It Builds Character
2009-11-02

Our first official meeting of Wings of Freedom Church was awesome! We had a packed house (around 40 people!) and shared some vision and worshipped. We had no electricity, but the real Light was there!

My Psalm for today is Psalm 118:18-21. Reading from The Message.

GOD tested me, he pushed me hard, but he didn't hand me over to Death.
Swing wide the city gates--the righteous gates! I'll walk right through and thank GOD!
This Temple Gate belongs to GOD, so the victors can enter and praise.

Thank you for responding to me; you've truly become my salvation!

"The main thing in adversity is to know that we are laid low by the hand of God, and that this is the way which he takes to prove our allegiance, to arouse us from our torpidity, to crucify our old man, to purge us from our filthiness, to bring us into submission and subjection to God, and to excite us to meditate on the heavenly life."

(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)


Tabletalk Magazine

"Paul's Final Epistle"
2 Timothy 1:1-2

Reading from the English Standard Version

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.
To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul knew his life was in God's hands, the hands of a sovereign God. He did not let his troubles keep him from pressing on. He wrote 2 Timothy while in a Roman prison awaiting execution. We have more details about the life of Timothy in this epistle.


Holiness Day By Day

"Self-Control"
2 Timothy 1:7

Reading from the English Standard Version

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

D.G. Kehl describes self-control as "the ability to avoid excesses, to stay within reasonable bounds." George Bethune describes it as "the healthful regulation of our desires and appetites, preventing their excess."

But it is more than just controlling bodily appetites and desires. "We must also exercise self-control of thoughts, emotions, and speech." And we must not only say "no" to the things we should not do, but "yes" to the things we should be doing.

The reason we need self-control is because we are at war with our sinful desires. James 1:14 says that these desires drag us away and entice us to sin. They are dangerous because they dwell within us.

"Self-control is an essential character trait of the godly person that enables obedience to the words of the Lord Jesus."


Father, I pray for more self-control. It is obvious that I am lacking in that area. I know that you have already provided everything I need for life and godliness, but sometimes I don't know how to find it. I know that the strength is there, and it is redundant for me to pray to you for strenght. So...help me find it. You gave it to me, I just have to find it. Maybe I layed it down somewhere. I'm not really trying to be funny...I'm trying to get a handle on how to appropriate the things that your Word says that you have already given us. I need to find the way to reign in the desires that keep me from serving you most effectively.

I pray for the motivation to "press on" as Paul did, no matter what the circumstances. No matter what is going on in my life, I need to focus on you. Keep my eyes on the prize. Run the race and fight the fight, and all of those other metaphors that are used in Scripture.

And help me to always know that when you allow things in my life that aren't so pleasant, that they are for my growth.


If God is chastening me at any time, I must always know that it is for my own good. As Calvin's Dad was always telling him in Calvin and Hobbes, "it builds character."

Grace and peace friends.



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