self- control

This is my last week in the Living Beyond Yourself Bible study. The final week focuses on self-control. Beth put a different spin on it for me one that I had never thought of. Here are points that stuck out to me:

1. Love keeps us afloat; Self-control keeps us anchored
2. The key to self-control is the refusal to allow our enemies (flesh, world, or Satan) to rule or hold us captive in any way. Self makes the choice have control. Self extends authority to those listed above.
3. Walls of city- she focuses on stories from the old testament in which walls were built for protection, yet if the walls fell the city became vulnerable to any attack. "A city was only as secure as the walls which surrounded it" She compared the walls of the city to self-control. When we lack self-control we are vulnerable to what the enemy throws at us.
   

   Any out-of-control area in our lives, no matter how big or how small, is an open invitation to the enemy....he (Satan) has memorized every strength and every weakness in our lives. He is always on the lookout for that one crumbling section or your protective wall- that one out-of-control area- where he will enter and play havoic on your life. His weapons are your greatest temptation. Your wounds are guilt, shame, frustration, and failure; his goal is to hold you captive for as long as possible.

I think my mindset used to be that self-control was more about eating and not over indulging. It goes beyond that to addictions, anger, obsessivness and so forth.
If we let our self have control our lives will be disaster yet if we let God have control we will have self-control and our lives will begin to change.