Discipline

I put the big red cone in the center of the street on my culdesac...as a reminder that children were playing on their bikes. Jennifer and I sat on the front porch and watched as they pulled one riding toy after another from the garage and raced in the street. And I just looked at them, and remembered when they could hardly ride a tricycle, now they have advanced to two wheelers with training wheels, and Blake my oldest dropped his extra wheels a year or so back. But before he got to the two wheeler, he had to practice with the training wheels.The training wheels built confidence, and added security to a ride. You could depend on them to keep you balanced and upright in spite of uneven surfaces. They helped train him to be able to ride without fear and at greater speeds in confidence. This is not to say that there were not skinned knees and scraped up hands with an occasional fall, still are. No ride is tilt proof.

I have been convicted over the past few days to write on a topic that I my worldly self likes to hold hands of halt up to. Discipline. Seldom is it one of those warn fuzzy topics that we all race to latch onto, but if I am to be able to be transformed and conformed to what Christ has intended me to be, I have to accept it. Discipline of mind, body and spirit. It is so easy for me to go about my world in self motivated fashion. After all, when I do things my way, there is little argument within myself....or is there? For many times I am convicted through the Holy Spirit that my actions or my words have not lined up with His ways, and I am reminded that I am in training, and am not able to ride confidently or securely without the wheels of God keeping me in balance.

Discipline is:
1) training to act in accordance with rules; drill: military discipline.
2) activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training: A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for a writer.
3) behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control: good discipline in an army.

It comes down to a training and control that pairs up in tandem with a set of rules that make for a better life. Discipline in the Christian realm incorporates the rules of Christ. We have been taught how to act, what to do, how to love, and how to serve, but it is the trained discipline that lies within us that gives us the power to stay on that discipline track. It is God's faithfulness and our obedience to his training that give us the security and balance to ride the path that has been designated.

I am not too much for regimented protocol, for too many times it is in conflict with with my own personal desires. But when I think through it, isn't that just what being a Christian is all about? Letting personal desires be overhauled by Godly intervention.

I went to Oswald Chambers devotional in My Utmost for His Highest of October 12th.
Getting into God's Stride

"In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into his stride, but when we have got into it, the only characteristic that manifests itself is the life of God."

"It is difficult to get into stride with God, because when we start walking with Him we find that He has outstripped us before we have taken three steps.
He has different ways of doing things and we have to be trained and disciplined into His ways. It was said of Jesus, "He will not falter or be discouraged," because He never worked from His own individual standpoint but always from a standpoint of His Father, and we have to learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intelligent reasoning. God's Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things begin to be possible which never were possible before. Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don't give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a anew purpose."

So, how are your riding skills? We so want to advance in our abilities to be better and to do better in the eyes of God, but as long as we are on this earth we will need the training wheels of His grace, His wisdom, His love, His forgiveness, and His strength to keep us balanced. It is when we try to ride solo, that we fall. Training; it is essential ingredient of discipline. God's training does not happen over night and it is a process that we have to stay committed to for the results to take shape. Successful training is changing what is to what is to come. It is the breaking of old habits and introduction of new ones, and it is so easy to quit because we honestly are in a constant battle to keep self at our forefront and God and his rules lagging somewhere behind.

Discipline, Godly discipline, who needs it? We all do, in mind, body and Spirit and the balance that it brings forth in our lives. I know a great trainer...he charges nothing and changes everything.

Dear Lord, Help me to stay in stride with you, as you train me day to day to look to you, seek you and follow your ways. Amen



Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!