21 Days of Deep LivingSample

The Bridge

Self-discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

It will take us to our desired place with God. To go deeper means to be more disciplined. However, our human nature is to be undisciplined. This is why in Galatians 5:22-23 when Paul is talking about the Fruit of the Spirit, the last one he mentions is self-control. When translated from the Greek, it means self-mastery, self-restraint, self-control, i.e. discipline.

Now the Fruit of the Spirit is a set of nine specific behaviors that demonstrate evidence that we are living in alignment with the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who bears these spiritual elements (i.e. these nine behaviors) in our lives. Therefore, given that self-control/discipline is an element of the Fruit of the Spirit, we are not responsible for being the Source of our own discipline. Instead, it is a behavior we begin to exhibit when we are in deep fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We cannot master our flesh without the Spirit. Therefore we need the Holy Spirit to be the Source of our desired discipline and we need to put ourselves into the position to receive it. We receive the ability to be disciplined, we do not create it.

One such discipline we focus on today is the discipline of reading the Word of God (the Bible) daily. This discipline requires the help of the Holy Spirit because if we could do it ourselves, then we would already be doing it ourselves. The level of discipline needed for this goes a lot deeper than we can understand. If you are someone who likes to start the day with reading the Bible, then this requires the discipline of waking up at the right time to have enough time to read before the day starts (i.e. getting ready for and getting to work on time). In order to be able to wake up early enough, then this requires the discipline of being able to go to bed on time, which is also not easy.

If you like to do your Bible reading during lunch, then it requires the discipline of actually protecting that time and ensuring that there are no meetings/work that get in the way or you have no errands to run. If you like to do your Bible reading in the evening, then this requires the discipline of being able to stop whatever it is you are doing and actually go and spend time reading the Word. No matter how tired the day has made you or how bad your day has been, you still need the discipline to be able to put the day behind you and focus on the Word.

Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine being able to sustainably do any of the above on a daily basis through my own strength and my own attempt at discipline. If I could I would be doing it already. This is exactly why the motivation and power to develop discipline comes from the Spirit and not from ourselves. The Holy Spirit is the One who will bear the Fruit of self-control within us so that we can develop and live a daily habit of reading the Bible. No longer do we need to become frustrated with ourselves for our own lack of discipline. Instead, we simply need to stop trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit alone and pray that with Him, He will help us to develop this Fruit that is gifted to us from God through the Spirit.

Take a minute and pray the following prayer:

Dear God, I pray that with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in me, I can guard the minutes and hours You've given me. I pray for self-discipline. And I pray that You would help me do more with my minutes and hours than I can do alone.