Day 30

Self-Control

Wrapping Up the Fruit

Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

Proverbs 25:28 NIV

If you lack the fruit of the Spirit in your life, it is because you have trusted yourself too much. I know, you think that you don’t trust yourself enough, that you doubt yourself and you think you are unworthy. All of these sayings might be stuff you say to yourself, but the lack of fruit in anyone’s life comes from having too much confidence, not too little. That’s why developing the fruit isn’t about having more self-confidence, self-esteem, or self-control that gives you the strength and the power to grow and to be more. Any belief that you have the power to control yourself or to grow the fruit of the Spirit in your life is misguided and harmful to the life of faith.

If there is anything you learn from this study, any hope that you have, let it be that you can’t do it, but God can, and he will as soon as you get out of the way and surrender your life over to him. As long as you believe that it is impossible for you to have all this fruit of joy, peace, patience, self-control, and so on in your life because you’ve tried and failed, you will continue to fail. Believing that God cannot do what God says he will do is a recipe for disaster. But his Word makes it clear that all of these things we have been talking about are the product of his presence in your life. Not only that, but they are meant for all believers, not just the few perfect ones. Yep, the fruit, all of it, is meant to be a part of your life, and because of that, when you stop relying on the self part of you that disagrees with God and instead insist that he can be trusted, the fruit will pour out of your life. It’s the nature of the Holy Spirit to fill you abundantly with all of these things.

Unfortunately, what happens for most of us in the area of fruitlessness is that we give ourselves permission to sin. We don’t verbalize it, but as we sin in little ways, we say, “I’ve just got to do this, or have this, or be this.” Part of that speaks to the fact that you know that God isn’t going to strike you down. Because of his grace you know that you have forgiveness, but giving yourself silent permission to fail is the quickest way to fail. Why do you lack self-control in some areas and not others? Because in those areas where you lack it, you have decided that it’s okay to lose control. For example, you might think it’s okay to lose control and gossip just a little. After all, who does it hurt? And you really, really have to get it out and tell someone. But this permission you give yourself wears away at your self-control in all areas. Like the kids’ game of Don’t Break the Ice that you might have played when you were little, each permission you give yourself to respond to your flesh rather than the Spirit knocks an ice block of self-control out from under your whole life, weakening it in bigger and more important areas of your life.

If you want to grow more of the fruit of the Spirit in your life, then turn your mind and heart away from yourself and onto him. Reject the stuff that used to be natural to you, renew your mind, and surrender yourself to his Spirit. As you take time to study his Word, to learn more about the fruit, you will begin to find it becoming a supernatural part of your life. Then you will find yourself with a faith that is overflowing with more fruit than you could possibly imagine.

• Dive In

If you are ready to embrace all that the Spirit has in store for you, then dive into his Word today. Devote yourself to studying more about the fruit of the Spirit. Find out God’s character as it relates to the fruit. A good book for that is an old one called The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer. You can read it for free on my website Godgirl.com. It’s a part of the God Girl Academy 201. Come by and dive into more knowledge of the Holy Spirit and how he changes a life.

• Ask Yourself

When you look at your life, how much of the fruit of the Spirit do you see? Circle all of the ones you have in your life most of the time: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Now take a look at the fruit of the flesh and see how much of this there is in your life: selfishness, joylessness, conflict, impatience, mercilessness, immorality, unfaithfulness, pride, and self-indulgence.

If you want to trade the fruit of the flesh for the fruit of the Spirit, then commit your life anew to God today. Tell him that you are tired of responding to the flesh, and ask him to guide you with his Spirit.

• Pray It

Dear God, please show me where I act on my flesh rather than trusting your Spirit. Give me more of you and less of me. Help me to feed the fruit of the Spirit to others and to give up my life for you. Amen.

• Give It

As you finish this study, give the fruit of it away. Find at least two people in your life to tell about the fruit. Tell them something they may not have known. Offer them your own story; be transparent and let them know what God has done for you. Buy a book for them. Invite them to do this study with you. Pray for them, and feed them all of the fruit that God has provided in your life.