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PROGRAM D-8441
I want to explore with you how we can put behind us some of the bad habits that plug up our daily lives. These are not major bad habits, but those everyday bad ruts you may have been in for a long time, and you don’t even realize how they are robbing you of all that God has for you. It is my experience that these daily disciplines make all the difference in my motivation, my productivity, my sense of accomplishment, my self-esteem and, in the end, how well I please the Lord.
Did you catch that word: Discipline? Not my favorite word, how about you? And yet, getting rid of bad habits by imposing needed disciplines in our lives is the road to fulfillment. Ephesians 2:10 says this:
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You and I are here to accomplish what God put us here to accomplish—the good works we should be about every day. But if there is a significant lack of discipline in some area of your life, you will not be able to do all those good works. You’ll miss out on the blessing because Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).
Discipline is not a felt need. We don’t usually “feel” the need to be disciplined. We can feel many other needs—the need for comfort, healing, encouragement, sympathy, and understanding. But not often do we feel—or even recognize or admit—our need for discipline.
However, Proverbs 5:23 says we can “die for lack of discipline.” And in Proverbs 10:17 we read, “Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life.” It’s pretty clear that whether we feel it or not, we all have a very real need for discipline.
Even if it’s not what you like to do, discipline is necessary if you truly want to accomplish something worthwhile in your life. Maybe you have dreams and plans to be realized, but the discipline you need has been hard to nail down. I’d like to help you find some practical ways to impose discipline so you don’t live in regret, and you realize the potential God has for you.