Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Three Daily Disciplines

The Three Daily Disciplines.
As a Christian, discipline is a must for smooth sailing in this present time. Now I fully understand that we are saved by grace and not by our works. This is completely true but the Bible also said in 1st Timothy 6 vs 11-12
“But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life- a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.”
            Emphasis on the word “pursue”. For you to pursue something you must be completely sold out to it. For you to run hard in faith you need to discipline yourself, it takes discipline to live a life of wonder, love, faith and STEADINESS. So, I have three daily disciplines. If you can practice these things every day, apply them to every situation then your daily walk with God will have more structure. In no way are these three points rules or regulations, I’d say they are guidelines to help us stay rooted and grounded in Christ.
1. Capture all thoughts: 2nd Corinthians 10 vs 5. Now I know I talk about this all the time and I do because I believe that before you can win a battle physically, you must win it mentally. What does your mind say about that circumstance? What does your heart say about that temptation? Have you continuously allowed the devil to whisper all sorts of things in your ear all day long? Have you allowed him to continuously tear down your spirit, telling you that you are a big nothing, or that your sin is enough to separate you from God’s love? In this verse Paul is telling us to bring EVERY thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. What does that mean? That means that if that thought does not go in line with what God says, if the thought does not glorify God, if it stands contrary to the Word of God then it must be brought under and subject to everything God has spoken over our lives. So, next time when the devil tries to tell you your prayers cannot be answered because of what you did or said two days ago, you need to remind him that he has NO RIGHT to speak where your affairs are concerned because you are a Child of the Most High. You need to remind him that he lost the battle thousands of years ago when God sent his one and only son to come and die for your sins. Therefore, sin has no power over you and you walk in the light of Christ. 
2. Let your conversations be seasoned: Colossians 4 vs 6. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you know how you ought to answer each one.” *snaps fingers* Our conversations, our conversations, our conversations! I had to type it three times to show how important it is. Let our conversations be seasoned with salt, salt gives food taste. No one would like to eat food without salt, it would be tasteless. So, what is this verse trying to tell us? Avoid having tasteless conversations. An example of a tasteless conversation would be gossip, endless chatter about sex, tearing-people-down kind of conversations and the list goes on. The MSG version of this same verse says “be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.” If you stay constantly throwing shade, jabbing and discrediting other people then you need to sit at Gods feet and CRY OUT FOR HELP. (emphasis on CRY… lol for real). The spirit cannot manifest in you if you continue speaking wrongly about others or if you constantly talk dirty. Let no filth come out from your mouth. There are so many other important things to discuss.
3. Pray diligently and STAY WOKE: Colossians 4 vs 2 “Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude.” MSG. The NLT version says, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” Prayer does things confrontations cannot. Pray, pray, pray. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to remain in prayer. Commit everything to God, take all your worries to God in prayer. I remember what my dad told me when I told him I joined a small group in my church. He said “remember to do more praying and less talking.” I literally had goosebumps, now I understand he is not telling me to lose my voice in the group or not speak out but he is telling me that more impact will be made if I remain in a place of prayer. Prayer does things your “advice”, “reprimanding”, “confronting” will never do. Do you feel a brother or sister is slipping? Instead of throwing stones, and giving out “your opinion” lift them up in prayer FIRST. In that time of prayer, you would be surprised how God will open your eyes to deeper issues concerning not just that person’s life, but yours also. Lastly, pray in the Spirit. The devil understands English, but he is completely clueless when we speak in the language of the Holy Spirit.
  I hope you could pick up one or two things from this long write up. Lord knows I tried to keep it short. (I really tried lol). I pray that as you continue to seek God and live in the light, that you stand firm and completely unashamed of this glorious life that we were called to live.

1 comment:

  1. Amen.Angela, thank you for this post.Your guidelines are scriptural and ideal. More blessings on you Sis.

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