When I think of discipline I always think back to my days as an athlete. You will seldom find anything more disciplined than an athlete who loves their sport. We were constantly told that if you put in the work, you will see the results. It’s a give and take relationship.
After a time (much longer than I was led to believe) you began to see a reward from the 6am workouts, the commitment to your diet, the consistency of reps unlearning bad habits, and your ability to make the play if you would just move your feet. You become a willing participant of the discipline because you understand that, though tough at times, it makes you better. And that’s all you want.
Since being in Nicaragua, I have realized that my discipline muscle has been lost a bit since those athlete days.
I know this because this month there is an emphasized focus on spititual disciplines that our minsitry host, REAP Granada, work to instill in their visitors on campus. Being heavily focused on disciplines, our team was decidedly encouraged to participate in a 3-day fast that began my second day there. Woohoo!
Stepping into the fast, I was feeling proud and strong in my ability to resist food for 3 days straight because fasts were not new to me & apparently I’m a prideful human (shocker). The reality of my fast was me incessantly sniffing a mango for three days when I was not praying, sleeping, or reading the Word (this is actually true). I was weak to the point of literally running to dinner when we finally broke our fast. Embarrassing.
On top of the fast, our constant expectation in disciplines includes daily 5am prayer coupled with a book study named “Spiritual Slavery to Sonship” in which we discuss a chapter a day. This is our ministry this month.
I know what you’re thinking… “aren’t you guys DOING anything?”
We are doing a lot actually. The ministry runs a handful of ministry opportunities throughout the area which include:
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Sports minsitry
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Hospital support
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Prison ministry
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Farming
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The Dump ministry (yes, as in trash dumps)
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Supporting their ‘micro churches”
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Discipling GAP year racers (18-21 year olds)
However, those are our activites that we get to do. Our ministry is discipline.
Scott, the founder of REAP Granada and an incredible teacher of the Word, pointed out something to us that was both shocking to hear and entirely humbling for my soul. He said “we don’t need you here.”
Tough to hear, I agree. But, it’s actually very true. The ministry runs entirely by itself both finanacially and personnell wise. Nicaraguans are almost completely in charge of the ministry within their own backyard and sometimes we even joke that they are annoyed the “gringos” are here. The ministry has raised up leaders within the community to lead their own ‘micro churches’ which operate out of homes of Granada residents and between the sports activites and farm land; there are no financial struggles the mission needs to deal with.
They don’t need us at all. So, why are we here?
That’s when Scott explained the importance of these spiritual disciplines we dove head first into. This minsitry and other ministries set before us on the race have existed before we arrived and will continue on long after we have left. Our purpose is not to change the world, nor should we have thought that was our responsibility.
What this year is designed for and the purpose for anything we do in this life is so that we can understand more desperately the love of God in order that we might give more freely an overflow of God’s love to others.
Spiritual disciplines (fasting, praying, devotions, scripture memorization, etc) are tough, there is no denying. Sometimes you roll your eyes or refuse to think they have benefits. Be that as it may, sooner or later you will find yourself addicted to the disciplines because you begin to see the benefits of surrendering your selfish desires for something greater still- the growth of wisdom and understanding of God’s unchanging and infallible love for us.
