Self-Control is God's Control (Part 2)

In yesterday's devotional we looked at the need to choose life. Today we look at the way in which we choose it. Paul wrote that God’s forgiveness for us on the Calvary is the very the reason that we should choose life. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1, NIV). Discipline begins with what God has given us—our own bodies. Each day we move and make choices, each moment is a living sacrifice.

Sometimes we want to be obedient, but still we can’t seem to surrender that one area which plagues us. Yet, if we consider submission as an act of worship, then the option of not submitting becomes blasphemous. When we are obedient, daily decisions are born from our love for God. His desire becomes more important than our desire, because He became a living sacrifice for us. “You were taught with regard to your former way of life,” Paul also wrote, “to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). When you are obedient to God's Word, you submit to Him and put on your new self. You are renewed, changed, and transformed (Romans 12:2).

“You were created to be holy like the Lord!” Paul continued. “So put on your new self” (Ephesians 4:24). For our attitudes and our thoughts to be new—for them to ultimately affect our actions—we must put on our new spiritual self daily. True holiness is born because our minds are renewed, and our hearts long to submit to the Lord. Our daily decisions are born of this inner renewal. We can either say yes or no to what we know is right. We choose blessing or curse by our decision. Ultimately we choose spiritual death or spiritual life in Jesus Christ. When we say yes, the Holy Spirit empowers our decision. The daily habit of submitting to God, not only in prayer and study but in thought and action, changes us. We become the new creature God birthed in us at salvation.

 

“Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b, NIV). Surrender your mind to the Holy Spirit and a miracle occurs. The battle to control the actions of your body, having already been won in the spirit of your mind, becomes easier. You become dependent on God's power instead of relying on your own ability. In “The Prayer of Jabez”, Bruce Wilkinson writes, “God’s power, under us, in us, surging through us, is exactly what turns dependence into unforgettable experiences of completeness.” What makes complete dependence upon the Lord an unforgettable experience? Our willingness to submit our spirit to His Spirit and our actual submission of mind and body to His Spirit, releases the power of the Holy Spirit to “complete us”. You never forget when God makes you whole!

Self-control is really not “my” self-control. It is Holy Spirit control. God is faithful to empower my hardest battle and yours, but we must allow Him to make us whole by giving Him every aspect of our lives. When we submit ourselves to be completed by Him, our greatest battle shall no longer be ours. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through,” Paul exhorted. “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, NIV). As God changes us, we are made new in the attitude of our mind. The ability to control ourselves is empowered by Him. Self-control truly becomes His control.

Self-Control is God's Control (Part 1)

What is an area of your life where you battle something which controls you? Whatever your battle, and whatever mine, God wishes for us to have one thing in common—a deep longing to be like Christ. As one of the nine fruit of the Spirit, self-control reveals the depth of God's spiritual transformation within us. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23a). Whether self-control is real or not speaks just how much control we have submitted to Jesus Christ.

“Now you know what you should do,” Paul reminded the Thessalonians. “It is God’s will that you should be holy. You should be masters of your own body. This brings honor to God. Certainly don’t give away to lust like people who don’t the Lord! Don’t ever forget God has called you be to be pure” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7)! We are to honor God by mastering our personal battles. In the very next verse, Paul makes it clear what happens when we refuse. “Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 4:8). We either decide for God, or decide for ourselves. Moses instructed the Israelites to choose life or death, blessing or curse (Deuteronomy 30: 19-20). Choosing life in Jesus brings spiritual blessing. When we are out of control, we reject God’s instruction and choose a life without the Holy Spirit. Without discipline we choose death.

Pretty strong stuff, isn’t it? You feel it is impossible? “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach,” Moses told the Israelites concerning God’s instruction to choose life. “It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). If God’s Word is cherished within your heart you have the ability to choose life. Your potential to accomplish the positive is infinite.

Self-control is choosing life. Tomorrow we will look at the way we are transformed by the Holy Spirit through submission. It is our spiritual act of worship. And if we say yes, He can accomplish and control what we struggle with each day of our lives.

Use Your Gift for His Purpose

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have” (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, NLT). Spiritual gifts are also mentioned in Romans 12:6-10 and Ephesians 4:11.

You have been given certain spiritual gifts by God. These are gifts that the Lord has chosen for you to help build and edify believers in Jesus Christ. Whatever spiritual gifts God has chosen for you, use each one for the benefit of the body of Christ. When using your spiritual gifts properly and in the way that the Holy Spirit desires, believers are encouraged, trained in righteousness, unified in purpose, and receive a passion to share the Good News that Jesus Christ brings to a lost world.

Whatever gifts the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon you, allow Him to use them in your life. Don't neglect them (1 Timothy 4:14a). Only use them under His divine direction for His purpose. If they are not exercised in His power and in His anointing they will remain fruitless. No one will be edified. His purpose will not be served, and in fact, spiritual damage may be the result. You and I are absolutely accountable for all He has given to us. What we do with each gift and how we use each gift reveals if God's desires are fulfilled or not. If you in humility surrender each gift to His hand, He will use each gift in your life to bring about His purpose. Through each gift, appropriately exercised in His power, lives will change. Believers will seek Him; prayer will become a way of life; the Word will bring life to dry bones, and the church will rise to become His instrument of power for greater service.

Your gifts are just that.... gifts. He has chosen wisely for you. He knows you intimately, but for you to know and exercise the gifts that He has chosen for you, you must know Him intimately. You seek Him, and not the gift. You do not choose your gift. He chooses, and bestows as He wishes because He knows which gifts are the best for you. Love Him only. Open your heart to receive, and use what He pours into you. Don't ever neglect what He has chosen for your greatest potential. When you have experienced what He can accomplish through your surrendered life, you yearn to be consumed by all of His power. You cry out in complete surrender, just as Peter did, “Lord, wash all of me!”

Come Hungry

“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied” (Luke 6:21a, NIV).

When you come to a feast you come hungry. You haven't eaten much that day in anticipation of what you are going to be offered. You have waited expectantly for that feast, and you can't wait to be filled with it riches. This is just an earthly feast. Its riches do no last. It is there at one moment filling you to overflowing and then gone the next. You have partaken of its earthly bounty, but it has offered no lasting sustenance. Its riches have left you deflated and without purpose. You are empty once more. Like Esau you have filled yourself with the immediate satisfaction of a rich blessing, but have lost the promise of a lasting one.

Jesus' feast is like no earthly one. He prepares a table of spiritual riches that satisfies the deepest spiritual void in your life. His feast isn't devoured in an instant and then gone the next. His feast is everlasting, and the richness of its offering is constant. When you come spiritually hungry to His table for the spiritual feast he has prepared for you, your emptiness is satisfied. Sometimes you come in desperation. Feasting ravenously on His riches, you discover sustenance and help for your time of need. Other times you come with a deep hunger for the life-changing richness that offers joy and peace no matter what your earthly circumstance. Other times you come to just bask in the richness of His glory. But you come. You ingest the richness of His truth, and its nutrition fuels and nurtures your life. Each morsel of His life fills you with what earthly riches could never give. You feast on the unshakeable Kingdom of God―the feast that never ends.

Feast upon His bounty. Feast upon His Word. Feast upon His presence. Feast upon His promise. Feast upon His glory. Feast upon His life given so that you might partake. Come hungry. Feast and be filled.

Abiding

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4, KJV). “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:4, NIV). 

Abide. Remain. Whichever word we use, they tell us the same thing. We are to abide and remain in God's presence. It is there where we are transformed, and it is there where we find the sustenance which brings an abundant harvest in our lives. David Wilkerson in his book “Secrets of the Vine” wrote “Abiding is an act of faith―a radical expression that you value God's unrestricted presence in your life more than any immediate sensation. If you think you must always have strong feelings to know that you have been with God, you will go away from your devoted times disappointed. Before long you will say that 'Abiding did not work for me.'” 

Did you catch that statement? Abiding is an act of faith. If you want more of God in your life, you will “by faith” believe He will honor the time that you devote to seeking Him. It it true that the more you want Him, the more you find Him. You might also notice that David Wilkerson uses the word “devoted” time instead of “devotional” time. He does this to emphasize the fact that your time with God is one that should be “set apart” just for Him....devoted only to Him. Your time with God is not just a time to be stirred by a devotional, but a time to be changed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Abiding in God's presence is also not based on feelings. My time with God is the close intimate sharing of a deep personal relationship, and not the tingling sensation of a feeling. Sometimes there will a feeling of joyful wonder in the Holy Spirit, but sometimes not. In my “devoted times”, I draw closer to the the Holy Spirit so that He can transform and prune my life to bring a greater harvest. I will eventually reach a place where abiding in Jesus becomes more than just being with Him during a “devoted time”. My hunger will increase beyond bounds, and I shall discover the truth of what Brother Lawrence, a 17th century “lay Christian” had to say. “I do nothing else but abiding in His Holy presence, and I do this by simple attentiveness and an habitual loving turning of my eyes on Him. This I call... a wordless and secret conversation between the soul and God which no longer ends.” 

If I remain in Him, He will remain in me. If I want to live an abundant life for Him, I must deal with any sin that stands in my way with a relationship with Him. I must be disciplined by Him, and I must repent. If my life is filled with “selfish” things that keep me from discovering my potential in Hm, I must be willing to be pruned so that He can bring forth abundance in my life. In the times of discipline and pruning, He acts and brings pressure to bear to make changes in my life. In the time of abiding, I act.  I choose to abide in Him, and when I do, He abides in me. Abiding “works” in my life when I have allowed Him to discipline me if I have sinned. It works in my life when I have allowed Him to prune things that must be removed or prioritized. If my life is bearing fruit, I can enter into a “Brother Lawrence” spiritual state of abiding that brings a greater joy and assurance that nothing can destroy or touch. Abiding and walking in His Spirit becomes a way of life.

Extending Mercy

Extending Mercy

The grace of Jesus Christ forgave me. Unforgiveness is a disease that eats at your very soul, and destroys your life. In the following parable in John 18:21-35 (the Message) Jesus speaks of unforgiveness and its consequences.

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At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”

Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

“The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

“The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

“The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’

“The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

“The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”

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One day when I begged for mercy, Jesus Christ forgave me. His grace forgave all my debt. He looked past all that I had done―all that I owed Him, and paid the debt with His life. He looked beyond my fault, heard the cry of my heart, and erased all my debt. I didn't deserve this kind of unmerited favor that would die for me. But grace is not about what I deserve! If it was I would be forever lost in the grip of sin with no hope. Grace is about the greatest love that forgave my sin, and paid my debt in full!

When I asked Jesus Christ into my life, I received His mercy. When someone asks for forgiveness I am called to extend mercy. If He forgave me, how can I not also forgive someone who asks? If I do not forgive others their sins, God will not forgive my sins (Matthew 6:15). Like a flowing stream, grace must never be withheld. It must flow from His life to mine, and from mine to others. If I withhold mercy, I will drown in the stagnant water of my own making. The Holy Spirit will retreat from my life, and I shall be held in the bondage of despair from all that I have lost.

Forgiveness sets me free. It frees my heart and another person's life. It protects me from the prison of unforgiveness where debt seeks payment. Forgiveness keeps my heart and spirit soft and pliable in the hands of the Master who forgave me. When His grace in my life is unconditionally extended, I come to truly understand the love that died for me.

His Word Still Breathes Life

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:1-5, NLT).

Before all else―before creation―before the first breath of life, the Word breathed. God was the Word. The Word was not only with the Creator, the Word was Him. God and the Word were one. He was its author and life-giver, its Truth and its purpose. That purpose brought forth His creation, and nothing came into being unless it came through His Truth and His Word. His life-giving Truth became substance, and substance became matter. And His Creation came into existence. His Word gave life to all that He had created. Into man God breathed His own life and light (Genesis 2:7). His light now shines in the darkness, and darkness can never put it out.

Whatever the state of the world around you―whatever controls it―whatever you face in this life―whatever attempts to strike terror in your heart―His Word still breathes. His Truth still lives through His Word. His light still shines. It can never be extinguished. You are His creation, and Jesus Christ, the light that can never be extinguished, desires to live in you and to breathe life into your existence. If you take Him into your life, and live only for Him, His light shines in you. He becomes your life. That life―His light―can never be put out if you continually seek Him and surrender to His will. His life will live in you forever―just as His Word will live forever.

His Truth and His Word, continually shine in the darkness bringing His light and life to His creation. No matter what His creation becomes, His Word lives and breathes and lights the world. It can never be extinguished. Do not allow darkness to put out the beautiful gift of His life that God has breathed into you. Let His light shine in you illuminating, revealing, and promising hope. Jesus Christ, through the gift of His own life, has overcome the world. Nothing can ever overcome He who created everything. His Word still breathes life!

Help Me to Perceive Your Truth

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, NIV).

Life is not always easy. It is especially not easy when I allow the enemy to distort what is true. His distortion might certainly appear to be truth, but it never is. I must pray and seek beneath his lies to see God’s truth in each matter. The appearances of people and circumstances do not always reveal what is true. Sometimes my mind can run rampant with wrong perceptions. My mind is where the enemy's lies can take root. But it is also where God's truth and promises can be realized. God wants me to trust what He tells me and not what my mind tells me. He advises that I not hold my own understanding above His own.

The parables Jesus taught are meant to reveal life lessons to those who cannot grasp or believe truth without seeing examples and hearing explanations. There is always a greater spiritual meaning than what my mind may initially perceive. The Lord wishes me to understand His truth in a matter without having to hear or see in order to believe. No matter what the enemy might lie about―no matter what he might distort or my own mind might conjure up, there is always God's truth that reigns. There is always more beneath the surface that Jesus means for me to understand. He explained this to His disciples in Matthew 13:13-15 when speaking about those He taught. “This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”

I do not want to have a calloused heart and mind that listens to the enemy’s lies, and never perceives what the Holy Spirit really imparts. I don't want to be ever hearing and never understanding or seeing and never perceiving. I want to perceive with an open heart, ears, eyes, and mind all the truth He wishes to reveal through His Word. The Holy Spirit speaks hope to me, and the enemy speaks defeat. Jesus speaks life, and the enemy speaks death. The Lord wishes me to grow so much spiritually that the lies of the enemy cannot distort the truth He reveals. I long for Him to see in me the qualities He saw in His disciples! “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (Matthew 13:16-17).

Help, me, Lord, to be one of these who hear, see, and understand your truth with my heart, spirit, and mind. When I seek and allow this intimacy with you, I will be healed in depths of mind, heart, and character that surpass anything I have ever known.

To Love and Be Loved

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:9,11-12, NIV).

Have you ever felt that you will never accomplish anything of worth? Have you ever believed that there is nothing you can say or do that will ever make a difference? Have you ever known the burden of expectation that seems out of reach? At some point in your life you have experienced rejection, discouragement, despair, and pain. At some point you have felt that you were just not good enough. I am what I think I am (Proverbs 27:3). If I believe I am worthless, I am worthless. Whether I realize it or not, I “do unto others” what has been done unto me. If I have been labeled as never quite being good enough, then I pass that negativism along in my expectations of those I love. If I see myself as being beyond hope, then I see others in the same light.

Into this seemingly endless cycle of despair at never quite being good enough, God attempts to break into our negative and pessimistic minds. He waits to speak life to all that we have suffered in our past, life to our present, and life to our future. He wants who I am to be found in Him alone. He wishes for us to realize that unlike what expectations we may have felt from others, whether real or imagined, His expectation is thoroughly attainable. He sees the promise in my life where another might not see it, and, if I truly listen to Him and obey His instruction, then I will find release from my human failures. I will discover who I really am. In His love, I can break that bondage of despair and frustration. I can do more than just hope one day that I can “become” free of all that has defined who I am, I can choose to really “be” free.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child” (1 Corinthians 13:11a). I was once a child. So were you. Those who loved us watched us struggle to crawl or learn to walk. They watched every move we made, expecting to see miraculous change. They rejoiced over us when we achieved a new accomplishment, and they were sad when we failed. We were only little children wanting to me loved for who we were right at that moment―not for any accomplishment. God does not love us because of anything we have done. He loves us because of what He has done for us. When we accept His love, the bondage is broken, and we are able to not only know freedom, but to extend freedom in our expectation of others.

Our Father God longs for our joy to be complete. For us to know His love that breaks bondage we must remain in Him, and love with His love. We are to love others as He has loved us. He has sent us to each other “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:1-3,NIV).

May we learn to love as He has loved us―to speak life to each heart instead of death―to speak blessing instead of failure―to speak joy instead of despair―to speak life full of peace and healing―to see promise where we have seen failure―to believe in what cannot be seen, and to know that one day it will be true. Instead of someone who feels unloved and unable to give that love away, we will become a great “planting of the Lord”―one that displays His splendor of a heart that has been set free. We will love as He has loved us.

Rest

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28, NIV).


Life sometimes overwhelms. At times it drains and exhausts. When I am tired, life can deplete what little strength I have left. “Come to me,” the Lord whispers. “Bring your weariness from your burdens, and I will give you rest.” I go to Him for perfect rest. But I don't just go. I wait. I seek His presence. I let go of all that pulls me down and drains my heart and spirit. And I stay with Him. I stop all that rushes my mind, races my impatient heart, and disturbs my spirit. I go to Him because I know that He alone is my help in my time of need, and the restorer of all that is broken in my life. He is unchanging in His presence. His love is constant. His comfort is constant. He soothes all that tears me apart. I give Him my weary heart and my burden. I lay them down upon His altar and wait until His peace fills every crevice of my tired and hurting soul. He is my respite from all that would destroy me. He rescues me from my own impatient heart


His rest is fearless. His rest is strength. His rest is patience and peace; my mind is free from thought. Yet in my freedom from thought, my spirit hungers deeply for more of Him. The need to analyze and have answers is gone. His rest supplies all that I lack. His rest is complete, and is all that I need to finish my journey. I rest in Him until He shows me it is time to go again―until my spirit sings with His strength and purpose.


Whatever your struggle or pain or heartache or want, rest in Him until you are strong again, and your spirit is renewed. Be still and patient; know that He is your God. Leave your burden at His feet. He will lift your head up again. He will raise you up. He will speak hope to your defeated spirit. You are rich in Him, and He will supply all your needs. You, too, will rise again in His strength and purpose.