Latest / The Daily Word / April 30 – Strengthened Through Discipline
Transcript
- Brandon Dirmann: Well, welcome once again to the Daily Word podcast. My name is Brandon and on behalf of all of our pastors who are part of this podcast, I am thrilled to have you listening today and to have you with us. Really praying that this podcast is a blessing and a resource to you. We've gotten so much feedback from so many people, continue to get so much feedback from people, just how the podcast is really blessing them and encouraging them. Can I just say that it never hurts to give positive feedback? And so if this podcast is blessing you, if it's being a helpful resource to you in any way, we would love to hear about it. Please ⁓ tell us, share it with us, send us an email, send us a text, come and find us at church on a Sunday. It means the world. Anytime someone just says, hey, this is helping because we're not doing this so we have another podcast. We're doing this to be a blessing and a help to people. I'd also say that if this is being a blessing to you, share it with someone. ⁓ Help us get the word out and help us help more people by in whatever way you can, liking, subscribing, commenting, sharing this with a friend, a family member, a coworker, and help us continue to be a resource to people because all we're trying to do is bless people. We want to encourage people every single day with the word of God and also remind people that we serve a God who desires to spend time with them where they can meet with God daily and deeply. That being said, We are on this podcast taking time every single day to go to the Life Journal reading plans, the reading plan that we use as a church community. And from the New Testament portion of that reading plan, simply share an insight, scripture, observation, application, prayer, the way we journal, share in that method in order to strengthen and encourage you. And so today being April the 30th, the New Testament portion of our reading is Matthew chapter 17. I'm going to give you a little bit of a backstory behind this verse that I'm going to share with you and then I will share it with you. There is a family who has a very sick child. A man has a son, his son suffers from epilepsy and so severely that he falls into the fire and often into water and his ⁓ epileptic condition is really ⁓ impacting not just his quality of life but it's endangering him. and he could die from some of this stuff. And so this man brings his son to Jesus' disciples and they can't help him. They can't help him. And so Jesus comes on the scene and his disciples are like, ⁓ Jesus, you gave us power and authority. How come we weren't able to do that? Now we know from their request that they didn't do anything different than Jesus did. Because if they had done something differently, That would have been their clue to go, oh, okay, that makes sense. You did that, we forgot to do that. No, they did the same thing, but a very different result. So they're asking Jesus, Jesus, this is verse 19, Matthew 17, verse 19, then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why couldn't we cast it out? And here's verse 20, here's the thing that I want you to see. So Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, because of your unbelief, For surely I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Verse 21, however, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. So Jesus' disciples go, we did the same thing, very different result. How come we couldn't cast the demon out? How come we couldn't heal the boy? And Jesus says, well, here's why. because your faith was weak. He said you couldn't do it because of unbelief. Remember in God's kingdom, the currency of God's kingdom, it's faith. Faith is the currency of God's kingdom. By faith we are saved and by faith we walk in the purposes and promises that God has given. It's a faith issue. And he says it's because your faith is weak because of unbelief. He goes, surely I'm saying to you, if you got faith like a mustard seed, even small faith. You can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible if you're walking in a spirit of faith. Now here's the verse I want to hone in on. He goes, however, this kind, this kind doesn't go out of this kind doesn't happen except by prayer and fasting. And my observation today is that prayer and fasting, prayer and fasting. that prayer and fasting brings a level of strength and confidence to our life that we need to fulfill the purposes of God and walk in the promises of God for our life. Prayer and fasting yields a certain result that we need. He doesn't go, guys, well see the problem is you didn't pray and fast and prayer and fasting, it's like a spiritual checklist. that it makes you more holy and if you would have prayed and fasted then you would have been pleasing and then you would have been able to. No this is not about earning or deserving. This is about the result that prayer and fasting gives. He goes guys the reason you couldn't do it is because you didn't have faith that was strong enough. The reason you couldn't do it is because you were weak in faith. The reason you couldn't do it is because there was a faith deficit. By the way the faith you needed, the power you needed, it comes only by prayer and fasting. And my encouragement to you today, my observation, here's the application, is that we think about the disciplines ⁓ of the Spirit, the spiritual disciplines, that we think about them not by means that we earn or deserve God's approval, but we think about them as tools that God has given us to equip us for the things God called us to do. So I'm not praying and fasting and reading my Bible and worshiping and going to... I'm not doing all the spiritual disciplines because it makes God love me more. No, that's been settled by the finished work of Jesus. Romans 8 said, there's nothing I can do to separate myself or shake myself from the love of God. No, I'm loved by God. The spiritual disciplines therefore are simply different avenues that we're able to give God access to our life, to supernaturally do in us what we cannot do for ourselves. I read my Bible not because it makes God love me more. I read my Bible because being full of the Word of God produces in me a Christ-like character and a level of faith and discernment that I need. I don't fast and pray because that makes me more holy or makes God... No, I fast and pray because it brings me into proximity and intimacy with God that fills my spirit. and gives me the power and the confidence I need to be who God's calling me. I don't worship because that makes God happy with me. No, I worship because as I worship, I invite the presence and power of God to fill my life and fill the atmosphere. I don't practice the Sabbath because I just need a day off. No, I practice the Sabbath because I'm telling God I trust you more than I trust the work that I can accomplish. on this day and it brings a level of faith and confidence and sobers me to the one that God's the one who's building my life, not me. I'm not practicing silence and solitude because God just loves it when I'm quiet. No, I'm practicing silence and solitude because it allows me to quiet myself and hear God's voice in a way that I need. I hope you understand what I'm saying, that the spiritual disciplines are not means by which we gain God's approval, but rather their tools and resources God has given us so that we might become, be filled with, and possess everything that God desires for us to have so we can fully be who God's called us to be and we can fully do everything that God has called us to do. So here's my application and my encouragement. Let's start being people of great spiritual discipline. That's right, said discipline. You need discipline and so do I. Discipline is doing the thing you don't want to do when you don't want to do it because you know you need to do it. Discipline is not doing what you want to do when you want to do because you know there's something else that you're supposed to be. We need discipline in the spirit. We need discipline like Matthew 17, 21 says to fast and pray. We need discipline to consume and study the world. We need discipline to practice solitude and silence and We need discipline. And I want to encourage you to begin to take seriously the spiritual disciplines we see in scripture, not so you can be more pleasing to God. No, you're already pleasing to God. But so that you can be equipped by God, filled with the power of God, and you can fully walk in the promises, the provisions, and the purposes He's had for us. So God, I pray today for my own life, but for everyone who's listening, that you would change our posture and perspective as it comes to spiritual discipline and we no longer see it as an issue of earning or deserving but rather as an issue of being equipped and filled for all you have in front of us. We thank you for it today in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Well, I pray you were encouraged today and I can't wait to see you again or I guess be with you again tomorrow on another episode of the Daily Word Podcast.