dont be stupid!

so, i realize i reference something that i havent fully explained yet. at the beginning of this year, i decided that i wanted to really get in deep with the 15 disciplines. background...i read this book years ago about 15 Christian disciplines. i wrote down notes from each chapter and discarded it. but this year, i want to be a more disciplined woman. i want to be serious about growing. i dont want to just dabble in a relationship with God, i want to keep my eyes fixed on Him, to listen and understand, to hear and obey.

so anyways, this book describes 15 disciplines in depth that Jesus practiced...and i think, if Jesus needed these disciplines, dont i need them too? not to look better to God, but to draw nearer to Him. utilizing these disciplines can [apparently]
-IMMERSE us in the life of the Kingdom
-BRING us to a place where we can enjoy full intimacy with God
-TRAIN us to live out the realities of the Kingdom
-STRENGTHEN us to withstand temptation
-NURTURE our spirits while we are on earth, physically separated from our Father
-WHET OUR APPETITIES for the satisfying things--things of God and realities of fellowship

so moving on, this actually has been a very very insightful practice. i paired up the disciplines i thought matched, and i am committed to meditating on them until i feel like i should move on. i also am taking a fruit of the Spirit and meditating on that as well.

so the first two disciplines i chose were humility and submission. [if you want to know a little bit about my personal insights into this, look here]. the first thing, which i liked, that the book talked about was a story about the Navajo Indians. when they were being taught english, they were told to say 'thank you.' there was no word equivalent to this in the Navajo language, so the english told them that it was like their word "asholdah." now, the problem with this was that, loosely translated, this word means "my life is in your hands." imagine, telling someone that they had your life because they simply passed you the salt! but, this word, "asholdah" should exemplify for us how we treat God. we should leave God to act for everything in our entire lives, puttin it all in His hands.

we should submit to God and submit to others. this means yielding our hopes and dreams to God, lettin go of misguided, selfish demands. also, submitting to others does not mean to let people walk over you, but it means to do all you can to keep the peace.

on humility: refuse to be demanding, on God and others. release your expectations of attention, time, money, and respect. people who believe that nothing is owed to them ever believe they are being mistreated. this means, realize that you dont deserve to get any of this! God is all and the creature is nothing. [this reminds me of something im currently reading. its a nonfiction book called Demon: A Memoir. it said something about humans thinking that the devil is the evil counterpart to God, the opposite of God, His nemesis. which is not true. because the creation cannot be equal to the creator. therefore satan cannot be the evil opposite to God, because God has no opposite. He is above all. God created lucifer, and as creator, He is always more powerful than him. which is why at the end, He prevails.

which brings me to the last point i was going to make, about the fruit of the Spirit. i was looking at JOY as the first of my fruit of the Spirits. if you want to know my thoughts about joy, check out this entry]

during this time, i have been tested on being truly humble, submitting to Gods will despite how i feel, and keeping my joy. and i have had so many revelations, but i feel that now its time to move on.
my next discipline is STUDY [one of the most well known disciplines] and my fruit of the spirit is PEACE. pray for me as i move on.

my last thoughts--allow yourself to be molded. and dont be stupid!

(proverbs 12:1-To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.)