The Distinction Between Worldly “Self-Control” and God’s Divine Discipline

Control teaches limitations; Discipline teaches expansion

Control requires continual suppression; Discipline requires continual exploration

Control blocks lessons and experiences; Discipline promotes training and growth

Control focuses on restrictions; Discipline focuses on God’s abundance 

Control maintains an illusion of stability; Discipline maintains equilibrium and moderation, producing a fortified foundation

Control deconstructs; Discipline reconstructs

Control leans on faith in one’s own strength; Discipline leans on faith in God’s strength through a yielding to one’s weaknesses

Control stifles; Discipline creates

Control feeds the ego’s desire for authority and power; Discipline feeds the soul’s desire to enforce God’s authority and power

Control assumes strength; Discipline produces resilience 

Control uses manipulation techniques for restraint over desires; Discipline uses Biblical wisdom to naturally weaken worldly temptations

Control is overly vigilant; Discipline is trusting

Control holds back, fencing in our potential; Discipline flows freely as a doorway to possibilities 

Control is a flimsy human concept; Discipline is a foundational pillar of Spirituality 

When we disengage from worldly self-control and allow God to train us as His disciples, we are liberated from the program and can achieve a higher level of consciousness in communion with the Father. Starve the machine. Feed the Spirit. Begin today.

“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.”— Psalm 124:7 KJV

By Michelle Jean