Christian Healing Ministry - Devotionals

Devotional for August 23, 2026

SELF CONTROL

SCRIPTURE READING - 📖 Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Additional Verses

📖 Genesis 4:1-16; Matthew 27:11-44; Galatians 5:16-26

From the day you become a Christian through receiving Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior of your life and you are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire according to Luke 3:16, it is your responsibility to change your character into the character of Jesus Christ. Total commitment to Jesus Christ is not a casual decision, it is a declaration of war with the devil, against darkness. The moment Jesus Christ takes over your life, everything in your life must change. There are places others can go, but you can no longer go there because you now carry the presence of Jesus Christ everywhere you go. You are now controlled by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is now your Director. You do this by cultivating into yourself the nine virtues of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. While all the nine virtues are so central to a mature Christian character, today we are going to look at the virtue of self-control. Jesus Christ demonstrated the virtue of self-control whenever He faced opposition from the devil, the Jewish rulers and even when they nailed Him to the Cross. When He was falsely accused by the Jewish rulers and authorities, He remained silent. Matthew 26:62-63a says, “And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held His peace.” While many people today claim the Christian identity and some are even in Church leadership positions, their lives are a manifestation of anger and hatred against their neighbors and even against those they are leading in Churches. Many are full of un-forgiveness. When the devil tempted Jesus Christ to turn stone into bread, or to bow to him or even to throw Himself down from the roof of the temple, Jesus Christ refused in all the three temptations. He defeated the devil by faithfully declaring the Word of God. When you make Jesus Christ your standard, you will certainly have the virtue of self- control at work in your life. Once you fail to have self -control, you will certainly lose all the other eight virtues of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-13. Jesus Christ endured pain at the Cross because He remained focused on the Word of God. He never yielded to all that was going on around Him even when those around Him mocked and abused Him. If you want to see the highest level of self -control, look at Jesus Christ at the Cross. All the violence, killings and lawlessness you see around you today is the result of lack of self-control in both Christians and non-Christians. Self- control is a special gift of the Spirit of God as it is the product of the time you spend meditating upon the Word of God and applying such Word to your every situation. The One who called you is greater than the world that fights against you to loose your temper, Jesus Christ has already won the battle for you when He defeated the devil at the Cross of Calvary. Today I am therefore asking you to pray to God for this important gift of self -control in your life so that you are able to master any situation that may come your way. Alleluia!

Prayer

Thank You Father, for teaching me that without the virtue of self- control it is not possible for me to have the other eight virtues of the fruit of the Spirit. I thank You for Your Son Jesus Christ from whose life I can learn the right way to exercise self- control. May You therefore grant me this special virtue of self- control so that I may not lose my salvation. In Jesus Christ’s mighty name I pray. Amen.