Four Disciplines To Getting What You Want
Copyright 2005 Kathryn Williamson
I bet you're like me - you want results now, without having
to put in the effort and time to make things change. We
want to pray a prayer and have instant results. Kind of
like microwave Christianity!
But God isn't our sugardaddy. He wants to build character
in us so that once things do change we can handle the new
lifestyle and be better equipped to fulfill His plan for
our lives. And building character takes disciplines and
time.
But what disciplines do we need to work on? It depends upon
what outcome you're looking for. If a person wants to be a
concert pianist, he practices the piano consistently and
increases the level of his challenge as he improves.
If you don't know what you want in life, you just know
you're not happy and your life needs improving, then you're
in serious trouble! If you don't have a target, then you'll
hit your aim every time! But the good news is that every
person has a dream. Even if your dream was put on the shelf
some time ago, you can take it down and begin working on it
today. The dream is still there because God put it there
and He is ready to help you implement it.
Let's look at how the following disciplines will help you,
no matter what you are striving for.
Transform Your Thoughts (change your beliefs)
To make changes in our life it helps to understand the
process of what happens between the time we think about
something and when we take action. It looks like this:
Beliefs create thoughts
Thoughts create emotions
Emotions create actions
Actions create our lifestyle
Therefore, to change our thoughts requires us to identify
false beliefs and replace them with God's truths.
Sometimes if we aren't sure why we acted in a certain way,
we can backtrack through the above process to uncover our
core beliefs that caused our ultimate action.
Whenever we want to make changes in our life, fears and
self-doubt begin to creep in. In order to conquer them we
need to identify the specific fears (false beliefs) so we
can counter them with God's truths.
This is accomplished by continually reading the Bible. When
we read statements that are contrary to what we think
(believe), then we have a choice to make. We choose to
either believe God's truth and act according to this new
belief or continue to believe the lie, which keeps us stuck
in a rut. We must make the choice as soon as we realize our
thoughts are focused on lies.
Speak Your Future Into Existence
This outcome of this second discipline is described very
well in Proverbs 18:20-21: " A man's [moral] self shall be
filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the
consequence of his words he must be satisfied [whether good
or evil]. Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for
death or life]."
God created the world and everything in it, including us,
by the words He spoke. He first thought about what He
wanted, then He spoke it into existence. This power isn't
limited only to God. God tells us that we, too, have this
power to create with our words.
Many of us spend more time talking about our past than
speaking forth our future. When we talk about our future,
it's important to say what we "want" not what we "don't
want." We must be extremely specific on what we speak forth
for our future.
Control Your Emotions
We aren't taught that it is possible to control our
emotions. Therefore, we feel powerless over how we react to
situations. In John 14:1 Jesus told His disciples, " Do not
let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated)..." God
won't ask us to do something that He is not capable of
helping us do.
This is great news that we can reign in our out-of-control
emotions. Just knowing that this is possible helps us to
see things in a new light. We see new possibilities of
change where we didn't think change could ever occur.
Pray Consistently
This fourth discipline keeps us connected to the source of
our hope - God. We obtain success through deepening our
relationship with God and others. The three disciplines
above help us develop character to enable us to develop
healthy, loving relationships which fulfill us.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Kathryn Williamson
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