iShineInMinistry

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is...self-control.

The Lord moves so powerfully in the ministry as we are daily filled with His Holy Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit manifesting in our lives. One of the hardest evidences of fruit in our entire society today is that of self-control. Our world tells us to follow our hearts, have “YOLO” moments and do what “feels good”. The problem with this is that our hearts are deceitfully wicked and we can only trust in the Lord with all of our hearts to walk in a way that is pleasing. This is true in our day-to-day lives as well as in the ministries that we oversee.

When we are being stewards over the ministry God has given us to oversee, we want to make sure to be in His will, doing everything to His glory and make sure that we are bearing fruit as He entrusts us to serve His people. As we prep and plan, place things in order and make sure that we have crossed every t and dotted every i, we must be careful. Our self-control in being diligent can quickly slip into a spirit of becoming a control freak. We have everything “just so” then a volunteer steps in to assist us and afterward we re-do everything they help with so that it looks the way we want. However, what we should be doing is making sure it is the way that the Lord wants.

As we pour out our hearts through service and ministry, let us continue to yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead the way as His vessels of honor. Let us have the fruit of the Spirit of self-control without becoming overly controlling of the situation to the point where God is no longer the center. I pray that our hearts will always check our motives and make sure that we serve in a way that is pleasing to Jesus and a wonderful example of a godly woman to the women we minister to on a daily basis.

When your plans do not look exactly as you have planned do you get in the flesh? Make sure that as you practice self-control it stays in Spirit and does not flip to control-freak mode. We need to be flexible so that we are willing to move as God moves!