July 29, 2012

Discipline - I know that it is something the I have been lacking in the past.

The Lord has been working on me concerning Discipline for the last few months.  Then Pastor spoke on this in his sermon today.  He challenged us to make sure that we are disciplined in spending that time with the Lord.  I have always had a hard time with when it comes to exercise, eating right, having my devotions everyday, and praying.  But the last couple of weeks I have made it my priority.  Dani Johnson just clicked with me on why this is so important.  I realize that the reason I have put on all this weight is that I am carrying this burden of knowing that I should be having time with the Lord each day, but I was ignoring it.  I wasn't feeding my soul.  I was starving my soul. So everything in my life has been burdensome.  I have been hiding from who I really am.  What the Lord wants from me.  I have grown content in being in that 98% that becomes discouraged and forgets to honor the Lord and reap so that I could sow.

If you have asked me a couple of months ago I would have said that I had a good relationship with God, but the truth is my Sunday relationship was all I had going for me.  Now I am making my time with him as soon as I wake up.  I am making blogging what I am learning a priority everyday in order to learn one thing - Discipline.  If I do not learn discipline than I will never really succeed at what I am to accomplish in this life. 

Discipline is interesting.  Many think of it negiatively but when I looked up the definition in wikepedia this is what I found - In its original sense, discipline is systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or any other activity which they are supposed to perform, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Self-discipline is the product of persisted willpower. Whereas willpower is the strength and ability to carryout a certain task, self-discipline is the ability to use it routinely and even automatically (as if through reflex). An analogy for the relationship between the two might be defined as follows: Where willpower is the muscle, self-discipline is the structured thought that controls that muscle. In most cultures, it has been noted that self discipline is the ultimate path towards success. - wikepedia

So I am thinking that discipline is simply what God needs from me in order to help me grow stronger and really become the person that he needs me to be.  I have to spend time in his word everyday so I know what he needs from me.  I need this time for him to be able to speak to me.  I know that I cannot go without having this time.  He is truely my rock and when I spend this time with him I am sowing so that he can produce fruit in me.

I see what Dani Johnson is saying when she says that you have to sow to reap. I have said this for years, but I have never understood it in this sense.  Now I see where I could have been if I could have only understood everything that there is to learn in this area.  God is showing me that discipline is not bad.  It is a big step to actually growing in the Lord. So many things I have struggled with just because I really didn't understand or I was afraid.

When I am spending time with the Lord and growing in his word, and concentrating on growing as a person that I can have great growth in him.  I will grow in the Lord.  I will make the Lord my focus.  I will love exercise.  I will eat right.  I will spend time in the word of God each day.  I will make personal growth everyday a priority.  I will love people.  I will love God.  I will love my husband and treat him like he is a king.  I will respect and honor him and support him so that he can grow in the Lord.  I want to be in the promise land that the Lord has for me.  Lord help me to walk in your love each day so that I can be the child that you use to reach other people. 

Help me put together a great program for the Weight Loss Challenge.  Help me to have a spiritual part and make people understand that having time in the Bible is so important.  No matter what their spiritual orientation the Bible has some of the best advice in the world and you will be honored when you spend time in the Bible.  It is a principal of this world.  You have to honor your principals.

There is always going to be a promised land and there will always be those who will try and convence you that there is no promised land, but there is a promised land.  God has a promised land for all of us.