rule over your spirit
16Jul10
Proverbs 25.28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city broken down, without walls.
How is this supposed to work?
Proverbs 25.28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city broken down, without walls.
How is this supposed to work?
…it’s actually one of the fruits of the Spirit that paul talks about in galatians 5.22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
king james version called it “temperence,” the greek is ‘egkrateia’, & strongs defines it as “self-control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites).”
pretty much one of the major focuses of all world religions & philosophies. what do you do with what moves you at the deepest, seemingly most uncontrollable levels? how do you deal with passion?
I was looking forward to this discussion. I’m not going to pretend I really know the answer to this. When discussing this with people that come to my house and speaking with friends the way that I word it is ‘Be sober, but be alive’. In other words… Be sober in mind, but when emotion rises… let them/it rise before the Lord. When I read the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the Acts (recorded by Luke), this is the best way I can describe ‘controlling passion’. But please, please, please, explain it the way you wanted to dive into this subject. Cuz it is super important to me.
it is super important.
the easiest way to dive in is to say that paul lists all the fruits of the Spirit (9 of them, in galatians 5) immediately after (& in direct contrast to) the 17 works of the flesh. and right after this contrast, he says: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
in romans 6 & 7, paul uses similar analogies. whatever you’re a slave to, that’s what you do. whoever you’re married to, that’s who you have children with. whatever kind of tree you’re a branch in, that’s what kind of fruit you produce. in other words, people see their passions getting the best of them & causing them to do things they’re totally sorry for later. so they focus on not feeling those passions & not doing those things again – which is reasonable. at some point we have to get practical or we’re going to end up living stuck in sin.
but what if this self-control/temperance/rule-over-your-spirit was really a matter of fighting fire with fire?
i hear you loud and clear on the running with passions part. the scriptures has much to say on that subject and i know young men often experience this route themselves. and just as you said, they often focus on stopping those passions from rising up again. but they will become practical as they move forward – leaving the past behind them.
i really dig focusing on galatians as you suggested when speaking on this subject. it really puts these things out in the light. how can you preach/teach the gospel if you are not living the gospel of christ? this is one of the snares (i feel) in knowing. when you come to knowledge of righteousness we sometimes preach it before we adapt to it. god forgives, but i feel this is backwards, contrary to the order of god. i have to say though, i know very little myself and feel uncomfortable speaking of ‘the order of god’. i can’t pretend i have such understanding
but the spirit bears witness with my spirit that i am a child of god and christ was raised from the dead (and given all authority). to him the power, glory, and dominion forever. amen.
fighting fire with fire may be something i practice… but i gotz to admit i’m not too sure whatcha talking about exactly
please forgive me bro! what does come to mind though is the matthew verse you brought up not long ago:
[Mat 11:12]
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
well, all the devil does is prey on simple God-given appetites. that goes for guys & girls; & that applies to ANY temptation. we’re not wired for sin. God didn’t create us to do evil…so the only way sin can access us is through God-given passions, which the devil then tries to distort & overwhelm us with. strong desire isn’t really the problem.
i love the verse in john 4 where the disciples come and find Jesus talking to the samaritan woman woman at the well. they’re trying to get him to eat because by this point he’s got to be starving – & he’s saying his food is to do the work of the Father. so at such a basic level, Jesus is showing us what it means to hunger & thirst after righteousness. which is also remarkable given that he was just talking to a woman who had been recklessly ruled by her passions (she’d left 5 husbands and was living in adultery with someone new)…& he spoke to her about living water. he told her if she could drink of the water that he had to give, she would never again thirst for the world.
the truth is the passions, the desires, the appetites that drive God are available for us. and they go way beyond what the world has to offer >>
bro i am in complete agreement with all the statements above. the strong desire is still within me; the passion hasn’t left me. when i see the limbs of god in action the last thing i want to do is put brakes on that. that would be attempting to nail the body down again. why would i do that? some may preach in strife and envy, but as of today i am confident that most preach in defense of the gospel.
as for me, for some reason, i slowly absorb things. it is not my scapegoat to sin, it is my path to holiness. but when i see the young and the old running in the lord, i smell christ on them. i just can’t deny it. it is resurrection! it is my hope that we are able to sense (smell) resurrection in ways other than outside appearances. this has nothing to do with access to sin and everything to do with adding to the kingdom… having mercy and feeding the spirit of jesus into them. and if that is taking place will sin not be washed away? we are working together to accomplish this and i want us to be conscious of the many parts of the body. the body of jesus christ is holy.
there’s such a simplicity in “ask, & you will receive.” the flip side is just as simple: “you don’t have, because you don’t ask.”
God’s passions & appetites & desires at work on the inside of us, overwhelming to the point that we can truly say we share in the divine nature – that’s a miracle. but it’s the miracle that is to be our day-to-day reality. & the only way to receive a miracle is ask, doubting nothing. we can’t once take that for granted. & we can’t settle out & live in a place of reaching for that, stretching for that, longing for that…but not really taking hold of it. hear faith as you hear the promise, & then just ask >>
this is overwhelming grace and mercy. thank you bro for confirming the miracle. i am in awe of our Lord.