October 8, 2022 … Lord Give Me Self Control …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 281 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from tom the group Grace Kids singing … Give Me Self Control … poignantly singing of how we need God to give us the strength to have self control in life.  

The Marshmellow Test ... 

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Highlight Passage: … 2Peter 1:3a  [ESV] …  

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  

… God, thru Peter, promises His power to live a Godly life with self control, even in the midst of temptation and trials.                                          

Highlight Passage (Context): …  2Peter 1:3-10 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… God’s Spirit, thru Peter to persecuted fellow Christians, teaches how God’s Strength will give us His strength of character to have self control.                                                                             

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Reference Passage : …  Proverbs 3:5-6 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK ...

… We Christians must trust in the Lord - NO MATTER WHAT !!     

Reference Passage: …  1Corinthians 10:13 [ESV] …  

13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.. 

…  God is ALWAYS there to show us the way and give us His strength to deal with the temptations, tests, and trials of life. 

Reference Passage: …  2Corinthians 12:9 [ESV] …  

9 Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  

… Jesus shows Paul that God’s empowering grace is always there to give Christians what we need to have self control in times of trial or pain.  

Reference Passage: …  Galatians 5:22-23 [ESV] …  

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!</i> 

… Paul shows fellow believers the results of God’s Spirit working in the life of a Christian.  Note that self-control is listed last - requiring all the other fruit listed to attain God’s strength to exercise self-control.  

Reference Passage: …  2Timothy 1:7 [ESV] …  

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

… Paul shares that fellow Christians can - and WILL - overcome fear with God’s Spirit giving us God’s power to give us self-discipline (i.e., self control).   

                                                                                

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Kirsten Holmberg … AT THIS LINK … illustrates that self-control is not a character strength in children by putting a marshmallow in front of many kids (see photo) with the promise of getting two marshmallows if the child could resist eating the one marshmallow for 10 minutes.  But only about 1/3 of the kids had the self-control to resist the temptation.      

And I think my readers would agree that self-control or delayed gratification is not a natural strength for any of us.  Some possibly more than others; but exercising self-control is something that most of us need God’s strength, thru His Spirit, to seek and develop self control over the temptations and trials we’ll face in life.

And If my readers have taken in the linked song and the Scriptures above, i pray that we all see that God offers - AND DELIVERS - His strength so that we can develop self-control as a fruit of His Spirit.  And when we do, as a disciple of Christ, we will have God’s enabling grace to give us the discipline and control to resist temptation and follow our Lord, rather than yielding to fear or selfish desires.                        

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me Your grace to resist temptation today. 

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to overcome our desires, Lord, by yielding to receive Your empowering grace today.     .… Amen

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Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.