Just over one year ago God challenged me to make a paradigm shift in how I approach life from primarily being passion driven "pulled" (led by my heart) to becoming primarily discipline directed "pushed" (led by wisdom). I've always had good discipline, but God challenged me last year to allow Him to develop a championship level of healthy discipline in my approach to life. What does that look like? It's the difference between working out (or any other healthy priority) when I "feel" like it verses working out (or any other healthy priority) at a set time on set days regardless of whether I feel like it or not. That goes for everything - eating healthy, drinking primarily water, daily devotions, sleep habits, washing dishes, taking out the garbage, getting my annual physical, attacking the day early, calling friends... literally just about every activity you do in the course of your day. Living more disciplined hasn't been boring at all. It has actually led to a greater abundance of freedom, health, peace of mind, effectiveness, fruitfulness, and consistency. It has led to one of the best years of my life!! Self control / self discipline is one of the fruits of the Spirit (I would argue that it's the one fruit that holds all the others together). It's the very first tool & instruction God gave to Adam to navigate in a world with free access to temptation and disobedience (sin) to God's design for our lives. It's probably the most dominant trait in the greatest missionary that ever lived (the apostle Paul) as well as his admonishment to us to live a life that "wins the prize". Healthy self discipline sounds extremely boring and rigid, but it leads to some of the greatest satisfactions in life! It enables us to live out or "shoulds" before it's too late and they become "have-to's" in order to survive. Healthy self discipline leads to a whole lot of freedom, inner satisfaction, fulfilled potential, intimacy with God, and fruitfulness for God's glory while eliminating regrets, inconsistency, strongholds, wasted days, ineffective prayers, inefficient hours, and a lack of free time. It may be the single most important character trait that unlocks every other character traits, benefits, and opportunities. It isn't prideful self reliance; it's intentionally plugging into God's wisdom and the Holy Spirit's power. I'm only 1 year into it and I can't wait to see the compound interest in blessings and breakthroughs as I embark on my 2nd year. I'm not at a championship level of discipline yet, but I'm way further along than I was a year ago and pushing forward to that championship level that God has designed us all for. This has been one of the greatest years of my life! Praise God for His truths and guidance that lead to abundance, freedoms, and promise lands!! One year and counting!! Glory to God!
"I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." - 1 Corinthians 9:27
"You must be self-controlled and alert, to be able to pray." - 1 Peter 4:7
"But if you don't do well, sin is lying outside your door ready to attack. It wants to control you, but you must master it." - Genesis 4:7
STRiVE to THRiVE!
