I hate to exercise. I really do. The slightest excuse will keep me from the gym. I have to discipline myself to exercise. And whether I exercise with a heart of delight or from the willpower of discipline, I always benefit from it. So it is with prayer.
Yesterday, I spoke about the difference between discipline and delight when it comes to prayer. I wrote that if you don’t love God and the things of God, prayer will be something difficult to enter into. You’ll have to marshal all your willpower in order to carve out time to pray. I want to sew up a hole of misunderstanding that someone may fall into. The Bible does not say that without delight you cannot please the Lord. The Bible says that without faith you cannot please the Lord. Faith and discipline are not mutually exclusive. Listen, the very reason someone would call upon their willpower in order to pray testifies to the fact that they have faith in God. Discipline and willpower are not the opposite of faith. Faith is what calls forth willpower and discipline. It is not discipline or desire that lays hold of the things of God – it is faith. The power and promises of God are not denied to discipline and granted to desire – they are granted to the one who prays in faith. For the one who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.
Why do I discipline myself to go to the gym? Because I desire the results I receive from exercise. I do not delight in lifting weights, or staring at myself in the mirror, or sweating in front of strangers – but I desire the results of exercise. Why do people discipline themselves to pray? They desire the results of praying. They desire lining up their hearts with the heart of God and growing in spiritual maturity. The act of praying is not desired, but the fruit of prayer is desired.
Does God value someone who enters into prayer with delight over someone who enters into prayer with discipline? No. Those are not the metrics of the soul that God takes into account. God takes faith into account. Whether you are a person of great discipline or a person of great passion – be a person of great faith. Both the one who must call upon their willpower to pray and the one who enters easily into prayer with great delight do so because they are responding to the invitation of God to come to Him in faith.
It is good to have discipline in prayer. It is better to take great delight in prayer. It is best to do both in faith.
Tim Brown has been in some sort of ministry since February of 1973 – as a youth pastor, an assistant pastor, and a senior pastor. Tim planted Calvary Chapel Fremont in January of 1997 and continues to pastor there. Tim has been married since August of 1976 to Fran. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
