The Fruit Of Self-Control
Proverbs 25:8 ESV says that “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” In other words, when your defense structures and protection have been demolished. Any and everything can enter you and destroy you.
What is Self-Control? The Oxford Language dictionary defines Self-Control as “the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations.” If you live in this cosmos called earth, surrounded by people, institutions and structures, now or later, people, systems, things and processes will poke your patience and emotions at every angle. The grace to be able to stay firm, calm and collected in all situations can only come from the Holy Spirit. It takes strength to remain quiet when the expected reaction is for you to scream and yell. It takes courage to be walking through the valley of the shadow of death and not topple out of balance. It just takes guts to live among people and still rise above everything they will throw at you. I look at self-control as holding a remote control to myself, pressing the buttons, managing my emotions and reactions and all situations.
That grace, courage or strength to keep yourself and emotions in check, only comes from God. So I pray for you as I do for myself daily, that the Lord will continue to pour His Spirit on your life and cause you to produce good fruits that will draw many to Him. I pray it is so and so it is in Jesus’ name. AMEN!
XOXO,
Lady Abena.
Declarations For October 2023
Welcome to the tenth (10th) month of 2023. I found this on “Kingdom Culture’s Pinterest” concerning the month of October.
“Judaism - Cheshvan (October/November) is the 8th month in the Hebrew calendar. The root of the word Cheshvan is “chash”, which in Hebrew means “quiet”. The very name commands us to be still, to be quiet.”
This is what the Lord is saying to you and I this month:
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10. The lord has won this victory for us. The Pantocrator has already ruled in our favor. For the integrity of His name, He will bring everything to perfection this month so that the world will know that He is God. Just as He spoke through Moses, we will just stand still and watch the LORD rescue us this month. Anything that represented Egypt (slavery, bondage and captivity) in our lives, we will never see again. (Exodus 14:13 paraphrased).
I decree and declare it is so and so it is in JESUS’ name. AMEN!
XOXO,
Lady Abena.
The Fruit of Gentleness
My mom usually says that when you have the spirit of God in you, sometimes people can mistake you for a fool because you become meeker and your reactions are quite tamed from what the world will expect. She also adds that you become fire and ice at the same time. I always have the picture of Jesus as the lamb being dragged through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. Then I also picture Him as the lion when He goes to war on our behalf. There were moments in Jesus’ life that he was not gentle with humans when they went against the agenda of God. One of such is John 2:15-17 (MSG)
“Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here!”
Having the spirit of gentleness in you gives you a great balance when it comes to people. You know when to act and when to stay still. You develop a high level of emotional intelligence and you have control of situations and not the other way around.
I pray for you this week that the Lord will breathe upon you that gentle spirit. I declare it is so and so it is in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
XOXO,
Lady Abena.