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Self-Control: When the Holy Spirit Steadies What You Cannot · Fostering Faith

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  welcome back to fostering faith and we have made
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  it guys we have made it into the middle of December
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  and we have made it through the fruits of the
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  spirit and next week is Christmas can you believe
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  that this year has just flown by and so as we
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  go into the middle of the holiday season hopefully
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  you are doing well and this is gonna be our last
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  episode of the Holy Spirit fruits and so I think
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  this is a great one I think for lot of different
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  reasons and so it does like health and wealth
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  and Just recovery and I think that this is a
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  really hard fruit that people don't realize that
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  they have inside of them. And so this is self
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  -control. When the Holy Spirit studies you, whenever
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  you cannot. And so welcome back to Fostering
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  Faith. If you are a return listener, if you are
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  new to Fostering Faith, welcome and we're so
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  happy that you tuned in. We are here at Fostering
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  Faith. Don't have it all figured out, but we
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  are walking through this journey of faith together
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  as a community. And so... We hope that this message
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  inspires you, blesses you, and just gives you
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  a little bit of inspiration to get through your
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  day. And so today we're going to arrive at the
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  final characteristic of the fruit of the spirit
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  and one that many believers dread talking about,
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  the one that we feel the most failure in, the
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  one that feels the hardest, the slowest to grow,
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  the most humbling, and the most exposing. But
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  in the same way it is this one that brings most
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  freedom once we understand it through scripture
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  and not through shame. And today we're going
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  to be talking about self -control. Not the wordly,
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  not white -knuckled, not grit -your -teeth, try
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  -harder self -control, but the Spirit -born,
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  Christ -shaped, Holy Spirit -powered self -control
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  scripture that calls us into it. And so self
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  -control is not legalism. It is not behavior
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  modification. It is not perfection. It is not
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  rule -keeping. It is not suppressing your emotions.
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  It is not living in fear or messing up. True
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  self -control, the kind that the Bible speaks
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  about, is inner strength produced by the Holy
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  Spirit that allows you to rule your desires instead
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  of being ruled by them. It is transformed. It's
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  transformation of your desires. not the imprisonment
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  of them. It is the ability to choose what's holy
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  over what's easy. It is the capacity to honor
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  God, even when our flesh screams for comfort,
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  escape, or indulgence. And let me say this clearly.
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  You cannot produce a self -biblical self -control
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  by willpower. Willpower will run out. Willpower
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  breaks under pressure. Willpower collapses when
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  temptation is stronger than your energy. And
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  that's why self -control is not a fruit of you.
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  It is the fruit of the spirit. And our Galatians
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  5, 22 through 23, the end of this, the fruit
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  of the spirit is love, joy, peace, all the way
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  to gentleness and self -control. Self -control
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  is not a personality strength. It is a Holy Spirit
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  miracle. And maybe you're right now, as you hear
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  the word self -control, it hits shame. You think
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  about the moments whenever you reacted instead
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  of responding. When you ate out of emotion instead
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  of hunger. Where you spent out of impulse instead
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  of wisdom. Where you spoke out of anger instead
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  of patience. Where you chose to escape instead
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  of endurance. When you made a promise that you
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  didn't keep. When you feel the sting of regret.
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  But hear this in love. Your failure is not final.
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  Your weakness is not your identity. Your lack
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  of control in the past is not a prophecy about
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  your future. The Holy Spirit specializes in forming
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  self -control where it gets used in chaos. And
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  so let's begin where scripture begins with the
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  heart. And so Proverbs 4 .23 says, Watch over
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  your heart with all diligence for it flows with
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  springs of life. Self -control isn't about managing
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  symptoms. It's about guarding the source. What
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  you allow to sit in your heart will eventually
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  come out in your choices when the Holy Spirit
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  shapes your heart He shapes your desires your
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  motivations your appetites your reactions He
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  does not change your behavior. He changes your
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  inner world until the outer world starts to reflect
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  him and Let's look at Paul in first Corinthians
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  927. It says he says I discipline my body and
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  make it my slave notice He does not say he punishes
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  himself or he beats himself up He says he brings
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  his body into alignment with the spirit. He rules
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  his impulses instead of being ruled by them That
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  is biblical self -control not punishment alignment
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  not self -hatred but self -governance not shame
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  but stewardship Self -control is how you Stewart
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  your body the mind and emotions God has entrusted
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  you with. And you need to know this. Self -control
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  is evidence of freedom and not bondage. The world
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  teaches that freedom is doing whatever we want
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  whenever we want it. But scripture teaches us
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  that freedom is being liberated from whatever
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  once controlled you. Self -control is not chains.
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  Sin is. Self -control is choosing God. Sin is
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  choosing slavery. Romans 6 14 says sin shall
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  not be a master over you the Holy Spirit gives
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  you self -control So nothing else can master
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  you So let's look at Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment
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  of perfection of self -control in the wilderness
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  Matthew 4 after 40 days with no food Who is gonna
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  come in and say? Give me some bread Satan tempts
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  him If there was ever a moment where his flesh
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  had a reason to break, it was then. But Jesus
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  responded with scripture because we know who
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  knows scripture better than us, Satan. And we
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  know that we have to know scripture in order
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  to fight him because he will twist that truth.
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  And then if we don't know scripture, we don't
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  know what it says. We get it taken out of context
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  and he's going to tell you something and you're
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  like, oh yeah, that's right. That's right. No,
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  no. We got to know scripture because he knows
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  it better. And so Jesus responses with scripture,
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  self -control anchored in truth. On the cross,
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  Jesus retains his power, restrains his power.
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  He could have called legions of angels. He could
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  have stopped the suffering, but for love's sake,
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  he didn't. And that's divine self -control. Self
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  -control is not weakness. It is choosing the
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  will of God over the will of the flesh. Now let's
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  get personal. Most people struggle with self
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  -control in secret places, in their mind, in
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  their cravings, in late -night moments, in impulsive
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  decisions, in emotional reactions. But the Holy
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  Spirit is not intimidated by our impulses. He
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  is not shocked by your struggles. He doesn't,
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  He does not condone, condemn you. He comes to
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  you steady. 2nd Timothy 1 says, for God is not
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  given us a spirit of timidly, but of power and
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  love and of sound mind. Sound mind in the Greek
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  means self -discipline, self -controlled, self
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  -governed. The Holy Spirit gives that to you,
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  not shame, not fear, not panic, and not chaos.
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  Self -control is really spirit control. And let's
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  talk about the war on the inside. Romans 7 describes
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  it, the battle between you, what you want to
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  do in your spirit, and what you want to do in
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  your flesh instead. Paul describes it honestly.
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  The very thing that I hate to do, but in the
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  end of Romans 8 .1, with hope, there is now no
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  condemnation for those who are in Christ's self
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  -Jesus. Self -control isn't about living without
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  struggle. It's about living with Without condemnation
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  the Holy Spirit empowers you to win battles you
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  used to lose Now I want to move into where you
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  are right now, maybe there's areas where you
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  feel out of control you're eating your emotions
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  your reactions Your thought patterns your temptations
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  your spending your habits your scrolling your
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  relationships But hear me nothing in you is too
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  strong for the Holy Spirit to transform. Nothing
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  you struggle with is beyond his reach. He forms
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  self -control slowly, deeply, progressively,
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  like a root under the soil. And how are we going
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  to move this into some action? So let's take
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  some action. And so because self -control grows
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  where your practice is surrendered, not where
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  you push harder. These next few steps are not
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  to pressure, but they're about partnership with
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  the Holy Spirit. Self -control starts with choosing
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  one place where you ask the Holy Spirit to set
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  a you. Not 10 different areas. Don't go run a
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  marathon before you take a step. Just not your
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  entire life at once. Just one space. Maybe it's
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  your reactions. Maybe it's your phone. Maybe
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  it's your food. Maybe it's your spending. Maybe
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  it's your tone Don't overwhelm yourself. Just
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  ask the Holy Spirit Rule this one place for me
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  today One place is enough for the spirit to work
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  Self -control grows whenever you slow down long
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  enough to interpret the impulses Before you react
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  before you eat out of emotion before you send
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  the next text before you say that word Before
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  you make that decision take one breath and whisper
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  Holy Spirit Hold me right here. This one interpretation
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  creates a timeline of change. Self -control flourishes
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  when you choose not to escape but to endure.
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  Whenever you feel, whenever you face a feeling
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  or urge, a craving, a fear, a temptation, instead
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  of running, sit with it and say, Holy Spirit,
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  strengthen me. Feelings pass. Temptations weaken.
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  The spirit strengthens. Every time that you do
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  this, you build holy endurance. And I want you
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  to say this out loud today. A declaration that
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  shifts your identity. Holy Spirit, you steady
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  me. You strengthen me. You rule me. I am not
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  controlled by my impulses. I am controlled by
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  you. And when you say that, heaven hears that
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  your heart hears that darkness hears that and
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  it the shift begins and so we hope that this
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  message was short was encouraging and There is
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  so much that the Holy Spirit can do if you just
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  Surrender and so I'm proud of you for listening
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  and staying through this whole topic series Next
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  week is Christmas and so we will do a special
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  topic on Christmas and God is not asking you
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  to be stronger He is asking you to stay surrendered
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  because the spirit will produce in you self -control
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  That you never thought you could have And so
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  we would love to pray for you. Dear Heavenly
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  Father, thank you for these listeners. Thank
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  you for their ability to just fully surrender
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  their life. Thank you that you were changing
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  their heart. Thank you that you're changing their
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  mind. Thank you that we have metanoia. Thank
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  you that we are renewed each day. Thank you for
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  the Holy Spirit to strengthen us where we are
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  weak. Thank you for clarity. That is from from
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  confusion. Thank you for the restraint and from
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  a temptation. Thank you for the peace that our
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  emotions are overwhelming Thank you that we produce
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  self -control that we do not produce self -control
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  But you are that because we are rooted in your
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  willpower and not our own Thank you for all that
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  you do in Jesus name. I pray Amen Thank you so
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  much for tuning in today if this message inspired
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  you just kind of click some buttons and subscribe
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  and just review, send this message out, help
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  our little podcast grow. We love you guys. Have
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  a great week.