The Freedom of Self-Control
Happy October 31st!
Maybe the “spookiest” part of today is the fact that we still have to deal with commercials and pre-election for 8 more days! The rest is in our prayers and God’s plans. May God be with us.
There are daily choices in every aspect of our lives. Some are simple and some require a great deal of thought and prayer. And sometimes those that you thought were so simple, could have used a bit more thought and prayer. We have the freedom to makes these choices and that is a privilege that shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are so many who don’t have that freedom and yet we so often take it for granted.
My wish for each of you this week is that you pray about each choice you make. Whether it is what you put in your body and mind or what comes out as a result, pray that it will glorify God. Pray that when we stand before Him, we can do it with our heads held high and know that even the mistakes we have made have been forgiven. Pray that everyone we meet sees His love in us.
Pray Unceasingly!
In His light,
Lois
The Freedom of Self-Control
The Daniel Plan
The grace of God … teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. —Titus 2:11-12 NIV
We want to say “No” to unhealthy habits, but sometimes that’s difficult to do in our own strength. At times those habits can seem so deeply rooted that we aren’t able to make those good choices.
What can we do? The Bible urges us to pray for the grace of God, which enables us to say “No” to unhealthy impulses and “Yes” to self-controlled, upright, and godly habits.
It turns out that self-control is true freedom, the freedom to choose what we know is good for us. We gain more self-control as we pray for grace and then act on grace.
The more often we act on grace and choose wisely, the weaker the grip our old habits have on our lives. We may have setbacks along the way, but more and more we’ll be able to choose self-controlled practices.
Food for Thought: Self-control is true freedom, and God’s grace makes it more and more available to us, so that gradually we become fully free to make the choices we know will make us flourish.