DISCIPLINE –TOOLS TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS

     Life is a series of problems.  Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems.  Without disciplines we can solve nothing, with discipline we can solve all types of problems.

     Life is difficult, this is true. Many have complained that “Life isn’t fair.”  I simply reply, who said the life was supposed to be fair?  What makes life difficult is solving problems is very painful.  Problems evoke in us a great deal of emotional pain, such as sorrow, fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, etc.  These are uncomfortable emotions.  It is in meeting and solving problems that life takes on a greater meaning.  Since life invokes a series of problems, life also unleashes a series of pain.

     Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes success and failure.  Problems are what cause us to grow mentally and spiritually.  Without growth, we’re doomed to stay as we have always been.  Wise people learn not to dread problems, but to welcome and expect problems.  Fearing the pain involved from problems causes most people to avoid problems.  Most people do anything to attempt to avoid confronting problems.  They avoid problems because they wish to avoid pain.

     Avoiding problems is the root to all psychological, emotional and mental illness.

Most who avoid problems build elaborate fantasies to hide behind or live within the false sense of protection.  Those who create such fantasies also escape reality.  Psychoneurosis is a substitute to legitimate suffering.  But the substitute becomes more of a suffering than the pain one seeks to avoid.

     Then people will build another layer upon layer of fantasy to avoid the emotional instabilities, pretending everything is alright.  In avoiding the problem, we stop growth which we learn from the problems that life brings.  Therefore, we avoid real life for the replaced fantasy.  When we stop the growth, we also stop the healing we could have attained if we faced our problems and pain with proper responses.  When we stop growing, we also stop the very meaning and purpose that problems can bring to us.

     Problems are a part of real life.  Avoiding problems is our attempt to avoid true life’s learning opportunities. True emotional and spiritual health comes from acknowledging that life is full of problems.  And with this truth, we discover the tools to dealing with these problems.  The tools we must discover is found inside discipline.  When we develop discipline within every area of our life, we also develop the tools we shall need to successfully confront and overcome all problems.

© 2012 by Dr Tim McClure

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE

            "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life:  and they (scriptures) are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).  Search the scriptures yea, the deep things of God (I Cor. 2:10).  Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15). 

            We are to inquire, research, meditate the Word of God (I Tim. 4:15).  We are called to read the Bible (I Tim 4:13).  The three main ways of studying the Word is SEARCH as if we are looking for treasure, STUDY, that is run reference, comparing scripture with scripture and READ; just simply reading the Bible with no intended purpose in mind.

USE THE "5 INSPECTOR W" METHOD

1.      Who is the author writing to?  Who is he talking about?

2.      What is the author writing about?  What is the subject or his main thought.  What is he trying to get across to his readers?

3.      When was it written?  Was it in time of freedom, oppression?  Was it before Jesus Christ or after.  Was it under the Law or under Grace?  Was it during the church age or after the rapture?

4.      Where were the people at?  Were they in heaven or in earth?  Where was the author at and where was the subject at that he was writing about?  Was he writing to someone there present or future.

5.      Why did the author write the letter?  Why is he saying what he is? Is he commanding them or reprimanding them.  Was he prophesying or instructing?

 

For example, let me show you how to use the "5 Inspector W's" method:  "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. 10:9).  Many today try to use this passage of scripture in dealing with sinners, trying to bring them to salvation.  Using the "5 Inspector W's" method you ask:

 

a.  WHO is the author of Romans?  Paul (Rom. 1:1).  Who is Paul writing to?  Christians in Rome - Rom. 1:7; 6:4; 8:9, not sinners.

b.  WHAT is Paul saying?  That if "thou" (believers) shalt confess with your mouth, (it must be public, voiced, said, exposed, can't just be in the heart or mind only (Rom. 10:6) the Lord Jesus (no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Ghost (I Cor. 12:3). 

c.  WHEN was it written?  After Pentecost, therefore after the church was established.  No longer were they under Old Testament jurisdiction but under grace.

d.  WHERE?  The church at Rome (Rom. 1:7).

e.  WHY was it written?  There were Jewish people telling these gentile saints that they had to be physically circumcised in order to be saved (Rom. 4:1-10).  These Roman believers were being confused in thinking that their salvation was dependant on a Jewish ordinance instead of the "GOSPEL" - Death, Burial and Resurrection (Rom. 6:1-6, 8:1-11, 21-23, 10:16)

© 1996 by Dr Tim McClure