Take Control

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.  Proverbs 25:28

In the study of Classical civilization, ancient cities were fortified by their walls. One of the military might of an ancient city was the strength of its walls. Have you ever heard about the Trojan Horse?  You might know it as a computer virus; but the term was borrowed from Classical Civilization.  The Trojan horse was a huge wooden horse that was built by the Troys  (an ancient Greek civilization ); a strategy they used to conquer Trojan, another ancient city. This is a summary of the story from my Classics lectures. A battle had raged on between the Troys and the Trojans, and the Troys with all their military might (Greek was once the worlds most powerful nation) could not penetrate the walls of the  Trojans. The Greeks retreated, but just when they were about to sail away; an idea came up to build a huge wooden horse (horse was the emblem of the Greeks). The horse was built in three days with a huge compartment in its belly.  All the forces of Greek got into the horse.   One man was left outside the horse and his mission was to get the Trojans to drag the horse into their city. His  mission  was accomplished through deception. The Trojans dragged this rather huge and heavy wooden horse, which they believed the Greeks left behind as a gift into their city. That night when the Trojan city was sleeping, the Greeks jumped out of the horse and the city Trojan fell.  I hope you also know the story of the walls of Jericho.

Self Control (Rule over your own spirit) is one of the powerful walls in our lives that fortifies us against destruction. If we don’t have self control, like the scripture said we are like a city with its ‘s  walls broken down. We become vulnerable, defenseless and prone to destruction.  It’s scary, without self control anything can enter our lives and destroy us.  If we will be honest with ourselves, we all have entrenched habits in our lives that we know is not good, but somehow we indulge in them. Deep in my heart, I know one of my bad habits is Temper. I lose my cool easily and when you hear me raising my voice, trust me I have lost my temper. Eh! Why am I exposing myself to you like that? Well I believe any truth I come across   in the Bible should first be applied to my life before I share it, so yes I know I need self control in this area of my life and I am fervently working on myself. My breaking point came about two weeks ago when I stood up to my mother. I was fuming with anger and trembling like a leaf-Gosh!.

 When I calmed down afterwards, I told myself if I don’t work on this  thing  it will destroy me. I don’t know your bad habits, you might excuse your habits as “that is how I am”.  NO! That is deception and a big lie from the enemy (remember the walls of Trojan stood, but deception allowed the enemy in). “That is  how I am” is one of the biggest strategy from the enemy to prevent you from working on yourself and overcoming your habits. You were not created with those habits, it is your upbringing, your environment and your experiences in life that has largely contributed to who you are today, but don’t you think it will be worth working on those habits in your life which deep in your heart, you are aware it is not right. Do it starting today, or those habits will grow with you and one day destroy you.