Godly Habits
We all have habits and they are either black
or white. This is another simple
teaching because I want you to put in your head the simplicity of God's
Word. Many people think that God's Word
is very complicated and hard to understand.
This is not true and it is a lie from the god of this world.
Chapter 13 of I Corinthians is one of the most
important chapters and principles that we can master. I am going to go to one of the most difficult
parts of the renewed mind. I want to
show you what God wants us to master and I will now go to the Scripture itself.
Doth
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is
not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; --
I Corinthians 13: 5
You can easily see some of the Godly habits
that our Father wants us to master. He
does not want us to behave ourselves in an ungodly manner, acting like a crazy
person. He does not want us to just seek
our own, but to help others when we can.
This is what Jesus Christ did all the time. God does not want us to be easily provoked. He does not want us to get into fights and
arguments with people. He would rather
us to keep quiet and have some class about ourselves. Did you ever look into the teaching “Whatever Happened To Class”? I did this teaching to show you what is
happening in this world. You should read
the teaching and it will help you very much.
This world is going to hell and it's going quickly. It will not last much longer. So God mentions three different things in the
above Scripture -- 3 different habits that we should acquire and apply every
single day of our life.
But in the above Scripture, there is one principle
that is the most difficult one to apply.
I have had difficulty with this principle and most believers have also
had great difficulty applying the final part of this Scripture.
The Word says that we are to think no
evil. Can you imagine the difficulty
trying to master this one principle? The
world is full of evil and negatives everywhere you look. People have become rude towards one another
and would rather pop up their cell phone than to look at you and to say
hello. It has gotten to the point where
I purposely avoid people because they make me negative. When people are rude to others, it agitates
them because other people are also being rude to them. Get your pronouns right.
Try and master this principle of thinking no evil. You can get better at it if you continually try to renew your mind to such a powerful principle. I wanted to mention this before we went on to give you the most difficult of all Godly habits that you need to master. I too am far from perfect in this area.
A much easier Godly habit to master pertains
to the area of anger. Believe it or not,
we are to quit being angry. There is
really no benefit to anger and we should simply stop. It is better to handle ourselves in
soft-spoken manner, than like some type of barbarian as you see happening in
most of the world today. People, who do
not need trucks, are driving around in noisy trucks acting like they're
powerful and acting like they're angry at the world. This is part of Satan's new movement. People also walk around holding cell phones
all the time and acting like they are important. These people have no peace and never will as
long as they continue with their ungodly habits.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. --
Psalm 37: 8
That's what the Word says way back in
Psalms. Is this book written to us? No, it is not but we can learn from it. We will see in books that are written
directly to us today that there are also Scriptures that talk about anger. But take a look Psalms and you will clearly
see that God wants us to quit being angry and to forsake wrath, which is the
desire to do evil. He says don't even
think about it as far as doing evil is concerned. Now isn't this something that this verse ties
in with the previous verse about not thinking evil. If we have what is referred to as a hot
temper, we need to cool it down. We need
to be able to realize that every time we get angry, there is no benefit to it. It is what the god of this world wants you to
do and surely you don't want to do that.
It's a trick from Satan and one we need to work on. We need to work on this habit so that we do
not get angry at any time and we never devise to do evil of any type. In place of this, we need to do the
following.
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:
32
I admit that there are
times when it is extremely difficult to forgive others especially when they
have done something to you that appears to be unforgivable. But we can always pray for that person even
though we can't seem to approach them.
God only expects us to do our best.
Jesus Christ was the greatest in this area of forgiveness. He even forgave Judas which is sometimes hard
to believe. But that is what God's Will
is -- He wants us to forgive one another and to be kind and tenderhearted
towards each other. This is a positive
Godly habit that we should strive to acquire.
I have experimented with this principle and the closest I could get to
applying it was to pray and to pray diligently for my enemies. After I did this, I felt much better and I
felt a sense of freedom that I never felt before. You should try it.
Above this verse, in
Ephesians, is another very interesting verse pertaining to this subject and we
are going to go over it.
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: -- Ephesians 4: 26
You need to understand what
is referred to as Old English. This
first phrase does not mean what it seems to mean but the following is more of a
literal translation. The phrase means to
have a continuous awareness of the old man.
This can and will make you slightly angry, so that you will sin less and
less.
The second part of this
verse also means something different than most people think. It makes a lot of sense when you get it
right. The latter part is saying to not
go to bed angry. Have you ever done
this? It's very hard to fall asleep and
you cannot relax and you may lay there for hours. That's why God says do not let the sun go
down upon your wrath. This is a figure
of speech referring to what I have just explained. Before you retire in the evening and you're with
your sweetheart, make sure you have everything explained that needs to be explained
especially when it comes to a problem.
Never, but never try to go to sleep when you are angry. Isn't this a beautiful illustration? I had learned that this is true because many
times I would have a disagreement with my spouse and then I will try to go to
sleep. Well forget it. It's not worth the effort and it's all the
result of being angry.
Let us take a look at the
book of Colossians and we will see the opposite of this type of emotion that
keeps us awake at night.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. – Colossians 3: 15
Now this is a Godly habit
that we should strive to achieve. We
will notice that if we quit being angry, the peace of God will begin to rule in
our hearts and we will be thankful. You
surely understand that when you're angry, you cannot be peaceful. And also the opposite is true. When you are peaceful, you cannot be
angry. Aren't these simple principles
but they are so important that we overlook them many times because the god of
this world distracts us from thinking on Godly habits. Remember, he's got his trucks and he's got
his cell phones among many other things.
How many people do you know that diligently study the Bible every
day? We are headed for disaster and it's
coming sooner than you think. Now this
can be 20, 50 or 100 years. But that's
not a long time. In fact, I do not see
or understand why God Almighty will not send back Jesus Christ today. But that's God's business, and not mine. So, to review, we now know that a Godly habit
is to learn how to be peaceful and to let the peace of God rule in our
hearts. Notice how God uses the word
‘rule’. God is not messing around when
He says He's going to do something. You
can bet your life He is going to do it.
Man is acting in a horrendous manner and what man gives out, he will
receive back in return. It's just a
matter of time. Now let's get back to
some Godly habits and try to stay on the positive end of our teaching. You see, I have to say at this point, that
there are so many negatives everywhere you look especially on television and in
newspapers and even on the Internet, that it's difficult to stay positive. But it says in the Word of God “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.”
God says it -- that settles it.
Again, when God says it, that
settles it. Now I am trying to help you
by telling you like it is and as you notice in this website, we do not water
down anything.
There is a short story I
would like to tell you that I think is extremely humorous and yet sets a
principle in the Word just like a diamond in this true story.
There was an Easterner that
had dark skin who was a great man of God and he got on a bus and he sat near
the front of the bus. This man was very
soft-spoken. As the bus started to move,
the bus driver looked at him and he said to him “ you need to get to the back
of the bus”. The Easterner who was as
calm as can be said to the driver “Oh that's okay, I'm perfectly comfortable
where I am.” I imagine everyone in the
bus just cracked up. And guess what the
bus driver did? He let the Easterner sit
in the front of the bus.
You see, a lot of people
think and try to be what they call “Cool”.
You cannot be cool unless you know and apply the Word of God and have
mastered Godly principles. So don't even
try because you’re going to make a fool out of yourself. Only God will tell you what to do and how to
act. He knows what needs to be done and
what needs to be said. You do not know
this -- you are not God. Now watch the
following Scripture and you will see a mighty thing that this principle can
accomplish.
A soft answer turneth away
wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. -- Proverbs 15: 1
Notice what happened to the
bus driver in the above example. He may
have had some wrath toward the Easterner, but the soft answer that was spoken
by this Easterner turned away the bus drivers wrath. Isn't that amazing? Now that's a Godly habit that you want to
acquire.
Now God likes to cover
everything in detail so He goes into the second part of the verse. He then says that there is one ungodly habit
and that is to speak words that stir up anger and these are grievous
words. You can see that the second part
of the verse is the opposite of the first part.
God wants to show you both sides so that you can be sharp and so that
you can be quick in your mind and aware of what's going on around you.
If you think about it, you
seem to almost always react in a calm manner to someone who is
soft-spoken. That someone seems to have
more confidence in themselves and that's why they are so calm and relaxed and
peaceful. Proverbs tells it all about a
soft answer and about grievous words. No
one can tell God Almighty. People have
said to me time and time again that I can speak the Word like no one else. Well guess what? I don't speak the Word. God speaks it for me. That's right.
When I sit down to do a teaching, I hardly think about what I'm going to
do next. Oh sure I will prepare at
times, but it is God who calls the final shots.
You see, I want no glory -- none whatsoever because God helps me to put
all these teachings together and it's all for your benefit. There are over 47 years of studying and
working God's Word so that I could give it to you to use and apply in your
life.
Now we are going to study a
subject that is of interest to most people, especially the men of God. Whether you know it or not, I have been
taught the most important principles from the Word of God by women of God. I have been taught the importance of prayer,
the importance of minding my own business and being quiet when I should be, and
all of the basics of the Word of God were taught to me about 45 years ago by a
most dynamic woman of God who was the leader in the area in which I lived. I owe almost everything to this woman and I
remember everything that is important that she taught me -- to this day. But we are not going to talk about leadership
qualities in this teaching. We are going
to talk about Godly habits and in this case, we are actually going to talk
about apparel. This is how a person
dresses and makes an appearance towards others.
A man of God who first
witnessed the Word to me told me that when you compare a woman of God to a
woman of the world, the difference is like night and day and he was right. Not only did a woman of God dress appropriately
at all times, but she had personality characteristics that emanated from the
Christ in her. Women of the world could
not compare and never will. I would like
to go to I Timothy chapter 2.
To give you an idea of all
the people who wrongly divide God's Word, I want you to take a look at chapter
2: 8 and notice the term “lifting up holy hands”. We see people doing this on television and on
these so-called revivals. They're
jumping around and acting like a bunch of fools and they never even know what
or why they are doing what they are doing.
This term means that you are giving a situation or problem to God in
prayer. That's it. It is like a figure of speech that represents
this type of act. I wanted to go over
this verse to let you know how easy it is for people who know nothing about
God's Word and to misinterpret it. The
next several verses are rightly divided and speak about this subject of which I
am concerned and that is Godly habits.
All you ladies should be
blessed by this teaching because it focuses only on women. Women seem to have a tendency to adorn
themselves with much more detail than men.
God gave a woman this right and we as men can only appreciate the beauty
of a well-dressed woman. Let's get to
the Scripture.
In like manner also, that [the] women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair,
or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But
(which becometh women professing godliness) with good
works. –
I Timothy 2: 9, 10
This topic is of great
interest to me at the present time. As
many of you might know, at times I walk in a large mall. I walked in this Mall for over 30 years and
the changes I have seen are astounding.
Many years ago, a businesswoman would dress in a smart looking business
suit and she would carry herself with sobriety.
She would not have braided hair, gold
or be dressed in costly clothes.
She looked smart and sharp and professional.
Today, I rarely see a woman
dressed in this manner. They seemed to
be trying to only get attention by their unruly form of dress. Most of the women look like complete slobs
and probably live that way also. This is
the truth and I cannot deny it. I see it
with my own eyes and it makes me somewhat sick to my stomach.
If you look back up at the
Scriptures and Timothy, you will see that women of God adorned themselves in
modest apparel. Does this mean that the
clothes need to be cheap? Not at
all. In fact, many believers were taught
how to shop for clothes depending on the material that they were made out
of. I remember my leader and most of the
time she dressed in black and white, but she looked outstanding. This was possibly because her hair was light
blonde and she knew how to mix and match colors and she knew how to look sharp
and to look like a leader and she was the greatest female leader I had ever
witnessed. She commanded attention
wherever she went.
The word for “modest” here
is most interesting. In a literal
translation, it means “to magnify the Christ in you with beautiful
clothes”. Isn't that a beautiful
illustration? The point here is that you
must be able to discern what is beautiful and what is homely and
unattractive. There is a balance that a
woman must attain between what is beautiful and what is not beautiful. A woman does not have to go out and spend a
ton of money on costly array. If she is
smart, she will take her time and pick out clothes that match her skin tone and
her height and her hair and everything else that makes sense.
Another word that we need
to go over is ‘sobriety’. This is a
wonderful illustration that God has placed here. Sobriety does not mean that a person has not
been drinking, but in His case it means the following. God is saying that a woman of God should be
discreet and dignified and should be beautifully carved out able to walk into a
room and address herself without saying a word.
These are all Godly habits that stem from knowing simply how to dress or
adorn oneself. I know that we are
referring here only to women and if you want to turn the situation around, you
can apply what we have learned to men also.
Every time we all go somewhere, we should stand in front of a full
length mirror and ask ourselves if we like what we see. Today the common dress is T-shirts and jeans
with holes in them coupled with disgusting colors, usually black or dark, which
by the way represents death. Can't
anybody see what is really happening? I
said it in almost every teaching lately that the devil’s time is getting
shorter and shorter and he is working overtime to destroy people's lives and
their minds. But he cannot touch a
believer who studies and applies Gods perfect Word.
Let's take a look at verse
10 and then we shall close out this teaching because there are so many Godly
habits that we can be here forever. I
have given you a good idea of what it means to have a Godly habit and also what
it means not to have them. One results
in life and true blessing and the other one results in a life that's like
death. Which one are you going to
choose? Which one are you going to
choose? How many times do I need to ask
you that question?
Let’s go over I Timothy 2:
10 since we did not cover it above:
But (which becometh women
professing godliness) with good works. -- I Timothy 2:
10
This term which is in
parentheses and is a figure of speech states “women professing godliness”. Godliness is a person's spiritual
relationship with God Almighty and is unique to that person. When a true woman of God enters a room, she
professes godliness. In other words she
announces herself. Again, she doesn't
have to say a word and she only needs to be dressed in modest apparel and she
will command attention. This is a
beautiful figure of speech and one that you should work.
I am not bragging here, but
many times, when I first got my wife into the Word of God, she already had such
discipline that it amazed most people who were believers. They had asked me if she was in a great
leadership program. My wife hardly knew
anything about the Bible. So you see, it
is how you carry yourself and how you appear to people that makes them think
different things about you. I felt proud
that people felt this way about my wife.
She had discipline like I had never seen before and it is still the
same. In times in her life, she was
raised by a great family who instilled Godly principles in her life. Because of that, she has been successful in
no matter what she has ever done. And
her greatest success lies in teaching me to fine tune many of God's
principles. As I mentioned to you
before, it has been women of God who taught me the greatest principles I could
ever learn. Got taught them and they taught
me. As I mentioned, my wife taught me
amazing and dynamic principles pertaining to social life. Another woman of God taught me the importance
of prayer. A different women of God
taught me how not to react when it came to what the adversary was throwing at
me. And my beloved branch leader gave me
the foundation that I needed so badly to continue today. I am thankful to God for women of God. I’m sure that God has picked these women to
teach me the greatest principles that I needed in my individual walk with Him.
Many misinterpretations
have taken place pertaining to women of God and the Bible. The Bible in no way says that a woman cannot
be a leader. In fact, it's probably been
one of the greatest tricks that the enemy could have pulled by making women
seem lesser than men when it comes to the Bible and so many other things. And you're hearing this from a former male
chauvinist. Man. Did I learn my lesson? To me, there is an advantage that a woman has
over a man and that is to look outstanding.
A woman can dress and distract almost any man and yet a man can go out
to buy pants and he has three colors to choose from – black, gray, and green. Think about it. A Godly habit that a woman of God must
acquire is to adorn herself in modest apparel which allows her to be
beautifully carved out and to announce herself and to magnify that Christ in
her with beautiful clothes. Isn't that
just astounding? The way God puts it in
His Word is beyond explanation.
I hope this simple teaching
has really sunk into your heart. Don't
let the world change you and make you into a truck driver and a cell phone
madman. The next time you go shopping,
think, and see yourself in front of that full length mirror. How do you look? You want to look cool? Then God will show you how to be as cool as
you can possibly be. God bless. You’re the best. Dress like it and then you'll feel like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~