You Are Powerful & Self Disciplined
2 Tim 1:7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Do you feel powerful today? Do you have self-discipline?
We do have these ; but the real question is why aren't we using them?
It's partly by choice and partly because it requires us saying no to ourselves; and we don't like that. Let's face it, 3 brownies are better then 1 right? lol.
The fact is though, God needs us to walk in power and discipline in order to accomplish that which He called each of us to do. God has given us strength (sometimes a supernatural strength) to get through a difficult time but we must be connected to God to receive this.
He gave us authority to walk in and speak out over situations and over the enemy. We have the Holy Spirit , our Comforter, that gives us a peace at times we should (in the natural realm) feel no peace at all. We should be living a supernatural life and that should be normal; but is it? If the church was walking in power then shouldn't we be seeing more of it around us? God didn't become less powerful ; the church became more watered down, more pleasing to everyone and the result is without God being taught fully and the gifts of the Spirit and how to actually walk in them, those faith building miracles are becoming infrequent. The power , however , is still there; it's just not being used.
Let's begin dusting off those passages and examples and begin speaking them out over our lives and see the transformation they make so that we have a bold testimony to share!!
According to our verse above , we also possess self-discipline . This quality enables us to make choices that will benefit us in our walk and that others will notice in a world where over indulgence is glorified. It benefits our health, our ability to not speak when what we are about to say is not going to be good. Self discipline is a huge factor in making time for our prayer life and reading the Word. In order to really walk in power and truly live for Christ we MUST be more disciplined. This is hands down a hard one for me. I am working on small choices like food ( I am an emotional eater). I am learning to be more disciplined with my time but I still have a ways to go. The truth is, I DO possess self discipline but I must CHOOSE to use it.
It may be difficult saying no to ourselves but over time it will become easier. Anyone struggling with addiction will tell you it is a day by day walk.
If there is an area in your life that needs to be way more disciplined, ask Jesus to help you create specific steps in how to overcome this area. The steps may be very different for each of us but that's ok. Don't see it as a failure if you stumble; this is a process- this is growth!!!
You can do this !!!! We have the Holy Spirit and the power of God on our side. Stay positive and make the best choices you can for today; then do that again tomorrow.
Before long, you will have a testimony of how His power and self-discipline has changed your life!!! You got this my friend. May you feel God's warmth and love today and may you walk boldly in Christ.
Hugs,
Tonya