Paul wrote by THE SPIRIT in Galatians chapter 5:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The fruit of self-control was the last one listed though it is as needful as the others. Without it, your testimony could be compromised by those who are observing your walk. Self-control becomes easier as we gain a greater revelation of Love for self-control is required when things are not happening as expected. When our expectations are not met and adversity comes our way, self-control keeps us from responding in a manner unbecoming of one who walks in Love. Those who lack self-control often embarrass themselves and others when dealing with adversity. Paul expressed this issue in earlier verses:
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Have you ever regretted your words and/or actions after having been exposed to some type of adversity? Before you knew it, you acted in an undesirable fashion and immediately you were convicted by THE SPIRIT of your words and actions. This battle with the flesh rages on inside of us but be of good cheer, as we walk in a greater revelation of Love, we will have less and less occurrences requiring us to repent. Why? The fruit of self-control is now expressed in our walk and our flesh is finally coming under submission to our spirit.
If self-control was not an issue, THE SPIRIT would not have Paul write about it to the churches at Galatia. Lack of self-control provides each of us with a barometer of our progress in our pursuit of “walking in THE SPIRIT”.
Paul also provided a detailed list of the fruit of the flesh:
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Within this list are envy, hatred, contentions, jealousies, and selfish ambitions. These works tend to be more subtle than the other works of the flesh. People can often hide selfish ambition from others for a period of time. The ego will attempt to use any weakness in our personality to its benefit thus we need to be brutally honest with ourselves when we assess our fruit. Since Love is the foundational fruit, we must never allow ourselves to grow lax in our production of this valuable fruit. As we continuously plant the Word in us, our faith in our walk with FATHER will strengthen. We will grow more sensitive to THE SPIRT and begin responding to the leading of THE SPIRIT rather than our own logic and reasoning. We will grow more comfortable in being led by THE SPIRIT and the fruit we produce will confirm it. People will see the change in us.
Love will produce change is us and will result in greater self-control. Internal peace will prevail even though chaos is all around us. We will no longer be moved by the circumstances and people will begin to look to us for solutions to the chaos at hand. Our self-control will encourage peace in them.