The Main Obstacle to the Spirit of Excellence…

If we overcome this obstacle, the main obstacle, to the spirit of excellence, we will begin to see excellence flowing in EVERY area of our lives, from our work, to our ministry, to our families, in every area!

We are going to be talking about what is, by far, the number one obstacle or hindrance to excellence in our lives.

Matt 28:18
19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you,…

Jesus is speaking… He doesn’t say go then and make believers of all the nations, He also doesn’t say go then and get all the nations saved. He says to make disciples. MAKE disciples.

MAKING a disciple takes time and effort. You can’t become a disciple overnight.

What is a disciple? A disciple is a disciplined one.

Inside that statement is the answer to most problems – disciplined one…

Disciples are not BORN. He did not say “Go and give birth to disciples…”. We can get people born again, but we cannot give birth to disciples. There is a process involved in someone becoming a disciplined one, a disciple.

If you cannot be a disciplined one, you cannot flow in the spirit of excellence. Being disciplined is the number one obstacle to the spirit of excellence.

Jesus wants you and I to be disciples, and He wants you and I to be disciplined ones.

There is a constant, continuous battle going on inside of each of us. It is a battle between the spirit and the flesh. The spirit, where Jesus lives, will always want to flow in excellence. The spirit in you will always want to do it right. The spirit in you will always want to do it to the best of your ability. The spirit in you will not want to do a mediocre job. Why? Because that’s where Jesus lives.

The flesh in you, however, will cut corners. The flesh in you will rush through. The flesh in you will not double check to see if it’s done right. The flesh in you is where the problem is. This is why Jesus said “Don’t just get people saved, teach them to walk in discipline.” Why? It takes discipline to walk in the fullness of God. It takes discipline to walk in the victory of God. It will take discipline to walk in the promises of God, and it will take discipline to flow with the Holy Ghost, and to flow in excellence.

Does Jesus want you and I to be disciplined? Yes.

Is Jesus looking for ones that will be discipled, or disciplined ones? Yes.

Heb 12:5
5 And have you [completely] forgotten the divine word of appealand encouragement in which you are reasoned with andaddressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him;

NOTE: God does NOT discipline by putting cancer on someone, He disciplines through the Word.

If you are not disciplined in one area, you are likely not disciplined in any area. Discipline is a character, a lifestyle choice, that affects every area of our life.

6 For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.

Why does God discpline us? To take us higher, so we can reach our maximum potential!

7 You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline?

We can’t rip this page out – we have to endure correction from the Word to be able to grow. Otherwise, we will be what Paul called “carnal Christians”, like those in the church in Corinth. They had the gifts, but no discipline.

God is dealing with us as sons. I correct and discipline my children because I love them. That is the reason that I do it. That is the reason that I discipline and correct the kids in kids church, because I love them. I’ll go as far as saying that if you don’t discipline and correct your children, then you don’t love your kids. What good are you doing for them, by not correcting them?

If they cannot take correction and discipline from me, their natural father, how will they learn to take correction from their heavenly Father?

Why do we need the correction? So that we do it God’s way, not our way.

8 Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].

We need to be open to discipline all the time. Discipline starts with self-judgement, judging ourselves and changing. It does no good to judge ourselves, but never change.

We need to be open to discipline and correction at all times. God will correct us at different times, for different things. We are to strive to be disciplined in EVERY area of our lives. This includes our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and as such, God can only give us the anointing that our bodies can handle. If we are not taking care of our bodies, we limit their usefulness and effectiveness for God.

Remember, we are spirits that are in possession of a body and a mind. Our spirit should be telling our body how to respond, act, so on, and tell our mind how to think, what to think, and so on. When our flesh says “I want”, our spirit needs to tell the flesh what it can have.

The devil tries to come against us in small things and get us off track. Introducing un-discipline in an area opens it to other areas.

We have to remember that being a Christian is easy – walking in the fullness and promises of God is not easy. It takes work, effort, and discipline.

9 Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected [them for training us]. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live?

Earthly fathers have given discipline, and were yielded to and respected by their children. What is the result of children that are not disciplined? Who is in charge in those families, and are the parents respected?

Look at the attitude when correction comes from God. It is received “cheerfully”, with excitement and appreciation. This is the God of the universe caring enough about me or you to actually take the time to correct us of something that we are doing or have done.

When we are corrected by God, and we receive His correction, we begin to “truly live”. Live, as used here, is the word “zoe”, which means the “life of God”. Jesus did not just come to give us life. He wasn’t satisfied with that. He came to give us LIFE (zoe) and it more abundantly. He came to give us the abundant life of God!

Why is it that the children of God do not experience the “zoe” life of God? Jesus came, not only for us to have life, to live, but to live ABUNDANTLY!
Eph 4:18 says:
Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature].

It’s one thing to quote a scripture, but it’s quite another to live a scripture. Jesus is not concerned with how many scriptures we can quote. He is concerned with how many we LIVE

Back to Heb 12
10 For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.

Sharers of His ANOINTING. How can we have more of His anointing? DISCIPLINE.

11 For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].

12 So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,

Man up!

13 And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.

This takes effort and work. This is not something that just occurs.

14 Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.

Striving requires discipline.

Matt 6:33
But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

What does it take to read the Bible every morning, or pray every morning? Discipline.

Romans 8:4
4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

Everything that we do must be governed by the spirit, and not by the flesh. When we flow in excellence, we stand out.

Romans 8:8
8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.

God is very serious about discipline. We should be also.

Matt 26:41 (Jesus is speaking)
40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, What! Are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour?

41 All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

When we are mediocre, we are submitting to the temptation of our flesh.

When Jesus says the flesh is weak, He actually means the flesh is strong – the flesh is dominating. The spirit is willing to flow and operate in excellence, to do what it takes to be excellent. However, the flesh is in control, or is stronger than the spirit.

We have to remember that we are a spirit, created in the image of God. God created us perfect and with excellence. We are a spirit, and as such, we are in possession of a body and a mind (flesh and soul). When the spirit is in dominance, we can tell the flesh to line up and obey the Word of God. When disease comes against us, we, as a spirit, feel great. It is the body that needs to align to the Word of God, healed and whole.

David even said “Bless the Lord, O my soul”. This was spirit-man David taking control, and speaking to the soul-David (or the mind), and saying, “Line up, and bless the Lord – I’m in control and telling you what to do”.

1 Cor 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours.

We are in a race right now, whether we know it or not, and whether we acknowledge it or not. Just because we don’t know or realize, doesn’t mean that it is not happening.

25 Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.

An athlete trains and disciplines his body harshly, restricting himself in ALL things. What he does, what he doesn’t do, what he eats, when and how long he trains, when and how long he sleeps… These things are done for a crown that will wither, or a gold medal that will tarnish, scratch, and fade.

We, however, should do the same, but even more so, as we are after an eternal reward, that does not wither, tarnish, scratch, or fade.

26 Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.

Paul has focus. He knows where he is going, and what he has to do to arrive at his destination.

27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].

He disciplines his body, his flesh, roughly, in an effort to subdue it. By subduing his flesh, he does not cave to the temptations that present themselves. He is able to focus on the race at hand, and on the prize at the end. We must do the same, roughly disciplining our flesh and our minds, lining them up with the Word of God, so that we too can remain focused on the race at hand and on the prize at the end.

The prize that we long to hear are the words of Jesus, saying “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master!”