When you hear the word discipline, what comes to your mind? For me what comes to mind is getting spanked. When I think of discipline, some other words that come to mind are: accountable, responsibility, bondage, hard, and yuck. Why is that? Because nobody enjoys discipline but it is something that we all need.
If you are not disciplined–and everyone undergoes discipline–then you are not legitimate, not a true son and daughter. (Hebrew 12:8)
We all can make the statement “I need to become more disciplined in every area of our life,” but why don’t we follow through?
Discipline is nothing more than developing a habit. And a habit is something you don’t even have to think about. You just do it (like brushing your teeth or taking a bath).
I believe the number one motivating factor behind discipline is DESIRE or DESPERATION. You have to be desperate for something or have a desire to do something in order to justify a change.
Desperate people will do desperate things. Are you at the place where you are desperate for change in your life?
Are you tired of still going around the same mountain year after year; dealing with the same issues that never go away?
So how do you develop a habit? The answer is simple. You must have a plan. A plan will keep you focused.
The Bible says where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Successful people succeed on purpose.
If you feel like you have no vision for your life, you need to develop a plan
Start off with developing a plan for your faith. Why? Because whatever you feed the most, your faith or your flesh, will control everything else.
Your faith needs to be stronger than your flesh to overcome in other areas of your life. It takes faith to overcome debt, overeating, addictions, depression, etc.
This answers all the questions. 1) Why build my faith? – For it to be stronger than my flesh. 2) How will I do this? – By hearing the Word of God. 3) What am I going to do to build my faith? – I am going to listen to teaching tapes, reading and speaking the Word and meditating on what the Word says.
Developing discipline begins with a plan. Start with one realistic, measurable goal and then make a plan on how you are going to obtain that goal.
Next, write it down. I once heard a successful businessman say, “Goals that aren’t written down are just wishes.” That is pretty strong if you think about it.
Habakkuk 2:3 says “…write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it.” Keep your goal in front of you. If you can see it, you will be more likely to achieve it.
