The purpose of spiritual discipline is to renew the mind and train the soul. When the mind is full of the noise of the world, it is difficult to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual disciplines align us with the thoughts and ways of God, increasing our spiritual sensitivity by tuning us into the frequency of God, which is peace.
Spiritual disciplines are intentional practices, like daily Bible reading, prayer, meditation on God’s word, and worship. These are done to cultivate spiritual growth and deepen one’s relationship with God. They are considered training exercises for spiritual life within the body of Christ, much like physical exercises are for the health of our physical body.
These are not the spiritual disciplines I am referring to. All of these disciplines are important and necessary, but we need to incorporate another crucial discipline to make them effective. The discipline of dying.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
I think we all understand what it means to deny oneself, but what does it mean to pick up our cross? Picking up our cross is required if we are to follow Jesus. It is important that we know what that looks like.
When Jesus carried His cross, He was carrying it to His death. Can you imagine what would be going through your mind if you had to carry this heavy cross? It was up a hill, hard to carry. It makes it even harder knowing that you would soon be hanging from it in torturous pain, awaiting a slow and miserable death.
Jesus carried His cross to die FOR the world. We carry our cross to die TO the world.
Galatians 2:20 says, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
This verse emphasizes that we identify with Christ’s death and resurrection, leading to a life focused on Him and His will rather than ourselves and our will.
Romans 6:5-7 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
This verse speaks of the “old self” being crucified, indicating a transformation and a new life in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
This verse refers to the daily process of dying to self in order to live for Christ.
Matthew 10 37-39 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
Jesus spoke repeatedly to His disciples about taking up their cross and following Him. Picking up our cross means giving up our lives—spiritually, symbolically, and even physically, if necessary. This was, and is, a prerequisite for being a follower of Christ.
Dying is never portrayed in Scripture as something optional in the Christian life. It is not a one-time event, but a daily dying, a lifelong process. It is our part in the sanctification process. God will only lead us to the cross. We must accept the responsibility to pick it up and carry it of our own free will.
The discipline of dying will be met with powerful resistance from the enemy because he has no power over one who has died to self. Daily dying will require us to avoid things that cater to resurrecting selfish desires and keeping the old man alive.
Things such as television, the news, social media, and the entertainment industry do not facilitate the quieting and sanctification of the mind and soul. On the contrary, it fills it with distractions, stirs up ungodly emotions, feeds fleshly desires, and desensitizes us to the Holy Spirit. These are some of the things that cause us to carry the burden and weight of worldly cares. They wage war against the progress we make in our personal devotions. They tear down strongholds of faith that we have built by other spiritual disciplines. They help Satan build new strongholds of wrong thinking that he hides behind to control our lives.
Satan’s distractions can skew our perspective and influence how we see our circumstances. They make things seem attractive that would not normally appeal to us. These distractions can change our desires from those that are healthy to those that are harmful. The worst part is that we will eventually influence others based upon our own deception and self-justification.
It is easy to get emotionally invested in a movie or TV series that is complete fiction. Social media can become a place where opinions fly, and words are said that hurt and tear down people. Think about the childish and ungodly way our politicians are behaving. I have seen a church split over political posturing. All these things stir us up emotionally to the point that it occupies our thoughts, initiates useless, and ungodly conversations, taking up space in our souls that God can no longer occupy.
The devil knows that constant exposure to these things makes picking up our cross virtually impossible. If the devil can gain a foothold in our minds, he has the power and authority to control our lives to some degree. We must be strategic in choosing what we look at and listen to. What we think about and speak about. Our goal is to fill our souls with the principles and truth found only in the Bible.
This is how we guard our hearts from evil influence.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
The word “heart” in this verse is the Hebrew word “leb”. It means the soul, the mind, and the will. We become vulnerable when we don’t guard our souls from the chaos of ungodly distractions.
The soul without the discipline of dying to the flesh is like a restless child, easily influenced and easily distracted. The secret is not about forcing the soul to be silent but about stewarding what it is exposed to. This is the first step in taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
It makes it very hard to take ungodly thoughts captive when we constantly engage in things that stimulate our flesh and stir our emotions.
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Until our flesh is crucified, Christ can’t live through us in fullness.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
JESUS IS COMING!
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