Discipline

2 Timothy 1:7

⁷for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 2:15

¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

So it was recently brought to my attention that I have been having some mad discipline strugs lately. The end of the semester and idleness have definitely been getting the best of me. Luckily Ethan decided that our life group was going to read 2 Timothy and it has been so convicting, but so refreshing and definitely what I needed. With a lack of discipline came a lack of desire and just an overall negative attitude. I know I have talked about this some in my last few blogs, but I would be a liar if I pretended like I had it all down.

Yesterday as we were discussing Crazy Love and Thursday at home group it has really been made evident to me that we need God to love God. We need God to live disciplined lives. We have to rely on God for everything. We have to completely surrender our lives to Him. It's scary, but when we focus on our own power we fail. God gave us a new spirit. God gave us the Holy Spirit. A spirit of power and love and self-discipline. When we submit to the Holy Spirit we are given boldness and the ability to live disciplined lives of godly character.

Without discipline from the Holy Spirit it is impossible for us to remember that only one thing is important. I think we can all attest to what happens when we put ourselves in charge. Jesus commands us to watch ourselves and to stay awake at all times in prayer in preparation for his return. How is any of this possible without the Holy Spirit? It's crazy we need God to love God and the more we love God the more we want of Him. We need to submit ourselves to Christ and commit ourselves to lives of discipline searching for the Truth.

I pray that as this finals are getting closer we will continually submit ourselves to God and that He will put a desire in our hearts to love Him.

1 John 3:16-18

¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Let's love in truth and commit ourselves to spending ourselves for Christ. Let's rely on God for strength and force ourselves to live by faith so the love of Christ will be evident in our lives.