Power Your Self-control

I think I might want that thingamabob. I think I deserve that thingamabob. That thingamabob can be anything from money to what money can buy. It can be better money management skills to better character traits. It can be a child to a marriage. That thingamabob is what occupies your mind and your works. It is where you place all your time and your money. How bad do you want this thing? Do you want it bad enough to work for it? Do you want it bad enough to wait for it? Do you want it bad enough to give up something for it? How bad do you want it?

Everyone has desires of grandeur at one time or another. Desires of grandeur is good but we prove ourselves worthy of grandeur by the mundane, by the everyday, by the simplistic works we do. God’s Word tells us, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much (Luke 16:10). It is our daily mundane desires that get us to the grand desires. Without the mundane grand is not grand. There are those who are born into grand who never develop the skills for the mundane until they become homeless. There are those who are homeless who never develop the skills for the grand until they win the lottery. These folks may never develop the skills. It might be ingrained in us to be rich or it might be ingrained in us to be poor. Either way there are thingamabobs we want and if we are to get them we need to learn to go after them. There are two skills we definitely need if we are to acquire that thing and we will need two blogs to cover them. The first is self-control and the second is the plan. Both of these take commitment, steadfastness and patience.

Your Self-Control is Your Power

Our powerlessness comes from lacking self-control. Most of us are not wired for self-control. Our soul is corrupt unless we are conforming to the will of God. We are saved by God to do His good works and that is what we should control ourselves in doing. So, let’s just say for the sake of this blog that you are going after the will of God and not your own will because God will frustrate you on every turn if you are not. Nothing I say will make sense to you or work for you if God is against you. We are going to want that thingamabob for Jesus and His people.

I like to think of my power as electricity going from house to house. Our electrical power comes from Niagara Falls. One of the great wonders from God. Power goes from God to each of us like the electrical wires from Niagara Falls go to each house. Each one of us is an independent receiver of power in the whole from the Power House. Our body is wired with our individual desires from the Power House that feed the Body of Christ who is fed by Jesus which in turn feeds our body with new power again. We need to control this power lest our bill get to high.

Control Your Commitment

No matter what we want we must commit to having it. We are wired with God’s desires for us but He does not make our feet move. God has placed many desires in our heart. To have them we must commit all of our ways to the Lord and trust Him for Him to bring them to pass (Psalm 37:5). Wiring our self-control persistently toward this end will result in having it. If we committed to serving Jesus what we do will come to pass. This is a twofold process for us. We need commit to the works of Jesus and we need to commit our control to the works of Jesus. You know exactly what I am talking about. One day we want to lose control and serve self. Should we not control our commitment to Jesus it will commit to self. Then we will have to go through the process of rewiring it to commit to Jesus again. If this happens we need to be steadfast at rewiring quickly back to self-control.

Control Your Steadfastness

Controlling our steadfastness is not easy. We want to run all over the place and feed every house with our power. We need to control what we are setting our face too. There are good works and there are God works. Anyone can do good works but can everyone be steadfast at doing God works. If we could we would all be at the works of God rather than the works of self. It takes an infusion of power from the Power house Himself to be steadfast. Sometimes just touching the Wire will give us enough of a jolt to go back to being steadfast on our route but sometimes we need to be surrounded by an electrically charged fence to stay on path. Then, selfishly, we feel like we are imprisoned by this thing. It is sucking the life out of us with no noticeable fruit. The Source comes along and jolts us back to His reality and we control our desire to quit. We rewire our control to stay the course and are patient once again.

Control Your Patience

Along with self-control patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). As much as we do not want to control ourselves we do not want to be patient with people or God. Controlling our patience means we are conceding to a power higher than ourselves. We are conceding to the timing of God. We are not standing still we are conceding the thing we desire is going to come from God anyway so we might as well wait for Him to bring it about. I have to tell you once you come to this conclusion it is freeing. We do not have to work at this desire we just need to prepare ourselves for when it comes. That does not mean we will not again become impatient because it is a desire from God and He throw electrical bolts at it once in a while to remind us what we are getting ready for. This just shows us how much He loves us. The Power source lives inside us and He is waiting patiently for us to be ready to go. When we are ready to go He allows us to go. Along with this long awaited go are new grander desires so we don’t think we have arrived. We can always do so much more, more than we can even think or desire (Ephesians 3:20).

The Power in Self-Control

If you haven’t received the message yet, here it is – there is more power in self-control than any other place. God teaches us about power by showing us His self-control. Jesus taught us about power through His self-control. He could have called down legends of angels to save Him but He did not (Matthew 26:53). He could have unleashed all manner of miracles but He did not (John 13:31). This same power lives in us and we are expected to tap into it especially when we are working for Jesus. Our work is supposed to draw people to the Father who supplies the Power. If you want that thingamabob you must have self-control in the area of commitment, steadfastness and patience but even that will not work if you do not have a plan. Next week we will look at planning that thingamabob you want.