 Fear brings about doubt and doubt brings about fear. Lust leads to shame. Shame cultivates lust. Laziness brings about regret. Regret steals your motivation and brings about more laziness. These are examples of what I call sin cycles. I'll be covering these and more and showing you how to identify and break these cycles once and for all. Habitual sin, bad habits, this continuing frustration, it comes to an end today in the name of Jesus. The truth will set you free. I want you to type this in the comment section by faith, three simple words, break the cycle. Let's take a look at the first cycle. This is the cycle of fear and doubt. As I mentioned just a moment ago, doubt will lead to fear. Fear will cause you to act in fear. So a mindset of fear acts in fear. And as you continue to act in fear, whether this be doing something you know you shouldn't do or not doing something you know you should, that conditions you now to live in doubt. Faith is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more that it grows. Doubt filled people don't take steps of faith. And they often say things like, Lord, give me the faith and I'll do it. But God is saying, do it and it'll grow your faith. We're afraid to take that first step. Why? Because fear and doubt have so gripped our hearts. When we live in fear, the inaction of fear or the action of fear, because fear can again, as I mentioned a moment ago, it can cause you to do things that you know you shouldn't be doing. And it can cause you to avoid things that you know you shouldn't avoid. God says, take a step. You say, why? God says, take a step. You say, well, not right now. God says, take a step. And you say, well, I'll take step one, as long as you show me step two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, all the way down the line. Well, that's doubt. That's being too reserved. And sometimes we have doubts, and then we call it wisdom. Here's what the Bible says in Luke chapter five, I'm gonna read verses four and onward. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, master, we worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled the boat so full that they began to sink. Verse eight, when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. Verse 10, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. So here we see that Simon had an opportunity to doubt. Of course, he was the fisherman. He was the expert. He knew how all of it worked. And he had applied that expertise all night long, trying to catch something. And he came up short. He gave all that he had. He did everything that he could do in his own ability. He applied all of his techniques. He used all of his equipment. And still he came up empty-handed. And then we see he comes now into contact with Jesus and Jesus tells him, let down your nets again. And he says, Lord, we've been fishing all night. In other words, Lord, we already tried that. Lord, we already did everything we need to do. Lord, we already applied our expertise. Now, had he been a less humble man, had he been a man of pride and arrogance, he might have said, you don't know what you're talking about. And he would have missed out on not just a great catch, but a calling. And so denying the voice of doubt, which was likely in the back of his mind, he says, at your word, I will do this. Because you have said so, I will do this. In other words, the situation says one thing. The circumstance looks a certain way. The possibility is not there, at least in my mind and the way I perceive it. But because you have spoken a word, I'm gonna step out in faith. And when he does this, there's a great harvest that comes. There is a great miraculous result that comes about. So acts of faith, hear me now, acts of faith lead to miracles. And miracles weakened out. And so whatever you feed is going to grow, if you listen to the voice of fear that tells you to withhold, then you're gonna live in such a way that you will never see the hand of God moving. Now, let me be careful with the way I say that because God is sovereign and he can do whatever he wants any time in anyone's life and he doesn't need your help to do it. But the way that God has chosen to move in the earth, generally speaking, and there are always exceptions to generalizations, those exceptions namely being the sovereignty of God. This is how he's chosen to move. He's chosen to require faith of his people and then he demonstrates his power based on that faith. Again, that's a generalization. It's not always that way, but these are the spiritual laws that God has in place, though his sovereignty is of course above these laws. But the point I'm making here is simple. That if you live a life of fear and you listen to the voices of fear and you're constantly hesitating and you're constantly living in a reservation and you're constantly living in limitation, what's going to begin to happen is that fear is going to condition you to think in terms of doubt. That fear is going to condition you to think in terms of your own human limitations, never accessing the power of God by faith. But when you begin to act in faith, miracles begin to happen. And when miracles begin to happen, your faith begins to grow and your doubt begins to shrink. This is why I say that faith is momentum. Faith has a momentum to it. One act of faith leads to another act of faith, leads to another act of faith. This is why the enemy is so constantly trying to trip you up in your journey of faith. He's so constantly trying to get you distracted by what looks impossible. He's trying to get you distracted by your own limitations, by your own problems, by your own reservations. Why? Because if he can get you to take those missteps, you'll lose momentum in the spirit. But anyone who's served God faithfully for a number of years will tell you that there is a momentum that becomes built as you begin to act in faith. Faith produces the miraculous. The miraculous produces faith. And as you continue this cycle, you go from glory to glory, from faith to faith. And your faith is strengthened from day to day. But if you're constantly withholding, if you're constantly waiting for the sky to split and God to give you an absolutely clear signal, if you're constantly waiting for God to provide before you will give, if you're constantly waiting for God to do before you will believe, if you're constantly waiting for God to reveal step three before you've taken step one, then you're never going to see the momentum of faith begin to build. But once you say, Lord, I believe because of your word. And at your word, I step out in faith. Well, then you start to see the miraculous and the miraculous stirs your faith. And this is what it's like to live in faith. Faith breaks the cycle of fear and doubt. Are you struggling with fear and doubt? Do you often hesitate when God speaks? Do you feel like you're stuck and stagnant in your journey with God? Do you feel like there's no momentum to your spiritual life? Do you feel like there's no vitality to your belief in miracles? Then my friend, I challenge you to take a step of faith, to do something that's outside of what you deem as reasonable, to step out on the word of God and say, at your word, I step out in faith. At your word, I move forward. At your word, I take that action. At your word, I will obey. And when you begin to finally do this, you see that momentum building. Don't say God show me and I'll believe. You believe and God will show you. You have to take that first step of faith and then watch God's power meet you right where you are. What is waiting for you? Please hear this question. What is waiting for you on the other side of your step of faith? So that's sin cycle number one, fear and doubt. Let's take a look now at sin cycle number two. And this one will be quite challenging, stubbornness and pride. Pride makes you boast about your stubbornness. You ever meet those people who are proud of the fact that they're stubborn? Who are proud of the fact that they're difficult? Who are proud of the fact that they can't be reasoned with? Who are proud of the fact that no one can persuade them? Well, this is pride boasting about its stubbornness. Stubbornness digs you in so deep that you have to commit and that will of course, show up your pride. So pride, that self-reliance leads to stubbornness because you're trying to prove that you were right for being self-reliant. And that of course ultimately produces more of the same. Pride leads to stubbornness, stubbornness leads to pride. I'll never forget one time when I was riding as a passenger as my friend was driving me. This was back when I lived in Southern California. And you know, in Los Angeles or the LA County, the traffic, if you don't know, or maybe you're watching from another country or state, Los Angeles traffic is a nightmare. There's nothing quite like it in the world. And so it's hectic, it's constant movement. And then there's this slow crawl that you come to and by constant movement, I don't mean forward. I mean side to side. People are constantly switching lanes. And my friend gets into this, we will call it a road rage competition with somebody who is next to us. The whole time I'm just like this, like, please stop, you're gonna get us harmed in some way. And so they're fighting for a lane back and forth. And it was like because he committed, he had to just commit. And I'll never forget, finally, he cuts this guy off and we won the competition, if you will. Only to discover that we were now in the left turn lane and that's not where we want it to be. So instead of acknowledging his mistake and leaving the left turn lane, I said, you know, you're in the wrong lane. He said, yep, I said, you probably should get out. He goes, nope, and we turned because he didn't want to give up what he had fought for. There was no reason to stay in that lane. In fact, it put us like 15, 20 minutes behind because of the traffic. But because of that pride, stubbornness kicked in and the stubbornness leads to pride. So that's just a more lighthearted example of how this might work. But even though that's a lighthearted example, sometimes we apply these things or excuse me, sometimes we allow stubbornness and pride to affect us in more serious ways. To where instead of just a little competition of who's gonna get the lane, we double down on things we know that are not of God. We accept things that we understand, contradict the scripture, but because this is the way I was raised or that's just who I am, you have to deal with it. Because of thinking like that, we get stuck in our stubbornness and pride. And because of this, we never develop. What is the key to breaking the cycle of stubbornness and pride? It's humility. It's bowing down before the word of God and saying, Lord, I know I may have prided myself on the fact that I'm like this. I know I may have prided myself on how I am. And sometimes we're so enamored with our own personality that we forget that we're supposed to be developing according to the nature and the character of Christ. Maybe it was the way we were raised. Maybe it's what we saw reflected in our parents. Maybe in our social circles. Maybe what culture taught us to be and there's this pride that develops, this self-reliance that develops. This thought that there's something that we can do without God. But my friend, the key to overcoming this is humbling yourself. I was reading just the other day, the book of Exodus. And as I began to go through the book of Exodus, I noticed a pattern with Pharaoh. Look at how he responds when God begins to deal with him. So of course, if you don't know, the children of Israel were enslaved under the power of the Egyptian government. Pharaoh had enslaved them, he worked them really hard and he wasn't going to let them go anytime soon. So God sends Moses as a messenger to Pharaoh to say those now iconic words, let my people go. And to back Moses, God performs miracles. Miracles that were destructive to the nation of Egypt. For example, God took the Nile River and turned it into blood, the water into blood. And at this, Pharaoh didn't budge. You can see this in Exodus chapter seven, verses 14 through 24. Pharaoh doesn't budge, why? Because his magicians are able to imitate this. I don't think they duplicated it, but they did imitate it. That's the thing about Satanic power. Satanic power can imitate the power of the Holy Spirit, but it can never duplicate the power of the Holy Spirit. So Pharaoh doesn't budge. God says, let my people go through his servant Moses. Moses, by the miracle working power of God, turns the Nile River that water into blood. Pharaoh doesn't budge, why? My magicians can do the same thing, or so he thought. Then in Exodus eight, one through 15, God sends a plague of frogs. Pharaoh initially, watch this now, this was so key. This is what stood out to me in my recent reading of Exodus. So Pharaoh initially asked Moses to remove the frogs. So he says, okay, remove the frogs, promise me you'll pray to your God, and I'll let the Israelites go. I'll let your people go, just please get rid of the frogs. And so after the frogs are killed, once the consequence looks like it's not there anymore, Pharaoh hardens his heart again. And isn't this what we do with God? Once we begin to see the consequences of the sin piling up, once we begin to see what looks like an inevitable judgment, then we back up and say, okay, Lord, I'm sorry, I'm gonna stop doing this, and God maybe in that instance will say, okay, I'm gonna show you mercy. Get this right, or I'm gonna have to bring harsh judgment or harsh correction. And we say, okay, I won't do it, Lord. So he lifts the shame, he lifts the guilt. He gets you out of some trouble maybe that you found yourself in, and how many of you know? We can get ourselves into trouble. We are certainly at times like the lost sheep. And we say, okay, God, if you just get me out of this trouble, I'll never do that again. God, if you just can give me this breakthrough, I'll never do that again. God, if you could just spare me that consequence, I'll never do that again. And here's the thing about the Lord. Sometimes he does just that. But like Pharaoh, once the frogs die, we harden our heart again. Stand in pride, why? Because the pressure's off now. And there's this sense of, well, now I got away with it. But here's the thing. That is part of the judgment of God and his correction. Is that he will allow you to be self-deceived and think you got away with it so that he can ultimately deal with it. This is why I say, work true repentance in your life. And then Exodus 8, 16 to 19, a plague of gnats. Pharaoh's magicians, by the way, could not duplicate this. And they even tell Pharaoh, the magicians say, Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. What does Pharaoh do? Hardens his heart, he doesn't listen. God sends flies, Exodus 8, 20 to 32. Now, Pharaoh at this point initially agrees. He says, okay, I'll let the children of Israel go. Plague is lifted and he changes his mind again. Pestilence in the livestock, or livestock pestilence, Exodus 9, 1 through 7, his heart remains, Pharaoh's heart remains hardened, unyielding. Even after he finds out, by the way, that Israel's livestock weren't harmed by this. So he can look and see very clearly Egyptian livestock pestilence. Israeli livestock perfectly clean. And it still doesn't click for this guy that the hand of God is against him. What does he do? He hardens his heart. Then there are boils sent on everyone's body, Exodus 9, 8 through 12. Pharaoh's heart was hard again. He did not listen, just as God had predicted. Then God sends hail, Exodus 9, 13 to 35. Pharaoh admits his sin, promises freedom for the Israelites. When the hail stops again, he says, nevermind. Look at this guy. And it's funny because I'm getting frustrated reading this. And the Holy Spirit had to correct me. And he says, you know, sometimes you can be like this. It may not have been this drastic. It may not be with what others might deem as a big sin. But still, we do this to the Lord, don't we? We have these compromises and we go back to it once we begin to see the consequences lift. If this is challenging you, let me know in the comments section and let me know why it's challenging you. Be open, be honest. Let me see what God is dealing with you and what God is dealing with you in your heart. Then we see that the locusts come. Exodus 10, 1 through 20. Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron. He confesses his sin, asks for relief, and then hardens his heart again after the locusts are removed. Darkness comes on the land. Exodus 10, 21 through 29. Here, this is interesting because, and by the way, this is a frightening plague. Darkness, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face in the middle of the day, like this constant darkness. And this I thought would be terrifying. So Pharaoh says, okay, I'm gonna let the people go just not their livestock. So in other words, hear this now. This is, we do the same thing to the Lord. So in other words, Pharaoh says this, he goes, I'll obey God and what he's telling me to do, but just partially, I'll let the people go, but you let me keep the livestock. My friend, partial obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. Pharaoh says, I'll let the people go leave the livestock, trying to bargain now. So God has so broken him down with the plagues that his heart can't take it anymore, even though he's stubborn, even though he's prideful. Now he's saying, okay, okay, I need some relief, but please just take the people, leave the livestock. He's trying to bargain with God about what God has said. And here's the thing about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can't be persuaded to change his mind. So once the Holy Spirit has told you something, he's convicted you about something, he's dealing with you about something, you can't bargain with him. You can't tell him, well, okay, I hear you Holy Spirit, but why don't we do it this way instead? No, it's either his way or no way. It's either his way or it's going to be some severe consequence. It's either submission or correction. And this is actually the mercy of God, because God loves you too much to leave you when you're compromised, just like with Jonah. God tells him to go to Nineveh, Jonah goes the opposite direction and God destroys his means of disobedience. The scripture says that a wind was hurled out of the presence of the Lord to destroy that ship. In other words, God was destroying his means of disobedience. Not all destruction is ultimately destructive. Sometimes what God is destroying are the things that are destroying us. He'll shake up that relationship if you shouldn't be in it. He'll shake up that career if it's not what he's called you to. He'll begin to bring things out and shake things up if it means that you become reliant upon him again. Now how you can discern those, that's a different message for a different time. But here we see finally the death of the firstborn. This is severe. By the way, this is after that plague of darkness and Pharaoh tells Moses, look, if I see your face again, I'm gonna have you killed. That's what Pharaoh tells Moses. So he's coming now to the end of his patience, if you will. And God, his patience with Pharaoh. And we see the death of the firstborn, that's Exodus 11, one through 10. This time now, Pharaoh urgently orders Moses and Aaron, take the children of Israel and get out of here. And if you continue to read the book of Exodus, even still he pursues them, but God does that to set a trap. So you can see here kind of how this works, pride, stubbornness. It's kind of this mentality of, well, I've already gone this far. Well, I've already stood up for it for this long. And it's funny that the longer we hold to a position of stubbornness, the more difficult it is to let it go. Like when you argue with someone and you know that you're wrong, if you've only been arguing for like a minute or two, it's easy to say, you know what, I got that wrong. But if you've been arguing for like three hours and you find out you're wrong, that's a lot tougher because you've already committed so much. And that's kind of this investment illusion, if you will, this idea that, well, I've already invested so much in taking this position, I should probably keep that position. Or I've already gone this far. I've already waited this long. I've already fought this hard. And that is the human nature of pride. James 4-10 says, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. What is humility? Humility is not self-hatred. Humility is the proper perspective of oneself in reference to who God is. See, if we compare ourselves to each other, that will either produce jealousy or a superiority complex. But when we compare ourselves to God, now we recognize I'm not as good as God, but I see his love for me. So his holiness humbles us, his love lifts us up. What we see in him now is a measure that is clear, a standard that is objective, by which we can hold ourselves against and say, this needs to change in me or that needs to be corrected. That is true humility. Humility is not denying that you have skill or ability. Humility is not saying, oh, I'm not good at anything. That's self-hatred. And a lot of people confuse self-hatred and humility. Oh, I don't have any gifts or I don't have anything to offer. I'm not good at anything. I have no skills. I have no value. That's not humility. That's self-hatred. And by the way, you're talking that way about a child of God. And you're talking that way about someone God created. If my daughter came to me and said, I have no value. I have no skills. I'm not good at anything. I wouldn't say that's right, little girl. Don't you forget it. I'd be heartbroken. I'd be saying, of course you have value. Of course you have skills. Of course you have gifts. Well, he's a good father, much better than I am. And so he's not looking for you to hate yourself. He's not looking for you to deny that you have any ability. He's not looking for you to pretend that you have no value. Rather, he's looking for you to see yourself in the proper perspective. And that is always in reference to who he is. I can't get so puffed up because I need him. And I can't get so down on myself because he loves me. And so keeping the perspective of self in reference to who God is helps to keep you balanced in your perspective of your identity. That's all it is. And humility, by the way, is not a personality. We often think, oh, the quiet, reserved person, that's someone who's humble. That's classy, that's graceful, yes. But I've met a lot of people who are the quiet ones who've got a lot of ego and are very stubborn and are very prideful. I've also met a lot of people who are boisterous and loud. When they walk into the room, they just start talking. They don't even consider that other people are having a conversation. Maybe a little rude, maybe a little inconsiderate, but maybe I've also noticed that these same people demonstrate character traits of humility. Recognizing that they don't have it all together. Recognizing who they are in Christ. And recognizing that they have flaws too, not just hyper-focusing. You know, when you're hyper-focused on other people's flaws, I'm gonna go there here. When you constantly nitpick at people's flaws and you fixate on them and you never let them go, someone says something wrong one time, that's it, I'm gonna put you in a little category. Okay, you did something I didn't like, okay, that's it, you go in a little category now. You did something I don't approve of, you go in a little category. You offended me, you go in a category now. That's pride. That's pride and self-righteousness because it nitpicks at everyone else's flaws while failing to see its own. But I'm not even talking about a personality because sometimes we say, oh, that quiet reserved person, oh, they're humble. Well, yes, maybe that loud obnoxious person, well, they're prideful, well, maybe not because humility is not a personality, it's a perspective. Humility is not a personality, it's a perspective. Often I've seen that people who are confident get labeled as prideful all the time because people don't know the difference. Remember this, pride looks like arrogance to the insecure. Let me say that again. Confidence looks like arrogance to the insecure. I should have said confidence, not pride. Confidence looks like arrogance to the insecure. Why? Because when someone is confident in who they are in Christ, when they're not cowering, when they say what they mean and mean what they say, when they can look at you in the eye, shake your hand, when they can walk with square shoulders, people who are insecure look at that person and they're threatened by it so they slap the label, well, you're prideful. Not always the case. Confidence looks like arrogance to the insecure. Put that in the chat. Humility lifts you in a way that pride cannot. Pride is the lifting of self. Humility is the submitting of self to God. And when you humble yourself, it's the Lord who lifts you. So you break the cycle of stubbornness and pride with falling flat on your face before God in humility. And I don't necessarily mean that literally, like if you don't actually strike that physical posture that you're not humble. I'm talking about the posture of your heart. I'm talking about coming to the place where you recognize your own weakness and your value in him. And so when you learn to depend on him, when you recognize that everything you have comes from him and that you can't do it on your own and that you should do it his way and that you should change those things even though you're proud of them, that you should change those things even though they've been there for years, that you should change those issues even though your family approved and your generation's approved and culture approves and that music artist approves and that actor approves doesn't matter what does God say, not what does culture say. So you break the cycle of stubbornness and pride with humility, fall on your face before God even if literally you have to. Number three, it's the cycle of laziness and regret. Laziness leads to chaos and poverty and stagnation. And by the way, we live in a culture today that's starting to celebrate laziness. You criticize the people who are wealthy, you criticize the people who have, you criticize the people who worked hard and mind you, I'm aware that not everybody who's wealthy or successful worked hard for it. Some of them came about wealth and success in very ungodly ways and we mustn't celebrate that. So let's bring balance to this. But you'll notice that and I should also go out of my way to say that not everyone who's struggling financially is lazy. Don't hear what I'm not saying. Not everyone who's wealthy is diligent and not everyone who struggles financially is lazy. But the problem I'm seeing in our society is that we criticize even those who have worked hard and brought about fruitfulness in their finances and success in their areas where they want to thrive. And that's something we as a call, we as a church have to reject because that's worldly culture, that's not godly culture. See, worldly culture says take from those who have and give to those who don't have. That's part of it, but we should give to those in need, not have taken from and give to those in need. But the scripture very clearly teaches the law of stewardship is give to those who have because they can produce more. Now, again, it's important you hear what I'm not saying because I'm not even talking about the political aspect of it, get that out of your mind. I'm talking about the biblical principle of stewardship. And in our culture today, we are beginning to celebrate laziness and we're beginning to criticize hard work. Again, let me stress this. I'm not saying that everyone who struggles is lazy. There are some very hardworking people who are still struggling and there are some very wealthy people who are very lazy. What I am saying is that if someone comes into wealth or success because of hard work, we mustn't hate them for that or be jealous. We should be inspired, not jealous. And at the same token, I'm talking about the law of stewardship to where if you take care of what you have, God will ultimately bring the increase. But still we have to recognize that this can catch us in a cycle. Laziness leads to chaos and poverty and stagnation. Does that mean everyone in poverty is lazy? No. Does that mean that everyone who finds themselves in a chaotic situation is lazy? No. Does that mean everyone who senses this stagnation on their life is lazy? No. Not all poverty comes from laziness, but laziness almost always results in poverty. And so these in turn rob you of your motivation. You begin to lose this zest for life, your zeal and your passion for the gifts that God has placed in you and now you lose your motivation. That lack of motivation cultivates more laziness. It's the pile of dishes syndrome. This is the analogy I decided to use. I figured we can all relate. You know that if there's one dish in the sink, maybe a cup, the cups are the easiest to wash. It's easy to go about and say, well, let me wash the dishes here. But if you see a pile of dishes and maybe some pots and pans in there, there's this sigh of, oh, I don't know if I wanna do that right now. And then you leave it be, you go on with your day and it just piles up more and more and more. That's what I mean when I say that laziness ultimately robs your motivation because sometimes when we leave things undone, they pile up. And as they pile up, we lose more motivation to deal with them. This is why we ought to live lives of order and structure and diligence and hard work. I also wanna balance it with this thought. When I say hard work, I'm not saying that there's no place for rest. Of course there's a place for rest. Of course there's a time where you should take some time off for self-care. Absolutely, but there has to be balance in all things. I wanna talk real briefly to the young men who watch this channel. Maybe you're a young man, maybe you're finishing high school, thinking about college, you're kind of in that in-between stage now where you're wondering what's next. Let me tell you this, God rewards diligence. Do not listen to the voices in our culture that condemn those who are successful. Yes, some people who've come about success have done so in ungodly ways and we shouldn't celebrate that kind of success. But not all success is ungodly. Not all accumulation of financial fruitfulness is ungodly. So let me talk real briefly and I'm gonna go back to talking to everyone in just a moment, but the Holy Spirit's leading me to talk to that young man right now who is dealing with this. It's very easy to give up on things. It's very easy to attempt something, meet a little bit of resistance and then say, well, I guess that's not going to work out. But God put something in you that was designed to build and create and grow and conquer and prosper. And God put that in you for a purpose because as a young man of God, you have a path before you and if you're going to walk that path before you, you have got to get serious about diligence because if you're not diligent, the scripture makes it clear that poverty will come on you like a thief. Watch what Proverbs says. Now I wanna talk to everyone. Proverbs 24, 30 to 34. I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense. Thorns had come up everywhere. So notice now it's uncamped and this, by the way, represents more than a field. This is talking about our lives. We just leave so many things undone. Now I'm not saying, let me clarify, I'm not saying that if you didn't do the dishes, that you're lazy because sometimes those are for another day and there's so much else to do. What I'm talking about is a lifestyle and a mindset. Thorns had come up everywhere. The ground was covered with weeds and the stone wall was in ruins. In other words, nothing was taken care of, nothing was in order, nothing was tended to. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw. Verse 33, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. Now I wanna clarify this one more time because, and you may be wondering why are you clarifying it so much? Because there are people watching this that may be struggling with self-condemnation and I wanna make sure that everyone who hears this hears the truth of what I'm saying and not a twisted version of what I'm saying. You'll find seasons of struggle. You will find seasons of lack. Paul the Apostle said I've learned how to abase and to abound. In other words, I've lived with plenty and I've lived with lack. That's Paul the Apostle now. What I'm talking about is a mindset of diligence that you must keep in every season. Laziness and regret pile on because the more I give into my laziness, the more those regrets begin to pile up until they become like a mountain where I don't even wanna begin walking because that mountain is so big. In other words, I know I should have started maybe a career path that the Lord told me to pursue a year ago. Now a year has gone by and I feel like I'm a year behind. Well, now you're less motivated to start. Or I know I should have started taking care of my health a year ago but now a year has gone by and I feel like I'm a year behind and now you're less motivated to move forward. I know I should have started that ministry a year ago but now I'm a year behind and I'm less motivated to begin that ministry. That is the trap of regret and laziness. They feed into one another. How do you break the cycle? Diligence. Diligence breaks the cycle of laziness. No one's gonna lay hands on you and make you make better decisions. No one is going to impart to you diligence. You can't earn it in any other way than to make choices that are diligent. Diligence breaks the cycle of laziness and regret. You have to start today, I mean right now and you have to be faithful. Now here's something I can give you that we'll encourage you because this is not a message of condemnation. This is a message of correction. We as believers need to learn to do this and I want you to write this in the comments. This is something I tell everyone on my staff. This is something I'm teaching my daughter. This is something I apply to my everyday life. Do the next thing. Write that in the chat whether you're watching live or on replay. Do the next thing. What does that mean? You may be looking at a mountain that you know you need to deal with and you can be so filled with discouragement that you don't even wanna get up and deal with that mountain. Now you're saying, I don't even know. I'm so far behind now. There's so much that's piled on. I can't do it. Don't fall back into that trap. That's what got you here in the first place. Do the next thing. Some days when I wake up, I know, I shouldn't say I have to, I get to read the word. That's my place of safety and peace. That's where I get vitality from. Prayer and the word, you gotta start there. Next, go to the gym. Spend time with a family, that's another joy. All of these are joy, but it takes work. Write a little bit more for that next book you have coming out. Prepare the two outlines that you have for the week. Write all of the reels that you post twice a day. Handle that meeting. Talk to the staff. Work on everything you're working on. And there's, by the way, other side projects that people don't even know I'm involved in. Now I'm not bragging on myself. In fact, let me just say this so you don't think I'm bragging. It's tough some days. There's some days where I'm going, I'll say Lord, I almost turned this into a prayer. Lord, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. I kind of reverse it sometimes. There's days where I just say, there's so much to do. I don't want to do any of it. I understand that. I'm right there with you, but I've learned to tell myself this thing. Do the next thing. Don't worry about everything you have to do in the whole day. Yes, plan your day. That's part of it. Make a schedule that will help, but just do the next thing. Do the next thing. And once you finish that, do the thing after that. And you'll find that if you just get yourself up, move yourself forward, make that decision. Don't worry about perfection. Focus on progress. Do the next thing. And when you begin to do the next thing, you'll find, hey, I'm starting to gain a rhythm here. Okay, I checked a few things off my list. Do that for a week and you'll want to do it for a month. Do it for a month. You'll want to do it for six. Do it for six months. You're gonna look back on the year and say, oh my goodness, okay, I didn't do everything I wanted to do. I'm not as far as where I want it to be, but I'm much further than where I thought I would be. And you begin to apply the diligence that the scripture tells us to apply little by little, piece by piece, decision by decision, moment by moment, day by day, you're saying, God, I'm stepping into that calling. And I may have a setback here and there. I may make a mistake here and there. I may take three steps forward and two steps back as the old cliche goes. But at least I'm making progress and I'm doing it with the help of the Holy Spirit, the encouragement of God's word and I'm doing it unto the glory of God, day by day, do the next thing. Number four, lust and shame. Lust leads to shame. And in your state of shame, you reach for something to soothe your soul. Please hear me, this is a trap of the enemy. This is what the devil does and he's vile. I can't stand the devil. He will tempt you, tempt you, tempt you, tempt you, tempt you, tempt you, tempt you. And once you give in, he'll accuse you, accuse you, accuse you, accuse you, accuse you. When he tempts you, he says, look how great this sin looks. And then you fall for the temptation into sin and suddenly he's no longer saying, look how great this sin looks. He says, look how bad your sin was. What a liar. He tempts you telling you, it's gonna be worth it. It'll fulfill you. There won't be any consequences. You won't feel that bad. And then you fall into that trap and the very moment you fall into the trap of temptation, suddenly he goes from saying the sin is great to look how vile this is. Look how disgusting this is. And the cycle repeats itself. He tempts you, you fall into temptation, he accuses you. You give into lust and you're gonna be filled with shame. You give into lust, you're gonna be filled with shame. And that state of shame now, watch this, causes you to reach out for something that soothes the soul or comforts you or gives you something to look forward to. And therefore the cycle repeats. Lust leads to shame. In your state of shame, you reach from our comfort and you also develop a what's the point attitude. I've already gone this far. I'm already unclean, I might as well. And this makes the way for lust. We need to learn to break this cycle by a holy fear of God and exercising true repentance. Second Corinthians 7.10 says, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death. I'm gonna tell you, remember this, the difference between the three Rs. And if you can remember the difference between these three Rs, that remembrance will serve as an aid when you're undergoing temptation of the enemy. Learn the difference between regret, repentance and renouncing. To regret, to repent, to renounce. These are three different things. And I think sometimes we get them all confused for one another. So let's start with regret. When you sin, you should feel bad. I don't care what anyone says. You should feel bad. None of this nonsense about, well, no, don't feel bad. You're redeemed. No, there should be sorrow over sin. And in fact, Ephesians 4.30 tells us that the Holy Spirit within us grieves when we live in disobedience. Thank God he doesn't leave. The Holy Spirit doesn't leave, but he grieves. He will abide with you, not to give you a license to sin. That's key to remember as well. He's not staying there saying, hey, it's okay. I'm gonna stick with you. Go on living however you want. No, when the Holy Spirit abides, he turns up the heat on the fire of conviction. And so with the Holy Spirit in you, if you continue in sin, that fire of conviction is gonna become so hot you're gonna say, Lord, I gotta turn from this. That's a true Christian, by the way. True Christians cannot go on sinning without sensing the grieving of the Holy Spirit. True Christians cannot persist in sin without intense conviction. That's why the Psalmist wrote your hand weight heavily upon me, my strength evaporated. Now let me rejoice in the joy of my salvation. So that regret is good. Godly sorrow works repentance, but do not confuse regret for repentance because sometimes we're asking God to remove from us the shame of sin, but not the sin itself. In other words, Lord, I wanna have my sin but not suffer for it. That's not biblical. How can he who is dead to sin live any longer therein? We as believers are to live holy, to walk in repentance, to live according to the statutes of God. Sin must be dealt with or God will deal with it. You need to get that sin right or God will have to bring that swift correction. And so this is why we have to remain pliable in the hand of God and remain submitted to his will. How do you know his will? Read his word. You wanna know what sin is? Read the Bible and you will see time and time again that God gives us the roadmap to holiness and he tells us the things that are displeasing to him. And I don't care what culture says. I don't care what a preacher might say. I don't care what your family might say. The word of God is the word of God. Truth does not change. The Bible tells us clearly. Sin is sin period. I don't care who that offends because I'd rather offend you into heaven than comfort you into hell. I'd rather offend you with the truth than comfort you with a lie. Sin needs to be dealt with but you have to learn that regretting sin is not enough. Feeling bad for sin is not enough. That regret needs to turn into repentance. What is repentance? Now I'm gonna offend some of you because you're gonna think I'm preaching a message of compromise but I'm not. Please keep hearing what I'm saying. Repent doesn't mean to go the other direction. That's a common cliche. It's a common misunderstanding of the word. Repent means literally to change your mind. It's a change of the mind. Now you might say, brother David, shouldn't we turn from our sin? And I agree with you, absolutely. But that's what it means when it says to renounce sin. Renounce means to turn from, to forsake, right? That's renouncing. But before you can forsake, you must be transformed in your mind otherwise you're fighting against yourself. So what does repentance mean? It means to change your mind about your sin and align your thoughts according to the word of God. In other words, God, I agree with you that this sin has to go. A, that it's wrong. B, that it has to go. C, that it has to go right now. And D, that it has to go in all measures. And for all time because sometimes the flesh is so deceptive, we cry out, God, I'm done with that sin. And the flesh whispers, for now. We say, God, I'll never do that again. And the flesh goes until the craving gets too strong again. And in that way, the flesh is fighting what we want to do. That's why Paul the apostle wrote, the things I want to do, I can't do. And the things I don't want to do, I just keep on doing them. How do I, who will save me? Oh, wretched man that I am, who's gonna save me? And it's the Holy Spirit. It's the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who saves you. But you have to submit not just your actions to God. You should submit your actions to God. Don't hear what I'm not saying. But you should also submit your thoughts to God. Because if you try to change your behavior before you've changed your mind, you're gonna be fighting against yourself. Because you know how to lie to you. You know how to deceive you. You know how to trick you. You may say to yourself, I'm not gonna have a drink. I'm just gonna go to the bar and hang out. We're not gonna do anything. I'm just gonna go to her house tonight. We're gonna probably just watch a movie. You tell yourself these things, but in the back of your mind, your flesh knows what it wants. And that's called self-deception. And so this is why you must first implement repentance. God, this is wrong. I agree with you. And I'm not just gonna get rid of it for a few weeks so that I feel like I'm living clean. I wanna get rid of this for all time, period. Done, finished with it. Now you may make a mistake, but the reality that you may make a mistake isn't a license to say, well, sometimes I make mistakes. And that's how we treat that. Well, everyone makes mistakes. So as if God gives us a certain amount of sins that we're allowed to commit. As if God has a quota. Well, just don't go over this quota and you'll be A-okay. That's not how that works. We are too forsake that sin. Yes, but you have to in your mind first align with God and say, this is wrong. And not only is it wrong, not only does it need to go, not only does it need to go right now, but it needs to go in even the smallest measure. Even those things that I tell myself are just little things, not that big of a deal. Those things need to go too because they ultimately become larger and end up destroying you. And so they need to go in all forms, in all sizes, and it needs to go for all time. In other words, there is no point in the future where I will allow myself to return to that. That has to be the mindset. Now, will you mess up? Yes, but that's not a fallback. That's not a safety net for you to say, will I mess up? Okay, and here's how tricky, let me expose the flesh right now. Here's how tricky the flesh is. The flesh will take that phrase while everyone makes mistakes and use it as a safety net to get relief for its cravings every now and then. That has to go, that's wrong. So no wonder we're fighting against these things for so long because we haven't repented. We still in our minds think this is kind of okay or this is okay in a small measure or once in a while is not too bad. And we may not word it like that, but that's what the flesh is saying to us and we are self-deceived. So yes, you ought to regret, but allow that regret, that godly sorrow to bring forth repentance, which is what? A change in mind. And then after there's been a change in mind, now you can renounce, which is to forsake. We've become so religious and superstitious and it's sad. Renouncing isn't like I read this list of things that my grandma and grandpa did. I don't even know where we get that. I think we borrow that from paganism in the New Age. If that offends you, I'm sorry. It's just not biblical, guys. You can, it's okay if you wanna read off a list of things you'll no longer be doing. I suppose there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but that's not what it means to renounce. You know, we have our long, it's like a long scroll. We let the paper go along the floor and we go, okay, now I'm gonna read. Renouncing for generations. I go all the way back to, you know, I don't even know how far back you wanna go. You wanna go all the way back to Adam and Eve, renounce what they did. I renounce Adam and Eve eating the fruit. I mean, this is just, it's superstitious religion disguised as spirituality and it's not biblical. And instead of actually forsaking our sin, we think we could just read a list of things and be free of it. Let Godly sorrow bring forth repentance. Regret needs to become repentance. Repentance needs to make you renounce. Renounce means I forsake, I turn from. So you break the cycle of lust and shame by throwing up your hands and saying, God, okay, you got me, I agree. And stop, stop allowing the flesh to cling to little bits of hope that it can have its relief every now and then. Rebuke that, renounce that, forsake it. Regret, repent, renounce. Number five, oh, this one will challenge you. This one will challenge you. Number five is jealousy and insecurity. Jealousy and insecurity. You know what insecurity is? Insecurity is a lack of identity. And a lack of identity makes you desperate for validation. Desperation for validation makes you compare and when you compare, comparison leads to jealousy. And then the jealousy worsens with the insecurity. Look at what happened to King Saul, 1 Samuel 18. Beginning at verse eight, this made Saul very angry. What's this he said? They credit David with 10,000s and me with only 1,000s. Next, they'll be making him their king. How prophetic that was. Verse nine, so from that time on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David. The very next day, a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp as he did each day. Watch this now. But Saul had a spear in his hand and he suddenly hurled it at David intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice. Imagine that. You're just there playing for the king. Suddenly he's so filled with rage. He wants to kill you. That's what jealousy does. Now, Saul was disobedient and therefore disconnected from his true identity. I'm gonna give you my opinion now. What I'm about to say is purely my opinion. It's purely speculation. I don't even necessarily know if any Bible scholars would back what I'm about to say, but it's a thought. It's a question I have. Let's frame it as a question. I wonder if God was using torment to try to get Saul to repent. I mean, it's not that far out of biblical truth. It's not that far out of the parameters that God would want someone to repent of their wrongdoing. Maybe God was sending that tormenting spirit. Maybe God was allowing these things to happen to Saul in order to get him to repent. It's quite possible that the transition could have been a godly one that Saul could have handed the kingdom over to David in a godly manner. Who knows what could have happened? Okay, back to solid biblical truth here. John 1-12 says this, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Focus on your identity in him. Saul was insecure. In fact, the tribe he came from, the family he came from, the city he came from, it was the least of the least of the least. He always had a small view of himself. And because of that, he allowed insecurity to creep into his heart so that when God finally gave him a kingdom, that insecurity remained and ultimately developed into jealousy when God brought a replacement. Why? Because Saul based his identity on what God had given to him rather than God himself. Let me say that again. Saul based his identity on what God had given to him rather than God himself. Pastor, do not find your identity in the church. Christian content creator, do not find your identity in how many subscribers you have. Evangelists, do not find your identity in how large your meetings are. Prophets, do not find your identity in how accurate your prophetic words are. Those of you who focus on deliverance ministry, do not find your identity in how many demons you cast out. Christian, do not find your identity in how many blessings God gives to you, how many responsibilities he places in your hand. Find your identity in Christ. Be rooted on Jesus. Because only when you find your identity in him do you rid yourself of insecurity. Only when you find your identity in Christ Jesus, when you see yourself as a son of God, I belong to Jesus. The Holy Spirit causes us to cry, Abba Father. Then and only then do you avoid this trap of insecurity, which ultimately exacerbates jealousy and back and forth. So we look at like Instagram or social media, constant comparing, or they got that house, they got that car, their family looks picture perfect. And we begin to compare ourselves. Why? Because we are so insecure, we begin to grasp for anything that will give us validation. And we often reach for those things nearest us. And that's why many of us have jealousy problems. Why? Because there's an insecurity issue. Jealousy problems are always rooted in identity problems. Insecurity brings jealousy. Jealousy, as you compare yourself to others, brings forth more insecurity. Why? Because there's always going to be someone that will have something that you're jealous of. You have to be secure in him. Now, on a side note, you may be asking like, what about healthy competition? Like I received an Instagram message from an athlete who asked me if wanting to beat someone else on the other team, something to that effect would be considered jealousy. Here's how you know the difference between healthy competition and jealousy. Here's where you can draw a bold, distinct line. You know you're crossing the line from healthy competition into actual jealousy when you have ill will toward the individual, when you celebrate their downfall, and you despair when they have success. That's the line you would cross. It's the crossing the line of ill will if you will. Jealousy and insecurity comes from lack and identity. So you break the sin cycle of fear and doubt through faith, take an act of faith, stubbornness and pride broken through an act of humility, humble yourself before God. Laziness and regret is broken by an act of diligence. Lust and shame is broken by genuine repentance. And jealousy and insecurity are broken when you base your identity in Christ, Lord, I pray you help them do it. I thank you that you've exposed these areas in our hearts. And I ask you, Lord, to buy your grace, enable us to receive the correction. Transform us and make us more like Jesus. Break the power of these cycles in our lives we pray. We honor and bless you and Lord, that you're healing and delivering power flow right now. Let them receive their miracle. Break every addiction, heal every disease. In Jesus' name we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. If you enjoyed that message and you think others need to hear it, please leave a like on the video and also let's stay connected. Subscribe to my channel to learn more about the Holy Spirit, Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. And now I wanna give you an opportunity to break the cycle of fear and doubt in the area of your finances. You know, there's a part of you that has to be resisted, that's the flesh. And you know the difference between the flesh and the spirit because the flesh operates in fear, the spirit operates in faith. So I wanna challenge you, if you're withholding, God is speaking to you. If God is speaking to you to give and you're withholding out of fear, I'm not here to condemn you, I'm here to challenge you. And I'm telling you, if you will step out in faith, you'll find that he'll catch you. If you will throw yourself on his mercy, you'll find that you will not fall. And so I wanna challenge you to exercise your faith now by supporting this ministry. I know you're generous, I know you love the Lord, I know you love the gospel, I know you love this ministry, I know you've been blessed by the ministry, it's the Lord's ministry, not mine. If you've been blessed by this ministry in any way, and you wanna get on board with our mission to win souls, build believers, bring healing to the sick, deliverance to the captives, the power of the Holy Spirit to the nations of the world. Help us out today. Sign up to become a monthly ministry partner by signing up for our automatic giving plan at davidhernanisministries.com slash partner. Will you consider a partnership of $10 a month, of $25 a month, maybe even $50 or $100 a month? Let the Holy Spirit lead you. I'm asking you to sign up to become a monthly supporter so that this ministry can continue to go and grow and to expand on what we're doing. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernanisministries.com slash donate. Your support will help us continue on our mission. So, if you're withholding because of fear, it's time to break that cycle. Step out and see that the Lord won't do it. I believe that as we put God's house first, He'll bless your house. If we put God's mission first, He'll help you on your missions. In fact, I believe that as we give, the Lord will increase. So step out in faith today. One more time, partner by going to davidhernanisministries.com slash partner, sign up and also give a single gift by going to davidhernanisministries.com slash donate. Thank you for your giving. I love you. I appreciate you. I pray for you. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.