Transcription
We share this morning from First Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24 to 27.
We are sharing on attaining your peak potentials through self-discipline.
At the beginning of the year, many people come up with New Year resolutions. At the end of the year, many of those New Year resolutions are not achieved. But the interesting thing is that one major reason why such resolutions are not achieved is as a result of lack of self-discipline.
For you to attain your optimum potential in life, your peak potentials in life, you will have to go the extra mile. And that will involve paying the price required to achieve that common goal, that common height. Otherwise, everybody would have been successful if it's so easy. But for many of the laudable heights in life, we will have to subject ourselves to self-discipline. We have to put aside pleasure. We have to go beyond the comfort zone for goals to be realized, for dreams to be achieved.
Attaining your peak potential, there is a destiny of greatness ahead of you. Can I hear a man or woman say, "Amen"? But to attain that great destiny, you will need to do certain things. Potential is something that could happen but has not yet happened. The potential of a person is what someone is capable of doing, but hasn't he had done it. So there are many things you are capable of doing. All those things are yet to be done.
Potential is about what you are capable of becoming, something you are capable of becoming, but you have not yet become. And we are finding out this morning that for you to act, to be, to do those great things, you have to subject yourself to solid preparation, subject yourself to serious training. You have to make a lot of personal sacrifices to get there.
I keep records of stories of those who attend a first class in the university, and you see some recurring factors behind the accomplishment. They had to put many things aside and focus on that goal they wanted to achieve. They had to delay a lot of things, put many things on hold in order to sacrifice time to prepare and achieve that goal they have set for themselves.
Your potential also talks about what you are capable of achieving, but you have not yet achieved it. And we are saying this morning that one of those keys that will enable you to achieve your peak potentials in life is the key of self-discipline.
At the beginning of the year, you see many churches receiving clear direction to wait on the Lord in prayers and fasting. Some for seven days, some for 14 days, some for 21 days, and then sometimes some have a persuasion for something longer, 30 days, 40 days. It is not for nothing, and it is not just a religious exercise. But there are many people that do not have health issues that could have excused them from participating in such periods of prayers and fasting. And many of them do not indulge in the prayers and fasting that other members of their church have embarked upon. And it's quite interesting that even those who are not paying the price are also expecting the optimum benefits that can come in such a particular year.
Self-discipline is the ability to compel yourself to consistently do certain things that you are supposed to do without someone else compelling you to do that.
Self-discipline is the ability to compel yourself to do something at the exact time you are supposed to do it. So you can see that punctuality is achieved through proper planning and self-discipline, proactive planning and self-discipline. It is the ability to compel yourself to do something you are supposed to do at the right time.
Also, it is 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. It takes the fear of God and also self-discipline to maintain sexual chastity.
There's a time not to eat. And if at the time you are not supposed to eat, you still go about eating, especially secretly, because we just discovered that things disappear from the fridge, but we don't know who. Discipline is why is what potent ingredients of success. It expresses itself in a variety of ways.
Life puts challenges and problems on the path to success and achievement. In the path to success, there will be challenges. There will be things that you must do beyond the cycle of convenience and comfort. It's called the prize. That's the price you have to pay to get to that destination of success. So, in order to rise above these challenges in the path of success and achievement, you have to act with a lot of self-discipline.
Consistently doing what you need to do to succeed with total focus and resolve is incredibly difficult. And this is one of the reasons why many have resolutions at the beginning of the year, but they can't see it through. Many have big goals and big dreams and they have a strategy that works on how to achieve that goal, but they fail to implement what is required of them.
Resolve, willpower, determination help successful people work hard and stick to their long-term goals. You'll observe, for instance, that most successful people are great at delaying gratification. Even in business, there are times where, you know, even though you are the owner of that business or you have controlling shares in that business, you let the business run. Income that is available, you redeploy it for various needs in that business. Whatever you are supposed to receive, you can put it on hold so that some other pressing needs in that business can be funded and executed at that time.
All successful people are great also at withstanding temptation. They are great at withstanding temptation. So that means for some of you, for you to go high and stay on that high level, you must discipline yourself to subdue temptations that will certainly come in the path of your own journey.
Most successful people set priorities. They do the things they decide are most important. It's one thing to identify your priorities; it's another thing to focus on them and get them done. But those who are consistently successful, they always have priorities for every given time and then they focus on a particular priority at a time.
Lack of self-discipline: What is lack of self-discipline? It is where you know what you are supposed to do, yet you fail to compel yourself to do it consistently. When you already know what you are supposed to do, yet you fail to compel yourself to do it consistently. You know what you are supposed to do for a particular time, yet you fail to compel yourself to do it at the exact time. You must wake up at a particular time. Nothing stops you from setting an alarm with your phone. But lack of self-discipline is when your phone performs its own part of the deal, rings at the set time, and then you wake up with anger. You are the one that even set the thing. You now go back with anger and then you put it on silence. Sometimes you get angry and you just switch off the phone so that the phone on its own does not now send another reminder.
In Proverbs chapter 14, verse 1, it says, "A wise woman," one of the attributes of a wise person is that he or she is a man or woman that subjects himself to self-discipline. A wise woman makes a home what it should be, but the home of a foolish woman is destroyed by her own actions. Without self-discipline, you can use your own hands to slow down your progress in life. I pray you will never use your hands to slow down your progress.
There's uncommonness of self-discipline. Lack of self-discipline:
1. Inability to avoid repeating a frequently corrected issue.
2. Another example of lack of self-discipline is consumption of unhealthy things. Inability to compel yourself to consume only the recommended types of food and drinks.
3. Inability to control your temper and emotions. Not just temper, even emotions. And when we are talking of emotions, not just negatively, but even positively. There are times when even though you are happy, you are joyful, you should not express it. Perhaps you are the judge, and you are not supposed to over-express your joy. Or you are the referee. Can you imagine one team scores a goal and the referee assaults the referee? Even if that goal was a clean goal, the opposite team may demand that that referee be replaced because the referee will be perceived to be partial.
4. Any kind of abuse you have repeatedly been guilty of is an example of lack of self-discipline. It could be emotional abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual harassment. If you are repeatedly guilty of any of these things, then it means you lack self-discipline, lack self-control in these areas.
Winning a race requires focus and discipline. First Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24 says, "In a race, everyone runs, but only one person gets the first prize. So run your race to win." Verse 25: "To win the contest is compulsory. Deny yourselves many things that will keep you from doing your best. You must deny yourself." In verse 27, he says, "Like an athlete, I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should not, not what it wants to do." This is very, very key.
Winning a race requires focus and discipline. Self-discipline is the assertion of your willpower over your desire, and it is synonymous to self-control. Self-discipline will enable you to break negative habits that prevent you from winning your race. So you will advance only if you break that habit, not by keeping the habit secret. You need to overcome that habit, that bad habit, that negative habit. It is a vice, not by becoming secretive in indulging in it.
Your future is largely determined by your habits, and you have the choice between positive or negative habits to adopt. When you leave discipline out of your habits, they can ruin you. And that is why it's good to subject yourself to certain people in the realms of accountability so that you can be corrected when you are going out of line.
To live a life of self-discipline, you have to continuously deny yourself of what is potentially harmful to you.
There are some benefits of practicing self-discipline. It means self-control, and that is a sign of inner strength and control of yourself and your reactions. Building the skill of self-control means using common sense, making priorities, and thinking before acting. This skill gives you the power to stick to your decisions and follow them through without changing your mind.
Being disciplined will help you to avoid acting rashly and on impulse, and many people cannot do this. So you will have an edge when it comes to appraisals and assessments for promotion. Discipline will help you also to carry out the promises and decisions you have made to yourself and to others.
Being disciplined will help to break a bad habit or addiction. Being disciplined will help to make wise and healthy choices. Being disciplined will also help to overcome the tendency to laziness and procrastination. Being disciplined will help to improve your ability to concentrate. You will stay focused when you are working. It will also help you to continue working on a project beyond the initial stage. Many people will start things, but very few will see such initiatives to the very end. I pray that your projects will be completed this year.
It's being disciplined that you have set for yourself and go on to achieve them goals. People back out when they are pursuing tough goals, but self-discipline will help you to stick to whatever is that tough goal until it is achieved. And lastly, a disciplined person is more punctual than other people.
In closing, one key that has been proven to be extremely effective in permanently overcoming traces of lack of self-discipline is the key of extreme determination. When people are extremely determined, they are ready to urgently do anything to achieve the specific goal. So most times where self-discipline, a lack of self-discipline, is still manifesting is because there is no extreme determination at play at that particular time by the person involved.
When people are extremely determined, they are ready to do anything to overcome a serious crisis. Extreme determination compels people to exercise a lot of self-control, and that is why I see people exercise a lot of self-discipline, self-control in tune with what needs to be achieved.
Mark 9:29. Jesus himself said, "This kind cannot go." There are problems that are being powered by terrible, powerful spirits, stubborn spirits. And Jesus said, those kind of problems, because of the stubborn, powerful spirit behind them, they won't give way except through prayer and fasting. There is a place for fasting. It is very instructive to note that having a sense of extreme determination overcomes all human weaknesses.