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Your heart is filled with many desires.
Desires yearning and pleading to be fulfilled.
Desires for food, drink and a hundred other things.
Not all of your desires are good, however.
Some of them are dark, twisted and evil.
Which is why you must stay on guard and sift those desires like wheat.
Not all of the desires of your heart need find fulfillment.
Many of them must be shattered, broken and defeated.
Knowing the difference is the key to a happy and joyful life.
Discipline doesn’t care if you’re tired.
It doesn’t care if you were up all night.
Or if you don’t quite feel up to it.
Discipline doesn’t care about these things because life and your enemies don’t either.
It wants you to be ready and equipped for when they come calling, so it pushes you through discomfort.
Discipline may seem like an insensitive jerk when it tells you to get up early or to do one more rep, but in the end, you’ll find that he’s had your best in mind all along.
“Everything,” Andre Gide said, “that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”
And better still—it is worth hearing again.
There are messages you need to set before your eyes and ears on a regular basis.
Cheif among them are the truths of the gospel of grace.
Preach it to yourself daily, even moment by moment if need be.
Make it the refrain of your life.
Reading excellent books is one of the best ways to keep biblical truth before you.
I’m inviting you to read Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney with me for this reason.
You can find out more about what we’re doing here if you missed last Sunday’s post.
I am excited to dive into the Spiritual Disciplines once more and see all the Lord has in store for us these next thirteen weeks.
We will kick off the series next Sunday, August 20th and I would love for you to jump in with us.
If you’d like to read along, I found the best price on Amazon. You can order it here if you’re so inclined.
Note: The link above is an affiliate link. I earn a small commission should you choose to use it while making your book purchase.
There is a principle in physical training called the Overload Principle.
It’s used to force your body and mind to grow by consistently pushing past your limits.
It’s why you can and should put more weight on the bar every training session until you’ve acquired significant strength.
The military uses the Overload Principle to forge warriors of steal. The most visible example is what the Navy Seals call Hell Week.
Things like Hell Week have a remarkable impact on those who make it through. They inoculate them to stress by overloading their minds and bodies. They push them to their limits and develop within them the ability to endure almost anything. Navy Seals can move forward and win when things go bad on the battlefield because training prepared them.
The same principle applies not only in the gym or ranks of the military elite but in your life as well.
You are going to live through some pretty awful days. Bad things are going to happen and the plan you have for your day, your year, your life is going to get off track.
This will ruin you and your chances of reaching your goals if you fail to prepare for adversity.
Preparing for adversity is simple. Overload and stress your mind, your body, your everything to the max.
Put yourself in uncomfortable and scary positions.
Think about the worst possible scenarios and plan for how you’ll respond.
If you want to get stronger physically, put more weight on the bar, train when it’s extremely hot/cold, do things that fill you with fear.
If you want to give a remarkable presentation, practice every possible disaster scenario. Practice without slides, without handouts, without power to the building. Practice overcoming brutal objections and rudeness. Think through how you’ll respond under the worst of circumstances.
You get the picture.
They say circumstances don’t make character but reveal it. That’s hog wash in this case. Harsh, trying and nearly impossible circumstances can help you grow like nothing else can. They will stretch you and force you to grow in ways comfort never can.
Step out of your comfort zone and embrace adversity.
Have you noticed that the more you focus on a problem or mistake the more you repeat it?
That’s because your focus determines your output.
What you focus your energy on is what you’ll produce.
In other words, your behavior follows your mindset.
If you’re focused on not doing a particular thing, chances are you’re setting the stage for it to happen again. And again. And again.
While taking things seriously and holding the line is important, so is focusing on the right things.
Don't waste time and energy dwelling on the negative. Focus intently on the positive instead.
There is a positive side to every problem you encounter. Focus on it.
It is always better to be for something positive, than against something negative.
Discipline your mind to think in this way. Discipline it to focus in the right direction.
Change your thinking, and you’ll change your life. But as with everything else, that’s going to require discipline.