Deliverance from Lack of Self Control

Temperance, or self control, is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, as described in Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Self-control is defined as the act, power, or habit of having one’s faculties or energies under control. When we do not exercise self-control, we usually become prey to some sort of addiction. The addiction itself is not the problem. It is a symptom of the problem. The problem is not exhibiting the attributes of the Holy Spirit, namely temperance.

Many Christians struggle with deliverance in this area because they try to treat the symptoms and not the cause or the root of the problem. They will attempt to stop drinking, stop doing drugs, go on a diet, stop illicit sex, stop impulsive shopping, etc. However, they soon find themselves back into the very same areas because they did not deal with temperance. They have no self-control.

The battle for this deliverance usually occurs in the area known as flesh. We are not speaking about skin and bones or what is known as the body. We are talking about that area that Paul describes as the "lower nature". The flesh, as mentioned here, deals with human nature and often denotes carnality (See attached sheet on flesh).

Self-control is so difficult because there is a constant battle between the spirit and the flesh. We love to sin as far as our old nature is concerned. But we must crucify that nature daily. We must work to bring our bodies under subjection. Paul describes this in I Corinthians.

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1 Cor. 9:27

What has God instructed us to do? We must walk after the spirit and not the flesh. That simply means being led by the Holy Spirit instead of our impulses.