After DISCIPLINE
Luke 9:14,15” Jesus said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.”
Children in Abide School were getting very unruly, undisciplined, and naughty, I was just wondering what to speak in the assembly on that particular day and God brought to my attention the portion in the Bible where Jesus tells His disciples to make the people sit in groups of 50 before He could feed the great mass of people with just 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread. What I want to emphasize today is not the food but the DISCIPLINE OF SITTING IN ORDER!
It’s not about eating fish fry today, I would like to show something more in this miracle today, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘have them sit down in groups of 50’. Now let us look deeply into this so that you can carry home more than 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread from this awesome miracle.
The Bible says that it was quite late when the disciples told Jesus “send the crowd away so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place." The disciples panicked when they saw the sea of people and wondered ‘how in the world are we going to manage!’ Sometimes we like to dance and sing about His glory but when the real need arises, we fail to COMPREHEND His glory! Are you there? Now let’s get back to the people, they were:
• Tired
• Hungry
• Big crowd
• Men, women and children
Now, imagine trying to get a group of hungry people in order: stand in the line, don’t loiter, get into groups, don’t scream, don’t grumble, don’t run, this is very tough because we are running a school and we serve free food for lunch. Lunch time is tough, there is always anxiety to get first so that you don’t miss food. But Jesus was specific and firm, ‘put them in order of 50 per group’, boy, that was something; however, Jesus was not going to do anything without ORDER in our life. Did you hear that? Order….order….discipline……..rule…regulation…..control is what God looking for in our life. But the lives of many so called Bible-reading, tongue-speaking, born-again, real believers are haphazard and disorderly and that’s exactly why God is unable to do great things in their lives. They are saved, water-baptized; yet sick, broke, empty and unhappy, com’on people pull up your socks to get your lives in order and grab what God has in store for you today. Wake up early, read your Bible, separate time for God, get holy and grow in the Lord.
A.DISCIPLINE TAKES YOU TO YOUR DESTINY:
Proverbs 12:1” Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.”
People without knowledge or senses would not appreciate discipline , knowledge and discipline are juxtaposed! The above phrase ‘loves discipline is awesome!” Don’t you think?
• Only a person who loves discipline would keep his license papers, and all other essential documents in order if he is driving a car or two wheeler. A reckless person would be lackadaisical in his attitude and thereby gets into trouble, discipline is a vast subject and does not restrict only in certain areas.
• A person who loves discipline would marry the girl and not loiter around and sleep with anyone and everyone as and when he likes. Oh, did you get this?
• A disciplined person would buy the software essential for his computer and not download free pirated software and then say ‘praise the Lord.’ That’s hypocrisy at its height.
There are 1000 soft pedaling sermons that minimize and underplay the importance of DISCIPLINE and lure the crowd with quotes like: ‘ all you need is grace, you got to do nothing, come to the altar for a miracle; however, people run to the front of the church every Sunday and return back empty because they have not disciplined themselves to learn, read, study the Word and grow in the Lord. THE GLOW COMES WITH GROWTH! Christianity is no MIDAS TOUCH, it is JESUS TOUCH, you got to reach out and touch Jesus to get the blessings, anybody there? People say, ‘attend this prayer seminar and your life would be glorious, read this book for heavenly experience…..all this is great; however, you got to practice and do wha
t they tell you otherwise the sheen would peel off after a week of attending such seminars. Such tall claims are nothing but a chimera! Discipline is key to success!
B, DISCIPLINE IN PRAYER LIFE:
Jesus is our example: How does one discipline their life? Look at Jesus!
a) He had a disciplined prayer life, read Mark 1:35 “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” Great achievers are all people who woke up in the wee hours of dawn and prayed, you cannot meet the dark without meeting the True Light early in the morning, are you listening? No excuses whatsoever, wake up and pray to live a phenomenal life.
Prayer should not depend upon mood, your connection, communication with God is very important in order to stand for God. Take this from me. In my early days, the scripture that ignited my prayer life was the question of Jesus to his disciples, “can you not tarry with me for an hour?”(Mathew 26:40) Therefore one hour of prayer is mandatory for every Christian without which we would surely fall and fail one day, caveat! Look what Jesus says next: 41“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”…
Prayer is like OXYGEN without which we cannot survive, I would not have made it this far in ministry if I had been careless in my prayer life. We got to maintain a diary and meticulously jot down our prayer points and also our prayer timings so that we know our progress.
C. DISCIPLINE YOURSELF IN GODLINESS:
GODLY LIFE: Discipline yourself in godliness and holiness, Apostle Paul says : 1 Timothy 4: 7 “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”
Friend, throw away all the garbage and fill yourself with the Word of God in order to live a powerful life for God. When I got saved, I threw away all the secular books, magazines and even newspapers that contradicted the Word of God. Since I am a bookworm and read a lot I had to do this in my life in order to discipline my reading so that I don’t read crap. DISCIPLINE EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE!
D. LACK OF DISCIPLINE:
Proverbs 5:23”He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.”
Billionaires are committing suicide today because of lack of discipline in their finances and various other factors also constitute their failure. Since I had worked for a multinational bank and was also attached to the credit card section, I have watched the haphazard attitude of people towards expenses, well, they are not the uneducated ones but the well-educated, multi-skilled people are the ones who have multiple credit cards and most of them have crossed their credit card limits. Sad. There are bunch of others who fall to sales talk and buy things that they do not want. Discipline your desire friends. There’s a brutal warning in the above scripture which says, “he will die for lack of discipline..”
I think of Judas Iscariot as I write this, he failed to discipline his expenses though he had a very important portfolio of ‘finances’ to maintain while serving Jesus in His ministry but his end was miserable because he opened himself to the devil, read John 13:27” Satan then entered into him(Judas Iscariot). Therefore Jesus *said to him, "What you do, do quickly."
Friend, things don’t happen quickly and speedily, you have a long time to think, but if you have a wicked heart to cheat, manipulate, betray and embezzle funds then satan is ready to take you over his side. Caveat! When you go to purchase high end products in electronic stores, you can find guys from finance companies with their ‘counters’ there ready to offer you credit, they have their sales guys to lure you into their web and all the other documents are ready with them, they would talk and walk you into buying something beyond your means and thereby you end up in a mess. Discipline yourself to say ‘no’ to unnecessary EMI (equal monthly installments) and be content with what you have. Apostle Paul said 1 Timothy 6:10 to be: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” This message is prophetic for someone out there!
Proverbs 6:23”For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life.”
