The Drive to Discipline and Desire

“He satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

As I hunger for more of God, the best way I know to satisfy my hunger for God is to have a disciplined quiet time with worship, prayer, scripture reading, and a devotion. That takes discipline but will turn to desire. I discipline myself to do it whether I feel like it or not. We all must discipline ourselves to have a quiet time daily. Then we will be satisfied and filled.

But you might be thinking “the problem is…” “I don’t have time” or “I’m not disciplined.” Maybe somebody like Paul could discipline himself to do all this work but “I’m not able to discipline myself to study God’s Word and pray on a regular basis.”

You can’t? Or you don’t want to? What you really mean is you don’t desire to be that disciplined. If you don’t learn to discipline yourself in the things of God, you will come under the submission of someone else or something else not of God. You will fill up with other things. Self-discipline is hard for most people. It can be discouraging at times also. It takes effort but it’s worth the effort.

Think about your life before you were driving. Driving a car looked easy when you observed others doing it. You wanted to try it. You don’t say “I don’t have time to learn to drive or “I’m not disciplined enough.” You find out how you can learn. You sign up to take a daily class and practice. If you don’t ever learn to drive for yourself, you will always be under the submission of someone else to drive you. You won’t always be free to guide yourself where you want to go.

Before you start, you don’t really know how complex driving is and how much you must simultaneously pay attention to mirrors, speed, the road ahead. . . . Your quiet time will likely be the same. It looks easy for others but you won’t know until you begin to learn. You won’t know how much attention it takes until you begin. If you don’t ever begin, you will never transform and move on. Your desire to move on won’t grow stronger.

Learning to drive takes someone else to teach you all the skills and then you’re on your own. When you first decide to have a quiet time, pick a time and a place to begin. Start with worship, prayer, scripture reading and whatever you want to do in your quiet time that will help you spend time with God. The Holy Spirit is the who teaches and shows you the skills to a quiet time with Him. God’s Word is the drivers manual that guides you. They all get you on the road to His Presence.

When first learning to drive, you practice in a parking lot driving in circles. Next, you learn to park your car and back it out. Eventually you drive on roads with a low speed limit. Finally, you get enough skill and confidence to drive full speed on interstates.

Quiet time is like that. It takes practice and discipline to learn all the skills necessary. Repeat it daily to form a consistent pattern. Soon you will have a pattern or a discipline and you’re good at it! You can even parallel park.

After you’ve been driving a while, you don’t have to concentrate so hard but you are still alert and must focus on the road and driving. After you have a disciplined quiet time, you won’t need to spend as much time concentrating on getting all the skills down (but your focus must still be on Him) and soon, you’ll be cruising along enjoying the drive. You will desire the drive. Driving will come to you more easily as you spend more time with Him. You may even have an accident along the way. Don’t focus on the damage but fix yourself back up and get right back on track. If you miss a day or week of quiet time, get yourself back on the road when you can.

The final stage of learning to drive is when you have become so transformed into a driver that you can do it naturally and automatically. You can thoroughly enjoy the drive. Spiritually, your discipline and commitment to learn and practice this new way of life will soon be natural to you also. Discipline becomes a desire if it is done long enough.

And, finally, your quiet time is the gas He fills you up with to keep you cruising along smoothly. He has filled your tank with good things.

When you’ve mastered driving, you now have the skills to teach someone else to drive based on the knowledge and discipline you now have and the transformation it has produced in you. In learning to drive and mastering having a quiet time, you can look back and see what has taken place in you. You can see the work you have done and be amazed at what God has done in you. How you drive says a lot about who you are. What drives you?