True Woman - Self-control

Self-Control

Purity and self-control help you make wise choices, even in tempting situations.*

• God calls you to exercise self-control over your sexual passions, your demeanor, your dress and attitudes, and your way of dealing with men.
• If you have self-control, you'll find there are a lot of situations you'll never end up in because you made wise, restrained choices on the front end.
• The greatest freedom in life comes when you're under the control of the Holy Spirit. That's when you can really enjoy life and healthy relationships in the Body of Christ.

and so goes the email teaser for today's lesson from the true woman conference. the rest can be found here at Nancy Leigh DeMoss's site.

Once again for this study, Nancy is using 1 Timothy 2:9-10, I've included the whole paragraph to help with context.

8I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Remember, that just as men have their duties, so do women.

Our part is to focus on

• dressing in a respectable manner
• to live with, to adorn ourselves with, modesty and self-control
• to dress in a way that shows our godliness
• to perform good works
• to learn quietly and submissively
  

that's OUR job. Not an easy one, but one we are called to none-the-less.

Today's Nancy's focus is on Self-control. She talks abit about how living in a modest, self-controlled manner is very counter-cultural. Women today don't need to be modest, self-controlled, pure, respectable. We HAVE IT ALL. If we want it, all we have to do is go out and get it. That simple for us now-a-days. So living as a Christian woman in today's society is not an easy task that we are called to. It is truly living counter-culturally.

We need to exercise some self-control. To have this ability to say no...that's not how God wants me to act, therefore let me do thus and such instead. Now I am thankful that Nancy reminds us in this lesson that self-control is a gift from God. it's not something that we have to manufacture and therefore makes this all a legalistic thing...but something that God gives us.

Let me tell you, if you try to do this on your own, you'll die in the legalistic effort, but if you let the Spirit of God do it. . . . Look at this word self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. As He controls us, He will produce this heart attitude in us. It's a word that means "moderation." Some of the translations say sobriety, and it means "soundness of mind." It means "mental sanity, self-control."

It's a picture of someone who's not extravagant, not outlandish, not extreme but who willingly, willfully chooses to restrain their sinful desires by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Nancy lists a whole lot of questions that we would be good to ask ourselves from time to time. I've copied most, but not all...go there to read in it's entirety

Let's ask ourselves some questions and let God evaluate our hearts.

• Am I a self-controlled woman?
• Do you have sound thinking?
• Are you moderate and temperate in your eating habits, your exercise habits?

...........

As I think about this quality, if I'm going to eat excessively, obsessively, in an out-of-control way, that's an evidence that I don't have this quality of self-control in my heart.

• Is your tongue temperate?
• Is your tongue controlled and restrained by the Spirit of God?

This is so important in your home because you're likely saying things in your home that you would never blurt out at church out of anger or frustration. As a mom, as a wife, as a teenage gal, you need self-control when you're dealing with your family members.

• Are you self-controlled in your use of time?
• Are you prone to emotional outbursts, to anger, to temper?
• Do you have command and discipline over your body and your physical appetites: food, sexually, morally, alcohol, drugs?
• Are there any habits that enslave you, habits that are not godly habits?
• Are you disciplined to do the job when it needs to be done?

I have to admit, I look over these questions and I can IMMEDIATELY think of things that I need to be more self-controlled in....things that yes I am learning to be better in. Interesting how God has been laying this on my heart and here he gives me a devotion that helps to solidify those thoughts more. Ah that I remember to talk with God daily and ask him to help me change in things that I need to change in. This would be a goodly thing. Let me not be so influenced my the culture, but more influenced by God.