Daily Disciplines require adding self-control to our faith and relying on God’s Spirit for self-discipline.
Daily Habits and Spiritual Disciplines
The Bible calls us to live a life of daily devotion to God. In Luke 9:23, Jesus tells his disciples to “deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” We can do this by practicing daily and weekly habits that will become Spiritual Disciplines as we build our faith. In this blog post series, we refer to these as the “daily disciplines“.
The key to building effective disciplines is having an attitude of a disciple. The word disciple is from the same origin as discipline, and means to be a learner. If you want to truly grow in your knowledge of God and in love for Him through obedience, you need to master daily spiritual disciplines.
Disciple involves effort to maintain self-control and dependence on God to stay self-disciplined. How are self-control and self-discipline related?
Self-Control
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-8 New International Version
2 Peter 1:5-8 tells us that growing in our faith takes effort. We need to be intentional about adding to our faith the practices mentioned in the verse, including self-control.
The Greek word used for “self-control” in the passage is egkrateia, which is a virtue of being able to master one’s desires and passions, of being able to “get a grip on oneself”. The passage in 2 Peter says that by adding this to our faith, along with goodness, knowledge and the others in the list, we will keep from being ineffective and unproductive as we grow in our knowledge of the Lord.
Self-control is important in overcoming sin and supporting the work we need to do to develop habits and spiritual disciplines. However, it’s not enough to have a high level of self-control. We need God’s Spirit to guide us and help us as we develop spiritual disciplines.
Self-Discipline
In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit provides us with three things we need: power, love and self-discipline.
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 New International Version
The Greek word used here for self-discipline is sophronismos, which means “sound mind”. The context of the passage is Paul’s remembering Timothy’s “sincere faith”. Our faith, built on the salvation we have in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit living in us, gives us a sound mind so that we can be self-controlled.
Developing spiritual discipline involves both self-control and self-discipline. We need to do all we can to be self-controlled by our own effort, but also need to rely on God’s Spirit to grant us a mind to be able to be self-disciplined. As we practice daily and weekly habits, we work together with God’s Spirit to to build our spiritual disciplines.
Practicals for Daily Spiritual Discipline
Before we look at the habits needed for spiritual discipline, let’s look at some practicals for applying discipline in our daily living.
Disciplined in our time
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16 New International Version
Do you use your time effectively? Do you have a schedule that you stick to? If not, you likely are missing opportunities to practice your faith and serve God.
Practical: write out what you do each day for a week, then put together a schedule you will keep the next week. Plan the schedule based on your priorities: put in first the ways you will “seek first the kingdom”: Quiet times (Bible study and prayer), church meetings, times with others (discipling times and times for serving).
Disciplined in our convictions
Like a city whose walls are broken through
Proverbs 25:28 New International Version
is a person who lacks self-control.
When we let go of our convictions, we’re like a broken wall that can no longer protect the city. Self-control can help by not letting our mood or circumstances determine your convictions. Know what you need to do and don’t let yourself be affected by your feelings in the moment.
Jesus taught us to stand by our word, to “let your yes be yes” (Matt 5:37 NIV). Be a person who does what he or she says they will do and keep your commitments, especially those you’ve made to God.
Practical: When you make a decision, write it down and hold yourself accountable to do it. Share your decision with others and ask them to hold you accountable. Let your yes be yes!
Disciplined in our speech and words
Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,
Proverbs 13:3 New International Version
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.
It’s also important to be disciplined in what you talk about. Make sure to use your words to build others up, not tear them down.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29 New International Version
Practical: Take time in any conversation to listen before speaking. As James 1:19-20 (NIV) says, “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”. Oftentimes we do the opposite: get angry, say something rash then listen. By then the conversation may have become a situation where you’ve lost your self-control and self-discipline.
Disciplined in our money and possessions
The wise have wealth and luxury,
Proverbs 21:20 New Living Translation
but fools spend whatever they get.
Are you a spender or a saver? What do you spend your money on? Do you hold back instead of being generous? The Bible says a great deal about money and being wise with how we use it – we need to be disciplined in our finances.
Practical: Put together a budget and stick to it. Build into the budget ways to give to God and to serve the poor and others in need.
Disciplined in our responsibilities
“‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
Luke 19:17 New International Version
We all have responsibilities: family, work, relationships, serving others, leadership, discipleship partners/groups. Be trustworthy and excellent in fulfilling your responsibilities. As mentioned before, let your “yes be yes” in commitments and work hard to be excellent in your responsibilities.
Practical: Write down your top areas of responsibility (for me: disciple, husband, father/grandfather, church elder, brother/friend, employee). For each one, determine something you can do to be more excellent in how you meet your responsibility in that area.
Final Thoughts
Working on our self-control and relying on God for a sound mind of self-discipline is important to developing habits that become spiritual disciplines. In the next post, we’ll begin exploring the daily disciplines with thoughts on connecting with Christ through the Word of God.
Suggested Memory Scriptures
Proverbs 25:28, 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Peter 1:5-8
Discussion Questions
- What makes having self-discipline hard? What kinds of things do we need to overcome in seeking to be more self-disciplined?
- Self-discipline involves both us “getting a grip” on our will and God providing us with a “sound mind”. Do you depend more on yourself or on God to help with your self-discipline? How can you better balance so that you can grow in self-discipline?
- Last week we discussed choosing a daily discipline to improve this year. Share your goal with the group. Discuss practical things each person can do to reach their goal and what others can do to help them.