Desire and Discipline

Discipline is rooted in desire. For example, If I desire to get healthy, then I need to discipline myself to exercise more and look into my eating plan. What about my prayer life.? Instead of asking the Lord to give you the discipline of prayer, should I ask Him to give me the delight of praying. Instead of asking for the discipline to stay pure in our behaviours, we should be asking to delight in purity.

Whatever it might be, ask for passion for it. Then, simply follow your passion.

We’re learning to agree with the mindset of our Lord and Friend. The law of life in Christ is always about permission for our passions. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

That means that we have a green light until God turns it red. Go until God says no. Don’t sit here waiting for God to say yes. Go until He says no. Go for it! Seriously, go for it!

God is with you. You have permission. Everything is yes and amen. If He wants it to be a no, He will show up and tell you. Until then, assume “yes.”

You have permission to desire, so pursue your passions! Allow your circumstances to come under God’s passion for you. If I am in Christ, then so are my circumstances. If I cannot ever be separated from the love of God, then surely my circumstances cannot be separated from the power and intention of God.

I read how someone said ‘I love to close my eyes and imagine the Father and Jesus chatting about my life issues. The smiles, the easy-going conversation, the delight in their agreement over me. Does it change my situation? No! It relaxes me. I feel peaceful, I have confidence in who God is for me. All circumstances are firstly about my transformation. I am the Beloved. His love proves that to me. My trust in His love proves it right back. Another day in the Kingdom.’

Our Lord and Friend calls us to live in a place of delight in Him. From that secret place He gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). Because God is always first, He delights to initiate, and we delight to respond to Him. It is called being led by the Spirit.

The Christian experience is not about discipline. It’s about delight. When we see this life as being about discipline, we are convinced that we don’t have what we need to live it, and it will be hard to get it. That’s not true. We have everything in Christ Jesus!

Shalom.

Kath