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The Strong Will The number one thing lacking in the world today is training and discipline. Every where we go, we see those who have little or no training in the way they dress, keep house, or handle money. But these people have never been taught. We wonder what's wrong with people sometimes because they don't live up to our standards. We even think they have no discipline. But discipline is different from training. To train means to make or become proficient with specialized instruction and practice. To have discipline means to have a state of order based on submission to rules and authority. Training is dependent upon discipline, but without training there can be no discipline. Those who don't know the rules can't abide by them. We look at others and judge them by their laziness, not considering our own lack of discipline. People who have discipline know what is right and do it. They don't think about it, they don't question it, they don't compromise; they just do it. How many times are we going to hear God say "Trust Me," "Believe on Me," "Have faith in Me," before we get the picture that we are not a disciplined people. If we were, we wouldn't question and we wouldn't compromise. We compare the natural with the super-natural and we are disobedient time after time. Those who refuse prayer when it is offered have a strong will. In these days, who doesn't need prayer? Those who can say "No" without even thinking, have a strong will, and this strong will is only going to be taken down with discipline. We can pray and we can fast, but if we don't add discipline, we will just fall into our old routines. When we were children, we were disciplined because of our strong wills, but now that we have grown up, something inside us says, "They're not going to tell me what to do." Proverbs 22:15 says "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." God calls a lack of discipline foolishness, and He says it is bound in the heart. God is calling his people to abandon the stubborn self that lives inside. God's first requirement is that we not be stubborn. 2 Corinthians 8:12 says "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." Second, if we have the training, then we are expected to walk in discipline and obedience. Romans 8:27 says "And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Third, we must find out what the will of God is. Jesus Christ makes intercession on behalf of us according to the will of God, not according to our own will. Finally, we need Jesus to be our strongHOLD so our strong WILL will not come back to us. Nahum 1:7 says "The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." Do we want the Lord to know us as a strong-willed bride, or a bride that will trust in Him and submit to Him? What man looks for a stubborn bride to marry? No man does. That is why Christ has waited generation after generation for the bride that will trust Him and will be faithful to Him. We look forward to that wedding day when we will be with the Lord. But as any bride-to-be knows, the time between the engagement and the wedding day is very busy. The bride has a lot to do to prepare herself for the groom. But if that bride does everything to please herself or to please the guests, she has lost all focus. She needs her stubborn strong will broken and turned into a submissive meek will. We are the bride of Jesus Christ, and He is coming soon to be one with His church. We must make the decision today to please the King with discipline, and be subject to Him in everything.
- Chad Ross December 1995 Newsletter | Anger | The Strong Will Pastor's Journal December 1994 | Faith - Not Formulas | As A Man Thinketh Revised: June 25, 2008. |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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