BENEFITS OF SELF-DISCIPLINE

You are most welcome in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Please open with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 9.

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First Corinthians chapter 9, and we look at verse 24 to 27. He said, "Everyone runs in a race, but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest, you must deny yourselves many things that will keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I'm not just shadow boxing or playing around." Verse 27, "Like an athlete, I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants. Otherwise, I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I might be declared unfit and ordered to stand aside."

And today, we are looking at the benefits of self-discipline. The benefits of self-discipline. And we have defined self-discipline as the willpower or ability to consistently compel yourself to do certain things that you are supposed to do without someone else compelling you to do them. Self-discipline is also the ability to consistently restrain yourself from doing something that you are not supposed to do without someone else having to restrain you from doing it.

And we have looked at lack of self-discipline. And we have defined it as when you know what you are supposed to do, yet you fail to compel yourself to do it consistently, either at the exact time or as often as is required.

As we look at the benefits of self-discipline, I will quickly throw light on habits, focus, and extreme determination. A habit is something you do consistently, either consciously or unconsciously. And this is very much central to our study and the concept of self-discipline. Habits have been discovered to be a great catalyst for success in different areas of life. A great catalyst. Habits can make or mar a person's life and future. Most successful people in life have certain good habits that prepare them and then propel them for their eventual success. That is why, even before a young man, a young woman gets to a particular height in life, some people would have already anticipated that happening. Before a point will come where some very discerning persons will be able to see with the way you are carrying about your life, I see you rising to this level within the process of time. Whatever you keep on doing on a daily basis will eventually create the future you strongly desire. So habits set, they set the pace, they prepare the stage. They are actually seeds that have been sown towards a desired outcome in the future. In that area of life where you desire to stand out, you need to cultivate certain habits that will make you filled with whatever will be required to excel in that particular activity or field in life.

Now, another very central word in the study of self-discipline is focus. Focus. In Joshua chapter 1 verse 7, Joshua 1 verse 7, he said, "Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whichever way thou goest." Don't turn from it to the right or to the left. Be focused. And then what will ultimately happen? That you may prosper. That you may succeed in the journey ahead of you. I pray that through the grace of the Almighty God, you will succeed and excel in your journey of life, in the name of Jesus.

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You must have a major priority that you are focused on every year of your life. Every year, you must have at least one major priority that becomes the center of most of your activities, your investment of time, attention for that particular year. It's been observed that in any area you decide to be fully focused, and you accord to that particular goal, project, task, or assignment, excellent preparation, optimum input, you give it so much time, serious attention, exhaustive research, and in some instances, so much investment of even material, financial resources. You practice, you train exhaustively for that same thing. You engage in strategic thinking, you consult exhaustively, you carry out detailed planning, timely planning. In any realm where you deploy all or some of these things sufficiently over a given measure of time, you would God will will always honor you with with results. Something good will always ultimately come out of everything you have invested in that direction. And so, I pray for someone listening to me who is currently very focused on something that needs to be achieved or solved, that God will crown your efforts with outstanding results and success. Can that man or woman say, "Amen"?

And the third thing I would talk about is extreme determination. Extreme determination. You know, the definition of self-discipline is about the willpower, having the willpower to compel yourself to do what you are supposed to do, having the real power to restrain yourself from doing what you are not supposed to do. Now, extreme determination is one dimension of that realm of your willpower. There are many things that would never have been achieved if not for the extreme determination of certain people, or at least one person. And if you want to apply that to your life and to yourself, it means in the process of your great destiny, a time will come where for something to be achieved, something to be successfully solved, extreme determination will be required from you. The usual passive measure of desire would not get that issue solved, would not get that outstanding result achieved. When people are extremely determined, they are ready to urgently do anything to achieve the specific goal. So, in this study of self-discipline, have it in mind that the spirit of God is also letting you know for some ahead of time that for some goals to be achieved, for some dreams to come to pass, for some prophecies to be fulfilled on your part, you will need to be extremely determined in playing a particular role. Extreme determination compels people to exercise a lot of self-control.

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A lot of self-discipline. In tune with what needs to be achieved. In our studies and research on New Year resolutions and why many of them are not eventually fulfilled in the lives of people, we identified eight human factors that always prevent people from achieving their annual goals, their New Year resolutions. And what are these eight factors? One is lack of discipline. Two is not treating the issue as a major priority. Number three is lack of commitment. Four, distractions. Five, procrastination. Six, discouragement. Number seven, laziness. And number eight, pride.

Now, it's instructive to note that having a sense of extreme determination, extreme determination overcomes all of these human tendencies and weaknesses that we just mentioned. When you are, you know, when you are operating with a sense of extreme determination to solve a problem, to achieve a particular goal, to overcome a serious crisis, then issues of lack of discipline, procrastination, you know, laziness can never come up with a heart, with a with a man with a heart filled with extreme determination to get the result. As a Christian, as a believer, you must recognize that there is no true Christianity without morality. Love God, love Jesus. But godliness, righteousness must go with your love for God. As there are certain desires of the flesh that are offensive to the Holy Spirit, offensive to God, so you must restrain whatever are those desires coming from your heart, coming from your flesh, in order to preserve your relationship and flow of favor with God.

Winning a race requires focus, requires discipline. Self-discipline will enable you to break negative habits that can prevent you from winning the race. Your future is largely determined by your habits, and you have the choice between positive habits or negative habits to choose from. When you leave discipline out of your habits, they can ruin the life of any man or woman. Smoking tobacco, smoking Indian hemp, heavy drinking of alcohol, drug abuse, lying, cheating, gossiping, uncontrollable eating. A habit you need discipline to break. To live a life of self-discipline, you have to continuously deny yourself of what is potentially harmful to you.

And I close it up with the benefits of self-discipline. What you need to succeed in any area of your life is self-discipline. It applies to every area of life: spiritual, marital. Self-discipline is key. Unfortunately, most people give in to the two worst enemies of success. And what are they? One is laziness, what some scholars would call the path of least resistance. Laziness. And two, the search for immediate gratification and the willingness to sacrifice

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long-term benefits. People want immediate gratification without considering the long-term consequences of their actions. You could look at Esau in the Bible. Just for a meal, he was ready to trade off his birthright. And the time was going to come when that birthright would begin to become relevant. And at that time, it was too late for him to get it back. Discipline is one of the important ingredients of success. And self-discipline will bring promotion to you over time. It will bring appointments to you over time. It will affect different realms of your life, including your health. And parents should take note that they will be acting wisely if they begin to imbibe a lot of these useful tips in the lives, in the training of the children, so the children become used to it long before they become young adults. And by that time, it's easier for them to sustain those habits. Resolve, willpower, and determination have helped many successful people to work hard and stick to their long-term goals. Someone observed in his book on this same study that most successful people are great at delaying gratification. You don't start a business, most types of businesses, and you expect to begin to draw so much profit out of that business from day one. And this has killed many businesses because whoever was the owner of the business would not let that business solidify, grow to the point where he can eventually begin to draw substantial profits. Most successful people are great at withstanding or resisting temptation. Temptation is bound to come. And in certain realms of life, there will be deliberate set-ups

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of temptation which is meant to ultimately bring you down. Temptations will come. So most successful people are those that consciously resist and refrain from whatever temptations may come their way. Most successful people also are great at overcoming fear in order to do what needs to be done. This is part of the willpower dimension of self-discipline. Fear has hindered many. Fear has hindered many. So we need to, we need to be wise. But the bottom line is this: if you are not brave, people will, your enemies will overrun you and turn you into a slave in the land that God gave to you. So in your, in going forward in life, there will be times where your level of bravery will be what will save you from slavery. Your level of bravery will be what will save you from slavery. Praise hear the Lord. So there is a dimension of bravery that is needed in your journey of life. So take note that when we are talking about self-discipline, there's a part of it that has to do with courage. There's a part of it that has to do with bravery. There's a part of it that has to do with having the heart to stand up for what is right, and having the heart to stand up against that which is evil, and that which is unjust, and that which is unacceptable. Praise hear the Lord. Praise you the Lord.

So, benefits of self-discipline. It helps. It brings about. It will, it gives you the power to stick to your decisions and follow them through without changing your mind. You are able to develop good habits. With self-discipline, you are able to get rid of bad habits. With self-discipline, you'll be able to overcome addictions, overeating, procrastinating, laziness. Self-discipline is an important trait to develop irrespective of your career or industry of operation. It's a major key to achieving personal goals and career success. Self-discipline, self-discipline produces sustainable success over time. So when you have, when you have cultivated a very strong level of self-discipline, you will avoid acting rashly and on impulse. Acting rashly and on impulse. You will carry out the promises and decisions you make to yourself and to others, even when it's not convenient. You will be able to break a bad habit or addiction. Break a bad habit or addiction. Be able to make wise and healthy choices. Wise and healthy choices. With self-discipline, you will overcome the tendency to laziness and procrastination. Procrastination. You'll be able to improve your ability, your your level of concentration and focus. With self-discipline, you stay focused when you are working. With self-discipline, you'll be able to work on a project even after the initial rush of enthusiasm has faded away. You remain committed to the project. With self-discipline, you will go, you will exercise as often as you need to. You will go for a walk. You will use the gym if you need to, as often as you need to. Praise you the Lord. With self-discipline, you'll be able to go with any diet that is recommended for you. You'll be able, you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. You overcome some habits like watching the television, being on social media beyond the acceptable time. You will meet your tasks and goals confidently and pursue them. Actually, self-discipline will bring self-improvement. Self-discipline will bring spiritual growth. It will certainly bring spiritual growth. It helps you to stick with and achieve tough goals that may have been set for you or you have set for yourself.

Now listen to this. Self-discipline also has been found to improve learning and enhance performance. Research has shown that measuring a person's level of self-discipline is a more accurate predictor of success than measuring the person's IQ. Your level of self-discipline is a better signal indicator of your potentials for success than your level of IQ. Studies have also shown that students with a high degree of this, this skill of self-discipline, retain more knowledge than those without it. This is because they are more persevering and possess the inner strength to focus on their studies. May the Lord increase your inner strength. May the Lord infuse His strength and power into you in a higher dimension. Whatever it is that would be good for you in life, may the Lord give you the strength to rise up and begin to do those things now, in the name of Jesus. And whatever would be destructive to your life or your health, may the Lord give you the will to resist them from now, in the name of Jesus. With long life and good health will the Lord satisfy you. And may you play your own part, in the name of Jesus. Praise you the Lord.

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