WEDNESDAY'S WORD - SELF CONTROL- 07/30/19 Sadell Bradley New Life Covenant

   

"God is waiting eagerly to respond with new strength to each little act of self-control, small disciplines of prayer, feeble searching after Him, And His children shall be filled if they will only hunger and thirst after what He offers." - Richard Holloway - Writer  

 

16So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions...

19When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

 

22But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:16-23, NLT) 

   

SELF-CONTROL is the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations.  The ability to control yourself, particularly in trials, is a fruit or manifestation of God's Spirit living within you. The inability to do so, reflects that your flesh and it's appetites are really what's ruling your behavior. You've made your body, your passions, or your emotions an idol...a god that steers your decisions and directions. This is not just a natural propensity that runs in your family, nor do you get a pass because you're going through something really hard right now. If your flesh is producing ungodly behaviors (gluttony, lies, pornography, greed/spending, excessive anger...) God might be pushing His maturity button on the area of self-control. You might need to repent.    

 

That was pretty direct, but that's just how we need to deal with our lack of self-control. If we view our propensity to allow the cravings of our flesh to rule as just a nuisance, we will not ask God's Spirit to grace us with the strength we need to please Him fully in holiness. Sometimes my body is running the show. Paul said, "...I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:27) As hard as it is, we have to make our flesh obey God's Spirit within. "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:15) When you look at what's going in and out of your life gates (your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your thoughts) who or what is ruling? Is it God's Spirit? If not, self-control is what you need.