RULE YOUR SPIRIT 3

*RULE YOUR SPIRIT 3*
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is *love* , joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, *self-control* (temperance) : against such there is no law.
?? *Self-control* the fruit of the Holy Spirit begins with love and ends with self control according to our opening scripture. That order of attributes is not the finite or absolute definition of spiritual fruit. It was the order of spiritual fruit as for the Galatian church that could not master the aspects of Christian maturity. No wonder he rebukes their foolishness( *Galatians 3:1)* and foolishness there is not because they don’t have wisdom but because they can’t sustain a certain order of the spirit, they began in the spirit and ended in the flesh.

But it’s important to note that this church could not have a certain degree of maturity because it yielded to the spirit but also to the flesh, they had a sort of double-standard life.
?? *Self-control* as the idea of Paul was simply an idea of the *working of love of God in them to cause these fellows to have an intimacy with the person of the Holy Spirit enough to cause them to rule their spirits.* The Greek word for *Self-control* is *egkrateia* , in its primary definition is the ability to master your desires and passions especially sensual apetities but that’s what is understood as the role of the mind and the body. *The deeper place of that experience is not just mastering sensual apetities but self-control in itself refers to the ability to rule your spirit* and *guard your mantle* (Heart). The KJV calls it *”Temperance”,* the ability to calm your spirit and mind which has an effect on your soul(will) and consequently your body. This is what paul calls *” Putting beating the body to put it under subjection* , he is not talking about fasting. You can fast but until you have *heart-mind shift,* you will go back to the addictions after fasting.

*Further study:*
??Galatians 3:1 and 1 Corinthians 9:27