The One Habit One Week Experiment

By Pastor Olu Brown

Published: April 08, 2009

I will be the first to admit to you that I love the season of Lent and all of the wonderful experiences leading up to Easter Sunday. So many of my friends and peers in the ministry have been challenging their congregations and themselves to 40 days of reflection, fasting and hopeful expectation of the resurrection event.

I truly believe this is wonderful and all but for me 40 days is quite a stretch. It's not that I don't love the Lord and really want to make a major sacrifice, but 40 days for me, right now, is a long, long time. So, that being said, allow me to offer an alternative during this season of Lent and Easter celebration.

It's called "One Habit One Week."

What if you looked at your life in the mirror and thought about negative habit you've developed over time. Before you go any further, remember that a negative habit is something that does not truly benefit you and those around you. A negative habit may feel great for the moment, but the long term impact is not beneficial. For instance, a negative habit may be lack of compassion for others around you.

Have you ever met someone who failed to look out for others and selfishly took care of their own needs? That is an example of a negative habit. Let's not stop there. Negative habits are not limited to behavior. Negative habits can also be displayed in our emotional and spiritual lives as well. For instance, a negative spiritual habit is to have a poor devotional life or an occasional conversation with God through prayer.

Now that I have given you some examples of negative habits, check out the following steps for "One Habit One Week"

1. Identify a Negative Habit
2. Take responsibility for your Negative Habit
3. Make a decision to get rid of your Negative Habit
(If you are like me this will take a lot of prayer and support from others)
4. Secure an accountability partner who will walk with you for one week and remind you of your goal.
5. Replace your negative habit with a positive habit. (This is very important)

Jesus offered the following insight in Matthew 12: 43-45: (43) When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. (44) Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. (45) Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first..."

It seems that once we get rid of a negative habit it is very important to replace it with a positive habit. Remember, once you get rid of something bad you need to replace it with something good.

So for all of you out there like me who feel 40 days is a stretch, let's try "One Habit One Week."

The lead pastor of Impact Church, located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, Pastor Olu Brown has helped grow Impact into one of the fastest growing new church starts in America. For more information about Pastor Brown, log onto http://www.impactdcd.org or by following him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/olub.