'Habitually' in the Bible
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said,“I am God Almighty;Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me].
He said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk [habitually and obediently], will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;
Then Jacob (Israel) blessed Joseph, and said,“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked [in faithful obedience],The God who has been my Shepherd [leading and caring for me] all my life to this day,
Hebron, and for [those elders in] all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to go.”
Then Solomon and all the assembly went to the high place at Gibeon [to offer sacrifices, where the Canaanites had habitually worshiped], for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,And on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night.
Thus says the Lord,“What injustice or unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me,That they have wandered far from MeAnd [habitually] walked after emptiness and futility and became empty?
My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner’s] wand gives them oracles.For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually],And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God.
When their liquor is gone [and their drinking parties are over],They habitually go to play the prostitute;Ephraim’s rulers continue to dearly love shame [more than her glory which is the Lord, Israel’s God].
And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Even the Lord, who [now and ever] has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is this not a log snatched and rescued from the fire?”
He went down to Nazareth with them, and was continually submissive and obedient to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
“Now there was a certain rich man who was habitually dressed in expensive purple and fine linen, and celebrated and lived joyously in splendor every day.
Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may habitually be doing the works of God?”
Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in a synagogue and in the temple [area], where all the Jews habitually congregate; and I said nothing in secret.
Therefore you have no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce].
There will be tribulation and anguish [torturing confinement] for every human soul who does [or permits] evil, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,
but glory and honor and inner peace [will be given] to everyone who habitually does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Circumcision [the sign of the covenant of Abraham] is indeed of value if you practice the Law; but if you habitually break the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision [it is meaningless in God’s sight].
We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways].
Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent).
for if you are living according to the [impulses of the] flesh, you are going to die. But if [you are living] by the [power of the Holy] Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will [really] live forever.
To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are continually poorly dressed, and we are roughly treated, and wander homeless.
I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate with [sexually] immoral people—
You know that when you were pagans, you were led off after speechless idols; however you were led off [whether by impulse or habit].
But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts].
in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God].
Now when these things have been prepared in this way, the priests continually enter the outer [or first section of the] tabernacle [that is, the Holy Place] performing [their ritual acts of] the divine worship,
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? This is the antichrist [the enemy and antagonist of Christ], the one who denies and consistently refuses to acknowledge the Father and the Son.
Whoever denies and repudiates the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses and acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
No one who abides in Him [who remains united in fellowship with Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin. No one who habitually sins has seen Him or known Him.
No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, because God’s seed [His principle of life, the essence of His righteous character] remains [permanently] in him [who is born again—who is reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose]; and he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him.
and we receive from Him whatever we ask because we [carefully and consistently] keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight [habitually seeking to follow His plan for us].
Here is [encouragement for] the steadfast endurance of the saints (God’s people), those who habitually keep God’s commandments and their faith in Jesus.