Mr. Self II

Thursday 27 July
READ: Gal. 5: 19 - 24
MORE LESSON: 1 Cor. 13: 1 – 8

As I worked among students in my early days in ministry, I noticed that when you go to rooms where believers lived together, you would meet everywhere untidy and scattered, whereas some that kept a separate room had it tidy and clean. I began to wonder what was responsible for this. On pressing a bit further, I began to hear from those that stayed together, “I cleaned the room yesterday, he does not even arrange the shoes. Does he think I'm a fool?” Even though they were Christians, self began to take its toll on them.
When self enters the home, it brings troubles along. This is the reason you must make sure you give no room for selfishness in your life and home. One of the things that self introduces is anger. It makes you angry with the other person; you believe the other person is the problem. However, the problem is the self - seeking nature in you. This is because even when the person does wrong, if you are selfless and full of love, you will overlook the faults. Self brings bitterness and strife. You can't even smile at a fellow believer any more. It is self that makes a sister avoid speaking to another in the church because of ill feelings. Self brings envy and it is rooted in pride.
In the kingdom of sin, there is a kind of chain reaction that happens. No sin works alone; it is linked to other sins and drags them in wherever it is given opportunity. If you are angry with someone, you might become bitter about the person and so you begin to backbite or slander the victim. Before you know it you have hatred in your heart and then you behave badly towards the person that even you are surprised at yourself.
This is the reason why you must nip sin in the bud before the chain reaction starts. The way to do it is that whenever you see any manifestation of self that wants to suggest wrong to you about a person, quickly silence it by the love of God. When you don't even feel like loving the person because of something he/she has done, you have to make yourself walk in love. The love of God is the cure for selfishness. Let love find expression through you. Love both those that deserve and those that do not deserve to be loved. The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. So if you are walking in love towards someone and the other person takes you for a ride, you just keep walking in love. It is not because you are a fool; it is because you have crucified self. Do not let selfishness rule you, rather dominate self by God's love.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that the true Christian character will be seen in all that you do, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God for grace to live a crucified life, in Jesus’ mighty name.
* Destroy the manifestation of flesh you have been battling with, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
As the Lord lives I shall not be a slave in destiny, I shall rise and not be beneath, in the mighty name of Jesus.