The Ninth Fruit of the Spirit - Self-Control

Different roots produce different fruits. Roots in Jesus reflect His character. If your life is in Jesus and His Spirit, the fruit you bear is His (Galatians 5:22-23). Day by day, you become more and more like Him.

Self-control is the ninth fruit of the Spirit. It is only through the inward power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to crucify the many lusts of the flesh: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”(Galatians 5:19-21).

Every day of your life you are either feeding the flesh or feeding the Spirit. Whichever you feed eventually controls you. The Spirit-controlled life rules over the lusts of the flesh. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17).

Your flesh can be controlled. Love of Jesus is the power that controls it. Deliverance from the flesh does not come through human effort, but through Jesus’s indwelling love.

Self-control is a fruit requiring discipline – the inner strength to control one’s desires and actions. We can control our tongues. Our passions. Our lusts. The key is to love Jesus more than any lust of the flesh. Then we can obey His call to holiness.

Overcome the desires of the flesh by rooting yourself in Jesus.

When you do, you will be conformed to the image of the One who lives in you - Jesus Christ.