Galatians. 5:22-23: But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Self-Control is Key to Changing Your Life

For me, the hardest part of trying to make changes in ones life is that little thing that we call self-control.

Ever made the decision to start exercising? You get all excited about it. You set the alarm clock to get up early the next morning so you can exercise 45 minutes before starting your day. The alarm clock goes off and what happens? You hit the snooze button. Aw, forget exercising. What were you thinking? The bed feels too good. You are simply too tired to get up. You will have to start another day.

Or perhaps you did get up that morning, and even the next. But three days into your program, the bed feels better than the idea of getting up and exercising.

What is the problem here?

The problem is NO SELF CONTROL.

Or what about this?

You write out all of your goals. You make the decision to review your goals each day and actively work on them.

For five days, you do exactly that.

Then, the fifth day comes and you simply dont have the time to do it. The next day, you cant find the time to focus on your goals either. Hey, you have the big project that is due and there are the kids that have that meeting at their school that you must attend, and your spouse need help out in the garage. There are way too many things that you must do and focusing on your goals simply will have to take a back seat for the day.

Heres another example: You decide to read the bible from cover to cover. You will do it each night before going to sleepread two complete chapters before going to bed. For three days you do just that. The fourth day, you are too tired to read the bible, so you fall to sleep. You never pick it up again outside of carrying it to and from church on Sunday.

Now, if any of this sound like you, dont feel bad. It sounds like most of us.

The problem is, most of us have absolutely no self-control.

In order to make the necessary changes you will have to make in order to create the life that you desirea spirit filled life, a life on purpose, a life that is happy and stress free, you must learn self-control.

But how do you develop Self-Control?

Well, developing self-control requires a combination of a few things. See, most of us slip up when we decide to make changes and when we do back slide we simply say, Oh, well. Ill try harder next time. But when the next time comes, we slip up again.

Why? Because you have not come up with a plan. We have not truly made the decision to make the change we desire. Right now, it is just a desire. When you are truly serious about it, you will make THE DECISION. Once you make the decision, you will need a plan to carry it out. You will also need a lot of prayer. And you cant forget adding affirmations and visualization to make sure you stay on course with your self control.

What do I mean by a plan? You need to know EXACTLY what it is that you wish to do. Write it out. Say it out loud.

I quit smoking.

Then, you will pray on it. Thank God for already giving you the thing that you desire.

God I thank you for taking away my desire to smoke!

Next, repeat your affirmations as often as you can. Tell everybody you know and meet.

I do not smoke. You know I quit smoking, dont you? Im not a smoker.

Repeat it as often as you can so that you are always mindful of the fact that you are not a smoker.

Then, visualize yourself as smoke-free. Visualize yourself smelling your clothes and they are fresh. Visualize yourself turning down a cigarette that is offered to you. Visualize yourself running a marathon and not being out of breathe.

If you do these things long enough, you will be able to get that self control thing under control before you know it.