Replace the Space

Greetings, my friend,

Welcome to The Arsenal Newsletter, your bi-monthly resource for training and equipping you to live a set-apart lifestyle.

Through this publication, I hope to promote not just the idea of continuous improvement and things related to that, but more so creating a CULTURE of striving to be the best version of yourself. And that involves a lot of introspection, and more importantly, taking action through it.

As we’ve discussed before, none of us are perfect people. We are all flawed, with negative traits and habits that can often bog us down and prevent us from really becoming the people we want to be for those around us and especially for The Father Himself. Too often we can give in to our selfish desire to seek pleasure over purpose and make decisions daily that contradict the higher calling placed on our lives.

And it turns out this idea is as old as Scripture itself! Consider Paul’s words here:

But through the blood of Yeshua Messiah, we have the Spirit within us, and you should choose to listen to Him daily and make a conscious effort to do so! Because this is where true self-development begins. And if you let Him, He’ll begin to prune and refine you in different areas of your life. And yes, even in practical ways! I’m a witness to this power of His in my own life: Yahweh will convict you to give up that mindless activity, try to break those harmful habits, let go of unhealthy relationships, and so on.

But all of this is for a reason. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, it’s a transaction of the holiest variety: By denying our own flesh and separating ourselves from the things that feel good in the moment, we gain the greater gift of being molded into a sharper, more useful asset to the Kingdom!

💪 Actionable Steps: Denying Your Flesh

• 1) Put your ego and selfish desires aside and pray that Yah would reveal to you where He’s trying to protect you from yourself!

• 2) Record any convictions that come to mind about important areas of your life: Your behavior, your lifestyle choices, the people you spend time with, etc. Write them down, as well as your thoughts about them, and be honest with yourself in the process.

• 3) Make this process a habit. Just like repentance, self-improvement isn’t a one-and-done deal: It takes humility, consistency, and time to see significant results thanks to our fallen natures and constant battle with our flesh, as Galatians says.

But there’s something important to keep in mind, my brother or sister, and the crux of today’s message: While purging negative habits is essential for developing yourself into the person Yah wants you to be, it naturally begs the question: After purging your life of things that are harmful to your pursuit of purpose, what kind of things SHOULD you do?

Consider this valuable passage of Scripture:

Did you catch the key concept here? While the house was swept clean and put in order, as our lives are when we strive to purify and sanctify them for Yahweh’s purpose, it was vacant. There was nothing there to replace the unclean spirit’s presence, which in our case can represent bad habits or lifestyle choice for example.

And so, when the urge to indulge in our old ways inevitably comes back around to tempt us, it often becomes much harder to resist giving into the desires of the flesh after depriving ourselves of them for an extended period of time, and many succumb to that temptation and fall off the wagon so to speak.

But surely this can’t be every believer’s fate, right? Is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening and undoing all of your hard work to build a godly life?

Simple. You fill the vacancy.

If your goal is to pursue your God-given mission, and you’ve spent considerable time removing things from your life to focus on that and your relationship with Him, why not fill that gap with habits, mindsets, and activities that will benefit and assist you in your mission?

Here’s my rule of thumb: For every negative aspect you purge from your life, seek to replace it with its positive counterpart!

EX #1: You struggle with your sweet tooth and wish to have more energy for getting your tasks done each day, so after removing every food item that can create temptation from your home, you make a meal plan, grocery list, and a healthy, high-protein stir-fry for dinner after you get home.

EX #2: You spend 2-3 hours a day scrolling TikTok and watching YouTube for entertainment and “learning new things,” but then you realize you have trouble focusing on the task at hand and being able to do something for long periods of time. So you deactivate all of your social media accounts for a while and decide to pick up reading. And not only do you learn and retain so much more than “learning online",” but you also find that after a while, you can read for 1-2 hours on end and enjoy yourself the entire time!

As a noteworthy demonstration, failing to develop this “replacement mentality” is one of the reasons why many substance addicts relapse, and why their addiction often comes back with a vengeance: Or why many addicts to "adult content” online have such a hard time quitting for good: Because a lot of them aren’t pursuing new, productive, and healthy ways to fill their time, their fleshly desires have plenty of space to take over the swept and tidy house and live it up like never before with all of that clean, extra space they have now.

So as Scripture shows us, incorporating new habits into your routine isn’t just a good idea: It’s essential for ensuring you don’t fall victim to your flesh and instead can focus on walking in the Spirit to the best of your ability!

💪 Actionable Steps: Replacement Mentality

• 1) Consider the negative things you’ve purged from your life. What are the positive reciprocals of those things? Identify them and write them down.

• 2) Analyze what positive habits you’ve already incorporated into your life. How exactly are those positive habits bringing you closer in your relationship with The Father and His mission for you?

• 3) Never get passive. Always check in with yourself, an accountability partner, or a mentor every once in a while to ensure you’re maintaining a good trajectory! And keep an eye out for areas where sin or negative influences can begin to creep into your life and pull you away. After all, Scripture says The Enemy is always prowling around like a lion waiting to devour you (1 Peter 5:8). Watch and pray, dear reader!

And be blessed in Yeshua the Messiah.