The Fruit of the Spirit (Self-Control)

April 16, 2023

The Fruit of the Spirit (Self-Control)

What is Self-Control?

Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit found in the book of Galatians written by the Apostle Paul. Galatians 5:22-23 states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Every fruit listed in these powerful verses of Scripture are necessary for our development as believers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word self-control used is the Greek word egkrateia which means the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his or her sensual appetites. The reason why this is so significant is because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we can’t live just any kind of way. We need to represent Christ in everything that we do.

Merriam’s Dictionary describes self-control as: restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires. When you take a closer look at this explanation of self-control taken from the dictionary, you can conclude that it is describing the works of the flesh. Our impulses, emotions, and desires have a direct impact on our level of restraint.

The fruit of self-control is one of the most difficult ones to establish because you have to be willing to relinquish complete control over to the Lord. The fact is that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that you can successfully develop self-controlled lives. What that will require is you yielding to God’s Spirit and allowing Him to help you improve on positive character traits like self-control.

What that means is that you are saying yes to what pleases God and no to what displeases Him. In your Christian life you are going to come across situations that will make you want to fulfill the desires of your flesh. Remember the enemy knows how to ensnare you in his trap and won’t hesitate to try to get you to go against God’s laws.

This is why restraint is so important because it prevents you from allowing your flesh to be in charge. Being led and controlled by the Holy Spirit will help you sustain a pure heart thus preventing you from living a life contrary to God’s Word. It will take discipline and the willingness to let go of being in the driver seat and letting the Lord completely take that wheel.

I am going to go over some Scriptures pertaining to self-control so that you can have an idea of what it really is.

2 Samuel 11:4

“Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house.”

These powerful verses of Scripture are extremely telling when it comes to a faithful servant of God (David) allowing his sinful desires to override his self-control. Remember, David is called a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14) meaning that he was no stranger to being led by the Lord. Unfortunately he allowed his flesh to take over instead of demonstrating restraint.

The disobedience to God and God’s will for his life took him on a path of destruction. David knew in his heart that what he was doing was dishonorable but decided to do it anyway. Greed goes right alongside with the lack of self-control. A person will allow their self-indulgence to cause them to hinder their relationship with the Lord. It is never worth it.

God gives David a very detailed message in 2 Samuel 12:8 when He states, “I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!”

In other words the Lord is saying that David had everything he could ever want and if he wanted more, the Lord would’ve provided it for him. Due to David’s greed and inability to control the desires of his flesh he chose to make one of the biggest mistakes of his life and it cost him his child, 2 Samuel 12:15-18.

2 Samuel 11:11

“And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

David had already slept with Uriah’s wife at this point and is attempting to cover his sin with more sin. Having a lack of self-control is a complete understatement at this point. David was fully operating in his flesh completely disregarding the fact that he was a man of God.

So, he calls Uriah out of an active war so that he can convince him to sleep with his wife and make it seem like the baby that Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife) had conceived with David was his. This completely backfires on David because Uriah being the perfect example of self-control and integrity put his needs aside because Israel and Judah were still in the middle of the war.

Uriah wasn’t concerned with sleeping with his wife or relaxing at home for the night, he wanted to ensure that the ark (where God’s presence dwelt at that time) was protected. He was an honest man and wanted nothing more than to go back into the battle to help fight in the war.

Since David couldn’t trick Uriah he comes up with another plan, to have him killed in the front lines of the combat that he was fighting in. 2 Samuel 11:14-15 details, “In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”

Can you just imagine carrying a letter back to your commander that would lead to your own demise? It really can’t get any shadier than that! This is a perfect of example of what sin can do to a person’s heart. David was a man of God that absolutely loved the Lord but his lack of self-control put him in a situation that kept getter worse and worse.

Uriah was just an innocent person stuck in the middle of a circumstance that he did not create. However, the Lord was not going to just let David get away with all of the evil that he did. Uriah’s death was avenged and the Lord put David right back in his place. This was a disastrous situation that could have easily been avoided had David had enough self-control to prevent his lust from getting the best of him.

Genesis 39:7-9

“And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”

But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

Joseph is another example of what it means to have complete self-control. In order to put this passage of Scripture into perspective we need to take a deeper look into the life of Joseph. He was a man that had already gone through so much in his lifetime. He was extremely favored by his father and his brothers could not stand it. Their wrath and jealousy caused them to falsify his death and sell him to the Ishmaelites which then took him to Egypt where he was bought by a man named Potiphar, Genesis 37.

The grace of God was with Joseph and He was ordaining every one of his footsteps. Potiphar who was an officer of Pharaoh took interest in him. He became very fond of Joseph making him the overseer of his entire household which included everything that he had. Joseph became a very successful man.

Genesis 39:2 describes, “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.” Potiphar’s house was extremely blessed and it was primarily because the Lord’s favor rested upon Joseph. Joseph did not take anything for granted and remained humble, honest, upright, and full of self-control as we will see.

Going back to the Scriptures I have highlighted, Potiphar entrusted Joseph with everything that he had but one thing that was off limits was his wife. Unfortunately, Potiphar’s wife became so attracted and obsessed with Joseph that she ends up blackmailing him because he refused to be intimate with her.

A key part of the verse that I wanted to point out is when Joseph states “…How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” This question that he presents to Potiphar’s wife is very telling. He was more concerned with following and obeying God’s laws than what Potiphar would do to him if he committed that sin.

This is a clear demonstration of a man that displaying extreme self-control. His personal relationship with God was important to him and he didn’t care about anything else. How many of us would say no to the things of the World if it meant that it would strengthen our relationship with the Lord? Having the fruit of the Spirit self-control will allow the Holy Spirit to give you the power to say yes to what pleases God and no to what doesn’t.

Conclusion

As I wrap up this series on the fruit of the Spirit found in the book of Galatians, I implore you to dive into the Word of God and learn as much as you can about these powerful characteristics. It will give you an understanding of what the Lord expects from His children as believers in the body of Christ.

Every single one of them has a unique way of shaping and molding you into the image of Jesus Christ. In order for you to become a successful disciple you have to be willing to radiate His love, character, and light. When people see you, they need to be able to see Him shining through you because that is what is going to make all the difference.

Also, don’t forget to check out my other blogs:

Fruit of the Spirit (Gentleness)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Kindness)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Longsuffering)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Peace)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Joy)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Love)

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear-Part 1

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear-Part 2

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 1