Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:31–34.
The opportunities coming to us are unprecedented. When opportunity comes, there is a requirement of discipline. When these things are set before us, we have to seek first the Kingdom of God and leave the other things in the hand of the Lord. We have come into a freedom of action, a freedom that more leisure time gives us. We have come into a freedom of movement that no other generation had, we have come into privileges today that are opening the door.
When Paul spoke about the discipline upon his own life, he said, And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. I Corinthians 9:25–27.
First, the discipline of your own body and its appetite is essential because you come to a place where characteristics in your own nature could take over and completely wipe you out of a ministry, or a walk with God. Paul said, “I don’t want to preach to others and I myself become a castaway; I want to do the will of God,” and this meant a discipline of his body. As we reach out, we want to reach people in all walks of life. We want to be all things to all men. This walk will plant the leaven in the three measures of meal (Matthew 13:33), and will require of us much discipline and understanding.
The second thing you are going to have to know is the discipline of your time. A task will take as much time as there is available for it. That is especially true in this present day when work has a way of expanding to take up all the time available. Have you ever noticed that when you have only a half hour to do a job, you will pitch in and get it done; and say, “That was a good day’s work I accomplished in a half hour.” Another time you may have a task you can do in a half hour but you have all day to do it, so you fool around, and finally when the day is over you have not done even that. So Christians in this walk have to come to grips with the trickiness of time. They have to be dedicated to see their time used for God—redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16.
A third discipline is that of your mind. We are told not to be anxious, but when changes come you tend to worry and fret about many things. Philippians 4:6–8 tells us, In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. You can open the door to defeat by being despondent and letting discouragement come, or by the fact that you don’t understand something. I want to encourage you to be a people of love rather than a people of understanding. It is true, we are coming into wisdom and understanding, but if you really love someone, you trust them even if you don’t understand what they are doing. And even if what they are doing seems to be something that you could interpret in a wrong way, if you love them, you will reserve judgment. You know there will be an explanation. Love has to have trust in it. If you walk with God, or if you walk with another man or another woman, you must have the love that trusts, that is willing to suffer and give for another person. There must be a certain discipline to your mind so that when you begin to feel the discouragement, the invasion of many things that would depress you, you have to say, “I love the Lord, I will not rebel and withdraw. I will trust that God loves me and I will love Him. I will walk with Him and He will show me eventually what it is all about.” There must be a discipline of your mind if you walk with God. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding: In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5–6.
The fourth discipline is the discipline of your interest. God wants you to be an Apostle Paul, not a monkey. There is a difference between the two that is obvious. In Ephesians 3, Paul said, “This one thing I do; I press toward the mark.” He had one interest. He could not be bothered with any thing that might be dangled before him. “Paul, here is money for you; here is fame for you.” “I must finish my course with joy. I’m going to finish it!” “There is persecution, Paul.” “That doesn’t bother me; none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself.” That is dedication, that is discipline of a man’s interest. He knows what he wants; he knows what he is interested in; he goes after that and nothing distracts him. A monkey is not so. It is surprising how closely people (especially little children) resemble monkeys in some ways. For example, if you see a little child playing with something harmful like a knife, and you want to take it away from him, you know that if you say anything he will try to hold on to it and cut his hand. So you dangle some little beads or other attraction on front of him and soon he reaches for that and drops the knife. That is the way a monkey does. When you hold a banana in front of him, he will drop anything else and reach for the banana. His interest can shift; there is no concentrated interest. That is the way many people are. They start to do a work for God; they start to walk with God, and someone dangles a distraction in front of them, and they take that instead. They are so easily swayed. But Paul said; “This one thing I do.” Set your course to follow the Lord, and don’t be like a monkey; don’t be easily distracted by other things. When you decide that you are going to walk with God, make a discipline of your whole interest. Paul told Timothy that this would make the prophecies work: Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. I Timothy 4:14–16.
Paul was saying in effect: Don’t be distracted—keep your eye on what God said; keep your eye on the gift that God has given you. Don’t neglect it, stay right with it, use it, meditate on it, think upon it. That’s the way it will work. There has to be a discipline of your interest. What is more fascinating, more wonderful than this marvelous walk with God? But if you let yourself be distracted for a little while, you will see how the enemy will come in to kill all interest in this walk as fast as he can.
To the discipline of your body, the discipline of your time, the discipline of your mind, the discipline of your interest, we must add one more discipline—your money. There are people who want to have a ministry, and they never have any money to be a part of anything. Do you know why? Because they don’t discipline their money; they don’t have any control over their pocketbook. They do whatever they please, and when it comes to stewardship, there is nothing left over for God. As you discipline yourself in this area, start in someplace, and determine to put God first in money matters, even if God requires personal sacrifices in order for you to be a faithful steward. The discipline of your money is always as important as anything else that you can do for the glory of God. Blessed are the people who see that and follow through; because when you are faithful with a few things, God will make you ruler over many. When you are faithful with mammon, then God will commit to you the true riches. Almost everyone who moves in much of a gift consistently, also has walked in a faithful stewardship of finances sometime before. There has to be an association between the two, because this is a part of the faithfulness of a steward.