Overcoming Temptation as You Accomplish Goals

Discipline is hard. It is hard to cultivate. It is hard to claim. Yet is is necessary, entirely vital to reaching those goals that we know will make bodies, hearts, minds, and souls healthier.

Discipline can be a lonely road. "Its all on me," we say. Win or fail it comes down to what we do. As we grasp at discipline our confidence declines. We lose faith that we were ever capable of reaching for our lofty goals. 

Take heart, my dear friend. God is cheering you on. The most powerful and loving force in the universe has your back. He knows inside and out what you are facing, what you have faced, and what you will have to face tomorrow, today, in the next hour, in the next second. He is right there with you.

I'm having a hard time with many of my goals. I desperately want to sleep 15 minutes more instead of fuel my day with quiet time that will prepare my heart for the day's trials. I want cake instead of oatmeal for breakfast. I want to read instead of buckle down and write. I want to lose myself in facebook instead of filing away papers and paying bills. Discipline seems to desert me and I wonder if I wasn't made for success in the goals I've set before me.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." I read that this morning and was filled with relief.

I'm not alone. 

You are not alone either. God knows discipline. He understand what it takes to accomplish it. He knows your heart, your desires, your temptations. He is cheering you on, proud that you are striving towards good things.

Take heart, my dear friend. God will walk the road to discipline with you, providing you every claim to success. He is with you even if you fail sometimes. He stays with you even after you win. He will give you all the strength you need to stand against each and every temptation.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 (NIV)