Learning to have self-control
I learn this topic "A choice not to do it" during my devotional time this morning, and I find that it is really important, especially for me, to have self-control.
J.Oswald Sanders said :" It has been well said that the future is with the disciplined, and that quality has been placed first in our list, for without it the other gifts, however great, will never reach their maximum potential. Only the disciplined person will rise to his highest powers. He is able to lead because he has conquered himself".
Galatians 5 :22 -23 says " the fruit of the Spirit is ... self-control"
It mentioned about the fruit of the spirit : love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. we can love, we can feel joy and peace, but God's self- control helps us to live like that. this also applies to the other fruits of the spirit that are mentioned above.
I often forget about this topic, self-control, and when I read this devotional, I just realise that most of the time, I do stuff that is based on my impulse. well, basically self-control means "dont do it!" or " the abiliy to say no". so what are the area that we need to say no??
well, here they are :
1. FOOD. most of the time, I feel that I eat unnecessarilly. Of course we can eat, but, dont let food cause us to become not disciplined. a simple example will be we tend to give in our temptation of food and end up eating more than what we need, and guess what? we spend time more on food, our scales says that we gain weight, can you see if there's any benefit that it does to us?
I also admit that when im stress, i eat uncontrollably, whatever that i find in my room, i'll eat them (hahha.. bad bad..),I guess in my case, what matter is if i cant control myself for not to eat, how can i control myself on other more important stuff like studying?
2. THOUGHTS. believe me, our thoughts can go wild. It may start from simple things, but if we let out thoughts to drive us, it can end up in a bad result. for example, starting to think negatively about someone who is trying to be good to u.
3. MONEY AND POSSESSIONS. OMG OMG. this is so true. well, i am not a shopaholic, but my bad habit is i buy stuff by impulse. When I want something at that moment, I have to get it no matter what. Most of the time, the stuff that I get is not what I really need. Obviously this is bad because I will end up regretting what I did.
4. SEXUAL STRUGGLES. well, for this area, since I am single, so it doesn really affect me that much, but again, I need to aware of this, since the society is so corrupted with the idea of "having sex before marriage". So.. i need to remind myself again, because again, the flesh is weak.
NOW,so with all the temptations in front of us, how do we defeat them? --->> let's check it out from the bible
FOOD - 1 Corinthians 10:31 - so whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God
THOUGHTS - Philipians 4:8 - whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things
MONEY AND POSSESSIONS -1 John 2:15-17 - do not love the world or anything in the world. if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. the world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever
SEXUAL STRUGGLES - 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 - flee from sexual immorality. all other sins a man commits are outside his body but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not you own; YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE. therefore, honor God with you body
So, let's us learn how to have self-control in this area of life. btw, the sharing that I just gave was from the book called "A young woman after God's own heart" by Elizabeth George. It is really a good book, u wouldnt believe how much I have grown spiritually just by reading that book. There's a version for man and young man too. So, if you are also interested in becoming a woman of God's own heart, why not u try to read it too? It may change your life forever =)
I just volunteered today in SAMARITAN PURSE, where you pack shoe boxes with the presents for the children who are less fortunate. I joined last year and I dont wanna miss it too this year because it is just wonderful how we can be blessing for the children who are needy. I just feel that, living as Christian without an act of kindness doesnot represent God in us ,i.e. we cant be called as God's children. so I encourage all of you to find and join as many volunteering activities as you can because if we want to change the world to be a better living place, it starts from we changing ourselves.
GBU
^v^
J.Oswald Sanders said :" It has been well said that the future is with the disciplined, and that quality has been placed first in our list, for without it the other gifts, however great, will never reach their maximum potential. Only the disciplined person will rise to his highest powers. He is able to lead because he has conquered himself".
Galatians 5 :22 -23 says " the fruit of the Spirit is ... self-control"
It mentioned about the fruit of the spirit : love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. we can love, we can feel joy and peace, but God's self- control helps us to live like that. this also applies to the other fruits of the spirit that are mentioned above.
I often forget about this topic, self-control, and when I read this devotional, I just realise that most of the time, I do stuff that is based on my impulse. well, basically self-control means "dont do it!" or " the abiliy to say no". so what are the area that we need to say no??
well, here they are :
1. FOOD. most of the time, I feel that I eat unnecessarilly. Of course we can eat, but, dont let food cause us to become not disciplined. a simple example will be we tend to give in our temptation of food and end up eating more than what we need, and guess what? we spend time more on food, our scales says that we gain weight, can you see if there's any benefit that it does to us?
I also admit that when im stress, i eat uncontrollably, whatever that i find in my room, i'll eat them (hahha.. bad bad..),I guess in my case, what matter is if i cant control myself for not to eat, how can i control myself on other more important stuff like studying?
2. THOUGHTS. believe me, our thoughts can go wild. It may start from simple things, but if we let out thoughts to drive us, it can end up in a bad result. for example, starting to think negatively about someone who is trying to be good to u.
3. MONEY AND POSSESSIONS. OMG OMG. this is so true. well, i am not a shopaholic, but my bad habit is i buy stuff by impulse. When I want something at that moment, I have to get it no matter what. Most of the time, the stuff that I get is not what I really need. Obviously this is bad because I will end up regretting what I did.
4. SEXUAL STRUGGLES. well, for this area, since I am single, so it doesn really affect me that much, but again, I need to aware of this, since the society is so corrupted with the idea of "having sex before marriage". So.. i need to remind myself again, because again, the flesh is weak.
NOW,so with all the temptations in front of us, how do we defeat them? --->> let's check it out from the bible
FOOD - 1 Corinthians 10:31 - so whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God
THOUGHTS - Philipians 4:8 - whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things
MONEY AND POSSESSIONS -1 John 2:15-17 - do not love the world or anything in the world. if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. the world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever
SEXUAL STRUGGLES - 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 - flee from sexual immorality. all other sins a man commits are outside his body but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not you own; YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE. therefore, honor God with you body
So, let's us learn how to have self-control in this area of life. btw, the sharing that I just gave was from the book called "A young woman after God's own heart" by Elizabeth George. It is really a good book, u wouldnt believe how much I have grown spiritually just by reading that book. There's a version for man and young man too. So, if you are also interested in becoming a woman of God's own heart, why not u try to read it too? It may change your life forever =)
I just volunteered today in SAMARITAN PURSE, where you pack shoe boxes with the presents for the children who are less fortunate. I joined last year and I dont wanna miss it too this year because it is just wonderful how we can be blessing for the children who are needy. I just feel that, living as Christian without an act of kindness doesnot represent God in us ,i.e. we cant be called as God's children. so I encourage all of you to find and join as many volunteering activities as you can because if we want to change the world to be a better living place, it starts from we changing ourselves.
GBU
^v^
It is amusing to know that no matter how strong our will is, we can NEVER be able to “defeat” temptations. The only way to deal with temptations is to RUN AWAY from it. Go as far as we can. Which is one of the sentences found in OUR FATHER PRAYER (the one taught by Jesus): “and l us not into temptation”; for we can’t really fight it.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is to have something called “tolerance” in our life. It is the fastest way to lead us straight into temptations. It might seem harmless to spend few dollars on something we tempted to buy; however, it will lead closer to the following temptations.
In Christ
whenrys!
Woops! just realised there is a typo! it should be: : "and lead us not into temptation"
ReplyDeleteIn Christ
whenrys!