Original Post: 2013
So you gave your life to Christ. That’s great! Congratulations. Now what?
There are so many things that could hold a person in bondage whether
it’s having to get free from deeply rooted issues that you may have or
bad habits that you need to break out of especially if it’s not in line
with Christ. One of my many bad habits was…swearing. O..M…Gosh I had a
potty mouth. Every sentence that I said had the “F” bomb in it. I
didn’t think it was that bad or that big of an issue until I tried to
stop. I just couldn’t, and I couldn’t figure out why.
I didn’t always swear. I actually practiced swearing so that it would
become a part of my vocabulary. I was new in the country and I wanted
to fit in and be cool with the people that were around me. So I would
listen to how they would use their swears and go home to practice.
It was a good 2 or 3 months of me being saved and I still had the
issue. I was trying to so hard but it just wouldn’t stop. I finally got
frustrated to the point where I turned to an older cousin who is also
saved and has walked with Christ for years. I needed to know what to do.
She simply asked me 1) who are you hanging with 2) what are you
listening to? 3) what are you watching? I became annoyed because I
thought these questions were so irrelevant, but she kept pushing. Yes I
was still hanging with my old friends that swore a lot and we hung all
the time. Yes I was still listening to music that had inappropriate
messages and swearing in it and yes I was still watching the reality TV
shows that were just rachet. “What goes in is what comes out. You have
to guard your heart against those types of things. That’s why you’re
still struggling” she said to me.
I had to make a decision. If I was serious about Christ and about
getting rid of this awful habit I would have to make a change. The
hardest thing was to cut out some friends who had potty mouths. I had to
distance myself from them (it was a really lonely time). I changed the
shows I watched on TV. Cut out all inappropriate reality shows. Another
hard thing? Deleted every song from my ipod. Aaaaaaw I had great songs
on there that I loved but I had to let them go. I replaced them with
gospel and worship songs that I liked. Old school appropriate songs too.
Eventually my ipod was filled again with Jesus, Jesus and more Jesus.
Within 1 week I saw the change. I stopped swearing. It was…a miracle.
Since then thank God that another swear has not excited my mouth (for
the most part. Sometimes I will accidentally swear if I’m reading
something and not realize there’s a swear in the sentence, lol). Thank
God for deliverance!
That was my habit. One of them. Whatever yours might be, you need to
give it to God 1st. Know that you will not be able to do it in your own
strength but only in His. Who are you hanging with? What are you
listening to? What are you reading? Who is influencing you? What are you
watching? It may seem like it’s not a big deal…but it is. You need to
make cuts (some permanent, some for a season) where cuts are needed. If
you are serious about being free, you’ll do what it takes. No excuses.
**Tasha*
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