The opening chapter of Genesis describes a great void or chaos that existed before God created anything and that creation could be described as bringing order out of chaos.
Changing your life in any meaningful way involves bringing some order to the chaos that can be our everyday lives.
In Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom and when you look at the letters that make up that word it is made up of three letters: the sheen, the lamed and the mem.
The way the sheen was drawn in the days of Moses was similar to a stretched ‘W’ like upper teeth set to devour a meal and it actually means to devour.
The lamed was drawn similar to a ‘J’ with more of a curl like an upside down Shepard’s staff that signified control.
The mem looked similar to our ‘M’ but communicated water or chaos. You might recall that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters or the chaos in the beginning before He spoke the world into creation.
When we put these letters in Hebrew together to form the word peace or shalom, we find that real peace comes when we destroy the control or authority of chaos, but how is this done?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. -Galatians 5:22-23
One aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control or discipline. Disciples of Jesus are supposed to be disciplined people, people of order but today we discourage that as being under the law or legalism.
This is poor teaching because an orderly life can bring great peace and strength. Look at the great believers of the bible such as Daniel, if you wanted to find Daniel all you had to do was call on him at prayer time, he prayed the same time every day.
Jesus, according to scripture had a habit of prayer and could be found in the synagogue or the Temple every Sabbath, the same was true of His disciples and the same should be true of His disciples today.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.–Psalms 37:23
Living a well ordered life begins and ends with the Lord and taking pleasure in doing it His way. This includes but is not limited to a disciplined prayer life, dedication to study of His word and treating others well.
Don’t be intimidated by structure but instead lay out how you will live. Choose the difficult road that leads to a better life, a life well lived is worth the journey.
This is the next step to changing your life forever, bringing order out of chaos through discipline.
