How many times have you set out with incredible determination when it comes to making a lasting life change – like losing weight, going to bed earlier, or being more intentional about connecting with friends?
Yet, within just a few weeks, maybe even days, your commitment wanes . . .
Well, you’re not alone. I’m right there with you! I have more than my fair share of unused gym memberships and online fitness programs, apps that promise a better night’s sleep (which didn’t buy me back a single wink), and books that were never turned past page 29. Can you relate?
It is so easy to start strong but how do we finish that way too?
Well, I think I’ve uncovered at least one secret to finishing what we started, that I call the “zeal principle.”
WE HAVE TO COUNT THE COST BEFORE WE BEGIN.
By counting the cost we clarify our vision, and the vision is what gets us to the finish line.
I see this time and time again with my coaching clients as well as in my own life, especially each time I’ve participated in the 40-Day Sugar Fast led by my friend, Wendy Speake. As I type these words, I’ve embarked on my third fast (yikes, I can’t believe that), after years of resisting. But the cost of being sick was so great that a new vision emerged. No, it wasn’t about being healthier, but rather no longer being sick.
Sometimes a vision is simply about getting out of dodge without knowing what paradise looks like.
For me, that meant no longer being sick and missing family events. My “way out” began with a Whole30 experiment of eliminating gluten, dairy, and sugar. That was simply the gateway to health for me, which included losing 30 pounds and decades of joint pain, as well as exposing my sugar addiction and food as my idol of comfort – an idol that needed crushing (you can read about my breakthrough journey here).
It took only 10 days to reveal my addiction and another six months to actually break it through more fasting than I ever thought I could endure.
God sets us free from strongholds through fasting.
A fast is simply an opportunity to be completely vulnerable with the Lord and beg Him to work in our deepest, darkest places. God is more than able to heal and set us free, but as my friend often says, “He’s a perfect gentleman” and awaits our participation.
Yes, we belong to a freedom-giving, liberty-proclaiming, captivity-ending God (Isaiah 61:1 CSB).
He is about rebuilding, restoring, and renewing us from the inside out through the work of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 61:4 CSB). When we have a God like this in our corner, the only thing holding us back is ourselves.
So, you have a challenge before you to count the cost of staying “as is” compared to embracing this fast to the very end.
But first, you need to consider what being “set free” from the stronghold of sugar (or anything else for that matter) looks like in your life?
Maybe your vision is about where you’re heading or what it may be about what you’re ready to leave behind. Either way, take a moment to define and share with those who are in your corner cheering you on! Through God’s power at work in you, you can do this. You can make a commitment and in 40 days, see that new habit you long to develop become second nature in your life.
This post was written for the 40-Day Sugar Fast community, which you can join here.
For additional resources on cultivating new habits, consider:
- Let Go and Live: A Vision for Breakthrough {Podcast #700}
- Holy Whole: Guiding You Into Wellness Through Wholehearted Devotion to God
- Meet the New You
- Infuse Life Transformation Course
- Fasting from Sugar, Feasting on Jesus with Wendy Speake {Podcast #216}
- From Distraction to Devotion: Lessons from a 40-Day Social Media Fast with Wendy Speake {Podcast #614}
- Four Ways to Move Towards Lasting Change
