Discipline is Not Enough

 Proverbs 4-6; Romans 8 

“You will say, ‘How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!...He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.”

Proverbs 5:12, 23

“For if you live according to the sinful flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Romans 8:13

Discipline appears to be the answer for the lusts of the flesh; however, how well did that work for Solomon?

Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live precisely according to God’s ways because discipline is not enough! “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” (Acts 1:8).

Are we daily inviting Jesus to fill us with his Spirit and empower us to both resist the lusts of the flesh and obey the promptings and leading of the Holy Spirit?

In our own strength, we cannot hope to live the life Jesus called us to live; will power and human discipline are not enough. We put to death the misdeeds of the body by communing with Jesus through the Spirit, and obeying his Word and promptings. Being filled with the Spirit each morning, before we face the temptations of the day, becomes our ‘daily bread’.

“Father God, thank you for sending me your Spirit this day to strengthen me, feed me, and fellowship with me, for your glory.”