When we learn how to keep our heart like Jesus did, we begin to have a healthy cooperation between what we think, what we feel, what we habitually do, and how we relate to others. We can choose the thoughts that renew us over the thoughts that destroy us. We can engage with our emotions to understand the reason for those emotions. We can re-train our body away from the slavery of engrained, destructive habits. But our will alone can never change a person. We need our will to be empowered by the Spirit, through surrendering to God’s will.
Self Discpline
Christine Caine
Think about what you are thinking about today. Our thoughts are like a train, they always take us somewhere. Don’t just jump on board the first train that pulls into the platform of your mind. Check the destination board first. Where will this thought take you?
John Mark Comer
What a trellis is to a vine, a rule of life is to abiding. It’s a structure—in this case, a schedule and a set of practices—to set up abiding as the central pursuit of your life. It’s a way to organize all of your life around the practice of the presence of God, to work and rest and play and eat and drink and hang out with your friends and run errands and catch up on the news, all out of a place of deep, loving enjoyment of the Father’s company. If a vine doesn’t have a trellis, it will die. And if your life with Jesus doesn’t have some kind of structure to facilitate health and growth, it will wither away. Following Jesus has to make it onto your schedule and into your practices or it will simply never happen. Apprenticeship to Jesus will remain an idea, not a reality in your life.