Who needs fifteen?

Countless times recited to the golden heads, is Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by Judy Viorst. It recounts the awful day of a grade school boy. At school, we complains of his teacher, "At singing time, she said I sang too loud. At counting time, she said I left out sixteen. Who needs sixteen?" Our days at preschool have also been a chuckle as the boisterous one has developed a habit of leaving out fifteen. "Thirteen, fourteen, sixteen..." Who needs fifteen? 
Bad habits are both difficult to break and easy to revert. The best thing to do is run away from circumstance that which tempts us. Like the fudge sauce staring me in the face last night; I should have run away! I know that I can claim the power available to me. How do I know this?

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4 

The greek word for power is where we get the english word for dynamite. This dynamite power of Christ's is mine for the claiming when I know Him. And how do I know Him? Relationship. Investing time developing real relationship with Him. As we develop a deeper relationship with God, we attain all we need for life and godliness. And along the way, we discover His great and precious promises. According to one person's count, there are 3573 promises in the Bible. Applying and living by the promises He gives us, we become more like Him. 
Understand that this relationship with Him isn't a microwave relationship. It's a crockpot. It takes time. One promise is that He gives us new life (2 Corinthians 5:17.) This is how I know that I can change my old habits. And how I know that when I go on auto-pilot and revert to old habits (yelling at the goldenheads, judging the engineer, eating fudge sauce by the spoonful), I know that the crockpot came unplugged.
I don't want to spend my life wallowing in a jar of fudge sauce. I want to become more like Christ. I need to stay plugged in, developing relationship over time. I need to simmer the crockpot. I may not really need fifteen, but I do need to be more like Christ.
What are you doing today to develop your relationship with Christ? Second Peter encourages us in verse 5 to start with faith, then add virtue, then knowledge, then self-control, then endurance, then godliness, then affection and finally love. If this is a progression in our relationship with Christ, where are you and what can you do to simmer the crockpot?