29: SELF-CONTROL: Harvesting It in the Midst of the Battle – Part 3

Take My Hand Inspirations

 

Fruit of the Spirit Series

SELF-CONTROL: Harvesting It in the Midst of the Battle – Part 3

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

WE, CHRISTIAN ELDERS, MUST STOP PRETENDING THAT THIS PAINFUL PROBLEM—THE BATTLE—DOES NOT EXIST AND EQUIP FUTURE GENERATIONS (OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN) WITH THE SKILLS THAT WILL MAKE THEM CAPABLE TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES UNTO OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST THEREBY DESTROYING EVERY DISOBEDIENCE WHEN THEIRS AND OUR OBEDIENCE IS FULFILLED (100% CAPABLY APPLIED WITH FRUITFUL RESULTS). 

WHAT ARE THE SKILLS TO HARVEST SELF-CONTROL?

1.     ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. To every adult who influences a child’s or a teenager’s life, take heed to what you do more so than what you advise.  Youth are critical observers.  If you desire to empower the youth with the skill of self-control over the body thus producing generations of strong male and female virgins and sexually morally right CHRISTIAN youth who will later on become elders to other younger generations, then you—elder-- must demonstrate and practice the same.  Our power is in the mighty God weapon of being DOERS of the Word, and not hearers only (James 1:21-22).

2.     HOLD YOUR TONGUE.  Never let a youth hear you degrading yourself or, more importantly, telling him or her that she can’t achieve a God-inspired goal because he or she is not ____________ enough (you fill in the blank).  Because Satan’s weapon is fear in the form of insecurity, he will make you tell yourself how unimportant you are; and in that fear turned to frustration and anger, you lash out at your children and spouse with words that curse or discourage the greatness in them yearning to come out and achieve their possible best.  Blow their minds with “YOU ARE GREAT, INTELLIGENT, BEAUTIFUL ‘CUZ GOD DON’T MAKE NO JUNK!” Thanks grandma!  Our mighty God weapon here is praising You, Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well (Psalm 139:14).

3.     WIELD YOUR POWER WITH SOUND MIND. In Christ, you are a son or daughter of Almighty God who has given you the tools to do great work on this planet.  The tools are the gifts and talents you possess which are your responsibility to turn into skills for allowing you to live a life of integrity (self-respect), productivity and abundance.  Your potential is not lesser than anyone else’s.  Dear elder, prove to yourself how powerful you are by teaching the youth in your classroom, or in your office or in the field, in your dressing, conversation, and devotion to the Lord Jesus, that NO MATTER WHERE YOU COME FROM NO ONE CAN STOP WHERE YOU ARE GOING IF GOD IS IN CONTROL because our mighty God weapon is claiming  (holding firmly) the TRUTHS that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) and that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10b).

IT IS TIME FOR CHRISTIAN ELDERS, PARENTS, YOUTH AND CHILDREN TO TAKE BACK OUR CAPABILITY—OUR POWER—TO CONTROL WHAT BELONGS IN US; AND WHAT BELONGS IN US IS THE POWER OF GOD WHICH IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPLORED BY OBEDIENCE.

That is why the Fruit of Gentleness is so important to produce.  We must go through fire to reap Gentleness as the Fruit of Self-Control gives us power to keep on producing all the other fruit.  It’s a mystery, indeed, but take time with me to meditate on this concept: If you cannot maintain self-control to make right choices in obedience to God’s will, then your behavior and the sum total of your behavior, called character, will not produce a harvest of godly fruits.

Even so, every good [godly] tree bears good [godly] fruit, but a bad [unglodly] tree bears bad [ungodly] fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that cannot bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore, by their fruits [behavior/character] you will know them (Matthew 7:17-20).

© 2018 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd Publishers.  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Take My Hand Inspirations

27: SELF-CONTROL: The Fruit of Temperance – Part 1

Take My Hand Inspirations

Fruit of the Spirit Series

SELF-CONTROL: The Fruit of Temperance – Part 1

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

Temperance means to have control of your own behavior.  To have means to possess something, to own it.  In this soul conversation, what we possess is called control.  Do you possess control over the choices you make and the actions you take? 

We’re not talking about being a youth living under the authority of parents or being married living under submission to a husband or to the opinions of a wife.  Neither are we talking about working under authorities or abiding by laws of a nation.  Rules are meant to help a group of people living or working together to stay in conformity with and in allegiance to the vision, plan, or goal of a family or organization for its survival.  We pray these rules are in line with God’s vision, plan and goal for your life. 

No, in this conversation, we are talking about the PERSONAL CHOICES AND ACTIONS YOU MAKE AND DO THAT DEFINE YOUR BEHAVIOUR—how you act out what’s going on within you.

And the mystery of the Fruits of the Spirit is that they can only be measured by the way you behave.  Is your harvest overflowing with fruits or is it mediocre?

THE FRUIT OF SELF-CONTROL is your capability to hold onto what belongs in you and moving your body, soul and spirit obediently in the will of God.  And it’s all about the choices you make.

Capability is uniquely different than ability, for ability is the physical or mental power or skill needed to do something; but capability is having power to do things effectively and skillfully achieving results.

To be born into a culture of jealousy and be raised in a climate of hatred, yet still come out of it as a top JHS, SHS student and university graduate with an optimistic (positive) view of life, still striving (to this day) to find the good in every person and situation, and doing all things in excellence was a CHOICE I made at a very early age, 10 years old to be exact.  However others (many of them my classmates and friends), struggling through those same culturally supercilious circumstances, ended up in prison, or turned to drugs, prostitution, alcohol, or became physically and mentally sick.

What made the difference in my decision is that God put in me a strong will to make the “wrongs” in my life “right.”  I just would not, could not accept the injustice all around me; and I wanted to prove that there was a God who was really watching over me to show me something different and to make my life an example that good can come out of bad.  During adolescence, this strong will of mine often contended with God, but I always had a steadfast determination to excel above the odds put before me, and throughout that struggle, God and I were in agreement for achievement.

Now I look at the youth of today still struggling through the same battles of proving who they are and achieving what they know, deep down into the depth of their soul, who they are to become. 

What is the Battle?  With the full blast and bombardment of secular media depicting what it thinks is the “right way” to live (“success), it has left our youth confused and their decisions catastrophic—bold with no fear and trembling for their salvation.

The battle is called DISODEDIENCE and it courses (flows) through 1. The flesh (body) wanting to feel good; 2. The soul wanting to be praised for following corrupt company and ideals; and 3. The spirit of perdition which made Eve, then Adam, eat the “wrong” fruit.

How do we bear and harvest the FRUIT OF SELF-CONTROL in the midst of this blatant ballistic battle?  Read on in Part 2 (Bearing It) and in Part 3 (Harvesting It).

© 2018 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd Publishers.  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Most of the paintings selected is retrieved from “Black Art” search engine.

Take My Hand Inspirations

28: SELF-CONTROL: Bearing It in the Midst of the Battle – Part 2

Take My Hand Inspirations

 

Fruit of the Spirit Series

SELF-CONTROL: Bearing It in the Midst of the Battle – Part 2

What is the Battle?  With the full blast and bombardment of secular media depicting what it thinks is the “right way” to live (“success), it has left our youth confused and their decisions catastrophic—bold with no fear and trembling for their salvation.

The battle is called DISODEDIENCE and it courses (flows) through 1. The flesh (body) wanting to feel good; 2. The soul wanting to be praised for following corrupt company and ideals; and 3. The spirit of perdition which made Eve, then Adam, eat the “forbidden” fruit.

The Battle manifests:

1.     SEXUALLY—Almost every movie (film), podcast and t.v. program distorts and dilutes God’s original natural one man-one woman relationship by glamorizing romantic love between two women or two men; or one man with multiple females; or one woman with multiple male partners; or single men and women masturbating with “sex toys”; all in an unbridled effort to force our youth to “taste the forbidden” and get hooked on it. 

Homosexually is the same as promiscuity/prostitution and masturbation.  All sexual immorality is driven by a spirit of total disobedience to the will of God for your life.  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?(1 Corinthians 3:16). When you were born, you breathed in and out from God’s Holy Spirit. If you are engaging in lesbianism or homosexuality, promiscuity/prostitution and masturbation, take a time out and ask yourself if the reason has anything to do with the above three courses through which disobedience flows.  As already noted, homosexuality is a spirit of perdition, and so are its cohorts, promiscuity, prostitution and masturbation. GOD ALWAYS LOVES YOU. THAT’S WHY JESUS DIED FOR YOU.  IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO REPENT, ASK FORGIVENESS AND START OVER AGAIN AS A NEW CREATION FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Let’s identify Satan’s carnal weapons here: music, pornography, rejection.

2.     PSYCHOLOGICALLY—The secular media bellows to dark-complexioned people all over the world that, “You aren’t good enough!”, as it depicts the white or fair-skinned woman with long stringy hair as its epitome of beauty and the white man as the paramount image of wealth and intelligence.  WHAT A LIE!  I personally came into this world with, “BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL” stamped all over my gorgeous self.  And wealth and intelligence?  Many of the greatest inventions came out of Black minds (though patents were given to white hands); and globally, many of the richest people come out of Black Africa and Black America.  DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!  Satan’s carnal weapons here: fear in the form of insecurity; cancer-causing skin-lightening drugs, lotions, pomades as well as real human hair wigs and weave-ons.

3.     EMOTIONALLY—We have discussed that our soul is a combination of mind (psyche: how we think) and emotions, how we feel.  The way in which our emotions are attacked and murdered through social media is phenomenal.  The arsenal blown at us constantly is, “Are you acceptable to fit into my group?” and “Can you compete with me and produce anything better than me?”  And the person of darker colour is inwardly yearning to be accepted, to be one with, condescending unappreciating white people!  Let’s check ourselves, people.  White is also a colour, not an idol.  Must we continue idolizing a group of people based on one singular hue?

People of warmer hues sell their integrity to “fit in” to the white man’s societies (lodges, fraternities/sororities, clubs, associations).  They seek approval from men who cannot save the soul, but can only manipulate the mind and control the body to be in his right place at the right time to get his crumbs called your reward of “partnership”. 

People of darker tones, do you not see your own potential to create your own successful businesses and products and form your own network which has power to “approve” white membership? 

Africa (especially West Africa) has the greatest natural wealth on earth, yet accepts the label “Heavily Indebted Poor Country” (HIPC)  and still imports chocolates, baby food (?!), matches and a plethora of other commonly used manufactured and agricultural goods that it could easily produce in-country. 

The devil’s devilish plan is to divide your soul, dear Christian.  When your mind (psychologically) and your emotions are not united to control your choices, you become double-minded, giving up your capability to make right choices (which include living with integrity, productivity and in abundance) in obedience to God’s will. 

The devil can never take from you what God has given you.  He only deceives you into giving up your power over to him. (Read Psalm 119:113; James 1:7-8; James 4:8).  The carnal Satanic weapons here are false media advertisements, groups and platforms intended to devalue your capability; and economic embargoes on imports and exports (via a “world” bank and other such economic “international” monetary funds).

The Battle is Global

The devil has most phenomenally deceived humanity by placing a concept called “enemy” into the most obvious carnal things about us—our skin and its various hues and tones; our ethnicity or tribe and physical paper called money—so that, globally, the battle looks like Black versus White; nationally, it’s the Group of 7 (G7) (developed) versus the Group of 77(G77) (developing) versus all other nations (G37—“hipc”); locally, it’s one tribe versus the other tribe (“ethnic cleansing”); and socially, it’s rich versus poor. 

Fear is defeated. Take its power!

And within these small wars, ferocious hatred has spawned and more than enough innocent blood has been and still is illegally shed.  This battle has created two very distinct groups of people: those with an INFERIORITY COMPLEX—powerless robotic toys always played in the devil’s hands—and those with a SUPERIORITY COMPLEX—false supercilious pride prepared for a great fall.  

WHAT A CARNAL DECEPTION! O Belligerent Beelzebub, man has, in multitudes, murderously fallen for it!  And homicides, suicides and floods of innocent blood spillage still goes on today; only, this time, you’ve deadened our tools, our capability, to think and fight back by drowning our cells in sacrilegious dosages of sugary snacks and ostensible “genetically-modified” food and hyper-addictive drugs and alcohol.

IS THE BATTLE REALLY ABOUT SKIN COLOUR, ETHNIC APPEARANCE OR SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS when God made us all in His own image?: Red and Yellow, Black and White; we are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children [humanity] of His world.

To bear the Fruit of Self-Control, you must find ways to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  The mightiest spiritual weapon of God is Love: You must first love yourself (THE JESUS IN YOU) before you can love every other human being, especially when that human being hates himself and you. Read Matthew 5:43-48.

 

FLAG OF LOVE: ONLY JESUS CAN SAVE!

CHRISTIAN ELDERS MUST STOP PRETENDING THAT THIS PAINFUL PROBLEM—THE BATTLE—DOES NOT EXIST AND EQUIP FUTURE GENERATIONS (OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN) WITH THE SKILLS THAT WILL MAKE THEM CAPABLE TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES UNTO OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST THEREBY DESTROYING EVERY DISOBEDIENCE WHEN THEIRS AND OUR OBEDIENCE IS FULFILLED (100% CAPABLY APPLIED WITH FRUITFUL RESULTS). 

Does love have a colour?  What is the colour of love?  Does love have a price?  How much does love cost?  WHEN CHRISTIANS DECIDE TO TAKE BACK THE CONTROL WE WERE BORN WITH, THE DEVIL’S DEVICES USED TO DECEIVE US WOULD BE RENDERED POWERLESS.

In CHRIST JESUS: There is no evil in our skin colours; there is no evil in money or in the financial institutions which regulate it; there is no evil in media, nor is there evil in the international marketplace.  And, especially, marital sex is never evil, but the most godly human relationship on earth! ACTS 17:6 - WHEN CHRISTIANS TAKE CONTROL OF THESE CARNAL DEVICES, WE SHALL TURN THE WORLD RIGHT-SIDE UP.

© 2018 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd Publishers.  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Most of the paintings selected are retrieved from “Black Art” search engine.

Take My Hand Inspirations