April 27, 2024 / 4 Minute Read
discipline vs. deliverance
Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
Psalms 27:14
For most of my life, I’ve struggled with various addictions.
Yet, only recently have I made an effort to change that.
And I’m failing miserably.
I’ve tried every self-help trick in the book.
Setting a solid quit date, removing all paraphernalia from my vicinity, and avoiding people and places that may act as triggers.
None of it worked.
Naturally, like any lost child, I turned to my Father for comfort.
I’ve asked Him repeatedly to free me.
To shatter the shackles of my flesh and lead me to perfection.
He hasn’t responded yet.
Key word: Yet.
After searching the scriptures, meditating, sleeping, and roller skating; I think I’ve come to a conclusion.
There’s a big difference between discipline and deliverance.
Discipline: The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.
Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
Discipline is internal.
It’s based on you and your personal willpower. (Self based)
It is formed through trauma.
Deliverance: The action of being rescued or set free.
Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
Deliverance is external.
It’s based on God, and His mercy and grace. (God based)
It is formed through love.
The problem with discipline is that it’s based on punishment and pain.
It perpetuates an avoidance mindset.
You live in fear of condemnation instead of walking in grace.
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7
There’s a big difference between discipline and deliverance.
When reading the book of Acts, we learn about the apostle Paul (Saul), a self-righteous maniac who’s eventually confronted and transformed by Jesus.
Yet, in Romans 7:15, well after his encounter with Christ, Paul states:
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
Romans 7:15
How is this possible?
Did Jesus fail to deliver him?
Did He miss a spot when cleansing him?
God forbid.
No, He didn’t miss a spot.
It’s just…
There’s a big difference between discipline and deliverance.
One of the many addictions I struggled with was thievery.
Shoutout to Sly Cooper.
For years I stole without fear or remorse.
Until I started working at Walmart.
If any of you have worked at Wally world, you probably know how they deal with thieves.
They watch you, wait until you steal just enough to be prosecuted, and then they kill you.
No arguments, no apologies, just handcuffs.
After witnessing two of my coworkers being hauled off to the slammer, I ended that phase of my development.
I was delivered.
That was four years ago.
Since then, I haven’t even thought about stealing.
And you know the crazy part?
I didn’t even try to stop.
I didn’t sit in my room struggling with the voices in my head like I do with my other addictions.
I didn’t try to slow down incrementally.
I just stopped.
That’s what true deliverance is.
No wrestling, no double mindedness.
It is finished.
Am I telling you to not care about your addiction and simply give into the dark side?
Dew it (Palpatine voice).
Not necessarily.
But what I am saying is…
There’s a big difference between discipline and deliverance.
In Genesis (37-50) we read about one of God’s favorites.
Joseph, the innocent boy who was sold by his brothers into slavery and falsely imprisoned by arguably the biggest skeezer in history.
Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Genesis 39: 19-21
Do you think Joseph wanted to sit in jail for years?
Do you think he didn’t pray to God everyday to free him from his bondage?
Yet, God kept him there.
Trapped in Seoul, until the appointed time of his deliverance.
So what am I saying?
There’s a big difference between discipline and deliverance.
Be patient
Try your best.
Endure to the end.
Wait on the Lord.
Bye Chance.
references
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/discipline_
1https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/deliverance?q=deliverance
by chance 