TOPIC: Sharpen your Sword with Temperance
TEXT: GALATIANS 5:23 “Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”
MEMORY VERSE: ACTS 24:25 “And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for there.”
FOCUS
This morning, we are going to be looking at another way to sharpen our sword and that is temperance. Temperance means moderate, self-control, and self-restraint, it means you are not doing things excessively. You are moderate. Even the Bible told us to be moderate in all things. In the book of Galatians 5:23, Paul the Apostle was writing to the Galatian Church about the Fruits of the Spirit and one of the fruits he mentioned was Temperance.
There is no fruit without a tree and this tree is virtue, and character and one of the fruits you can bear for your sword to be protected and preserved is Temperance. If you are temperate in all things, it means you are going to exercise self-control when it comes to matters of life. You are not going to be an excessive person, you are not going to be someone who is doing things that do not glorify God.
God is so much interested in our life and he is asking us to be moderate. Temperance is a Fruit of the Spirit and if you are not born again, can not be moderate. There is a nature in Man that wants you to be excessive. Have you seen someone that drinks into a stupor before? He is not temperate. Whatever you are doing, you must be moderate about it and that is the way your sword can be sharpened.
LESSON
2 PETER 1:6 “And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness”
We are looking at how to sharpen our Sword through Temperance. As I said, Temperance means moderation. When you take a look at th Bible passage above, you can see that God put Temperance after Knowledge and this is because Knowledge puffs up. Knowledge can make you overconfident which can grow into pride. This is different from high self-esteem. You are just too confident that you know and this is why some people fail in exams(especially in professional exams). They did not fail because they do not know, they fail because they are overconfident.
Do you know that one of the problems in the body of Christ is that nobody wants to listen to another person? There is this popular saying that “I do not need anybody”. It baffles me because there is a place for tutorship, there is a place for teaching, there is a place for mentorship, there is a place for Fathers and there is a place for spiritual mentorship so you can not rule out all of them, and say you do not need anybody. You have to drink from a fountain. The question is which fountain are you drinking from? And how clean is this fountain? Many people have drunk from the wrong fountain and just like who lays hands on you matters, sometimes you are not just receiving the good, you are also receiving the bad.
Life is a school and there are times that you strategies may not work out the way you expect them to and this is where Temperance comes in. It is my prayer this morning that we are able to sieve what we have learnt and apply Temperance. Your Sword will respond better when you are temperate in all things. God bless you.
PERSONAL CONFESSION
I receive grace to maintain a good temperance at all times in the mighty name of Jesus christ.
PRAYER FOCUS
Father deliver me from evil mood swings in Jesus mighty Name.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A good temperance opens doors of favour to you at all times.
Attitudes determines your Attitudes.