7 Habits to Start You on the Path Toward Fruitful Christian Living
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Christian women are faced with many challenges. In any given day, a woman might be called on to do the work of two women and still manage to serve as mother, wife, sister-in-Christ, disciple and more. With so much responsibility put on her shoulders each day it is no wonder that Christian women often feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities! Read on further to learn 7 habits for fruitful Christian living for even the busiest woman:
Habits for Christian Living
As followers of Yeshua (Jesus) all want to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. We can practice some key habits that will help us to do so.
The 7 habits for Christian living are:
- Read the Bible
- Prayer
- Fellowship
- Study
- A Godly Thought Life
- Obedience
- Forgiveness
So let’s explore each of these habits individually and see how we can begin developing each one in our lives.
1. Read the Bible
Reading the Bible seems to be an obvious place to begin to develop strong habits for Christian living but surprisingly, it is often overlooked in people’s lives.
Some people have been made to feel like showing up in Church on Sunday and having the pastor go over a selection of verses and teaching on them is enough Bible for them until the following week. Or that they are “unqualified” to read the Bible and interpret it for themselves.
But nothing could be farther from the truth.
The Bible is not just some old, antiquated book that only experienced scholars read and interpret and then teach you from it. It is for YOU.
It can be and should be studied and dissected page by page over the course of years, if not decades. The more you study it and make it part of your life, the more you treat it like a treasure ready to be discovered, the stronger your faith and understanding will be in all areas of your life.
You will be joyfully facing each day with eyes wide open to see God’s hand at work around us; courageously living out our daily responsibilities without fear because we know He has promised that he’ll never leave or forsake His own.
You will be confidently looking forward to eternity knowing we have a place in the Messianic Kingdom because you are told this by the Word of God!
Being able to recite verses or passages doesn’t mean they are understood fully so memorization without true understanding does little good for Christian living.
The devil, as we see in his interaction with Yeshua in the wilderness, knows scripture. It means little that you have a handful of verses you have committed to memory.
What matters is kavanah or intention. Memorizing scripture with focused attention on what you are memorizing, meditating on it, applying it to life, that is what makes a difference.
Otherwise, it is just rote recitation!
Reading Scripture on a daily basis allows for new insights to come forth as we reflect on what has been learned previously. The Word of God is alive and active. It will transform our lives by the power it has within itself.
Whether it is a morning time alone with God or during family devotions, reading the Bible each day will help Christian women grow closer to Him and allow them to know His Word. It is our only hope in the storms of life!
2. Prayer
Speaking with God on a daily basis can bring about many changes in our lives. It will give us the spiritual strength to face anything that comes our way. It also gives Him opportunity to show Himself strong on behalf of His children.
In Christian living, prayer is the way we directly speak to and hear from the Lord–even if all we have is five minutes before bed or as soon as we wake up in the morning.
Prayer helps keep us balanced, regardless of what we are going through, because God always has everything under control. So we can trust going to Him with all areas of our lives.
It’s important for Christian women not to neglect prayer even though they might be busy with family life, work, school, other commitments or responsibilities – because no one cares more than He does! There are easy ways to make it a priority!
A Christian woman’s prayer life should be nurtured and strengthened. It needs to grow and thrive! We need a strong relationship with our heavenly Father so we can draw strength from Him at all times of the day.
We also need His wisdom every step of the way. As believers, He has called us to follow Him faithfully and completely. This means living out these seven habits each day with the help of the Holy Spirit.
3. Fellowship
In Christian life (and Messianic Jewish life), enjoying fellowship with others is so important.
Meeting up with others in small groups, praying together and talking about what God has been teaching us, or just having a phone call with a friend to catch up on the latest happenings can be an amazing source of encouragement.
Fellowship is where we learn how to love others like Jesus Christ – because He loves all His people! We are all part of God’s family so let’s not forsake the assembling of ourselves together! (Hebrews 10:25)
4. Study
Reading God’s Word is vitally important but so is studying it. We need to spend time in Scripture every day, learning what God has said and why He says it.
While Bible studies can be a good way to start studying the Word, eventually beginning to study it for yourself is extremely important because you don’t want to just get someone else’s interpretation.
You want to see what God has to speak directly into YOUR life from those pages!
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15:
“Make every effort to present yourself before God as tried and true, as an unashamed worker cutting a straight path with the word of truth.”
tlv
The NIV says:
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
niv
An unashamed worker who cuts a straight path and correctly handles the word of truth; the Word. You do this by study.
Hebrews 4:12 says:
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword—piercing right through to a separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
tlv
The Word of God is our teacher, our friend, our lamp to our feet and light to our path. The Lord speaks to us from its pages through the Holy Spirit. We need to study it for ourselves.
5. A Godly Thought Life
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6:
“For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful through God for the tearing down of strongholds. We are tearing down false arguments and every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah – ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”
tlv
We are to take our thoughts captive in obedience to Messiah Yeshua. Our thoughts are where sin takes root. The enemy uses our thought life to tempt us, to discourage us, to plant lies. But when we take our thoughts captive, the enemy is unable to defeat us.
The Bible says in Philippians 4:8:
“In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.”
cjb
A key to Christian living is focusing on what is true (which we know from studying the Bible), what is righteous (again, from the Word), what has virtue and what is praiseworthy.
We are to focus our thoughts on what pleases the Lord! The good news is that Holy Spirit will guide us as we pray for His help in keeping our thoughts in line with the Word.
When we do not do this, we leave ourselves open to the enemy.
Which leads me to our next habit…
6. Obedience
I often hear Christians say (and I apologize if this stings a little), “I am not under the law. I am under grace.”
Well, there are two big issues with this sentiment.
For one, if you are not a Jewish believer you were never under the law. The law was given to Israel and the Jewish people at Sinai. It was never expected for gentile believers to keep kashrut (the dietary laws) or be circumcised or the majority of other 613 mitzvot or commandments.
In fact, this entire issue was at the heart of the Jerusalem Council and the resulting Apostolic Decree which determined that gentiles could be saved without following the whole of Jewish law.
In fact, requiring that a gentile believer be circumcised and live as a Jew would be saying that God is the God of the Jews only and NOT the God of ALL the nations.
It would be to negate what Yeshua did to bring all the nations to the Lord.
But the other issue is that, while you are a Christian living under grace, if any believer thinks he or she has NO responsibility to obedience they are submitting themselves to a lie.
Being under grace means you are redeemed and forgiven for sin. It is unmerited favor that a believer now merits solely on Yeshua’s death and resurrection. But that does not imply there is no obedience expected!
Thinking otherwise opens one up to unrepentant sin.
Sin IS sin because there IS obedience expected.
So while, for gentile believers, that obedience is not to the law as given at Sinai, it IS obedience to the Word and, as determined by the Apostolic Decree summarized in Acts 15:19-20:
“Therefore, I judge not to trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God— but to write to them to abstain from the contamination of idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what is strangled, and from blood.”
tlv
7. Forgiveness
When we do sin and we repent, when we fervently pray and confess our sins, we can trust that we are forgiven.
1 John 1:9 says:
If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.
cjb
However, we also have to forgive others.
Yeshua Himself said, as He taught His disciples to pray:
“Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.”
Matthew 6:12 CJB
Yeshua has also instructed:
“And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive your offenses.”
Mark 11:25 CJB
Forgiveness is a habit required of us in Christian living.
It can be difficult – but when we ask for help in prayer, the Holy Spirit can and WILL equip us!
It is important that Christians do this so they are free from judgment themselves about their own sins.
Otherwise there would never be peace among believers (or with the nonbelievers around them) who may feel unforgiven even if they have attempted many times to start anew after an offense against a brother or sister in Messiah.
Christian Living – No One Ever Said it Was Easy!
The Christian life is not easy. However, with God’s help, anything can be done!
Do you practice any habits that would be helpful to other women for successful Christian living? Share them in the comments!
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NIV – Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
CJB – Taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.