My Yesterday Story... about Self-Control

"For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict." -Titus 1:7-9

....I feel ridiculous... I think God actually took me seriously, yesterday, when I asked Him to help me with self-control! And yes, I failed miserably... I was bombarded with opportunities to exercise self-control... but it seems like everything that occurred, yesterday, affected me much more strongly than usual. For no apparent reason, every little thing that happened was magnified, in my mind, about a thousand times. I finally realized this... at about 6:30... right before we were going to our prayer meeting.... Yeah... nothing says "Call me a hypocrite!" like walking into a prayer meeting after having the most un-self-controlled day, after spending the first hour and a half in that morning blogging on self-control!!!

You know... the amazing thing about walking into a prayer meeting with that mentality, though... I was humbled. I was ready to hear what God had to say. When we are at the end of ourselves is when God is able to work in us. It's almost like He says, "Oh, good! You're done trying to figure things out on your own! Now I'll show you how I am going to do it!"

All of that to say... It's time to stop pretending I/we can do this on our own! I need GOD to do a work in me... YOU need GOD to do a work in you... We cannot do this on our own! We are too weak, in our own strength, to fight the battles that God has for us. We cannot ignore the spiritual battles that take place within us! They are real and they are taking place in our lives, daily! My day, yesterday, was filled with inward conflict... the desires of the flesh, the desires of my heart, the desires and commands of God... everything was warring within me. Friends, I stupidly tried to handle it all on my own... what a failure of a day!

I'm sharing this with you, because maybe you had a day similar to mine. Maybe you asked God to show you where you need to work on self-control... and what I found was that I didn't really have a very good grasp on self-control at all! Yesterday was somewhere around the worst day that I've had, as far as an attitude goes, in months! I haven't had such a bad day in quite a while... Why do you think that is? Because I was being made aware of my current position in self-control! I was being shown my "red dot" on the map. You know... the "You are HERE!" dot that shows you where you are in a large building. What I found out was that I was about as far from my destination as I could possibly get! It was like looking at a map, at a kiosk, and seeing your red dot, right at the edge of the building that you just walked into... then you realize that your destination is on the exact opposite side of the building! You didn't realize how far you were from your goal! I certainly didn't realize how far I have to go...

Friends, I'm hoping to have a much more God-directed day, today. I would encourage you to pray for God's help again... if you failed half as much as I did yesterday... pray that God would now take control of the situation and help you to be peaceable, and self-controlled. Admit to God that you cannot do this on your own. It's hard to say, "God I have no idea what I'm doing!", but it sure does open us up to His will and His plan for our lives. Be honest with yourself, before God, about your current standings in self-control... Admit your "red dot" to God, and ask Him to help you get to the other side.

That's about all I have for today. I just wanted to share with you that it really does work when you ask God to show you things that need change in your life. He is faithful! I will say it again and again! Remember, though, that there is also forgiveness of sins and failures... He is faithful there too!

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .