Self Control and Self Discipline - The Power of the Holy Spirit Working in You

Would  you like to be better able to exercise greater self control in your life?

You could use self control and personal discipline to: lose weight, stop snacking, take better care of your body... to get out of debt or improve your financial situation... how tackling about substance abuse, gaming addiction, etc. All of the above are worthy goals which self control and discipline can help you reach.

 Your Creator/Father wants you to develop the quality of self discipline. But His goals are even higher than a better bank statement, better health, escaping addiction. For the children of God developing self control is about becoming like your Father in attitude and thought… which moves you forward in the process of spiritual creation... so you can mature into the fullness of sonship in the Family of God.

God’s method for developing self control in you  is as different as His goals. The type of self control God has in mind is not gotten through the strength of your own will... but through desiring and allowing His power flowing through you.  You gain control by giving control of your life to Him.

SPS: Today we are going to look into how the power of God's Spirit and your freedom to choose create meaningful self control/self discipline over your thoughts, emotions, and habits.

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The Power of the Holy Spirit

The Power of God at Work in You

John 7:37 We are not the source of the water... instead it flows into us and then out from us. Think of the Psalm that sings of the righteous person as a tree planted by the water. The tree does not produce the water, it sends its roots down deep into the ground to gather water, and it uses that water to produce leaves, to grow, and to put out fruit.

If the power of God is flowing into and out of a person you can expect to see self control and self discipline in their life. It is one of the outcomes of God’s spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 - if the power of the holy spirit is something God gives you... and that spirit in you produces self control... then you should wonder... do I play in this whole process… or am I just a puppet in God’s hands?

2 Peter 1:5-6 indicates you do have a role to play... give diligence/effort, and add to/supplement. Your role is to choose to let the spirit work in you, to consciously decide to follow its lead.

In What Areas of Life Does God Want You To Grow in Self Control?

There are many remarkable people in this world who exhibit a lot of self control and self discipline. Through discipline and self control people quit smoking, lose 100 pounds, earn advanced degrees,  fine tune their body to athletic perfection, achieve amazing musical performances, etc. In general, we admire people who get these sort of results.

Sometimes they do it for the express purpose of being admired by us, more often they do it to gain wealth & comfort, or perhaps they do it to build up their own feelings of self worth. In other words for some sort of reward.  It would be wrong to deny them their reward in the here and now... they worked for it, they earned it, they should get it.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 for  you there is more at stake than merely developing the quality of self-control or self discipline. A person who earns a masters in chemical engineering probably develops a lot of self discipline along the way… but its not a fruit of the spirit. It is not moving him or her closer to spiritual maturity. Unless, or until, that self control and discipline is applied to the matters God want addressed… the CEO is no different from the person faithfully toiling away on the assembly line. God is not a respecter of persons based on their material accomplishments.

Self control & discipline that moves a person towards the goal of eternal life begins with understanding and accepting His commandments, judgments and statutes. These spell out acts of obedience related to sex, money, truth violence, authority, proper worship, greed, envy, resentment, judgment mercy, faith, and more.

To Do and Not Do according to the commandments is the subject material for learning spiritual self control and self discipline. Actually the same can be said of all the character traits of our Father Creator; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness… and self control.

The Holy Spirit Helps You Achieve Self Control

1. The holy spirit helps you understand the biblical instructions convicting you of their validity, necessity, and goodness.

2. The power of the spirit reminds you, it prods you, it guilts you about problem areas in your life…

3. It does this through the written testimony of God... commonly called the bible.

The holy spirit is the power of God and Christ helping you... always at you side... saying "here's what we should do in this situation... how 'bout it? ... let's go for it". But it doesn’t force you.

The Holy Spirit Flows Through  You

The goodness, or righteousness, that result are not a matter of you reaching deep inside to access and release some goodness that is within yourself. The resulting goodness and righteousness area matter of you tapping into something external from you. Your access to that external something else is God’s word.  In it you gain access to knowledge otherwise inaccessible to the human mind. The bible is not the distilled of humanity collected over the millenia… it is a completely new way of thinking very much alien to You, or me, or any human being.

You can choose to let it flow into you. You can choose to put it into action. This active choosing puts the self in self-control. This exercise of choice is your spirit working together with God's spirit to bring about a new creation, a new person… a spirit born child of God.

Lets look at 3 areas where self control is important:

Exerting Self Control Over Thoughts

2 Timothy 1:6 what goes on in the mind is going to express itself in behavior. If you entertain ungodly patterns of thought they are going to lead to ungodly patterns of action. God's purpose is to work with you to accomplish a transforming of your mind into the mind of a mature spiritual child of God... a sound mind… a self controlled mind.

You have to choose to have this kind of mind present, active, and flowing through you. Remember it is God's mind and way of thinking not yours... but you actively participate in allowing it to work in you... get yourself out of the way.

Romans 8:5-8 we tend to only think of the way of the flesh in terms of sex, greed, and the other works of the flesh itemized in Galatians 5:19. Addressing these matters is top priority... however, I want to go back to our worldly achiever, the amazing musician, the Olympic athlete, the person working hard to get ahead on the job, the couple who want to have the most beautiful house on the street.

They exert self control and discipline to achieve their goals. Their goals are not sinful. Yet, their achievements are still of the flesh... they do not blaze a path to immortality... impressive on the surface but where do they go? What do they lead to? Unless the self control developed in reaching these goals is applied to spiritual matters.

 The path to everlasting life involves drilling down deep into the human mind and addressing matters that don't seem very important... and certainly won't win you any gold medals.  

Here is a mundane example; controlling your words. Words are similar in many ways to thoughts... you could call them thoughts that are shared. James 1:26; 3:2. Controlling what you say isn't likely to impress people but its very important to God. Controlling your words is spiritual discipline that affects how you think.

Philippians 4:8 make the effort to think about positive things. Note: listening to yourself talk can give you insight into the true nature of  your thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 Christ's power is in you to help you... asking is this how Christ thinks? … asking is this something He would say?

Exerting Self Control Over Emotions

Control over your emotions does not mean that your goal is to be without emotions (Buddhism). Emotions of themselves are not wrong... God created  you with emotions… emotion is part of God's creation which He declared to be good… God has emotions… emotions are part of the mind of God.

There is a time to be sad --> there is a time to be angry --> there is a time to be happy --> a time to be excited/passionate

Your Father Creator's goals for you is to CONTROL your emotions rather than be controlled by them. The ability to express the right emotion at the right time in the right manner…. as He does.

Proverbs 25:28 means to have no defenses against attackers. Without control of you emotions you will be under constant attack by marauders... and therefore controlled by marauders.

With the help of Christ's spirit we gain control over our emotions.

For example: lets say someone has violated our trust. Our natural [fleshly] emotions will be a desire for vengeance, feelings of resentment, and hatred.

l God's spirit points us back to the word which reminds us:  vengeance and judgment are God's to deal with. He will judge and punish. So, we can let go of that... and let God control it.

l God's spirit points us back to the word which says replace hatred and resentment with forgiveness. We can pray that they come to their senses, see the error of their ways and change. So, we can let go of that set of emotions as well. Through that choice to let go we are actually exerting control.

l God's word also let's us know it's probably a good idea to avoid either that person or the set of circumstances that led to the problem. So, we don't let the negative emotions started all over again… we exert control by controlling the environment.

Exerting Self Control Over Habits

Through repetition patterns of behavior get imprinted and reinforced on the circuitry of our brain. they become our default procedure, our go to response to stimuli. Because of the way our brains are wired, actions that feel good get repeated and reinforced... "we enjoy sin, we just don't enjoy its consequences".

Proverbs 25:16 your body likes sugar, it appeals to the senses, but use it incorrectly and it will kill you [diabetes]. This can be applied to other indulgences in promiscuity, substance abuse, gossiping... they feel good... until they don't.

Control bad habits by changing the circumstances that lead up to the act of indulgence. Remove yourself from the situation. The bible does not say “walk right up to the thing that tempts you… be strong and  stare ‘em in the eye til they leave you alone”… the bible says get out of there!

1 Corinthians 6:8, 1 Timothy 6:10-12, 2 Timothy 2:22, John 10:5

Conclusion: Your Action Plan

4. Be honest with yourself and admit you have a lack of self-control

5. Confess to God in prayer and fasting regarding the area where you know you lacked self-control

6. Study what the Bible says about the topic say for example Envy or greed or lust.

7. Analyze what character traits or what circumstances lead to the problem for example.

8. Analyze what you must do to address these traits or circumstances.

9. Make a plan and measure your progress.

Get support from others. Another great reason why you need to be at church. Pray for one another.

At first blush self-control can seem confining.  But actually self control gives you a sense of freedom… in that you are not ruled by negative emotions, bad habits, dark thoughts, of the fruits of the flesh. Finally, self control offers you freedom from despair and hopelessness. freedom from broken relationships, addiction sloth and from the need to control others.

Get in control… let go… follow God… feel the freedom.