NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DISCIPLINE

In my last post (June 12~THE SECRET OF STAIN REMOVAL) I shared about the secret of stain removal. My focus is really on how the Holy Spirit works in our lives to change our attitude. Furthermore, the change I’m thinking about is not the temporary, surface type, where we project a different attitude for a short period only to revert to the fleshly, noxious attitude that has been the norm for far too long in our lives. Do you desire deep, life-transforming change in your life? Jesus shared powerful words with his sleepy disciples (their sleep may have been both physical and spiritual):  “Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!" (Matthew 26:41 NLT) In multiple translations this last portion is: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Several times in the past week, since the June 12 post, I’ve encountered the word, DISCIPLINE, in my reading, listening and studying. When I think about the stain, which I mentioned in my previous post, I think about how hard my wife and mother-in-law worked to remove it. There wasn’t a single stain removing solution that magically caused the pizza sauce to disappear from my mostly white shorts. There were multiple solutions used, along with intense scrubbing. The process required time and patience. This patience is necessary because sometimes there’s progress and sometimes there isn’t.

There’s no substitute for discipline and hard work. I wish there was, for your sake and mine. I wish there was a “secret” prayer, or a “secret” source of spiritual strength we could turn to when we desire change in our lives. Here’s what I believe to be true: Change, of all types, is a PROCESS. Sometimes there’s PROGRESS and sometimes there isn’t. The key, and I didn’t come up with the phrase, is to FAIL FORWARD. When the change process in your life suffers a setback, or stalls out for a period of time, acknowledge [admit] the failure and re-discipline yourself to make forward progress. Don’t become frustrated by your failure to the point it causes you to give up.

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” We don’t quote these words from Jesus as an excuse. They’re a reminder of how much we need to depend on the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness. Friend, be encouraged today: Your spirit may be willing to see change, but even more importantly the Holy Spirit is willing and able to help you.

I want to continue along the theme of change in my next post, but I close with these lyrics from Kari Jobe’s song, YOU ARE FOR ME, which is one of my favorites:

So faithful

So constant

So loving and so true

So powerful in all You do

You fill me

You see me

You know my every move

You love for me to sing to You

I know that You are for me

I know that You are for me

I know that You will never

Forsake me in my weakness