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One of the most effective ways to allow the Word of God to affect your life is to study it inductively. That is what this blog is all about. Typically one verse per day will be mined for insight and then followed up with how I plan to implement that insight practically. My prayer is that in some way you find this useful in your journey and that it may impact you positively. -G

Monday, February 6, 2012

Discipline Turns To Habit - John 8:31

John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

What does it mean to "hold" to a teaching?

1) to remain, abide
   a) in reference to place
2) not to depart
   a) to continue to be present
   b) to be held, kept, continually
   c) to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure

To abide is an interesting term it means:
Websters 1828
To be, to exist, to continue, to dwell, rest, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely, to be firm and immovable

PSALM 119:90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
   you established the earth, and it endures. 


So to really be Jesus' disciple we must continue in and remain stationary in the principals He taught. To abide in these principals in such a way as to walk them out as a lifestyle so that we can rest in them.

We exercise  self control first by way of discipline, we continue to do the thing we know we should do even though we inwardly do not want to do it because we know that it is the right and best thing to do. After a while that discipline will begin to stop being discipline and turn into a habit. When that has fully taken it's course we develop a lifestyle and the mind is renewed. As found in Romans 12

Discipline is the mother of all virtues.

Self-control is the chief element of discipline, and discipline is the chief element of bringing ideas to life.  No matter how smart, skilled, or capable you are, nothing is possible or achievable without a disciplined mind.
Discipline is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, whether you want to or not at any given moment.  It is the most important of all the virtues because without it, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently


APPLICATION
I need to continue in the discipline of my diet and exercise so that it outgrows that difficult stage and enters into the habit stage.

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