Discipline yourself

Great words that a friend of mine posted on face book yesterday:



cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you, discipline yourselves, keep alert like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour resist him, steadfast in your faith&after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.

1 peter 5:7-10



I want us to focus on the discipline yourselves this morning as the Lord has really laid it on my heart. The word discipline means: behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control.



Now with that definition in mind ask yourselves are you discipline in your faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is much more to it than belief. God desires us to seek His face and follow obediently His Word. Are you? In the verse above it is clear we MUST discipline ourselves...nobody else is going to do it for us. The verses also give us a reason for disciplining ourselves...the devil is looking for someone to devour and if we are not disciplined in our faith it very well could be us!



So what do we need to do to be disciplined? First, everyday spend quiet time with God in studying His Word and in prayer. Do you do this? If the answer is no, you need to discipline yourself to do so. Second, listen to God. Don't just pray and leave....listen for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Third, obey. Do what God asks of you. Even if it seems impossible to you, nothing is impossible to God!



So again are you disciplined this morning? If the answer is yes...Great! If the answer is no....there is no better day to start than today. You will be surprised on what God has in store for you!



Tom