I. Get a Coach (and an accountability partner)

(From: Firm for Life, Benson p. 64)

Acts20: ²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Heb 10: ²⁴And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

II. Have Clear Reasons to Change (and keep them in front of you)

Gal 6:⁷Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Rom 6: ¹⁹I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

III. Positively Visualize Your Outcome (weekly, if not daily)

Rom 12:¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ²And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Eph 4: ²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

2Cor 3: ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all contemplating/beholding  the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

IV. Know the Method will Work (because it’s the unequivocal, Biblical Truth)

Heb 13: ⁷Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

1Tim 4: ⁷...train yourself to be godly. ⁸For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance

V. Commit to 21 Workouts, then 100 (initial pain becomes eternal pleasure)

Luke 9: ²³Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

Phil 3: ⁷whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ^8.I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

VI. Take Immediate Action toward your Goal (go with a gust of momentum)

Heb 3: ¹²See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. ¹⁴We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. ¹⁵As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...

VII. Develop the Exercise Habit and Make it a Priority (in the final analysis, we do what we want)

1Cor 9:²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Self-Discipline—Self-Control—Self-Confidence—Self-Realization (Jim Loehr, Toughness Training  p.79 FFL)

Questions for Reflection/Discussion/Response:

1. What do most people decide to change? What are your reasons for changing/growing in your Christian life?

2. How is your spiritual life different than it was a year ago? /What do you expect to happen in your spiritual life this year?

3. What “method(s)” do you know works in producing Christlikeness? Why do you say that?

4. What actions can you take this week to be a “firmer believer”? What will you do tonight, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday?

5. What will help you get on course, and stay on course? What will knock you off  course? What will you to finish rather than fail?