Monthly Archives: February 2025

There’s a Fruit of the Spirit that I call the forgotten fruit. It’s the one we least like because it’s the one that goes against our flesh the most. It’s the fruit of self control. When we exercise this fruit, we restrain our run away thoughts, emotions, words and bring our actions into alignment with God’s desires. It’s giving the Holy Spirit the reigns of our mind so that we are led by Him rather than our desires. We don’t like to talk about this fruit much, but it’s evidence needs to be seen in our lives as much as the other fruits. When’s the last time you told yourself, “No”? Fasting is a great way to grow this fruit in your life. Remember Romans 8:14 says that the people who are led by the Spirit, rather than their flesh, are the ones called sons of God. Don’t let this fruit be forgotten in your life.

Here are some Bible verses on self control:

1. So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add godliness, and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending love. Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately.

2 Peter 1:5-8 TPT

2. Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer.

1 Peter 4:7 TPT

3. Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.

Titus 2:2 NLT

4. The sins of the wicked are a trap. They get caught in the net of their own sin. They die because they have no self-control. Their utter stupidity will send them to their graves.

Proverbs 5:22-23 GNT

5. He who has knowledge restrains and is careful with his words, And a man of understanding and wisdom has a cool spirit (self-control, an even temper).

Proverbs 17:27 AMP

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In Luke 10:25, a Jewish lawyer, well versed in Mosaic Law, asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what he thought the Scriptures said about it. The man pointed to the Law and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” [Lev 19:18; Deut 6:5] (AMP). When Jesus told him that his answer was correct, the lawyer, wanting to vindicate and justify his actions, asked Jesus to clarify who his neighbor was. He wanted the freedom that eternal life would bring him without loving and serving everyone.

Jesus saw right into his heart and told the story of the Good Samaritan. This man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was robbed, beaten and left for dead. A priest walked by and when he saw him, walked by on the other side of the road. Next a Levite, who helped priests perform their duties, came by and did the same thing. Both of these men would have taught what the lawyer quoted as the greatest commandments. Then a Samaritan, who was despised by the audience and the people in the story, came along. He picked up the man, bandaged his wounds, picked him up, placed him on his donkey, took him to an inn and paid for his medical bills. Jesus asked which one proved to follow the Law. The man replied that it was the Samaritan because he showed mercy and compassion.

In today’s world, we’re quick to pick up other people’s offenses and slow to pick up their burdens. Imagine if the Samaritan had simply picked up the man’s offense against the robbers, the priest and the Levite. Instead, he picked the man up and carried him to help. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ [that is, the law of Christian love].” We find freedom in fulfilling the Law of Christian love in caring for our neighbors and carrying their burdens. When we carry their offense, we join their prison of bitterness. God has called us to a life of freedom and to set captives free. We do that by picking up their burdens, loving them through their offense and restoring them in a spirit of gentleness. When we do this, we fulfill the Law of Christ and bring freedom to those who need it most.

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In Luke 3, the Bible says that John the Baptist was living in the wilderness when the Word of God came to him. Immediately he began to go up and down the Jordan valley preaching the need for repentance and began baptizing those who heeded his message. Crowds began to gather to hear his message. In verse 8, he looked at them and said, “Therefore produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with your] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness]” (AMP). John’s message was strong and clear. The message God gave him was that when we repent of our sins, our lives are to be different than they were before. The fruit that our lives produce should be different than it was before salvation. The only way to do that is to live a changed life that seeks God and follows His way of living.

In Romans 12, Paul’s message to us is the same message, but with practical examples of what that looks like. He starts off by telling us to be living sacrifices that lives transformed lives which don’t conform to the ways of the world. We are to bless those who cause us harm (verse 14), to live in harmony with other believers (verse 16), to not be conceited (verse 16), to live at peace with everyone (verse 18), to not take revenge on people (verse 19) and to overcome evil with good (verse 21). This serious of verses runs counter to the way we are hard wired. Paul was very clear throughout his letter that we are to live lives that are led by God’s Spirit rather than our flesh. Once we have repented, which means to turn around and go the other direction, our lives should be different than the way nonbelievers do.

In Ephesians 4:22-23, we are told to take off our old nature once we come to Christ because of its evil desires. To do that, he says that we need a renewing of our mind. Verse 24 then says, “Put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].” Everything about us should begin to change once we accept Jesus starting with how we think. What motivates us is love for God and love for others. When we invite Jesus to be Lord of our life, we invite Him to turn our lives around. We accept His call to live lives that stand out in a world of people who live by every desire that pops in their mind. We are no longer to be driven by feelings, but by truth. We no longer seek our desires. Rather we are to seek out what God wants. Our lives will then be an expression of gratitude for salvation.

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Have you ever had a problem or situation consume your thinking?I have. It became all I could think about and began to show up in my dreams. What I was doing was magnifying the problem. The bigger it got, the worse I felt. It finally hit me that I was magnifying the wrong thing. Instead of magnifying your problem or issue, magnify the Lord. Sometimes we magnify our problems so much that they seem to overshadow the Lord and even cause us to think even He can’t solve them. When we magnify the Lord, we put our focus on the one who can resolve it. We put the situation into perspective. Whatever we magnify grows. We have a choice in the matter. Let’s choose to magnify the Lord today.

Here are some Bible verses on magnifying God:

1. Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”

Psalms 40:16 AMP

2. I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psalms 69:30 AMP

3. No matter what, I’ll trust in you to help me. Nothing will stop me from praising you to magnify your glory!

Psalms 71:14 TPT

4. And Mary said, “My soul magnifies and exalts the Lord,”

Luke 1:46 AMP

5. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.

Psalms 34:3 NKJV

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In Exodus 33, God sent word to Moses on what the punishment for the Israelites would be for making the golden calf and worshiping it. He told them to get moving toward the Promised Land. He would send an angel to guide them, but He would not be going with them. When the people heard that, they began to mourn. They removed their jewelry as a sign of repentance. In verse 15, Moses was meeting with God and said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place” (NLT). He understood the power of God’s presence. He would rather forfeit the blessings of the Promised Land than to be without God’s presence. It was having God Himself with them that set them apart and gave them favor.

Then Moses made one of the biggest requests in the Bible. He asked God to show him His glory. God responded by telling him, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” He told him that he couldn’t see His glory and live. Instead, He put Moses in the cleft of the rock, covered him with His hand, passed by him, said, “Yahweh,” and let Moses see His goodness from behind. By doing this, God wanted Moses, the Israelites and us to know His goodness, His attributes and His character. By saying His name, He was reminding Moses that He is the great I Am. He is who we need Him to be in every moment of our life.

Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” We need God’s presence to go with us wherever we go. Just as importantly, we need to know God’s character and attributes. He is faithful to His Word and keeps His promise for a thousand generations. He gives us His unconditional love and goes with us without ever abandoning us. Whatever you face in this world, or wherever you young, you will not be alone. God wants us to focus on His character and His attributes because our situations will often cause us to doubt God or cause us to think we’ve been abandoned or that He doesn’t care. In those moments, focus on who He has always been and know that He never changes. We must learn to understand that He is the great I Am.

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