Change is hard

Whether it is starting an exercise program or healthy eating, change takes effort and is not easy.  It takes a vision of a new future. What I mean by that is your old habits are so entrenched that it takes a new vision to move out of them. You need to see yourself living the changed life. We are familiar with the old life, but really do not know what it will be like living the changed life. We are in our comfort zone and we will fall right back into it without a vision of the future.

My first house

I remember going through this change process in buying a first house. I had never owned my own and for me it was a huge leap into the unknown. One of the things that helped me was to start visualizing myself in the new house. I found a photograph of a beautiful house in a magazine and put it on the refrigerator in my apartment. Seeing that picture every day was crucial in my transition from renter to homeowner.

The change to a pure life

I successfully dealt with the change of going from renter to homeowner.  But, could I go from porn user to a man living a pure life?

When I first made a commitment to deal with my sexual sin,  I wanted to change, but did not know how I would cope without my go-to escape of porn. It was during that time that my faith grew and I clung to the verse Philippians 1:6- “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Remembering that Christ had done so many good things in my life and that He was not going to abandon me now was a great comfort and gave me strength to continue.

Along with my faith growing, I made a point of visualizing myself living as a pure man.

Build your own vision of living as a pure man

To build your own vision ask yourself questions like:

What do I want my life to look like in the future?

What do I want to do with my family that I haven’t been doing? Where do we want to go?

How can I help other men break free?

How do I see my role as a leader in the church changing?

What hobbies do I want to start or take up again?

I included many visions of  living a pure life in the devotions in my book, Live Pure and Free- The 90 Day Game Changer. I encourage you to get started on your purity quest and start seeing yourself living that pure life. Grow in your faith in Christ and know you are not doing this on your own power, but with His power. Visualize your new life as a pure man. You can do it. You can live pure and free.

What will your new pure life look like a year from now? 5 years from now? Leave your comments.

Photo: Unsplah

 

17 thoughts on “Change Takes Vision”

    • Yes, the visualization really helped me, and I see it helping other men. Visualization is not just psychobabble. Mindset is important. It’s interesting to me that Paul talks so much about mindset in the book of Romans!

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  8. Love this, Dave! I think so many people have difficulty changing because they can’t visualize the life they want to lead, the person they want to become. Visualization helps us move from where we are to where we want to be. Blessings to you!

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    • Lisa: Visualization can really help. Another thing it does is provide motivation. When a person sees that new life they can start to get excited about and helps them push through the difficulties of change!

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