Discipline – Introduction & Ramblings

I love how the Lord works.  When a message in necessary and evident, it just keeps getting put in front of my face, until I understand that this is where I need to dig in, enjoy a cup of coffee and devour what the Lord is telling me.  Lately everything is linked to discipline.  At one point I really hated this word.  It was a form of punishment that was all I knew, it was all I cared to know.  I heard that word and looked the other way.  When someone said I needed to discipline my child; to me that meant punishment.  That’s all.  When I read that I need to be disciplined in my choices… again that equated to punishment to me.  When the Lord disciplines…. Well of course that would mean punishment.  And while we are on the Lord’s discipline, might I also add that my skewed take on that meant that every bad thing that happened was a form of discipline.  Talk about walking around with scales on my eyes… yes that’s what it was (I say was, but I’m not through the woods yet.) I also need to point out that deception was yet another word filling my readings.  Coincidence?  I think not…  Caught in the deception, that discipline was bad all of the time…that is what it was.

Let’s dig in a little further.  The dictionary’s definition is:  1.  punishment (of course), then it says 2.  instruction which is obsolete (might I say how very wrong they are on that one), 3.  a field of study, 4.  training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character….. I want to stop right there…. That last one…Training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character.  That is the truest definition of the word.  It is what the bible teaches discipline to be.  As we are raising our children our job is to discipline them through showing and teaching the ways of Christ… we are training and molding until the final end… until we are perfected in Christ… that is what discipline is about.   Whether it is for us or for our children, our co-workers, and/or our employees… the discipline we show and emulate is our testimony as well.  Look at the root word… disciple.  We are not only called to be His disciples, we are called to make disciples.  Wherever that field may be it is our job, our calling to be disciplined, to disciple and be a disciple.  We are being trained while on this earth.  Each step of the way, we get disciplined we get discipled, and we disciple.  Raising our children is about teaching and guiding them to become responsible disciples.  We have to show the discipline in our lives in order for them to know how to have it in theirs.  Do as I say not as I do is not valid any longer.  Let me add here that I have no desire to see my children acting and behaving the way that I do.  That would make me so sad.  My prayer is to start putting this discipline into action for my life now, before it is too late.

I have had the deception for a long time that I wanted nothing to do with schedules, discipline or anything else that looked like an organized controlled life.  I have been noticing over the last little while, that I am having control issues in other odd parts of my life, such as small and big paperclips being in the same container, things not where I left them, things not put in the same place where they’ve been.  It makes me feel like I am losing my mind, and a bit anxious at the same time.  I do not like this part of my life so much…  All of the material I have been reading is showing me how wrong this behavior is… #1 – Being controlling is not God centered, it is self-centered.  I’m not saying that things out of order are not God’s way either, I just mean my obsession over them is not in line with God’s will.  #2 – I am focusing on these things to avoid focusing on what really matters – my family our finances and our health.  #3 – I am showing a complete lack of faith in God, buy stressing out over things that are out of my control.  All of this sin, and then the deception to stay in the sin is making me miserable.  I am ready to turn over the new leaf and get past where I am today.  It is time, to get in line with God’s will for my life, and it starts by yielding and asking Him to have his way with me.

There will be more to come as this journey progresses….

Love in Christ,

Angie