Today’s reading will come from Proverbs 6:6-11 CSB version
“Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise. Without a leader, administrator, or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest. How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest, and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.”
As Christians, and as people in general it is so important to build consistency. Here are four things to building consistency as a Christian.
To be consistent you need to:
- Think ahead. (Have Vision for what you want to do) (Without Vision people perish)
- Think about what you want to do. What do you seeing yourself doing?
CSB Proverbs 29:18, “Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows instruction will be happy.”
What is your vision for yourself? Once you receive vision for yourself it’s time to set a plan in place. Which brings me to my second point.
- Start.
- Once you have your plan set in place, what are you going to start doing differently? Maybe instead of sleeping in you may start waking up earlier, and work baby steps towards your goal.
- (It’s not enough to just think about what you wanna do, you gotta start it)
- (Don’t think about what other people in your family has or hasn’t done –you be the change don’t compare yourself when you are just starting out)
- CSB Isaiah 43:18-19, “But forget about all that–it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wastelands.”
- Don’t keep putting off what you have always wanted to do. That business ain’t gonna start itself. When you do start, its important to… #3
- Keep going. (especially when you don’t feel like it and especially when there is no momentum) The best things take time (SELF-CONTROL is a fruit of the Spirit) have some self-discipline. Self-control is important to have in any situation but especially in a situation where you care so much about something. (Its crucial during this time to learn how to say no to how your flesh may be feeling.) It’s so easy to drop a thing than to start a thing.
Lets take a look at CSB Proverbs 6:6-11, “Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise. Without leader, administrator, or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest. How long will you stay in bed you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber; a little folding of the arms to rest, and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.”
- Now, I am not calling anyone lazy. There is a difference in being lazy and not knowing what to do. You can’t help what you do not know, but being lazy is knowing what to do and choosing not to do it.
- Not too long ago, I was in a place where I felt stuck. I wanted to move forward in my ministry and work harder on my blog and website, but I was in a place where I felt like I didn’t know how to move forward. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know how to do what I didn’t know what to do. If you know, you know. I know I am not the only one who has been there. So I prayed about it and asked God to help me know what to do, and how to do it consistently. Soon enough, God downloaded ideas for my ministry, and blog in my spirit and He organized it for me. Now I feel confident in the direction the Lord has me to go.
- CSB Proverbs 16:3, says, “Commit your activities to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
- Which brings me to my next point.
- Don’t forget where you started–Be Humble, don’t forget to include God in your plans, and when you do don’t forget to keep Him in your plans.. During the Harvest many people forget where they came from and become prideful. There is always a way to humble ourselves more. If you think you are not prideful at all, are you really humble?
- NLT Proverbs 30:24-28, “There are four things that are small but unusually wise: Ants-they aren’t strong, but they store up food all summer. Hyraxes–they aren’t powerful, but they make their homes among the rocks. Locusts–they have no king, but they march in formation. Lizards–they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings’ palaces.”
- Just look at the Proverbs 31 woman, it says that she is like a merchant ship bringing her food from far away. A people who does not give careful thought about the future is not like a merchant ship.
- Proverbs 14:8, “The prudent understand where they are going, but fools deceive themselves.”
- Prudence is acting with careful thought for the future. It is wise and well thought out decisions.
- Let’s all walk with prudence as we set out to build consistency as a believer in Christ Jesus.
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