with you.
Number three. Rely on God's power not your willpower. Rely on God's power not your willpower. Willpower is the major blockade in recovery. I talk to people all the time and they say things like this. "Well, Ed, you know I said ten years ago that when I made my first million I would never be greedy again. Never. In the next ten years I am going to be generous. I am going to give to the poor, I am going to give to the church, I am going to be content with my contents." Let me tell you something, if you have not been generous the last ten years, what makes you think you can fire up those willpower machines and all of a sudden turn into a generous person. You might be for a month or two, but it is not going to work. Willpower is not the key. It is God's power, the Bible says. I love what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 13:23. "Can a leopard take away his spots? Nor can you who are so used to doing evil now just start doing good."
On the other hand, Philippines 4:13 says, "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." We have got to rely on Christ's power, Christ's strength, Christ's energy. When you think and contemplate dealing with your character defects, I want you to think about a trash can. My family and I generate a lot of trash. We have four children as you know, twins in diapers.
Ed Young Fellowship You can imagine the situation. And oftentimes when I take the trash out, it is a challenge for me because right next to our house, in fact, five feet from our house there is a fence. There is about a six inch gap at the bottom of the fence and on the other side of the fence are two man-eating Rotweillers To show you how tough these dogs are, one day I was shooting basketball and I missed. What a shocker! The ball bounced over to the other side of the fence.
