Oct 10

2 Peter 1:6-11
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.
11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

"Want to get to Jolly?" a Texan might say to you. "Simple. Just go to Wichita Falls and turn east, like you were going to Gainesville or Sherman." That's right, the road to Sherman, Texas, goes through Jolly. The road to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, goes through Beaver Dam, Horse Branch, and Spring Lick. That's from the west. If you're coming from the east, you could go by way of Stamping Ground. And if you're going to Saskatoon, you could get there through Prince Albert. (No jokes, please!) You could also go by way of Moose Jaw or Indian Head. You could even get there by going through Elbow and Eyebrow, but that would be out of your way. But you may not be going to Jolly or Saskatoon (though Moose Jaw sounds like a fun place to visit). If you're a Christian, you should be heading toward godliness. And the road to godliness goes through self-control. That's what the apostle Peter, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples, meant when he wrote, "Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness" (2 Peter 1:6). Self-control is the ability to say no to things that are harmful to you. It is the ability to put off things that you want to do but can't-or shouldn't-do right now. It's also the ability to discipline yourself to do the things God, in his Word, tells you to do. Paul, in his letter to Titus, said this: "We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God" (Titus 2:12). If you want to become more like God, then the way to get there is to develop self-control, because self-control helps you resist temptation and gives you the patience to develop some of the habits necessary for growth in godliness, like prayer and Bible reading. Self-control isn't the only stop on the road to godliness, but it's a main interchange.

REFLECT: Self-control is the ability to (1) say no to things that are harmful to you; (2) put off things that you want to do but can't or shouldn't do right now; and (3) discipline yourself to do the things God tells you to do. Do you show self-control in any of these areas? Do you struggle with self-control in any of these areas?

ACT: Cover one of your schoolbooks or your Bible with a road map. Using a magic marker, mark two dots on one of the major roads on the map. Mark one "Godliness" and the other "Self-control" as a reminder that the road to godliness leads through self-control.

PRAY: "God, today's Bible reading says that knowing you leads to self-control. Help me to know you more. Help me to learn more self-control from you, especially in the area of... , and lead me on the road to godliness."

Ok, so it looks like this one focuses on how we need to hold our relationship with God needs to be kept responsibly and very well taken care for. In the end, we can't ask for things too late or too early. We have to view our relationship from a critical standpoint 24/7. Because as much as he has a part in our connection, most of the maintenance boils down to how we keep the relationship.

what is wrong with you. It is oct 9 today.

have an art test tomorow afternoon....what are you exactly supposed to study for na art test????

I really thougt that today's was a repeat of yesterdays....um I shall see is there's more that I can add to this. Without god, the world wouldve gone crazy. Satan would be contolling everything. But god wants to protect us from harm, he wants us to help lead others away from a sinful life and we can only do that if we can do the same. What I mean by this is that we must have self control and fix our mistakes before we start to help others.

Alright, that was a little bit repetitive to what I said yesterday, but that's everything!
~Audrey~

"Self-control is the ability to say no to things that are harmful to you. It is the ability to put off things that you want to do but can't-or shouldn't-do right now. It's also the ability to discipline yourself to do the things God, in his Word, tells you to do."

I'm kind of running out of ideas for devos that relate to Self-Control....
But I liked that line in the story thing. It reminded me of Dan Kim's sermon on how we should be able to sacrifice our earthly longings for God's sake.

Sorry it's short. I can't think of anything good these days...

ugh have an EQAO practice test tomorrow, math unit test on friday and our interm report cards come out tomorrow...big week...yipee...
anywho, another devotion based on self control. um i will try not to sound too reptetitive so hear it goes! self control gives you the power and ability to make choices. you either make the right choices or the wrong choices which eventually leads to you being controlled by Satan. self control also allows you to discipline yourself like how todays devotion read. you can discipline yourself if you have self control from making either right or wrong decisions, esentially you are not being too dependant on God, but you are learning to be more Godly.
thats all i have for today, see you all saturday!

Recently baptised, Pastor Dan talked about the process of becoming a "follower" of Christ.
And sanctification is the process in which we try to become more and more like Christ.
Essentially, Pastor Dan gave me a visual description on how God looks at our sanctification process, and it seems just like a line chart, with a line striking our faith.
Up and down, sometimes way high, and sometimes way low, just like a relationship with anyone else.
As great as it would sound, I don't always show happiness towards my parents.
And God purposely set that up for us, we were made so perfect, but so imperfect from God's eyes.
Having to always consistently stay humble is really what I wish for, always showing patience, no matter how the intensity of that sanctification graph looks.
Self-control is showing consistency, and a great place to start is through humbleness.
Just as Jesus himself proved himself worthy as a consistent humble servant.

Truthfully, i struggle with all three of these things of self control.
1) When im shown something new that may be dangerous, its always a thrill to know and experience it. Even when it may cause harm to me, i do it anyways.
2) I find it really hard to put off the thigns i love doing for things i need to do. Like playing sports. Ive been limited because i have school work to concentrate on.
3)A lot of what we do is sinful, meaning its ungod like. I plan on fixing my problems and straightening myself out.
Self control is only one step to being more God like, but isnt one step a huge one in your walk with God? its better to take steps rather than to stay in one spot. Even the minor things that cause you to take that extra baby step should be taken and accounted for.

Don't really know what to say about self-control anymore.
But I guess it is really important to always strive to be like God. Whether its being a kinder person, or humbling ourselves, or exercising self-control, all these little things add up to being closer and closer to God. Just like even the biggest houses are made brick by brick, we need to start laying our own with the virtues God told us is important. So yea. night

A real person vs self theme being conveyed in this devotion
Self control, the ability to say no, to refuse things we know aren't good for us.
The little exert stated that we as Christians should strive for Godliness.
Firstly, us Christians are ON SCREEN.
Secondly, us Praise team members, as Christians, are EVEN ON MORE SCREEN.
Simple things like watching our language in front of other members of our ministry.
Not to be fake...but to lead a good example. Of course we shouldn't censor our mouths ONLY at church
But to work towards those habits of stopping in total. But I'm saying we should be a little more mindful where people view us as rolemodels.
This is only 1 out of many many examples.