“When you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible” (Ecclesiastes 5:4 GNT).
Ecclesiastes 5:4 says it clearly: “When you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible” (GNT).
Another promise to keep is to run quickly from temptation.
With temptation, you need both preventative and emergency tactics. Preventative tactics mean that you work to keep yourself out of tempting situations. But today let’s focus on emergency tactics—what to do when you are being tempted.
The Bible clearly says what to do with temptation: “Run from all evil things” (1 Timothy 6:11 NLT).
That’s right. When you feel tempted to do something self-defeating or dishonoring to God, you should move out of the situation rapidly.
What should you not do? Don’t argue with temptation. Don’t fight it. Why? Because you’re going to lose.
If you’re watching something on television that tempts you to lust, change the channel. If you struggle with alcohol, run far away from the bar.
One specific temptation the Bible tells us to run from in 1 Corinthians 10:14 is the worship of idols.
“Wait a minute,” you might say. “I don’t have idols in my house.” Let me ask it another way: What person or thing do you idolize? Success? Beauty? A favorite athlete or sport? A certain celebrity? Social media?
Anything you put before God is an idol. Today few of us have idols that look like stone or wooden figures. Instead, we carry our idols in our wallets, watch them on TV, or park them in our driveways.
No matter what your idols are and no matter what your temptations are, the strategy is clear: Run away. Don’t argue. Don’t fight. Run. If you don’t want to get stung by the bees, get away from the hive.
So as you enter this new year, resolve to do two things quickly: Keep your promises to God, and run from temptation.
https://pastorrick.com/be-quick-to-keep-your-promises-to-god/?roi=echo7-36598530963-55000980-a32dc55f18be41d45bc248672ff4f8a7
Be Specific About Your
In order to get to where you want to be, you need to describe exactly what you want. For instance, Abraham told Eliezer exactly what kind of wife he wanted for Isaac. He told him to go back to the land of his relatives instead of picking Isaac’s wife from among the Canaanite women.
You will never reach a vague goal. The more general it is, the less power it has. But the more specific it is, the more power it has in your life.
Ask yourself these four questions: 1) What do I want to be? 2) What do I want to do? 3) What do I want to have? 4) Why do I want it?
You can’t just know the what, you need to know the why – that’s your motivation. If you don’t know why, you will give up when it gets tough.
When Eliezer heard Abraham’s goal, he started asking “What if?” If you listen to the what-ifs of your goal, you will fail because of worry and fear.
You don’t need to focus on the how for now because, once you figure out the why, God will show you how. He will help you solve the problems that stand in the way of your goal.
CamsMaria 
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