Controlling Our Desires.

1 Peter 5:8
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

A week ago yesterday at church we talked about self control, one of the fruits of the spirit. I felt the urge to talk about self control today. Self control is defined as the "control of one's emotions, desires, or actions by one's own will." One's own will would mean God in the Christian sense. Thus, since self control is one of the fruits of the spirit, self control means that we regulate our emotions and desires so that they match up with God's.

So often Satan uses our greatest interests or weaknesses to pull us away from God which can be devastating. Focusing on the weakness aspect, if we like to eat unhealthy food, Satan tries his best to let that consume our lives.

I know that sometimes we all have restless thoughts that keep us up at night. With age, comes more responsibilities (I've noticed that recently!). However, as soon as I turn to God, the anxiousness fades. Sometimes it's good to clear your mind. I don't even have to encounter stressful thoughts to keep me awake in bed at night. Sometimes, it's just things I want to get accomplished the next day, for example. In order to clear my mind, I have to write those things down before I can get a peaceful night's rest. Whatever the case, we can save our entries and look back on them and examine how we think and how we have strayed from reality. This method will help focus our eyes back on the Lord.

If you don't do this then you are personally inviting the evil one in to consume your mind with doubt and deception. I mentioned Saturday that Satan tries to search, kill, and destroy who we are (in God). By giving the Lord our anxious thoughts and worries, we can stop our inner desires from getting in the way of our relationship with Christ.

Interestingly enough there's a song called "Roaring Like a Lion" by David Crowder Band. We sang that in church just yesterday! They're not talking about the devil roaring like a lion in this case, but God. We know that because of our faith in God and his love tells us that he's alive and not dead. While, I can't find a video of the song that contains the lyrics, I invite you to listen to words and enjoy the song! Here's a link to lyrics where you can sing along with to the video if you'd like: http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/lyricsdetail.php?lyrics_id=62411



P.S. If you have trouble with the video stopping and starting, keep the video paused, and let it "buffer" (load) as it's called for a while. You will see the red bar along the bottom advance (speed depends on your Internet connection). Wait until that bar gets pretty far along (I'd say more than halfway) before you play the video and it shouldn't pause. P.S. If you have trouble with the video stopping and starting, keep the video paused, and let it "buffer" (load) as it's called for a while. You will see the red bar along the bottom advance (speed depends on your Internet connection). Wait until that bar gets pretty far along (I'd say more than halfway) before you play the video and it shouldn't pause.