How to Develop and Maintain Spiritual Control in Life

 Self control is an absolute necessity in the Christian life for all of us. However, the word self control is a little bit of a misnomer, because it is virtually impossible to control self, outside of the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. Before we came to know Jesus as our personal Saviour, our lives were in havoc with little or no control. The Bible states in Psalms 1:4, “The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Likewise, Ephesians 4:14 relays, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

In our natural state, we are driven by our sin, circumstances, situations, feelings, and by people that surround us. When we get saved, our new nature’s state is created in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) which gives us a new compass in our lives. The Bible contrasts the old nature in Psalms 1:4 with that of the new nature in Psalms 1:3:  “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

 The new nature is to be guided by the Holy Spirit, when we get saved. The Spirit guides us in Truth. (John 16:13) “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”  The Spirit of God also empowers us.  Acts 1:8 states, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” Consequently, after we are saved, we are guided and empowered, whereas prior to being saved, we are tossed to and fro, and unstable.

Applying God’s power and guidance to our lives is the first step of a Spirit controlled life. Then afterwards, we are controlled by the Spirit. This brings about the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

  The word temperance is the same word as self control. One of the ways we can tell if we are abiding in Christ and are walking in the new nature is to analyze our lives and see if we have self control. If we find that we do not have temperance in our lives, then the other fruits of the Spirit will be also lacking.  

Unfortunately, when we are saved and walking in the Spirit, this does not automatically make us live a disciplined life. God made man a free will agent, meaning that He did not make us robots. God helps us and empowers us, but we must decide to do that which is right and submit ourselves unto the Lord’s power.

Dr. Neil T. Anderson’s research says that only fifteen percent of Christians polled admit to having a victorious Christian life. After we are saved we must make the decision to be in control of our lives through the Spirit. There are also things I must do to maintain the Spirit controlled life after the decision is made. The way we maintain a disciplined life is that we must go through the process of elimination, which removes stumbling blocks out of our life. Lastly, we must consecrate to the Lord and to His Will for our lives, being accountable to Him and others that He has put in our lives. Going back to the first and crucial step after salvation, is that we must make a decision to be in control.

Decisions have the ability to change our lives for the good and the bad.  We make decisions every day, what car to drive, to go to work, being kind to people and etcetera. From my youth, I have never had a problem going to work; I have had a job since I was fifteen years old.  Someone once asked, “Do you like to work?” I responded and said “No, I like money.” Money was my motivation. However, there were other areas in my life that I was not as controlled in, such as school, and my chores at home.

We can be controlled in some areas of our lives, while in other areas be out of control. The problem with making the decision of being in self control is many times based on the ramifications. An example of this is smoking. Millions of people would love to quit, but they say they cannot. The reason is they are not seeing the direct effects, though they know they are dieting from their habit, there is no immediate danger, and they are taking it for granite that they are of the exception.

A couple just came back from Iceland. On the front of the pack of Iceland cigarettes, it says in big letters, “SMOKING KILLS” and that is all, while in America, we have “Smoking may cause cancer.” If a person knew that the next cigarette they smoked was instant death, there would be very little addiction to nicotine and cigarettes. That is why you do not see people addicted to drinking kerosene, or smoking DeCon, because the effects would be instant. The power of a firm decision is that I see all the ramifications of the lack of making a decision, and I make a decision intelligently based on the results in my life, that in turn, changes my behavior.  

A doctor told a preacher who had borderline diabetes that because of his eating habits, “If you will learn to hate those foods that caused your sugar problems, then you will lead a normal life. However, if you don’t, then your diabetes will kill you.” Even as a Christian, we must decide that we are going to hate the thing that is controlling us.

Secondly, we must use the process of elimination of things that make us lose control. You could call these stumbling blocks or triggers. For example, if you struggle with over eating, then you need to memorize verses that deal with the rebuking of the habit. Then you need to remove yourself from areas that tempt you to over eat, like going to buffets. Everyone goes to buffets and over eat, especially if they have problems with over eating.

Choose rather to go where the food portions are smaller. If you struggle with drinking alcohol then do not go around booze, and also do not associate with people who drink. Even in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus suggests in Matthew 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: …”

Thirdly, and lastly, we need consecration to the Lord and His Will for our lives, and being accountable to Him and others that he has put in our lives. Consecration to the Lord means we walk with Him in fellowship.  Galatians 5:16 says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” James 4:7 instructs to resist Satan when it says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We resist Satan by submitting to God, and removing triggers to those things which make us stumble. This produces in us the spirit of accountability, and also God puts people in our lives to keep us accountable. If a person struggles with lust, he would be a fool to over stare at a woman in front of his wife. However, if his wife is not around, then we will see if he really has self control. If he has made a decision to be in control, and went through the process of eliminating stumbling blocks, and sees himself accountable to God because of his consecration, then he is less apt to look and lust, because he knows that God is watching. However, if the man is not consecrated to God then he will not be in control, because he is not accountable to anyone.

Being a preacher, if I go and visit someone at their home, and they recognize it is me, (the preacher) they will say in the house, (Because I can usually hear from the door), “Hey, the preacher’s coming!” Interestingly, televisions, radios, and computers are turning off and magazines and other things being thrown under the furniture.  Now think about it, forget about me being the preacher at the door.  The Lord Jesus Christ was here before I came! He saw everything, The powerful fact of accountability drives the people to clean up there act.  We are accountable to God and those who are around us.   

In conclusion, the way we develop and maintain self control is to give the Lord the authority to control us. Then we need to make a firm decision, to hate the the things that get us out of control. We need to go through the process of elimination, which is removing stumbling blocks out of our lives. Then we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord and His will for our lives, and be accountable to Him and others that He has put in our lives.