If you could sit across from Paul for a quiet conversation and ask, “What does it really mean to follow Jesus?” I suspect he wouldn’t only talk about faith and grace—he’d also talk about training. He’d point to the race, the fight, the lifelong discipline that shapes a disciple. “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” (1 Corinthians 9:26–27). In Paul’s mind, a disciple without discipline is a contradiction in terms.
We often hear that discipline sounds “legalistic,” as if any call to self-control threatens grace. But the real danger is the opposite: a careless, permissive Christianity that calls itself “free” while quietly drifting toward spiritual shipwreck. Scripture doesn’t apologize for calling us to self-control. Instead, it presents discipline as the pathway of love, the training school of grace, and the guardrail of freedom. The Lord never says, “Try harder in your own strength,” but He does say, “Follow Me,” and that path is ordered, intentional, and crucifies the flesh with the affections and lusts.
1. Loved, Therefore Trained
The first place we must start is not with our will, but with His heart. Hebrews reminds us:
“My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
(Hebrews 12:5–6)
Chastening isn’t rejection; it’s proof of adoption. The Lord doesn’t discipline us because He’s tired of us, but because He’s committed to us. When our choices, habits, and appetites run in directions that will destroy us, He steps in—not to crush us, but to correct our course.
Earthly parents, when faithful, mirror a faint reflection of this. Scripture shows both sides: David didn’t restrain Adonijah, and that neglect bore tragic fruit. Eli didn’t restrain his sons, and the Lord said, “I will judge his house… because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not” (1 Samuel 3:13). On the other hand, Proverbs urges: “Chasten thy son while there is hope” (Proverbs 19:18). Loving authority doesn’t abandon discipline; it humbly embraces it for the sake of life.
Hidden in all of this is a precious gem: God isn’t simply trying to get us to heaven “somehow.” He is training us to reign with Christ, to live as sons and daughters who can be trusted with eternal responsibility. Without self-control, we cannot safely govern our own thoughts, much less share in His kingdom.
2. Discipline Is Freedom, Not Bondage
We tend to think freedom means “no restraints.” Scripture sees it differently. A violin with loose strings may be “free” of tension—but it is also useless. A garden left alone seems “free” from pruning and weeding, but soon it will be overcome with thorns. Proverbs paints the picture:
“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
(Proverbs 25:28)
A city without walls is “free” from structure—yet utterly exposed. Discipline is the building of walls, not to shut out joy, but to shut out the enemy. When the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, God raised up Nehemiah to rebuild them. In the same way, the Spirit is eager to rebuild the broken-down walls of our habits, appetites, and reactions, so that our souls are not open territory for every temptation.
One of the hidden beauties of discipline is this: it is the servant of love and the guardian of joy. Athletes train so that in the moment of contest, they are free to perform. Musicians practice scales so that in the moment of song, they are free to express beauty. In the Christian life, discipline is what lets us say “yes” to God with less delay and “no” to self with less struggle.
3. The Battlefields of Discipline
The message of Scripture isn’t vague. It points to very specific battlegrounds where discipline is needed for anyone who wants to follow Jesus closely.
a) Our Emotions—Especially Anger
We live in an age where anger is almost a culture. Yet the Bible calls us to another way.
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26–27).
Anger itself isn’t automatically sin—God is angry with sin, and there is such a thing as righteous indignation. But undisciplined anger opens the door wide for the enemy. Proverbs says, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). It’s a greater victory to hold one’s tongue in a heated moment than to conquer a fortress.
The hidden gem here: God is not merely asking us to “tone it down.” He is offering to reshape our reactions so that our emotional reflexes reflect His character. We learn, by grace, to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). That doesn’t happen accidentally. It’s the fruit of walking with Jesus when we feel misunderstood, offended, or weary—and choosing the cross instead of the outburst.
b) Our Time
Time is the currency of life. To waste time is to waste the only life we’ve been given to glorify God. “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?” (Proverbs 6:9).
Jesus said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). Paul adds, “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11).
There is a quiet spiritual discipline here: choosing to get up when the pillow calls us to stay, choosing to turn off the screen when it is stealing the hours meant for prayer, study, or service. We don’t do this to earn God’s favor, but because we already have His favor and don’t want to squander the opportunities He provides.
Small daily choices with time often shape our destiny more than a few big “crisis” moments. Ten extra minutes in the Word each day, ten extra minutes in secret prayer, ten less minutes of empty scrolling—that’s how lives are redirected, almost imperceptibly at first, toward heaven instead of the world.
c) Our Thoughts
“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). The real battlefield is not first in actions, but in thoughts. Paul describes the Christian’s mental discipline this way:
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 10:5, emphasis added)
That sounds impossible in our own strength—and it is. But the Spirit is able to “tap us on the shoulder,” so to speak, when our thoughts begin to wander into bitterness, impurity, fantasy, fear, or pride. Then we must cooperate. Philippians 4:8 is the Spirit’s “thought diet”: true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report. We choose what we will dwell on, and slowly, what we dwell on reshapes who we are.
Mental discipline is an act of worship. When we refuse to let our minds graze in whatever field the world opens and instead bring them back—again and again—to Christ, we are offering Him a living sacrifice, “holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
d) Our Words
Words are windows to the heart. The officers who heard Jesus declared, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). If we follow Him, our speech should grow more like His—gracious, truthful, timely. Scripture is plain:
- “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life” (Proverbs 13:3).
- “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6).
- “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man” (James 3:2).
A disciplined tongue doesn’t mean we never speak hard truths; it means we speak them in the right spirit, at the right time, for the right purpose. One of the greatest evidences of self-control is the ability to pause—to hear fully before answering, to pray silently before responding, to ask, “Will this build up, or tear down?”
e) Our Appetites and Habits
From Eden onward, appetite has been one of the enemy’s favorite doors. The first temptation revolved around eating what God had forbidden. Today, we live in a world overflowing with options—food, entertainment, media, endless digital “snacks.” Discipline in diet is not just a health matter; it is a spiritual matter because it trains us to say “no” to ourselves.
Proverbs speaks bluntly: “Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite” (Proverbs 23:2). That is not a call to self-harm, of course, but a vivid way of saying: take appetite seriously. Gluttony and constant indulgence numb the mind and weaken spiritual perception.
Fasting is one of God’s quiet training grounds. Jesus said, “When ye fast,” not if (Matthew 6:16). Even missing a meal to seek God, or letting go of a cherished treat or screen habit for a time, can be a way of telling the body, “You are not the master here.” Hidden gem: fasting, done unto the Lord, trains us for the bigger “no’s” we will need when temptation comes.
f) Our Money and Work
Scripture speaks of discipline in earning, spending, saving, and giving. “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Proverbs 10:4). “In the house of the wise are stores… but a foolish man spendeth it up” (see Proverbs 21:20).
The point isn’t prosperity preaching. The point is stewardship. Am I living beyond my means? Am I enslaved to impulse purchases? Or am I working faithfully, avoiding unnecessary debt, and “honouring the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase” (Proverbs 3:9)? Financial discipline is really another form of worship, acknowledging God as Owner and ourselves as stewards.
4. The Heart of It All: Discipline in Devotion
If there’s one place where discipline most directly feeds everything else, it’s here: time alone with God. David said, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17). Jesus had a habit—“as his custom was”—of going into the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16), and we also see Him rising up a great while before day to pray.
We cannot be disciplined Christians if we are undisciplined in seeking God. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15). “Search the scriptures” (John 5:39). These aren’t suggestions for the unusually devout; they’re survival instructions for disciples.
Love grows where we keep our appointments. Just as relationships with people deepen when we choose to show up—again and again, even when we’re tired—our relationship with Christ deepens when we hold to our time with Him. Many times we don’t feel like reading or praying. But we come anyway, because He is worthy. And over time, that very consistency becomes a channel for the Holy Spirit to change us.
5. Not Willpower Alone: The Spirit and the Wild Mustang
If all of this sounds overwhelming, that’s because it is—if we imagine doing it in our own strength. The Bible never says, “Try harder until you are holy.” It says, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Self-control is listed as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). That means it’s grown, not manufactured.
Think of a wild mustang running free in the desert—untamed, powerful, beautiful, but dangerous and useless to its owner. Through patient, loving, firm training, that same horse can become so responsive that the slightest touch of the rider’s hand or shift of weight can direct it into movements of incredible grace. What changed? The nature of the horse did not change—it was still strong, spirited, capable. But its will was won. Its strength was brought under guidance.
So it is with us. By nature, our hearts are wild—pulled by impulse, appetite, and pride. But Christ does not come merely to “break” us; He comes to win us. As we yield—again and again—to His training, we begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. The disciplines of time, thought, appetite, work, and devotion become less about “I must” and more about “I want to please Him.”
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
(Romans 8:13)
Life, freedom, joy, usefulness—these are the fruits of Spirit-filled discipline.
6. A Call to Train With Jesus
Somewhere, the enemy is indeed “training to beat you,” “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). But we are not left defenseless. We have a Saviour who has already overcome the world, a Spirit who lives within us, a Word that equips us, and a Father who lovingly disciplines us.
The question isn’t, “Will I ever struggle again?” but, “Will I enter the race with purpose? Will I surrender to the training of Christ?” We may stumble. We may be knocked down. But like the boxer who keeps getting up, the disciple keeps coming back to Jesus, keeps choosing His way, keeps saying, “Lord, rule my spirit. Build my walls. Train my heart.”
And as we do, something beautiful happens: we don’t just talk about discipleship—we begin to live it. Our lives become living invitations to others: Come and follow Him too.
As you dig into today’s Study Notes, remember: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth… for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous” (Joshua 1:8). If you’d like practical help to keep Scripture alive…
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