Habits That Help You Stay Spiritually Healthy

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And we want to welcome you to Truth Talk Live and we've got a question for you. What are your habits that help you stay spiritually healthy? What are your habits that help you stay spiritually healthy? We want to talk about that today. And let's talk about these different habits that we need to be cultivating in our lives so that we can be spiritually healthy. We do the right thing, the right things will begin to happen. Someone said, so a thought reap a act, so a act reap a habit, so a habit reap a character, so a character reap a destiny. Oh, it's so crucial for our destiny, for our character that we have the right habit. So start thinking on that. Give us a call.

1-866-348-7884. I want to hear what spiritual habit, what habit have you been doing that's been helping you stay spiritually healthy? And as you share your thoughts, I think other people are going to be encouraged to think about what their habits are. Today is January the 30th, 1-30. And with Date the Word, it's Luke 1-30. And in Luke 1-30, the angel showed up to Mary and said, Mary, do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. Luke 1-30. Listen, you have nothing to fear when you have the favor of God.

Favor trumps fear all day long. Luke 1-30. And if you want more information on that, you can go to the website, datetheword.com, download the Date the Word app, and every day you can see there the devotional for the verse for the date. And if today's your birthday, it's Luke 1-30. Or I love Deuteronomy 1-30 for 1-30.

Deuteronomy 1-30 says, The Lord your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. What a great verse. And if you want to know what your birthday verse is, you can call us right here. I'll give it to you at any time during the program. 1-866-348-7884.

Download the Date the Word app, and you can see a verse, verses for every date, and see your birthday verse, have a verse to give to someone when it's their birthday, and really encourage, edify one another. Now, back to our big question. What are your habits that help you stay spiritually healthy? And we have a caller, Ed Stewart. Good afternoon. Dwayne, how you doing young man? I'm doing good, and I love you calling me a young man at 64. Sometimes I don't feel quite as young as I used to, but when you're in the Lord, you know, doing things for the Lord, the outward man may be perishing, but the inward man keeps getting stronger. Amen.

So thank you for that nice compliment. Ed, tell me where you're calling from. I am calling from Columbia, South Carolina, in my office at my church plant, New Creation Baptist Church. New Creation Baptist Church, and this is a church plant, and I've got to believe that as you are growing this church, habits, spiritual habits for spiritual growth is a necessity. And so on today's program, we're talking about what are those spiritual habits, and I was just curious, what are some of those top habits that you're seeking to convey to your people?

You've got to start getting this into your life if you're truly going to be the man, the woman of God you need to be. Well, one of the keys that I stress from my own personal life and for our congregation is the principle of intentionality. If you're going to have a good habit, it has to start. You have to intend. It has to be something purposeful that you plan on doing, because if you don't make a plan to do something, it will not happen.

I think the great coach Joe Paterno said failure to plan is planning to fail. Yeah, and we do that so much when it comes to our spiritual things. We don't miss work.

We find a way to get up on time and get to work, because we like that paycheck. But we have to apply that same intentionality to spiritual things. So what I do in my own personal life is four to five days a week I walk. And during that walk, that's my time to talk to God. So for me, keeping me close to God is to be in His presence on these 45 minutes to one hour walks and just use that time to speak to Him as I'm walking and let Him speak to me.

Whether I want to get up or not, I intentionally get up those days so I can have a time with God and me alone. So for me, the good habit of praying is one of the things that I do. Well, it sounds like a lot of wisdom here.

You're getting two birds, one stone. There's the physical habit, taking care of yourself. You're going for that walk, and we're hearing a lot right now about Make America Healthy Again.

We need to be physically exercising, but get two birds, one stone. When you're walking, talk with God. It was Him, wasn't it? When I come to the garden, He walks with me, and He talks with me. And Duane, when I'm walking early in the morning and the stars are out, and the moon is out, Duane, the only way I'm going to get that time, brother, because once my day starts, it's on. Well, we're going to take a quick break, Ed, but you're reminding me of Dr. Falwell early in the morning.

Early in the morning. Hey, this is Truth Talk Live. We'll be right back with you talking about spiritual habits for spiritual health. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson, and today we're talking about what are your spiritual habits that help you stay spiritually healthy.

I've got on the line with me Ed Stewart. He's the pastor of a church plant in Columbia, South Carolina, New Creations Baptist. And Ed, as we're talking about these spiritual habits, I thought about as you talked about walking with Jesus and talking with Jesus, the exercise, you're doing a spiritual exercise and a physical exercise. 1 Timothy 4.7 says, Exercise yourself toward godliness.

Exercise yourself toward godliness. Now, we want to do a giveaway, listeners. The Greek word that we translate, exercise, gives us an English word. If you know what that English word is, call us at 1-866-348-7884. And the first one to call in and tell me what that English word is that comes from the Greek word that we translate, exercise, we're going to send you one of the date the word calendars for 2025.

And before the show's over, if you haven't called, I'll tell, but I hope some of you will know and give us a call. What's the Greek word that's translated, the English word that comes from the Greek word in English for exercise? Ed, as we think about spiritual habits, you know, Jesus in Luke 4.16 says that it was his custom. As it was his custom, he went to the synagogue and there he read scripture. Jesus had spiritual habits.

What do you think about that? I mean, if we're going to be anything for Christ, we need to follow and do what he did. And the other habit that I have, Duane, that goes dovetails with this is in my personal Bible study, I always read something from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. I can read other parts of the scripture, but every day that I'm reading, I'm reading from the Gospels to do just what you said. What did Jesus do?

What was the pattern of his life? And I need to get about following that. I love it.

I love it. Hey, we've got John. He's going to tell us about one of his spiritual habits. Good afternoon, John. Hey, brother, how are you today? Good. Where are you calling from? Midway, North Carolina.

I know where that is. Hey, we're talking about spiritual habits. What insights can you give us today? So, my spiritual habit is, after I get done working out, I go buy myself a cup of coffee, and I sit down while I'm waiting for that coffee to be filled, and I'm looking through my photos and my scripture verses, because that's going to be my devotions for the next morning at 4.30 a.m. So when I'm done today working out with that coffee coming, and then when I get the coffee, I'm praying and looking and going over, and I'm putting together this thing that you know as Morning Sword, and I'm getting ready to send this message out, and I put it on the social media sites today, but tomorrow morning at 4.30 a.m., I'm going to go much deeper into that, and I'm going to go find the corresponding scripture verses, and then I'm going to start praying through the day, because it takes a long day to get through the folks we're praying for, and I'm praying at the stoplight, and I'm praying. Any time I've got a few minutes, my mind starts to wander, I'm going right to the verses that I sent out, and I'm saying, please bless Duane, because I know he needs it.

You've got to believe it. Please take care of my friend Stu, because, you know, it's two o'clock someplace, and Stu's going to show up regardless of what the clock says. And I pray for Pastor J, and my friend Pastor Keith, and I pray for my missionary over in Indonesia, and, you know, just all these things that God puts before us.

If my mind starts to wander, I pull up that photo, or I just go to that verse, and I start praying in it, and that's what helps me get through some situations that helps me stay out of stuff I don't want to get involved in. So, for our listeners, a spiritual habit, you're getting up early. You may not get up at 4.30 like John does, but getting up early. Ed spoke about that walking, seeing the stars, that's before sunup. Jesus went to a solitary place early in the morning. You're not only getting Scripture, John, what you're saying is you're putting it in a place where you can see it throughout the day. You've got a picture that goes with it.

I love this. And as you need reminders, Deuteronomy talks about putting Scripture before your eyes. You're able to go back and meditate on it. You're seeing what God's Word says, and then you can meditate on it. How do I then apply it to my life?

And this doesn't become complicated. It's as we are going, the habit is we're letting our minds meditate on God's Word. And I love this about your prayer time, because ultimately we think about a discipline of prayer where we're going to get up in the morning and have that maybe 15 minutes of prayer.

Ed, we taught Acts, start with adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. But John, you're talking about the habit of 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. And if you've got things to pray about during the day, like you said, you come to that stoplight, and Lord, I just want to right now lift up and you pray for our national leaders, and Lord, I want to pray for our policemen and our firemen. Lord, I want to pray for my pastor. These are great habits to have. Ed, what do you think of this, the John sharing?

Man, I love because it reinforces a common theme. At some point as believers, we have to make a choice. I am going to put him in front of me, and however I need to do it in a way that connects with me, I'm going to be about doing it. And in that intentionality, you have this beautiful relationship with God. It's all about intentions. Now, in just about 30 seconds or so, we're going to be breaking away, and some stations we will not continue. You'll be having other programming, but for others, we're going to go right up to 5 o'clock.

I just want to say to you that are listening that ends right now, hear what Ed Stewart has said to you, intentionality. Your New Year's resolutions need to be examined right now because we're coming to the end of January, and Saturday, February 1st, is a good time to take inventory. How are you doing with those commitments you made?

Did you follow through? And February 1st is a new beginning, and say, all right, my Bible reading didn't get where it needed to be. I didn't get to church as often as I thought I would. I didn't witness to as many people as I thought I would. But Ed Stewart has said it comes back to intentionality.

It's going to be intentional to carry out these habits, and if you do them for 21 days in a row, all of a sudden, it just becomes second nature. We're going to be back in just a few minutes. This is Truth Talk Live! You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com Well, welcome back to Truth Talk Live!

I'm Duane Carson. Our ministry is Date the Word. You can find out more information on that at www.DateTheWord.com. Go and download the app, Date the Word. Get the app, and you'll have the verse for the date. You'll have the ability to see any verse for any date, for a birthday, to share with someone. Today we're talking about what are your habits that help you stay spiritually healthy.

And one of the things we're learning is that it's important to have spiritual exercises. And from 1 Timothy 4-7, there's a Greek word translated into English in our Bible exercise, but the literal Greek word translates into a very interesting English word. And if you know what that is, this is a giveaway.

Call us at 866-348-7884. And Pastor Stewart, pastor of New Creation Baptist in Columbia, South Carolina, if you want to hear some dynamic preaching, go to this church, if you're in the area of Columbia, and go and help him as he is planting this church in a very needy area. He and his wife are just sold out to the Lord on making a difference for him.

Ed, we've got another caller, but I want to come to you real quickly before we go to this caller. As we think about how Paul discipled Timothy, he said to Timothy, let others see your progress. Spiritual habits that bring about spiritual progress.

What are those things that we've got to be intentional about? The prayer, what else? For me, I am working through memorizing long passages of Scripture, currently working on John 1, 1-18. You know, having large pieces of Scripture deep in your heart and your mind, it always comes back to help you walk closer to God. And you find when you're talking or helping or mentoring someone, these Scriptures just come out of you.

And they ask you, well, how did you do that? Well, I have intended, intentionality, I've intended to hide His Word in my heart, and now I can demonstrate the power of that as I'm leading someone to look. But if I hadn't done it, Duane, I've got nothing to show. That's right, that's right. Your Word that I hid in my heart that I may not sin against you.

And then as God's Word gets in us, it gives light to our lives. Hey, let's get Sean on here. Hi, Sean. Hey, Brother Duane, how are you today? I'm great, how are you?

Doing well. I love the talk of intentionality, of when we focus in on what God's Word has to say to us. I found that years ago, there's an old fellow that would probably go back to our Liberty Days, brother, with Zig Ziglar, and he had a daily affirmation that I took and turned into a spiritual focus where I say, when I study, I understand to remember and to become wiser with a mindset to God's glory.

I'm an energetic and diligent team player and hard worker who appreciates the opportunity my company in the free enterprise system offers me. So there's a business focus to the daily readings in scripture and the words devotionals that we're using. But then we get more specific into, I, my wife, Alison's loving and adoring husband, am also compassionate and respectful and an encourager who's considerate, generous, gentle, patient, caring, sensitive, and attentive, and always fun-loving. So these are the attributes that the fruit of the Spirit gives us in the Word, but I've tried to flush them out where it reminds me of what that looks like in a practical standpoint, so I'm being intentional with each day to be loving to my wife, to be loving to my kids, to be loving to my clients in real estate and others.

I love it. Sean, where are you calling from? From Winston-Salem, brother Duane.

Yeah, right here in the, up in King there. Sean, this intentionality, I'm thinking about the Apostle Paul as he wrote to Timothy, verse 15 is where he says, let your progress be made, but in verse 13 and 14, he talked about reading scripture, but also encouraging believers. And when you just sit there like with your wife, the intentionality that not only am I going to get up in the morning and do things for myself, but I am going to be intentional to do things for others. I'm going to look for an opportunity to be generous to someone. I'm going to look for an opportunity to show appreciation to someone. Ed, I'm going to take your word intentionality and use a leadership principle. What gets talked about gets done, and if you're talking to yourself in the morning, that today I'm going to seize this day, I'm going to make the most of it by being focused on others, starting with my spouse.

Oh, Sean, I love this. To be that awesome husband, you've got to do awesome things. And to spell those out, guys, the key is we have to remind ourselves. Like, for example, one of the things that we all face is discouragement today. So one of the points here is, therefore, I am a warrior overcomer of life's circumstances, and I take everything to the Lord in prayer as Jesus did before beginning any action. And I engage compassionately with people as Jesus does. So then you align your business behavior and your personal choices to demonstrate a vibrant, authentic faith and obedience to my Savior, and therefore draw others closer to Him, too. Tomorrow's January 31, 131 is going to be Genesis 131, where God said His creation, indeed it is very good.

And we ask the question, why did He say very good instead of just saying good? And it's because He created man and woman. And I put in that devotion that's going to come out tomorrow that every person has dignity, and every person is to be respected because they have the image of God on them. And what you just said there, as you deal with people in business, there's a spiritual habit that I'm going to treat people with respect. And who knows, you may be the only Jesus they're going to see.

Amen, Brother Ed, Brother Dwayne. And I have this closure at the end of this little affirmation thing where I say, when I fall short, I fully confess my sins and realize that He is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and to fully cleanse me from all unrighteousness for His name's sake. And that I humbly, freely, and fully accept His generous grace and mercy, His instructions and His corrections, His favor and His blessings towards me and each of mine, with trust, appreciation, adoration and praise. And I always get quickly back up and press on to life's finishing line, where Jesus awaits with open arms for me, as the Apostle Paul encouraged us to do. Oh, this is so good.

Sean, thank you for your call today. These are great insights on how we can develop these spiritual habits, and then we're going to be spiritually healthy, like you and Allison. There's a spiritual health you have because you're doing the habits that bring forth a different character. I think something out of Romans 12 is happening with you. You're not being conformed to this world, but you're being transformed by the Word of God.

Yes, sir. Amen, Brother. And the closing line, guys, that we really entered all is that old hymnal or hymnist wrote, All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give. And I think that in what you guys are doing, I love you both. Thanks for sharing the Word and encouraging us on the radio and to keep these great preachers coming. I mean, it fuels our walk in this difficult life with Jesus because we know it counts. Well, for every day to be sweeter with Jesus, every day with Jesus, you have to start every day with Jesus.

And that's a spiritual habit. We're going to be going to a break here in just a moment. Sean, thank you for your call. Again, I want to challenge you to check out what is the Greek word, 1 Timothy 4.7.

It's an English exercise, but the Greek word gives us an incredible English word right from the Greek language. If you know it, call us, 1-866-348-7884, and we'll send you a Date the Word calendar for 2025. And again, we're going to talk more in the last segment of this show as we talk about February the 1st, schedule time to schedule time so you can schedule your time. Now, I hope I've got your attention that you'll come back and hear this last segment as we talk about spiritual habits that will keep you spiritually healthy. This is Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Well, welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson, Date the Word Ministry. And we've been asking the question, what English word comes from the Greek word in 1 Timothy 4.7?

And I hadn't got a call, but I got a text. And Steve texted me and he said the English word that we get from the Greek word is gymnasium. And that's exactly right. Think about this. Paul says to Timothy, exercise yourself toward godliness.

Well, the Greek word gives us an English word, gymnasium. And we've got to go to the spiritual gym so that we can become spiritually strong. What do you think about that?

It's not loud, so I'm glad I didn't spoil it. I figured you knew. Hey, we've got a caller from Dayton, Mike. Hi, Mike, how are you today?

I'm doing great. Well, I have many habits and I love habits. And the one is I listen to Truth Talk Live from 4 to 5.

Oh, man, you're a blessing. You know I call all the time and listen to you all the time, and I love habits. Oh, my gosh, habits are great. I'm being led right now to say my habit is to pray with my wife every day. I've been doing that this year, and that was my New Year's resolution. And it's really been helping our marriage, and my wife has been tender to me, and I've been tender to her, because we intentionally get together and pray every day. So that was my New Year's resolution this year.

And I have many of those. Reading the Bible this year, I'm right on track. That's awesome. I've usually about this time been failing, but this year I've been right on track, and I've been listening and reading at the same time, and that's really been helpful this year for me. Well, I like what you just said there, because that's something I do. I listen and read, and I've got a checklist that helps guide me so that I know this is where I'm supposed to be today.

And it's back to what Pastor Ed has said, that intentionality. But I've got to tell you, I so appreciate you sharing that habit of praying with your wife. I go all the way back to when I first was headed into the ministry.

I heard Dr. W.A. Criswell talk about the keys to a great marriage, and that was one of his top five. Pray with your spouse. And then we, Ed and myself, we were RAs together at Liberty University, and the baseball players, sometimes they start getting on each other's nerves, and we had a thing, guys, if you get on your knees and pray, it would be hard to kick each other. It's just something about being on your knees praying, it's hard to kick the person next to you. And you know, if a lot of church members would pray together, they might not be as mean toward each other. Oh, you're preaching now. You're preaching. Watch out.

You're onto something. Hey, Mike, thanks for your call. We got Brett calling now from, he's calling from Indiana.

Hi, Brett. How are you today? Oh, really good. Really good. I understand you've got a habit for us. Oh, yeah.

I'm disabled, and I live alone. I have a dog, a comfort dog, and he likes to run freely. So I take him out to the fairgrounds every day, wind, rain, or shine, 99% of the days out of the year, even during extreme heat and everything, and I watch his heart, you know, and he's got, his name's Rocky. And, you know, and one day, I just, I never listened to the radio. I turned on the radio, and it just happened to be your, I just hit scan because nothing was on there, and it went to your station.

This was a couple of years back, probably, well, definitely pre-COVID. And ever since then, that's been, while he's running, because I can't run with him, he's fast, I follow him in the van and listen to you, you know, at your station, not you particularly every time. It depends what time of day he drags me out there to run.

But that has been the best habit I have ever formed in my life. It just seems like between that and my dog, he prays too. We both pray as soon as we wake up and just, no matter what time of day it is, because we're not on a schedule, it could be 3 o'clock in the morning, and we pray and get up. It could be 9 o'clock at night, and we pray and get up, you know, as soon as we wake up before we get out of the bed. And he knows shortly after that we're going for the run. And I just wanted to share with people that habits like that, you know, even subconsciously, you know, when I'm looking at him, and you're on the radio, you know, or someone else is preaching, or whoever's on the radio at the time on your station, it's like the message, it can't be a coincidence after all these years.

That's right. That what has been frustrating me or bothering me from the time I woke up or why I woke up, the night terror or the sin that I committed in the past or what I didn't do to stop something bad from happening to other people in my life. It has really, for some reason, that's what they were preaching about as soon as I turned on the radio. I don't, I can't explain it. It's happened, it's happened, it's been a coincidence too many times over the years for it just to be, you know, just to be a coincidence. You know, and when I listen to that, you know, my message is, you know, it's not habits or forms, you know, and what your normal question was, you know, you know, you know, you start doing it subconsciously even.

That's right. You know, and it should be, it's not Sunday for an hour like you guys say on there, you know, it's every day. Everybody's got time, whether it be a minute while you're sitting in the bathroom, you know, you know, take the time to talk to the Lord.

Talk to him, talk to him, you know, and tell him, you know, and your ancestors will come to you, he'll bring them to you through those habits. Just those simple habits are just every day to it. As you were talking there, Brett, about listening, you put yourself in a place to hear from the Lord.

That's a habit. And if you'll put yourself in a place to hear from the Lord, you're going to hear a word from God, and I can testify that I have walked into church or turned on the radio, and I've heard a message, and it's like, God, how did you know I needed that right then? He goes, because I'm God, and I need you to hear from me. And we cast our cares upon him because he cares for us, and then he gives us a great word from someone. But one of those intentionalities, Pastor Ed, is that people have to put themselves in a place to hear the word of God, and that's not just on Sunday morning, but on Sunday morning is an intentional decision, is it not? Yep.

Well, let me put it to you this way, Duane. Everybody has a favorite fruit, whatever it is. We have fruit because somebody somewhere bought a piece of land, planted a plant, planted a seed, and every day, every week, every month, watered it, fertilized it, cared for it, whether you felt like it or not, holidays or not, sickness or not, caring for that plant eventually bore fruit, intentionality.

Yes. Galatians 5 22, the fruit of the Spirit is. God through Paul is telling us if we sow seeds in God, if we walk with God, if we talk with God, if we pray with God, if we are around the people of God, if we do that, we're going to bear fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If we intentionally plant ourselves in the path of God, and God and us, Duane, we're going to bear fruit, and our spouse is going to be the benefit of it, our kids, the people at our church, in our neighborhood.

The bearing fruit happens when we intentionally focus ourselves every day on God. That's good. Hey, Brett, thank you for your call today, and tell Rocky hello for us. Rocky, my boy. Hey, everybody in town knows him. Everybody. Everybody in town, they don't know my name, but they know his. They know Rocky.

He knows everywhere. Well, thank you for your call, your encouragement. You are a blessing, and I hope you have a blessed evening. Take care, brother. I will. I will. Thank you for your time. Yes, sir.

Ed, we're coming to the close of this program. As we think about the different spiritual disciplines, habits, there's prayer, there's Bible reading, church attendance. Where does witnessing come in, as you think about a spiritual habit? How in the world, after being with God and understanding all that God has done for you, meditating on that, rejoicing in that, you're going to get the Cain Helpits, and you're going to tell people, because it's real and it's personal, and you've chewed on it. Witnessing is hard when you hadn't remembered what God has done for you. But when you have intentionally thought and prayed and worshiped and thanked God, I'm telling you, Duane, witnessing will happen. And Duane, when you see somebody go from darkness into light, and you're a part of it, man, you will do it the rest of your life. Pastor Ed. It all starts with worship. Thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us today. Hey, develop the habits so that you'll stay spiritually healthy.