LivingOUTLoudLife is about cultivating a training ground for discipline of living in bounds of His rules (of life), for His kingdom living, while holding residence in a temporal world.
Our goal in livingoutloud for Him, is putting into practice what we say we believe by putting action behind the belief.
Our flesh is weak and it’s desires are strong for it. But in Him, we can be greater than our flesh.
First, we must determine in WHO’s kingdom will we stand to rule and reign our individual lives. Will it be a STAND in personal desires or His desires?
Then we CHOOSE…will we learn OF Him (and His ways) or more so apply the treasures of His WORD by coming into a relationship with Him.
The answers to these questions will determine the qualifications for beginning the race – the race for the fight of (saving) faith.
Faith without works is dead.
A relationship is more loving in living than a knowledge of truth.
It is more important to WILLFULLY ACT in FAITH by relationship than to have the knowledge of faith. Yes…after all, even the demons have faith (believe in the Christ – KNOW of Him) but fail to act upon the saving belief of and responsibilities for faith of the relationship. (James 2:19)
Faith without works is dead.
A faith that STANDS ALIVE is livedoutloud in a lifestyle that results in evidence (fruit) that support our said belief.
So what’s the difference between a mental agreement with the belief in God and a saving faith?
The answer: ACTION
In John, we are told that if we love Jesus, we will obey Him. In other words love DOES, NOT says…
What does discipline have to do with action?
Everything! Discipline has everything to do with action because a person is considered righteousness (right-standing with God) by what they do and not by what they say… (James 2:24)
We must submit ourselves to God and DO the good we know we are commanded to do, otherwise we are actively living in sin. And our holy God CANNOT have fellowship with unrighteousness.
The willful ACT of SURRENDER the key to saving faith.
In surrender, we begin a life lived in Him beyond the knowledge of truth INTO a lifestyle of allowing ourselves to be ruled by who we SAY is on throne…
We move BEYOND confession and into the single-mindedness of living FOR Him.
How do we begin a LivingOUTLoudLife for Him?
We train in His spiritual disciplines.
Disciplines are art forms of intent of action and are purpose driven.
In our decided choice of training, we commit to learning how to live forward for His ways of righteousness.
We are to train for godliness.
In order to live for Him, we must learn what is expected by Him for His kingdom rule. We learn His expectations through His given spiritual disciplines.
We FASHION our LIFE FORWARD in Him.
Our aim is devotion of Him in all that we do; otherwise, we are double dealing between what we say we believe and what we actually do – and THAT is not a faith that saves.
How can we be sure that we have a faith the saves?
We must examine ourselves asking, “What do I treasure more – knowing the TRUTH or living it out loud?”
A life lived in a form of godliness without accompanying acts of a lifestyle revealed in righteousness (livingoutloud the TRUTH) actually DENIES the faith.
Denying the faith in deed, is worse than living in the ignorance of an unbeliever.
We don’t want a FORM of godliness but a lifestyle revealed in righteousness.
So what does the ART of SELf-DISCIPLINE have to do with saving faith?
Answer: A person can’t do what he/she wants to do without CHOOSING what correlating ACTIONS will follow the choice…
First, in knowledge, we decide to agree with the knowledge of TRUTH. Then, we determine to ACT in TRUTH.
We must discipline our life in Him to know the next steps. We must TRAIN to liveoutloud the fight for (saving) faith!
Is it enough to KNOW the truth but not ACT on the TRUTH? Again NO! I’m trying to drive this point hard home!
Knowledge is NOT enough to finish the race (in a fight for faith) to be welcomed into the kingdom of His for eternal destination.
We must complete the race – by actually running the race.
Think to yourself, and ponder…is an athlete truly running a race if he/she runs the race but merely states that he/she has signed up for the race? Is such an athlete even part of the race by mere declaration?
No…an athlete must actually compete in the race to be eligible for winning the prize.
Our prize is in Him. We must do MORE than think of Him but actually enter a relationship with Him – that’s how we START the race.
We intentionally train ourselves into His spiritual disciplines.
It’s the art of living well in grace by living out loud Kingdom RULE, in bounds of His ways to cultivate a lifestyle that leads along the narrow path of finishing well for Him.
Can we persevere in a world that culturally is against His values?
Yes, His word tells us that we can:
“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3, CSB)
Train in His WORD to learn the ART of SELF-DISCIPLINE.
We have what we need to train in godliness – it’s the WORD.
The word of Jesus Christ in the form of the living word and in the written word.
We must read the instruction manual to know HOW to train and trust the power of Christ in us to supernaturally PERFORM that WORD as we surrender our desire to fight the process.
Sanctification is the process – the course of ACTION – the training ground for saving faith.
We have to obediently trust the plan that God has laid forth in His word. When we embrace the WORD (His Son), through Gods supernatural imparting of FAITH, then we actively (WILLINGLY) yield ourselves to learn the WAY (through His TRUTH of way and life – Jesus Christ) trusting the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us in the process.
Spiritual disciplines are the keys to the kingdom.
Intentionally learning what the disciplines are and decidingly putting forward the objective by actively pursuing them, begins the competition of our personal race.
What are the disciplines and how do we pursue them?
First you have to KNOW the WORD to be able to DO the word.
Know the plan to pursue the plan. As the plan is in motion, trust the plan.
Begin by familiarizing ourselves with His disciplines:
Prayer
Confessing sin
Meditating on the Word
Fasting
Worship
Stewardship
Purity
Service
Simplicity (singlemindedness towards the things of God) is moving forward in His disciplines.
Godliness is livingoutloud the art of grace, which is lived out loud through the ART of SELF-DISCIPLINE…through the ONESNESS in Christ.
We’ve got to PRACTICE the PRACTICE by looking to the WORD (on every level of the meaning WORD) for direction – AIM.
Again, our AIM is devotion to the LORD.
In His WORD (Matthew 6:33), God tells us what our AIM ought to be in Him. First and foremost we seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.
We are told in 2 Timothy 4:16 to watch our life and doctrine closely. We are to persevere in our PRACTICE of righteousness through spiritual disciplines.
How? We learn the RULES of the RACE by “working” the disciplines that we strive to learn in APPLICATION to our lives.
Yes we will fall short in our learning curve of our new life in Him as we begin learning the rules of the race. But we keep going – no matter what! We keep fighting the good fight, even as we stumble. We never drop out of the race.
As all athletes train to build endurance so do we as we learn the disciplines. We rely on His power and strength to enable us to carry out His word, to teach us and guide us.
(Remember for our last post that the first step to the Art of SELF-DISCIPLINE is ONENESS in Him – that’s because we need HIS POWER of strength in our weaknesses.)
Lean on Him in ONENESS, not self will. Remember our will is now submitted to Him. Obey His WORD and God will enable the WORD to perform.
Look to Jesus (not others) for perfection. Follow the example in Him, then duplicate the actions of the leader – Jesus!
✅ Don’t compare ourselves to others because are all only competing against ourselves.
✅ Copy the pattern of Christ. Our example is in Him. And our journeys are uniquely different though our mission and destination is in Him.
➡️ “For the Spirit of God gave us does not make us timid but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:8
✅ Be diligent.
✅ Persevere… the race will be hard but TRAIN yourself to be godly.
✅ Keep going…run the race.
Get started in the ACT of CHOOSING. We will continue to learn application in our continued series…first step in the art of self-discipline – DECIDE TODAY WHO YOU WILL SERVE.