Discipline Determines Destiny - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, April seventh. Your actions and attitudes today are setting the course for your future tomorrow. Learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit to motivate and empower you to grow the kind of character that honors God.

Now, I want you to think about this. It is discipline, not desire, that determines your destiny. Discipline, not desire, that determines your destiny. And if you'll look around, it's pretty evident that many people are not living a disciplined life. Look at the prisons, for example, running over with people because somewhere along the way they didn't learn to live by the rules and to live a disciplined life. Look at the indebtedness we have today.

It's the same story. People spend their money recklessly, foolishly, without discipline whatsoever. Look at how many high school students drop out before they finish lack of discipline.

We could go on and on and on in our society. And so, discipline is not something we like. That is, the truth is, we don't really like somebody telling us what we can do and what we cannot do, what we should do and should not do. We like to be free. We boast of the fact that we live in a free country and we're free people. But we're not free from the laws of God. We are free from the laws of God.

We are free from the laws of God. And for a person who does not like any kind of discipline, they set their course with disaster ultimately in their life. And so, what I want us to talk about in this message is simply this, that discipline determines destiny.

Let me settle one thing right up front. If we're to fulfill God's purpose, do the things that He would have us to do, achieve the goals that He's set for all of our lives. So, the issue is this, where does discipline fit in your life?

Because discipline does determine your destiny. And so, what I want you to do is to think about what is your destiny? What is your goal? What is your goal? What is your goal?

What is your goal? And what does discipline fit in your life? Because discipline does determine your destiny. And so, in your life, if you began to live a disciplined life, what area of your life would you first choose?

You may have to say no to some folks who'd like to be your friends, because you see, the Bible says and Warren says about having the wrong kind of relationships, wrong kind of friends who'll drag us down. So, you have to ask yourself the question, where do my values lie? What matters most, that I live a godly life, walk the ways of the Lord, accomplish His purpose in planning my life, or do I want a lot of accolades and a lot of achievements and a lot of this and a lot of that and a lot of the other?

Where's God in all of that? So, what are the requirements? And I would simply say this. First of all, you've got to have a definite purpose and a definite goal. If you have no definite goal, you're going to accomplish much in life. If you don't have a definite purpose, and if I were to ask you, what is your purpose today for living? What's your purpose? You say, well, I just want to enjoy life. Well, what else? Well, I want to have enough.

How much is enough? Well, I'm not sure. And we can ask you a lot of questions, but the issue is this, what are you living for? What is your purpose for being alive and staying alive? You want to live a long time? You want to be healthy? For what reason? Do you have anything that's so demanding that it takes discipline to accomplish it?

Name me something that is of great value that it does not demand and require discipline in order to achieve it. That's the way God made us. He wants us to grow. And He says, He predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

Think about this. Jesus was absolutely perfect. Did He have His enemies?

Lots of them. Did He have a carnal nature? No, He did not. But He had lots of enemies. He lived a disciplined life. He said, I must go through Samaria.

Must go. He made a decision. That meant He wasn't going somewhere else. And when you read the Gospels and the way Jesus spent His life, He didn't spend it, He invested it. And believe me, He was a very disciplined person.

The same thing would be true of the apostle Paul. You're not no disciplined people. Disciplined people are encouragement to us, but you've got to have a goal. And then remember this, when you decide what your goals may be or your objectives, and this may be a temporary goal or something you can accomplish in a short period of time or a long period of time or a lifetime. Listen, you have to become attached to what that goal is. At the same time, you have to become detached to all those things that draw you away. And you see, one of the reasons people don't reach any goals is because they can't detach. They can't detach from things that have an appeal. It could be a monetary appeal or whatever it might be. But you have to lay some things down if you're going to accomplish them.

And then, you have to pursue it with diligence. For example, somebody says, well, I'm going on a diet. Listen, if we understood what real, true discipline was all about and people practiced it, you wouldn't have forty-nine different programs on the television every week how to lose weight. And every single one of them says the same thing, the secret. How many secrets are there to losing weight? I can tell you what the secret is, just walk away. That's what the secret is. And that doesn't cost you anything.

Doesn't cost you anything. But, it goes back to the whole issue. How much value do I place on losing weight? If I place enough value on it, I'll walk away. I'll discipline myself. But if I say, well, I think I'm going to. And so, you exercise, let's say for example, you exercise for a week and I mean, you're just doing fantastic. And you wake up in the morning and say, oh, I don't think I want to do that today. And next thing you know, you're also working on your diet and somebody says, let's go to lunch and, man, I want them big burgers.

I can hardly wait. You know what, diligence says, I may want to. Remember what we said in the beginning? Discipline, not desire, determines our destiny. And I may want to do a lot of right things, but if I'm not willing to be disciplined, it's not going to happen. And so, you've got to pursue it with diligence and you've got to be consistent.

You can't do it one day and forget the other. It's easy to start, but are you going to be consistent? Are you going to be diligent? Are you going to really work at it? And are you going to practice self-control? Now, you say, well, that's what, isn't that what discipline's all about?

Right. The reason I said practice, because that's what it is. You won't succeed the first time. There are times you're going to fail.

But here's the issue. Just because, watch this, just because I failed today doesn't mean I'm a failure. It means I start tomorrow. But I'm not going to quit starting.

I'm going to have to start again and again and again and again. And so, you have to decide what is the value of this thing that you want to get under control in your life. You want to get your finances under control? To what degree do you want to get them under control?

How much real value do you place on that? Well, it gets you out of debt. You can sleep better at night.

You won't be worried about them calling you over and over. In other words, there are lots and lots of things you can say. The value I place on controlling my finances is I will feel free. Because, the Bible says, the borrower's a slave to the lender.

And we have a whole nation of slaves, people who are financially enslaved because they did not practice discipline. And we say, well, where do you start? You start today. You say, well, I'm thinking about starting. You'll never do it again.

You'll never get it that way. You make a decision. You say, today, on this day, I'm starting, I'm going to practice discipline in the way I handle my money. Otherwise, you get deeper and deeper in debt. And the lack of that causes problem after problem after problem and causes people to do things, say things, things happen in their life that never would have happened if they hadn't gotten themselves there. Is it difficult to practice discipline?

Yes, it is. I've said that over and over again. But what's the value you place on the thing you want to be disciplined about? And then, you have to just say no in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, watch this. He says He sent the Holy Spirit to live within us. He called Him the Helper that He would enable us to do anything and everything God would call us to do or achieve the goals that God would have us to achieve.

So, we have a Helper. So, that means we have within us one who will empower us to look at a situation and say no when we need to say no. Then, thank the Lord, there are rewards, many, many rewards for discipline. Remember, we're talking about controlling ourselves in the power of the Holy Spirit, which builds character in our life, enables us to live a life that is fulfilling and which we achieve and which is orderly. And so, then, what about the rewards? Well, I just say, first of all, that reward number one is a lifestyle that is more orderly and less stressful. God doesn't want His children being depressed. He wants us living a godly, orderly life. And there's going to be peace, there's going to be confidence, there's going to be happiness, there's going to be a joy in a person's life, and you're going to feel good about yourself.

People who don't feel good about themselves, there's something going on on the inside. And lots of time, it's confusion. There's no order about their life. And what they see is get up tomorrow morning, go to work, get paid on Friday, start all over again on Monday.

That's not life, that's existence. Discipline says I need some goals, something that will require something of me, something that demands something of me that I have to stretch, that I have to work at it. I have to go after it and be diligent about it. If I don't, life's going to be aimless.

And I think there are many, many people who are really gifted, who have talents and skills and abilities in their life, but they're aimless because they never stop to think that God has a plan for your life, number one. And secondly, you can achieve, you can be disciplined, you can prove yourself, you can be the person God wants you to be. But you have to make a choice, and that choice demands discipline.

I can't do this and I can't go there. And this doesn't fit who I am, but all these fantastic things that God has set before me, if I will follow Him, this is what I'll be able to achieve in life. But it demands discipline, self-control by the power of the Holy Spirit. I cannot say it strongly enough, I know it works. I know it works in children.

I know it works in adults. I know it works in all kinds of goals that people set for their life. But the problem is, what am I going to have to give up? Now, remember this. All of us are where we are because of what we've been thinking. Now, our parents may have put some things in our thinking or somebody else or God, whatever it might be. But we're all where we are today because of the way we've been thinking. You say, yeah, but I had a bad time.

Well, we've all had little bad times. Well, and we can always make excuses. But look, if you lay excuses down and accept the fact that discipline is a godly way to live your life, it's the best way to live your life, the most productive way to live your life, the happiest, the most peaceful, the most contenting, and the most joyful way to live your life, then is that what you want? Is that not what you want? It's a choice. Then of course, it's going to make a positive impact on others. When you meet somebody who's very disciplined, now I don't mean they're so legalistic. They don't even know how to have fun.

And that's not what we're talking about. But a person who is disciplined, there's something contagious about that. Because you see them accomplishing things. You see them going somewhere. You see them having a sense of direction.

It's contagious. And what you certainly want to happen in your, among your children, your grandchildren, you want them to see in you those qualities that will help them become the persons God wants them to be. And the truth is, all of us should want our children to do better than we do. Well, how are they going to do better? It isn't how perfect a parent is, believe me.

That's not it. It's seeing us work at it. We may fail about many, many things, but seeing us work at it and seeing that we don't give up and that we don't quit and that we're diligent and we're persistent. And no matter what happens, if we fall down, we get up. If we get knocked down, we get back up.

We don't quit. That builds within a child a sense of determination and builds within them a sense of accomplishment. But if my dad did it, if my mother did it, whatever it might be, I can do it. My mother left me a lot of great, great, great qualities that I wish I could live up to. She didn't drill it into my head. She lived it in front of me. And she taught me how to do it. She taught me to be in the right place, to be in the right way. And she taught me how to do it. She taught me how to be patient with people in the right way. And auduleness and self-control and diligence and persistence and all those things.

And you see, here's how it helped me. When I saw the way she operated, then I got my first job as taking newspapers. I had to get up and take them every morning, get up five-thirty. Then I got the paper route, that taught me diligence. I woke up and it was pouring down rain. I didn't want to get out and do that. Then I had to come home, get dressed and go to school all day long, come home and run the same route again.

I know something about diligence and determination and discipline. I had to. And I thank God for it. I thank God that my mother didn't have enough money to just give me anything I wanted. Worst thing you can do to children, give them anything they want. When my kids came along, they thought that I was a little tough on them, but it worked.

If you've heard Andy preach, you know it worked at least a little bit. Anyway, one of the good things that happens is it opens doors of opportunity. If you were going to hire somebody, would you hire somebody that came in and said, well, I've been sort of looking for something to do.

I don't know. If you've got a job, I'll take it. If somebody came in and said, I'm looking for a job, I've got some goals for my life. I want to do my best. I promise you I'll be honest. You can count on me to do a good job. Which one are you going to hire?

You know which one it would be. Well, then we should be an example of all that. Then, of course, it's going to enable you to reach your goals in life. A person who is disciplined, they will be diligent and persistent and consistent and determined no matter what. The Holy Spirit will actively enable you to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish because that's His will for you. You cannot lose. And remember this, who you're doing it for. Think about this, if you and I could get ten seconds standing before Jesus and looking at the reward that would be possible for us, nobody would ever have to talk to you about being disciplined again. See, what we don't realize is we have no idea what we're missing when we do not do what God wants us to do.

Now, when I think about the real contribution it makes, think about this. We're diligent in life. We discipline our life to be consistent. And one day we stand before Him and He says, Well done. It's worth it. It'll be worth it for all eternity. You see, we're living too much in the temple instead of eternal. Now you say, Well, how do you start being disciplined? You want to know? Say, Amen.

Real simple. You decide today that beginning today I'm going to read a portion of the Word of God every day. Is there anybody here who could not do that? Right. Every single one of us can read the Bible every day. That's going to teach me this. I'm going to start with that. Second thing I'm going to do is I'm going to pray and talk to God every day, not just about all my needs, but I'm going to talk to Him about what He says in His Word. But I'm going to read His Word and I'm going to pray every day. That's two steps I can take to becoming disciplined. That means I'm going to control my time. If I have to get up early to do it, then I get up early. If that means I can't do something else than read the Bible and pray, I'm going to get rid of that.

But you can. The third thing I'm going to do is this, and you can do, is you can tithe your income. You say, oh, no, he's getting around to talking about money.

No. I'm getting around talking about your success. I'm talking about how you can become the person God wants you to be, because watch this. When you're disciplined with your finances and you give God what He says, what you're doing is you're giving God an opportunity to build your faith, which is one of the most powerful things you have. If you want to learn discipline, you start with reading the Word of God, praying, giving.

And a good way to start discipline also is this, and that is attend to worship every Sunday. Discipline says, you know when Sunday comes? I'm going to be there. Why? Because I'm going to meet with the people of God to fellowship and to sing and to listen to the Word of God.

And I want to grow. Every single week I have an opportunity to grow to learn something that'll deepen my relationship with Him and make me more valuable to God and help me to make an impact and make a difference in somebody's life. Now, you say, well, suppose I'm not a Christian. Well, this is not going to work. But I can tell you how it will work.

It's so wonderful. If you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you for your sins, and you ask Him to forgive you and to cleanse you because you want to become the person God wants you to be, you want your life to count and you want it fulfilled. You ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. By His death at Calvary, took care of your sin dead and full.

Once you ask Him to forgive you, cleanse you, surrender your life to Him, He seals you as one of His children, comes into your life through the Holy Spirit, and at that point will enable you to become the person God wants you to be. Thank you for listening to part two of Discipline Determines Destiny. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.