Self-discipline is a vital key in being a victorious Christian. People who have great ability to concentrate and focus, great ability to confine, and stay within their priorities tend to be very successful in this world. Self-discipline is essential in every avenue of achievement; academic, athletic, music, arts, science, etc. Success generally comes to people who are focused and are able to order their priorities.

If you had parents who taught you the concepts of self-discipline by their example, you have a great advantage for success. Parents who set very clear guidelines, and explain the painful results of not heeding these guidelines, give you a tremendous advantage in life. As parents, we should all want to inculcate these ideas and habits into the lives of our children. Allow me to share with you various ways to implement self-discipline in the human realm that will go a long way.

1. Begin with small things: Learn to discipline yourself in the little things of life which will, in turn, lead to big successes in life. Every little issue of life must carry weight and importance. Remember, the little things in life make for the big successes. We’re told not to “despise small beginnings”. You must begin with the small things.
2. Clean your environment: Get rid of the unnecessary clutter in your life style. When I was working, we used to have a clean desk policy. It was not only a good idea for security, but it was a plus being more organized. Clean your room, basement, garage, house, office, etc. Become discontent with a mess in general. Get yourself to the place where orderliness is of the utmost important. Learn to get rid of the excess. Learn to trim down. Learn to keep your environment clear and clean, in order to function without a myriad of distraction clouding your vision and goals.
3. Make a schedule: Make a reasonable schedule and learn to stick to it. Whether it is an absolute hard and fast type schedule, which appeals to some or whether it’s a little more fluid. The idea is that you can anticipate things and establish time frames for when they need to be done.
4. Wean yourself of being entertained: Entertainment should be something that is arbitrary – something that you can take or leave. Train yourself not to waste precious time on unproductive activities. If you have extra time do something productive, rather than sit and be entertained. Entertainment makes a very small contribution to your well-being and your success. Choose an alternative; read, exercise, have a conversation, plant flowers, have a project, hobby, or any useful expression of yourself. Almost anything is better than being passively entertained.
5. Be on time: You must order your universe so you can get where you need to get when you’re supposed to be there. Training yourself to be punctual says a lot about how your life is ordered and how you preplanned all the stops between “here” and “there”. It’s very important to be dependable and punctual as your life style speaks volumes to those who are to interact with you.
6. Keep your word: Even in the little things. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Do it when you said, and do it the way you said. Why? Because your word is extremely important. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Make commitments and see them through. This kind of commitment calls for discipline. You must evaluate your time, your talent and the capability you have circumstantially to complete the commitment. Practice keeping your word in little things and you’ll learn to keep your word in big things.
7. Do the hardest task first: Always do the hardest task first. Whatever is most difficult, that is where you want to begin and save the easiest thing for last. Most people will start with the easiest and when they run out of time and energy they have an excuse not to do what they should have done first.
8. Finish what you start: Some people’s lives are a long litany of unfinished projects. If you start it, finish it. That is a tremendously important principle of self-discipline. Finish what you start.
9. Practice self-denial: Practice self denial just for the sake of self-denial. Just say no to yourself occasionally. It might be something you would like to do, it might be something that’s fine to do, but just say no, so you can remind yourself who’s still in charge. You don’t want to ever be completely at the whim of your impulse. I would suggest the next time you have the opportunity to eat a triple scoop banana split with everything on it, you might just say “No, I’ll pass.” Just so, you can say to your stomach, “See, I’m still in charge.” It’s good to practice self-denial.
10. Volunteer for tasks: This means you should be able to schedule some flex time in your life. You are able to have your life ordered well enough to be able to help your fellowman and to contribute your time and energy for others. When you subject yourself to something that isn’t a part of your own agenda, it calls for some order in your life.

I could elucidate all of the above and expand and give more illustrations, but I just want to hand them over to you as simple little principles that you can work on in your own personal life. This is purely the human side of self-discipline because we are human.

The compelling question is, “Why do I want to be self-disciplined?” and/or “Why do I need to be self-disciplined?” The answer to these questions take you to the Word of God.

As I stressed above, this is purely the human side of self-discipline. But if you wonder what’s the big deal and why do I want or need to be self-disciplined, the answer takes you to the Word of God. Now we have a biblical issue at stake. (1Pe 1:13) “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober…” Gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit. These are just little brief commands, but they are addressed to the issue of spiritual self-discipline. “Gird your minds for action.” In Eph 6:14, it talks about, “having your loins gird about with truth.” The picture Paul was giving was of a Roman soldier when he went into battle. If he had a loose fitting tunic he would take the four corners and tuck them into a sash, pull all the loose ends in, get everything tight and tied down, then he would be ready to go into battle. That’s where the spiritual victory begins; it begins with a commitment that says, “I am going to get the loose ends of my life secured and then I’ll be ready for battle.” That’s precisely the idea of self-discipline. Gird up your mind – pull up all the loose ends in your thinking and keep sober. Literally in the Greek keeping sober which defines how you keep in all the loose ends. Keeping sober is not talking about alcoholism, it’s not talking about being drunk, but it’s talking about being clear-minded and understanding priorities. Sober mindedness in the bible has to do with understanding priorities. That’s what prioritization is (1Th 5:6) “therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” Don’t be going around in a stupor, a kind of fog, a victim of everything going on around you. Be alert and understand your priorities. (verse 8) “Let us be sober!” Let us know our priorities and be watchful. Again, it means to pull in all the loose ends of your thinking. That’s why sound doctrine is so important, it’s the foundation of the establishment of your priorities, whereby you can become a spiritually self-disciplined person. What are those internal priorities that are going to make us self-disciplined? It is important to do the human things that I shared in Part One, but you have to have the driving motivation of the Holy Spirit to get your life so that you don’t just careen through life, running amuck here, and wandering off into sin over there. That is the only way to become an effective Christian.

What are those principles that make for a self-disciplined believer? Remember who owns you! Your behavior is a direct result of how you think, and how you think is a direct result of two things: (1) the information you have in your mind and (2) the commitment you have to that information.

In other words, you will behave in accordance with what you know and believe. Being a Christian, you know the word of God and you have the foundation for your belief. Since you are committed seriously to the authority of God’s Word, you believe the Word of God. Your action is a product of what you know to be true and what you believe. The first thing that is essential for you to believe this matter of self-discipline is, you don’t own yourself! That goes against the grain of everything in this culture, because everything in this modern day setting is self-centered. We are barraged through all the media channels with the message that you’re “number one” and you have the right to be who you are, don’t let anybody tell you any differently, you set your own goals and determine your own level of satisfaction and pursue your own dreams. You have equal rights and personal freedoms, etc. Then along comes the bible and says, “you are not in charge of yourself!” in fact, the bible says you are a slave. You are a bond slave and servant of God in Christ.

That’s where it has to start. (1Pe 1:14) “As obedient children.” Not only slaves and servants, but we are children who are required to be obedient. We not only have a relationship of slave to master, but as child to Father, an authoritative relationship – (verses 14-16) “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Be like your father! (verse 17) If you are God’s child and you call God your Father, then you ought to live in the fear of your Holy Father. Who has authority in your life? Remember the scriptures say “you are not your own, you are bought with a price.” And the price is pretty astonishing, (verses 18-19) “forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

There are two very strong statements in this passage:

1. We are children of a father who has complete authority over us.
2. We are slaves of a master who bought us at immense cost; “the Blood of His Son.”

This whole matter of self-discipline starts when we realize who owns us. We are not our own, we have been purchased. This is a tremendous truth principle. (1Co 6:19-20) “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (Ac 20:28) Paul reminded the Ephesian elders that they were purchased by God with His blood. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the holy ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of god, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” He ransomed us by becoming a curse. (Ga 3:13) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (The price was that He shed His blood, the price was His sacrifice on the cross, the price was His becoming a curse for us and being alienated from God.) We’ve been purchased with His precious blood. This is where self-discipline starts. Until you understand that you don’t own yourself, and God has complete mastery and right over your life, you will not be motivated to be a self-disciplined person. You are God’s person and you belong to Him and to no one else, least of all yourself. Remember – you are not your own.

When you start to cultivate self-discipline from the inside, you must remember the Covenant of Salvation. Do you remember when you were saved, it just wasn’t a one sided situation. When you came to Jesus you were asking for forgiveness, you were looking for cleansing, not wanting to go to hell and you came with a certain level of desperation. You said, “Yes Father, I receive your precious gift.” Do you realize at the time you confessed Jesus as your Lord, inherent in that prayer you were saying, I give you my life? God’s promise is grace upon grace, but on the sinners part there was the promise of obedience. “I confess you as my Lord and my Master, and I will follow you.” This was the transaction of saving faith. Saving faith encompasses repentance, recognizes the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and encompasses a heart of submission. The question now is whether you’re obedient. I don’t think people that come to Jesus Christ fully understand the implication of their confession. I don’t think they fully understand what that submission means, and what that obedience is going to entail. Why? Because they don’t fully understand the scriptures nor the Christian life with all its challenges, but none the less, there was a Covenant of Salvation by which you committed to follow Jesus Christ. (1Pe 1:1-2) “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” Peter got this from (Ex 24:2-8). What does the splattering of blood have to do with obedience? How does this tie in with self-discipline?

This is purely the human side of self-discipline. However, the basis for it is found in the Word of God. Self-discipline is a biblical mandate.

In 1Pe 1:13 “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”

In this scripture, we see a picture of a Roman soldier taking the four corners of his tunic and tucking them into his sash in order to prepare himself for battle. He is dealing with all the loose ends. Sober mindedness in the bible has to do with understanding priorities and in order to do so there must be an internal driving motivation to get your life in order and keep it there. You need the discipline, control, and power of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with your discipline, commitment, and corresponding action. Thus, the first thing that is essential for you to believe in this matter of self-discipline, is you don’t own yourself. We are children of a Father who has complete authority over us. We are slaves of a master who bought us at an immense cost, the Blood of His Son. (1Co 6:19-20) “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. The price was the shedding of His blood, the price was His sacrifice on the cross, and the price was His becoming a curse for us and being alienated from God. This is where self-discipline starts. Until you understand that you don’t own yourself and your Father God, has complete mastery and right over your life, you will not have the motivation to be a self-disciplined person.

In order to cultivate self-discipline in the inner man, it is essential to understand the Covenant of Salvation. When you received Jesus and confessed Him as your Lord, you were asking for forgiveness of sin, cleansing, and assurance of heaven. You came with a certain level of need and you asked the Lord Jesus into your heart and gladly received the precious gift of salvation. Inherent in that confession you were saying “Jesus I give you my life.” On God’s part, there was the promise of grace upon grace and on the sinner’s part there was the promise of obedience. Saving faith encompasses repentance, recognizes the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and requires a heart of submission.

The question now, Does the sinner saved by grace fully understand the implication of his confession and what obedience is going to entail? Does he fully understand the scriptures and the Christian life with all its challenges? I think not, none the less, there was a covenant at salvation by which you committed to follow Jesus Christ.

In 1Pe 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” Those who are chosen are based on God’s predetermined knowledge to have a relationship with the people of His choice. It is very clear from this and many other passages of scripture. God’s chosen are according to His foreknowledge. People think that God’s foreknowledge means He knows something before it happens though He doesn’t have any influence on its happening. That’s not what that word means. Foreknowledge means to predetermine a relationship. Notice how the scripture progresses, “chosen by god’s foreknowledge, by the sanctification of the spirit.” This is referring to salvation. Sanctification includes your salvation. It means to be set apart. You were set apart from sin at the moment of salvation. Sanctification encompasses your justification, your conversion, your regeneration, which began when you were set apart from sin unto God. Consequently, before the world began you were elected and set apart from sin by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, which ultimately goes on to glorification.

When you were chosen, you were chosen to be saved and when you were saved, you were saved to be obedient. (1Pe 1:22), “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:” You have an obedience to the truth, which purifies your soul. When you came to salvation there was an act of obedience. The bible says repent and believe, and you obeyed that command. Salvation is an act of obedience, that’s why it is called the obedience of faith by Paul in (Ro 1:5, 16:26). Obedience begins with salvation and it continues (Eph 2:10). Once you are saved the good works follow. If there is no continuing obedience with good works, there is no true saving faith. Jesus said in (Joh 8:31), “…if you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;…”, the one who really loves Me keeps My commandments. Obedience is an essential component in salvation. When you come to Jesus you come because you were chosen before the world began, you were sanctified, set apart from sin by the saving work of the Holy Spirit, you made a commitment and a pledge that you would obey the Lord, and thereby you were given the grace and the Spirit of Truth to fulfill that pledge.

Notice the next statement in 1Pe 1:2, “unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:” This is the one I want to focus on “and be sprinkled with his blood…” At first glance you think that this is the blood of the cross, that refers to salvation, and in this order it is in the wrong place. You have election, then salvation, then obedience, how come you have sprinkling of blood after that? It seems like it should come after election, and before sanctification. It’s not talking about a direct focus on the saving aspect of the death of Christ. That’s not the specific aspect here. In fact, this is the only place in the whole New Testament where it ever talks about “sprinkling the blood of Christ.” No passage that deals with salvation or the death of Jesus ever talks about the blood being literally splattered. Where did Peter get this? Where did this come from? Well, clearly Peter got this understanding from the Old Testament. It is found in (Ex 24:2-8) “And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.” (verse 3) ”And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.” (verse 4) “And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.” (verse 5) “And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.” (verse 6) “And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.” (verse 7) “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.” (verse 8) “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” This is the only place that Peter could be alluding to, remember he’s talking about obedience and then the sprinkling of blood.

Then the question is what does obedience have to do with blood sprinkling? In (Ex 24:2), Moses comes before the people (verse 3). He’s just been up on Mount Sinai and he’s gotten the law of God, not only the Decalogue but all the laws written in the Pentateuch. He stands before the people and he recounts to them all the words and ordinances of the Lord. Moses introduces to the people the Mosaic Covenant and promise from God. The people were made to understand that God promises to bless obedience and/or punish disobedience and all the people answered with one voice, Amen! At that moment, they unanimously made the pledge, ”we will obey it all!” Probably very well intentioned. (verses 4-5) Then they proceed to do their normal sacrifices and offerings. (verse 6) These animals were sacrificed and their blood was collected. Moses took half the blood and put it into basins and the other half he sprinkled over the altar. It must have been an absolute bloody mess and that’s the way all the altars of the Old Testament were. The priests were shoulder deep in blood; bathed in blood from head to toe. It was a very, very bloody occupation to be a priest. Moses bloodied up the altar with half the blood which represented the sealing of God’s covenant. Covenants in the Old Testament were always sealed with blood. The blood covenant with Abraham was sealed with the shedding of blood. Blood was the way God affirmed His covenant, therefore the altar was splattered and God was saying “I will keep my covenant. I’ll keep my part and seal it in blood.”

Then Moses took the book of the covenant which he had written and read it to the people. (verse 7) This was the second time they heard it read. Again they said “all that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient.” Moses took the blood, the half that was in the basin, and he splattered it on the people. He takes it and washes the people with it and continues until all the blood is gone. (verse 8) God made a promise, if you obey my law I will bless you, if you disobey my law I will punish you – and the blood was splattered to seal God’s part of the promise. The people made their promise as well, “all the Lord has said will we do, and be obedient.” - and the blood was splashed all over them to seal their part of the promise. This is the Old Testament account that Peter cites – Peter states in (1Pe 1:1-2) that when you came to Jesus as His chosen (saved) you were sanctified (set apart from sin by the Holy Spirit) and your sins were forgiven. Thus you became a child of God and you affirmed obedience to Jesus. Symbolically you were splattered with His blood and His blood sealed your part of the covenant of the promise.

I think we assume the Mosaic Covenant was a one-sided covenant, as well many assume the New Testament covenant is a one-sided covenant whereby God promises everything and we promise nothing. HOWEVER, when you come to Jesus you are taking a stand, you are making a pledge, you are saying I confess Jesus as Lord and I am offering myself as His servant. You are confessing God as Father and asking to be made His child. In both cases, you become subject to an authoritative Father and a sovereign Lord. You have committed yourself to obedience, the obedience of faith and truth that Peter speaks of in (1Pe 1:2), “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

Beloved, the point I’m making is if you want to be a self-disciplined person, you must go back and remember the pledge you made at the beginning and be a person of integrity, a person who keeps his word. If you want all the blessings that are provided with the covenant of salvation, don’t forget your part of the covenant – obedience sealed with the splattering of Jesus’ blood. self-discipline starts when you understand you don’t own yourself and therefore you are true to the pledge you made to Jesus Christ.

HOW TO BE SELF-DISCIPLINED BY CONTROLLING YOUR IMAGINATION

Peter alludes to this issue in (1Pe 1:14). Before you were a believer you were subject to the whimsy of your lusts, you had very little ability to control your mind or desires, and no ability to control your imagination. Imagination is really a good word, because I believe in our English society we know what that word means. However in the bible, unfortunately, most of the modern translations replace that word with some other-word, so we lose the value of a biblical understanding concerning imagination.

Let’s begin to understand more about this word by going back to Genesis. In (Ge 6:5a), man’s wickedness escalates to massive proportions and the stench of that wickedness rises as it were to the very throne of God. In Ge 6:5b when God looked down at man, he saw that his imagination was evil continually. In Ge 8:21 we find a second reference having to do with Noah building an altar and making a sacrifice. Again God’s diagnosis of man is having an imagination from his youth that is evil. The bible talks about the heart and when it talks about the heart it means the mind, particularly in the Old Testament. The heart is the idea of the mind and the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful; that’s the mind! The imagination is where lust is activated. In Jas 1:13-15 we find a very insightful passage, very definitive, it helps us as Christians to understand temptation. ”Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” (verse 14) “but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” (verse 15) “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” First of all in (verse 13) when you’re tempted, you can’t say you’re tempted by God. One might say, “I live in a fallen world and sin is all around me. All that stuff is there, it moves in and captures my interest. God let the world fall, God let sin show up, what am I supposed to do about it?” The bible states that no one can say he is tempted by God, because God cannot be evil and does not tempt. The fact that we live in a fallen world and are exposed to sin through personal contacts, the media, and what you read, is not an excuse for your iniquity. In (verse 14) the problem isn’t that sin is in the world, or that we are exposed to it, the problem is you and me. We are the problem.

In (verse 15), you see what produces sin is not something outside of ourselves but something within us. Something that takes the sinful image, sinful circumstance, sinful situation, sinful thought, sinful concept, sinful word, etc. that is in the world, and makes us internalize it. That’s when the real problem develops. We are tempted when we are internally carried away by our lust. Lust begins to conceive and bring forth the child into sin. The imagination is the place where lust conceives, it’s the place where sin is entertained, and fantasies develop. Sin works in your imagination. Imagination, however, can be a wonderful thing. Imagination is the creative source whereby artists create, musicians compose, designers build; it’s where people have a dream that they ultimately manifest for all to enjoy. We talk about children and how to stimulate their imagination in a right way. God has given us a tremendous facility for His glory and it’s a wonderful thing. But sadly, it’s the same mind/imagination that one can conceive, fantasize, and develop that which ultimately issues in iniquity. In Lu 1:51 imagination is mentioned. Imagination is somehow more profound than thinking; it is what energizes the thought into fantasy and activates the emotion and the will to action. Thought comes and is energized in the imagination which moves the emotion, the emotion moves the will, the will creates the action and in the case of sin, the action creates death. As James says, it’s in the imagination that your flesh comes to consciousness, it’s in the imagination that the pictures outside become the pictures inside. It’s in the imagination that you play out your sin before it’s ever committed. It’s in the imagination that you feel the emotional anger of murder. That is why Jesus said, you’re not obeying the law because you don’t kill but by simply hating your brother you violate the law. Adultery is committed in the imagination, which the bible shows to be the heart. In the words of James, it’s in the imagination where lust conceives. As a Christian, your imagination is in constant battle because you know what is right and you’re tempted with what is wrong.

There are usually two thoughts engaging themselves in your imagination. One thought is that sin will bring satisfaction and the other thought is that sin will dishonor God. Both thoughts are from your mind and each has an element of truth. Sin will bring momentary pleasure. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t be interested and there would be no temptation. Both thoughts in a sense are true. Sin does bring satisfaction to the flesh, it’s momentary and the price is high, it’s for a season. It is also true that sin dishonors God, violates the relationship with God, and will bring chastisement to the transgressor. Therein lies the battle. Which truth will triumph, which will move your emotion; move your will to do what is right? Which one is going to control your imagination?

This is why it is so critical to hear the word; (Jos 1:8) “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, you shall meditate on it day and night. Why? So you may be able to do according to all that is written in it.” What insulates you from falling prey to the base side of your imagination is the compelling dominating force of truth. That’s exactly what David meant in the psalms when he said, “thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” When you put the Word of God in your heart you insulate yourself, because the Word keeps you from sin. That’s why Ps 19:14 says, “let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight o’lord my rock and my redeemer.” (Php 4) Paul talks about whatever is “pure and just and true and right” and if there is “any virtue, any praise” THINK ON THESE THINGS. It’s very important how you feed your imagination. In (1Ch 29:10-13) David is saying a prayer of exultant glorious praise. This was a monumental moment in the history of Israel. They had been in the promised land, David had been their king, the land was prosperous, and wondrous things had happened by God’s mercy and care. Now it was time to get out of that mobile tent where God had been dwelling and build a great temple. The people came; their hearts were eager, thrilled, and excited. They brought many countless gifts and kept bringing them, so many that they had to be told to stop giving. They were so thrilled to have a temple, and to have the shekina glory dwell in the midst of the temple in the Holy of Holies on mount Zion in Jerusalem. They were so thrilled to have their own place of worship. David says, preserve this forever in the imaginations of the heart. Lord, if this is to go on, if this marvelous love toward you, and expression of worship and level of devotion is to continue in the future, you’re going to have to preserve the imagination. We must be aware that the battle must be won in the imagination, if you win the battle there you will win the battle on the outside.

The issue is you and me, it’s not the world we live in. That’s why self-discipline begins with our theology, knowing who owns us, knowing the price that was paid for us. Remembering our Covenant of Salvation, the recognition of all sin as a violation of our relationship. Then it moves out of our theology and into our own personal spirituality and self-discipline becomes a matter of controlling our imagination. We are to hide the Word of God in our heart so it comes ringing loud and clear and activates our conscience. Conscience is not in itself a moral law, it is merely a device that reacts to moral law. You could describe it as a skylight, it is not in itself a light. It is merely a skylight that lets the outside light in, the outside light is the truth of God, and the conscience is the skylight through which light comes. We must keep it clean so the light can enter. Let me give you an illustration of how the conscience works. All airplanes have radar monitors for unseen objects in front of the plane, such as high mountain tops, other planes, or other points of danger. When the radar detects something, it informs a black box, which then gives an audible warning sound. The black box is being informed of impending danger and what is informing the black box is the radar. The radar is reality, it sends out a beam that bounces back and recognizes if the plane is headed for a collision. That’s exactly how our conscience works. Sound doctrine and biblical understanding is the (radar) reality. Reality informs the conscience and where you have sound doctrine informing a clear conscience, you’ll hear, “stop, change course, keep away.

We live in a culture that assaults in two ways.

1. Our society wants to change the moral code by getting rid of or discrediting the bible. They don’t want the bible for their moral law. They must invent a new moral code. They’ll come up with a brand new morality, using the sexual revolution, and the gay and lesbian movement to invent a new moral code. Remember, conscience has a problem because conscience is not a moral law. Conscience is a human mechanism that reacts to your belief system. Moslems and Buddhists have consciences, without the knowledge of the truth of God. In our society you invent an erroneous deceptive, lying, hellish, damning moral system, and now what you have is misinformation going to the conscience, so the radar doesn’t work, it becomes non-functioning.
2. We also have the psychological world and their goal of modern psychology, which is to train people to ignore their conscience. They teach that guilt is a wasted emotion. You’re not a bad person, you simply lack self-esteem. In fact, you’re so much better than you think you are, that most of your problems are because you don’t recognize how good you are. When conscience says, you’re wrong, you learn to silence that conscience. This mind game culture develops a whole new moral system which trains people to ignore their conscience by re-educating it. This results in a whole civilization of people crashing and burning all over the place. As Christians we have been given a good radar system, the inerrant Word of God, which results in a fully informed conscience. When the conscience warns “pull up, stop, hold back, do what is right”, we are receiving a Godly gift.

It’s paralleled on the physical side by pain. People sometimes don’t think pain is a good thing. However, pain is a good thing because it alerts the body when there is a problem and then when the condition is taken care of the body is restored to health. When pain comes it’s God’s way of saying “stop, you’re hurting your body.” When your conscience starts warning you, it’s God’s gift saying “stop, you’re hurting your soul.” The level of conscience you have is directly proportionate to the successful battle of controlling your imagination. Keep your conscience highly informed with the Word of God. This is one of the benefits of being in a church and being constantly taught and trained to fight the good fight of faith. For those of you who stay in the Word of God, and know the Word soundly and solidly, you will reap the blessing of a Godly informed conscience. Listen to your Godly conscience when it speaks, and thereby control your imagination. Be a strong self-disciplined person; remember you are not your own, you belong to God. Amen.

1. Remember the Covenant of Salvation
2. Recognize all sin as a violation of your relationship with God
3. Control your imagination.