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Discipline, Desire, and Doing It Anyway: Spiritual Discipline for Christian Living · Fostering Faith

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  Welcome back to Fostering Faith. I am going to
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  be your host Tracie and we are so thankful that
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  you guys tuned in today. And so if you are new
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  to Fostering Faith, we are a podcast that does
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  not have it all together, but we are figuring
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  this out and we are fostering our faith as a
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  community. And if you are a return listener,
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  thank you so much for coming home this week.
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  And today we're going to be stepping straight
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  into episode two of our January series. And I
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  want to warn you right up front. This is the
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  one that's going to stretch you a little bit.
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  And so in that first one, we talked about like
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  more consistency and our fully habits. And this
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  we're going to just kind of, we started to work
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  out and now we're going to stretch a little bit,
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  but in a good way, in a necessary way, because
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  we know that stretching is such an important
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  part of like health and wellness in the exact
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  way that your spirit needs at the beginning of
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  the year. And today we're going to be talking
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  about discipline, desire, and doing it that way.
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  And I want to start off with a simple truth.
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  You're feeling like a terrible leader. Your feelings
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  are a terrible leader. They are loud, they are
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  dramatic, they are fluctuant in every minute
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  they move. And half the time, they do not want
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  what is best for you. Discipline is choosing
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  what matters most over what feeling's easy right
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  now. And so let me say it another way. Desire
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  might start the journey, but discipline finishes
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  it. You might desire into the sea with God, You
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  might desire spiritual strength. You might desire
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  a prayer life that feels alive. You might desire
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  wisdom, consistency, holiness, peace, a better
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  diet, a better body, a clearer mind. And all
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  those our desires are good. They are real, and
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  they are God -given. But desire alone will not
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  foreign you. Discipline will. Paul writes in
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  1st Corinthians 927, I discipline my body and
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  bring it into subjects. Why would Paul say that?
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  Because spiritual maturity does not happen by
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  accident. Intimacy with God does not grow by
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  chance. And holiness is not automatic. And calling
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  is not sustained by feelings. There will be days
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  whenever you do not feel like praying. There
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  will be mornings when you do not feel like opening
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  your Bible. There will be nights when the last
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  thing your flesh wants is to worship, surrender,
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  or obey. And this is where Discipline steps in
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  and says, I am not led by my emotions. I am led
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  by the Spirit. And I am led by the Word. I am
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  led by the calling of God placed on my life.
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  Listen, you will never regret showing up for
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  God. You will regret showing up for your emotion.
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  But you always have the opportunity to say, you
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  know what? Wait, stop. I show up for God. But
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  if you always let your feelings lead you, they
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  could lead you away from Him. Now, I want to
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  give you three truths today about discipline
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  and desire, because if you grab this in January,
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  they will harry you through the entire year.
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  Truth one. Discipline grows desire. We think
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  desire is supposed to come first. We think that
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  we need to feel spiritual before we actually
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  are spiritual. But scripture teaches us the opposite.
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  Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your
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  heart will also be. That means your heart follows
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  your choices, not the other way around. You read
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  the Word consistently, and suddenly you want
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  it more. You pray consistently, and suddenly
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  you crave it. You worship consistently, and suddenly
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  you sense God everywhere. You obey consistently,
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  and suddenly obedience feels natural. Discipline
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  is the soil which grows desire. And I can just
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  speak to this time and time again, if you've
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  ever felt sort of like a health journey and you
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  cut out sugar, you cut out all the processed
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  foods, you've done that and all of a sudden you
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  crave more protein, you crave more water, you
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  crave the things that you're actually eating
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  and you just forget the sugar. You forget the
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  candies, you forget the cookies. And then whenever
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  you go back through the way that you used to
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  eat, you're like, oh my gosh, this isn't even,
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  this isn't set right. Because you've changed,
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  because your palate is no longer wanting that,
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  because you've starved from that. And so because
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  of your obedience and eating the clean foods,
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  you suddenly have obedience to the good foods
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  and what it feels natural to eat fruits and vegetables
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  and protein. and water and like all these things
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  that are good for you and then all of a sudden
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  you try to drink a soda and you're like oh my
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  gosh this stuff is disgusting. So many times
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  I have heard just in clinic that you know people
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  like get off all of the processed foods and the
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  junk foods and the sugar and they eat real food
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  that God made and they're just like oh my gosh
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  we went out and we thought people talked us into
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  it and so we thought that we deserved it and
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  so we just ate and then they woke up the next
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  day and just felt like trash. And so it's just,
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  and they're realizing, I just can't believe how
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  I was feeling like this all the time. But you
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  don't know, realize, you don't realize how bad
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  that you feel until you feel good. And sometimes
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  you don't realize how far you walked away from
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  God until you're back into this presence. And
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  so, truth number two, discipline protects calling.
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  And so what does that mean? So if you have an
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  anointing on your life that the enemy would love
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  to distract, to distort, and destroy. And one
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  of the easiest ways he does that is by pulling
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  you into inconsistency. Discipline is not about
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  legalism. It is about protection. Discipline
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  guards your faith. Discipline guards your peace.
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  Discipline guards your mind. Discipline guards
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  your decisions. In Proverbs 25 -28, it says a
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  person without self -control is like a city with
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  broken walls down. Do you hear that? A lack of
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  discipline makes your spirituality unprotected.
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  Discipline builds your walls high and strong
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  so the enemy cannot walk in and take whatever
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  he wants. And if you remember from December whenever
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  we walked through the fruits breads of the spirit,
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  go back and listen to those. If you need to recap
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  on them, if you didn't listen to them, go back
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  and listen to them. And it's a doubt that we
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  have to remember that we have self -control.
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  That is something that God has given us. If we
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  are a believer in Christ, we have self -control.
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  It is a fruit of the Spirit. And He is the one
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  that gave it to us. And so who can take it away
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  from us? And so it's just so important that we
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  look at this as, hey, I'm guarding my mind today.
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  I'm putting on my helmet of salvation. I'm putting
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  on my breastplate. I'm putting on my belt, my
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  shoes. I have my shield. I have my sword. This
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  is warfare. And so it's just so important that
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  we arm ourselves with God's Word. It's just so
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  important. Truth number three, sometimes you
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  just have to do it anyway. You just do it anyway.
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  You have to show up to work whenever you don't
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  want to. You have to show up to the gym whenever
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  you don't want to. You have to show up and do
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  it anyway. This is part where we don't like to
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  say it. This is a part we do not like, but absolutely
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  it's needed. It's absolutely needed to show up
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  to the gym. It's absolutely needed to put down
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  the food that's trying to kill you. It's absolutely
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  needed. There are going to be days when everything
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  just feels off. Days whenever you're tired. Days
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  when everything, kids are running wild. Days
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  that your social life is just horrible. I mean,
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  days when your emotions are so heavy. Days when
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  your work drains you. Days when pressure hits.
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  Days... When the last thing you want to do is
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  one more spiritual discipline. Those are the
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  days that you say, I'm doing it anyway. Because
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  God is worthy anyway. Because my spirit needs
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  this anyway. Because my calling matters anyway.
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  Because this habit is building something in me
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  anyway. Doing it anyway. is not about perfection.
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  It is about commitment. It is about the faithfulness
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  over feelings. It is about refusing to let your
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  flesh run your life. Hebrews 12 says, let us
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  run with endurance and the race marked out before
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  us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, not fixing it on
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  our motivations, not fixing it on our convenience,
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  not fixing it on perfection, perfect conditions,
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  fixing it our eyes. on Jesus. Endurance means
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  you keep going. Consistency means that you keep
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  choosing. Discipline means that you keep showing
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  up, even when the feelings are low. And here's
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  the beautiful part. Every time that you choose
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  discipline, something shifts inside of you. You
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  grow stronger. You grow steadier. You grow more
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  spiritually forced. You grow more mature. You
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  grow more sensitive to God. You grow more aware
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  of what really truly matters. Discipline creates
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  spiritual stability. Desire fuels spiritual passion.
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  Doing it anyway veers spiritual resilience. And
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  so here's your January challenge for this week.
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  Pick one thing that you do not feel like you're
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  doing right now and do it anyway. Open your Bible
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  whenever you're tired. pray whenever you're frustrated
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  and when you're discouraged, and choose obedience
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  when it's inconvenient. Because those small daily
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  choices you make now are shaping the person that
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  you will become this year. And so let me close
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  with this. God does not bless perfection. God
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  blesses faithfulness. And discipline is simply
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  faithful in action. If this message encouraged
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  you, share it, like it, leave us a comment, help
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  our little podcast grow. We thank you so much
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  for allowing us this time with you this week.
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  We would love to pray for you. Dear Heavenly
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  Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you
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  so much for these listeners. Thank you so much
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  for the opportunity to learn and listen that
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  discipline that grows desire, that discipline
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  that protects our calling, and that sometimes
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  you have to do it anyway, that you did not have
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  to go to the cross, but you went there anyway.
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  Thank you that you died for us. Thank you for
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  our salvation. Thank you for your grace. Thank
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  you for your mercy. Thank you for all that you
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  have for us in this upcoming week. Thank you
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  for all that you do. In Jesus' name, I pray.
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  Amen. Thank you so much for hanging out with
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  me today. This year is not about hype. It's about
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  holy habits, spiritual transformation, and showing
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  up for what matters most. I cannot wait for next
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  week. Episode three is going to be powerful,
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  and we're going to be talking about prayer, bold
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  prayers for the new year. I'll see you then.
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  Love you guys. Bye.