“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)
Last but not least is the quality of self-control. This one is huge, and I mean huge! Once you begin to enter into a true sanctification process with the Lord, expect the Holy Spirit to move upon you very early with this specific quality.
The reason for this is that we all have a certain amount of character flaws operating in our personalities. There are some bad and negative qualities that will have to go away.
The Bible tells us that our spirits and our flesh will fight each other in this life. Our flesh wants immediate self-gratification at all costs and will stop at nothing to try to get it. Our spirits know that some of our carnal desires are not the right fit for us and as a result there will be a tug of war between the two and at times it will be a major tug of war. And the only thing that will be able to curb and control some of the desires of our flesh is the quality of self-control.
Since we all live in a very self-centered and materialistic world today, many people have very little impulse control. If they see something they want right away, they will do their best to try and get it. They will not be denied until they get what they want.
Obviously, these people are very weak in the quality of self-control. They are ruled by their own flesh and not by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Bible tells us that if we learn to really walk in the Holy Spirit, then we will not fulfill the desires of our flesh.
Due to our fallen and sinful natures, we are all weak to some degree in the quality of self-control. That is why God the Father made sure to include this fruit as one of the 9 fruits of His Holy Spirit. We all need God’s self-control operating in our lives and in our personalities if we are to have any hope of being properly cleansed and sanctified to the extent that He wants to lead us in this life.
If you don’t have God’s self-control operating through you, you will have very little victory over things like short temper, critical and critical spirits, an unforgiving spirit, and vices like smoking and alcohol abuse.
Once the Holy Spirit begins this sanctification process with you, prepare for some major battles and tug of war with Him once He begins to pursue some of the negative qualities operating in your personality.
But if you are willing to give in to Him and allow Him to begin working the 9 fruits in your personality, then you will find yourself beginning to grow in ways and in areas that you never thought were possible in this life. His supernatural power in this area will blow your mind once you see how far He can really take you to become the person God wants you to become Him in this lifetime.
These are some of the definitions of what quality of self-control means:
- Temperance, rational restraint of natural impulses.
- Sober, temperate, calm and dispassionate approach to life, having mastered personal desires and passions.
- Calls to a self-disciplined life following the example of Christ of being in the world but not of the world
- Restricted or disciplined about one’s behavior.
The above definitions perfectly describe what God is looking for once he begins to work and transmits this quality to our personalities. This specific quality is one of the main keys to be able to obtain any type of victory over some of the desires and lusts of our flesh.