Word of the day - Discipline. Moreover, self-discipline.

To discipline means to teach, or instruct a person to follow a particular code of conduct, or to adhere to a certain order.

We often cringe when we hear the word discipline, but discipline is an act of love, an act of kindness and mercy. Just as we discipline our children to teach them the way they should go, and to protect them, God disciplines us (Deuteronomy 8:5). Scripture says that if we are not disciplined, then we are illegitimate children, not true children of God (Hebrews 12:8).

Self-discipline means training one's self to accomplish a certain task or to adopt a particular pattern of behavior, even though one would really rather be doing something different or behave in a different manner.

When we are self-disciplined, we deny the flesh, or the sinful nature. We walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. Those who are not self-disciplined can not please God (Romans 8:1-17).

Todays society is an undisciplined one. Even many Christians are living undisciplined lives. Eating too much, drinking too much, spending too much, gossip too much, and so on. Without God's discipline we are like unruly children with no direction. We are lost.

Ask God today, in what area of my life am I undisciplined? Psalm 139:23-24 says, 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

When we walk in the way everlasting, with Yeshua the Messiah as King, we experience the fullness of God's peace.