Discipline = Freedom
Jesus Heals a Lame Man
“Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!” ~ John 5:1-9 NLT
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Define Discipline:
to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control (Merriam Webster, 2024)
Define Self-Control:
restraint exercised over one's own impulses, emotions, or desires (Merriam Webster, 2024)
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It is time to start exercising discipline and self control in your life. This includes how you care for your temple which is consistent of your mind, body, and spirit.
We need to constantly bring our flesh under submission and be in control, not the other way around. We have been given all of the tools that we need to live a life that is honoring to God and to exercise self control, a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5).
Therefore, if you are a believer (or desiring to be) and claim that it’s impossible to resist the temptations of this world…I cannot accept that. God won’t either, for it is not true. Though we struggle daily, we can exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit who has been sent to guide and lead us; to be our helper (John 14:26).
So, take time to do an analysis of how you live, an inventory if you will. What do you struggle with and need to surrender to God? Does your flesh rule you? Are you careless with your temple?
This is not to judge you but to speak truth into your life in order to encourage you towards living a life to the fullest as God has called us to. So again, take an inventory of your life. Does your need for alcohol consume you? Do you feel that you cannot live without sex and do not see how you could ever be celibate until you marry, if marriage is what you desire? Do you believe that smoking weed helps to calm your anxious mind? Has your consumption of porn grown into an addiction that you cannot seem to rid your self free of? Does your love of food, clothes, money and or gambling consume you?
Note, that I am just naming some of the very struggles concerning sin and honoring one’s temple that I have witnessed in the lives of others, that have been confessed to me. I’m honored for the people that God has brought into my life who feel safe enough to share their struggles with addictions such as sex, porn, drugs, food, gambling and more!
I myself have struggled with the addictions of food and shopping. Through my own lack of self control in the past, I reaped the consequences of what I sowed. I found myself obese and in debt. I thank God that He allowed me to see my destructive ways, in order that I have freedom and health physically and financially. Now, years later I can share that I’m in the best place I have ever been financially, with a savings account, great credit, a 6 figure income, and currently working towards being debt free (just have my student loans as debt). My body has never been stronger and more fit than it is today; we are still out here grinding for that 4 pack to come through lol. My bank account and temple has been blessed and I attribute my wealth and physical health, to my obedience and faithfulness to God and the call on my life.
Please hear me when I say, that this too can be you! You can be set free…but you are in charge of making that decision. Are you going to wait at the well like the lame man and just wait for someone to bail you out? Or are you going to get up and pick up your mat, just like Jesus spoke to the lame man? It was then, in that moment that I am sure it clicked for the lame man that he had to be a part of his own healing; God can only help you as much as you let Him…but you first have to choose to say yes to being fully surrendered and willing to turn away from the sin that you have allowed to trap you. Remember, we are not perfect and never will be on this earth and in our fleshy and earthly bodies. However, that is not an excuse to avoid the standard of righteous living that God has called us to, ”Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, and honor” (Proverbs 21:21 NLT).
It is my prayer that if you are currently struggling with letting go of an addiction or sin in your life, that you recognize that God has given you all that you need to pick up your mat and get up! So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get up, pick up your mat, and turn away. In order to receive the true healing and freedom that is already yours to have, you just have to want it and go after it! For God gives us free will and asks that we choose Him because He has already chosen us; “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:8-10 NLT).
With love,
Brya
