THE THREE D's

Discipline- Job 36:10 “opens our ears to discipline”


Desire- I Peter 2:2 “craving pure spiritual milk”


Delight- Psalm 1:1 “delight in the law of the Lord”


Keys to Long Term Spiritual Growth


These three words pertain to our daily time spent in Bible reading and study, prayer, and worship to God. Understand I am speaking of a very conscious act on our part and the phases that we go through as we choose to try to consistently seek Him through the simplest and most straight forward methods. I know this seems like pretty simple and obvious stuff, but I don’t think we take the importance of this seriously enough. The first D is about simply hearing those internal reminders about seeking God and learning to be consistently responsive to those internal reminders. I believe that this basic discipline is one of the key steps that opens the door of God’s Holy Spirit to be at work in our hearts and minds. In fact, in my experience, if we are not faithful in these areas we will be almost guaranteeing serious spiritual problems in the long term. The fascinating thing about these phases of choice is that they become exponentially more natural and even desirable for us IF we consistently practice our reading, praying, and reaching out to Him beginning with discipline. First, it feels completely unnatural and completely contrary to what our moods, emotions, and desires are, but if we persevere in seeking Him, the second phase kicks in—desire. I have experienced this craving for the scriptures and for intimate contact with Him. It is like a baby craving the sustenance of milk. Finally, I long to reach the place where it is a delight. This makes me think of Jesus seeking and yearning for time alone with His Father in the midst of His earthly ministry. The key I believe is in two things: one recognizing that IT IS a discipline which means it often runs completely counter to our moods, emotions, desires, and thoughts and second is choosing to practice these things FROM a desire to SEEK GOD. This is not some puzzle we are to solve. He is the one who reveals Himself to those who diligently seek Him.