Peter Tan-Chi - Build Keystone Habits
Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am so excited to be with all of us, again as we go to the part two of our new series: Today, our title is The word "keystone" usually describe a foundational stone that holds the arch together. This is probably the most important stone, it's called the key stone. Why? Because without the Keystone, the thing will collapse. You will notice how they build bridges, how they build buildings in medieval times, it's all about the importance of the keystone.
Now, what do we mean by keystone habits? Keystone habits are small habits that people introduce in their routines that carry over into every aspect of their lives. In other words, keystone habits are foundational. They impact many other aspects of your life. For example, I want you to look at the life of Daniel. What made Daniel different? Did Daniel have a keystone habit? Well, let's find out. In Daniel chapter six, let's begin. Verses 1-3: Daniel was distinguishing himself. Among all the other leaders, there is something different about Daniel. The commissioners and the other leaders, of course, they became jealous. They wanted to find out what's wrong with Daniel.
And the Bible tells us in Daniel 6:4-5, this is what it says: Here is an amazing man of God. In spite of all of his power, he was not corrupt. He was faithful and the Bible tells us, look at verse five: In other words, they saw something about Daniel. Daniel had a system. Daniel had a habit that impacted all of these other habits. What was that habit? Let's find out. In Daniel 6:10, I want you to notice something: What document? You see, what those commissioners did, they tricked the king into signing a law that says you cannot pray to any other God except to the king. And if you do that, the king will have to throw you into the lions' den. It was a set up to destroy Daniel. They don't want anybody to pray to any other gods except the king. Why? Because they knew the habit of Daniel.
So they made that law. But notice what Daniel did. (I'm going to explain later on the significance of "toward Jerusalem") What was the habit? What was the system? What was the discipline of Daniel? Notice, he prays not once, not twice, three times a day; notice, "three times a day, praying and giving thanks", not only that, "as he had been doing previously". In other words, this has become a habit. This is a pattern that Daniel has been doing for a long time. Notice how it impacted the life of Daniel. What will prevent somebody in power to not be corrupted? What will prevent somebody with a lot of power to become faithful in small things?
Can I submit to you the keystone habits: for Daniel, it was praying regularly to the Lord, his relationship with God. That is called a keystone habit that will impact other areas of your life, other habits. I want to share with you the following principles from the acronym KEY, K-E-Y. To develop keystone habits, you need to begin with "know your why", because why is very important. If you do not know why you want to develop some habits, it is not going to be sustainable. You've got to know who, because who you are, who you want to be, will impact your habit. Your habit is a by-product of what you want to become. Next, employ a system. We all have systems. I'm going to explain that in a short while. Next, Y; it stands for yield. The word yield is an agricultural word. It talks about the produce, the harvest; yield the rewards. I'm going to explain that soon.
Let's start with know your why and who. In the case of Daniel, the reason why he was able to build keystone habits is Daniel knew the why and the who. His name, Daniel, meaning God is judge; Daniel knew he is accountable to God. Why does he want to behave differently? Because he's accountable to the Lord. God is his judge. God is his God. If you look at the Bible in Daniel chapter one, they wanted to brainwash Daniel by changing his name from Daniel to Belteshazzar. Belteshazzar is from the root word Bel, the highest God among the Babylonians. It simply means "Bel is the protector". In the case of Daniel, he understood his identity, "I belong to God, Yahweh". And because of that, look at verse eight: Daniel knew who he was, and he knew why he exists: to live a life pleasing to the Lord. So how do you build keystone habits? First, know your why and who.
Next, employ a system. What was Daniel's system? Daniel had the following system which you will discover when you read the Bible from the lens of developing good habits: prayer, study of God's word, and obedience to God's word. What do I mean? I want you to notice how Daniel prayed. First, he prayed facing Jerusalem, toward Jerusalem. Second, he continued kneeling. That's his habit, he knelt down; and three times a day. Don't jump quickly over the significance of "toward Jerusalem".
Daniel was praying toward Jerusalem because he knew the Scripture. He's claiming an amazing promise you will find in 1 Kings 8:48-49. Let me read for you. If they pray toward "the city which you have chosen (Jerusalem), the house which I built for Your name (they prayed facing the temple, facing Jerusalem), then", look, "then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place and maintain their cause". Daniel is claiming this assurance. "Lord, hear my prayer". Daniel’s keystone habits is not just prayer. It is prayer supported by the study of Scriptures. Daniel was a man of prayer because he knew the Scripture. He knew that there's a prophecy in the Bible that talks about Israel will be in captivity for 70 years.
The prophecy says that after 70 years they will be released, and Daniel is now claiming that prophecy. He's asking God now to fulfill His promise, to allow the people to go back to Jerusalem. Now, this prophecy is found in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 25:11 and 12, this is what the prophet said: Because Daniel knew the Scripture, he knew the big picture. He knows what's going to happen in the future. He knows that Babylon will be destroyed. That is why when he was offered a third of the kingdom, he would become the third ruler, when he was offered gold, silver, power, what did he tell the king?
If you know the Bible, and your prayer life is connected with the Bible, the keystone habits of studying the Bible, studying God's word, will impact your life, it'll impact your values, it will impact your behavior. I like what R.A. Torrey said: In other words, you cannot separate effective prayer, dynamic prayer, powerful prayer without the study of God's word. So prayer and God's word, they go together. This is a very important principle you need to learn, because if your prayer is not in accordance with the word of God, it is powerless. God will never answer a prayer that is contrary to His will.
So it is so crucial that your keystone habits must include not just prayer, the study of God's word. They must go together, plus obedience to God's word, because Daniel was obedient. He obeyed God moment by moment. Let me share with you examples of keystone habits I'd like you to develop. Spiritual. What are spiritual habits? Quiet time. Prayer. Study of Scripture. Memorization of Scripture. Believe it or not, CCF has introduced memorization of Scripture three years ago, one verse a week. I wonder if you are participating. By the grace of God, I participated in the memorization of weekly verses. I memorize it daily. I reviewed it. I read it.
If you memorize 50 verses a year, one verse a week, can you imagine? In ten years' time, you will have memorized 500 verses. What about physical habits? Exercise, diet. My wife and I have developed habits. We walk every day. I will exercise. I will walk, or sometimes I will swim, or I will jog. Diet: I've developed certain habits. We have removed sweets, soft drinks. We don't have that in our refrigerator. Why? We want to develop good habits. Do you have habits for your physical health? What time you sleep? My wife and I, we want to develop a habit of sleeping at least seven to eight hours a night. Habits are important. Water, do you drink water? For us, I have a water jug in my office. I remind myself I need to drink water.
Have you developed keystone habits when it comes to money? Do you save? Do you invest? Have you learned a lifestyle of not spending what you don't have? Develop those habits. What about mental and emotional habits? Are you reading books? Are you developing the habit of forgiving? The habit of being positive? What will help you decide what habits to develop? That's where you understand the first why: why you want to develop certain habits, and who do you want to become? Next, employ a system. The system that I have read that is common to many people is this system: it's called the habit cycle. The habit cycle begins with a cue, it begins with a trigger. It activates something, it activates your desire. It's a cue.
And then you act on it. That action will eventually cause you to have pleasure, it's a reward. You feel good about it. And then you repeat it again. So this is what you call the habit cycle. Almost all habits, good and bad, would have the following procedures. Now, here is something I want to let you know: your cue must be very obvious. For example, if I want to read the Bible, I make sure the Bible is very visible near my bed. If I want to exercise, then my rubber shoes is very visible at the door. It's a reminder. So the cue has to be obvious. The action has to be simple and easy. For example, you want to read the Bible. I don't expect you to start reading the Bible for one hour. Why? If you are starting, make the action simple and easy.
In my case, by the grace of God, because I have been doing this, I am able to read the entire Bible at least once a year. I have read the Bible over 50 times. It has become a habit. I memorize Scripture. I began with one verse a month. Eventually, it's one verse a week, but keep it easy. If you want to exercise, my advice: you don't start running for five kilometers the first week. You aren't going to make it. If you want to begin the habit of exercise, keep it easy, keep it simple. Walk. Walk for 15 minutes. That's it. You want to do push-ups? All right! If you will not be able to do ten? No problem, do five. If you cannot do five, do one. You cannot do one? You can crawl. But start something easy. Keep it simple. And then you have rewards. Now the problem with rewards, bad habits, the rewards are usually immediate. Good habits, the rewards are not always immediate.
And that's why I want you to understand the third principle. The third principle is yield the rewards. What do I mean by yield the rewards? The word "yield" is an agricultural term. It has to do with harvest. This is very biblical. Example: Galatians 6:7, Do you notice, the Bible is very clear, whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. This is the principle of sowing and reaping. Yield means you harvest. If you use that term in business, it's called the rate of return, "What is my yield in my investment"? So it has to do with future rewards. I want to remind you, reaping is not always immediate.
What you sow, you may not reap tomorrow, just like agricultural products. It takes time. Sometimes, you have to wait for three months. Sometimes one year, sometimes five years. The whole application of the principle of sowing and reaping is simply this: you will reap what you sow, and do not grow weary. On the same chapter, after a few verses, it says, This is a promise. I'm reminded of Chinese bamboo. Do you realize for the first five years, you continue putting in fertilizer, continue watering it, nothing happens in the first five years; because for the first five years, the Chinese bamboo is taking roots. You think nothing is happening. On the sixth and seventh year, it will suddenly grow. It will grow so fast, it will grow up to 90 feet tall. In fact, you can observe the growth overnight. This is the principle of sowing and reaping in due time.
Let's take another example of the compounding effect of habits. For some people, they go to the coffee shop. At least you will spend maybe 200 pesos per visit. So in one week more or less, that will probably mean 1000 pesos. If you saved that money, in one month's time, you'll be saving 4,000 pesos a month. Now, believe it or not, saving 4,000 pesos a month, and you compound the effect for 40 years from age 25 to 65. This is shocking, based on their computation, you would have saved 3 million pesos. Now do the opposite. Instead of spending that money, you invest the 3 million. You see what I'm saying? Small decisions, if compounded, have tremendous effect.
I'm reminded of one of the stories written by the author, Darren Hardy. This author decided to come up with a thanksgiving journal. A thanksgiving journal is where he will write down one thing he wanted to be thankful for for his wife, every day. Just one thing. It's a small act, but he decided to do it. After one year, in their anniversary, he gave the thanksgiving journal to his wife. The wife, of course, was so touched. The wife was crying. The wife said, "This is the best gift. It's even better than a BMW. It's even better than the most expensive car". Why? What he did impacted their marriage.
Even before the end of the year, the wife was noticing already what was happening to their relationship. Even before the end of the one year, she felt loved. She felt appreciated because she knew something happened to the husband, because the husband is no longer looking for what's wrong with the wife. He's looking for things to be thankful for. And the children saw the difference. You see, keystone habits impact other areas of our lives. The children began to respect their parents even more. They stopped fighting with each other, and the children began to be nice to each other. The atmosphere in the house has changed. It is now positive. It's encouraging. It's loving.
Now, I want you to imagine: if you begin doing that today, begin the new habit of thanking your wife every day, just one thing, based on what she did, thank her for the cooking, thank her for cleaning the house, thank her for taking care of the kids. Parents, you do the same toward your children. Children, you do the same toward your parents. One good thing to be thankful for. I guarantee you, your environment, your atmosphere at home will change. It will not be tense. It will be joyful. Each choice has a cumulative effect. Each behavior will eventually become a habit. You must begin by becoming conscious, by becoming aware of the choices you are making today, because these choices will impact your future.
This is the meaning of keystone habits: something that you do daily that no one sees that bring the results that everybody wants in your marriage, in your private life. Remember: you don't accidentally become a good man overnight. You don't accidentally become a good father, a good husband overnight. It takes practice. Develop good habits. The same thing with bad habits. You may not be aware of it, but one bad habit, no matter how small, will have a cumulative effect. Let's summarize what we've been learning so far. You begin with the why and the who. Who you are eventually determines what you do. It's important you have the right motivation. And then employ a system.
Some of them will help you develop the habit. And then, don't forget, you have to be patient. Yield the rewards, because in due time, this will bring tremendous rewards. That is why Jesus reminded his Disciples the importance of praying. You see the keystone habits of prayer was repeated by Jesus to His disciples. In Luke 18:1-5, The context of the parable: Jesus wanted them to pray all the time and not lose heart. It says, "at all times they ought to pray". He wanted them to pray. Make this a keystone habit, "and not lose heart".
I'm reminded of my friend who kept praying and praying for his wife. My friend came to know Jesus. After coming to know Jesus, his life began to change, but the wife did not appreciate the change. The wife did not like him evangelizing the family. So the wife left him. It shook the whole family, but my friend kept praying and praying. Do you know how long it took the wife to come back to him? 23 years. Do you know how long it took the wife to come to know Jesus? 29 years. What do I mean? When the wife left him, he continued the habit of prayer. He would wake up four o'clock, five o'clock in the morning. He would pray, read the Bible.
And that is how he kept himself pure. He was able to live a holy life. He did not womanize; why? His keystone habits: wake up in the morning, pray, read the Bible. He sleeps early, by 9:30 PM, he's in bed. It protected him from pornography. It protected him from bad company. It protected him from immortality. It protected him from adultery. And after 23 years, the wife called him from the States. The wife said, "I notice you are a good father. Our children have turned out well. I'm coming home. Will you accept me"? Of course, the whole family was so excited. When the wife came back, the wife made it clear, "I'm not ready to follow your Jesus. I'm not ready to follow you when it comes to your faith".
But you know what? Remember his habit, prayer and fasting. He made sure he was a gentle husband. He made sure his behavior will not turn off his wife. Would you believe it? On the 29th year, his wife was hospitalized. They were shocked to discover the wife had cancer, stage four. In the hospital, he asked permission from the wife. She said, "It's okay if I watch the worship service on Sunday". And the wife began watching messages on Sunday. And she got so interested, she began to ask my friend to bring out the old messages. She would listen to the messages every day. Would you believe it? God so touched her heart that on the 29th year, I remember some of the Dgroup members visited her; and you know what she told them? She said, "I have received Jesus".
You see, we have been praying for this girl. The husband has been praying for her. And I realize the power of prayer. Never underestimate what God can do when we begin to keep praying, because God answers prayer in His time. And the husband said by the grace of God, she made public to her children, to her family, her newfound faith in Christ. And her husband shared with us while God did not answer his prayer the way he wanted it, God at the same time answered his prayer. How? His desire is for the wife to come to know Jesus. While she was not healed of her cancer, but God healed her of spiritual cancer. She met the Lord and her husband said she is joyfully in the presence of the Lord.
My friend, persistent prayer has the following impact in your life, in my life. Let me read for you a quote. It says: This is what I'm learning: the power of prayer is always underestimated. Remember, when we pray, we're unleashing God's power. I look at my life and I realize only God can change my heart. My heart was transformed. My desire to become godly is from God. My desire to give up certain bad habits is from God. All that I am today, I praise God, it's because of His power, because of His prayer. I cannot be what I am today without prayer, without the grace of God. Friends, don't ever underestimate the effect of persistent prayer. I pray that God would speak to your heart.
What keystone habits do you need to develop today? Ask God to speak to you. Why do you want to develop this habit? And then start with one good habit at a time. As we close, I want to share with you one of the reasons why we don't develop the habit of persistent prayer is we don't really trust God. And the reason why we don't trust God, we don't really know Him. And the reason why we don't know Him, we have not had a personal encounter with Jesus. I'd like to give you this opportunity to have a real encounter with the Lord so that you will get to know how good He is. Our God is a loving Father. Why don't you begin by praying this prayer, a prayer of inviting Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, so that you would have a new relationship with God through Jesus. Let's pray.
Father God, I realize I don't really trust You. I don't really know You. Today, I want to surrender my life to You. I want to invite Jesus as my Lord and my Savior, to give me a new heart and a new desire to know You, to love You, and to serve You. Thank You, Jesus, for coming into my life. Thank You, Jesus, for loving me. Thank You, Jesus, for forgiving my sins, and thank You, Jesus, for the gift of a new life, for the gift of eternal life. Help me develop new habits. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.