Self-Control

By Akinwale Kola-Ayannowo

The purpose of this book is to let
all human beings know that God
expects us to exercise restraint in every
area of our lives and relationships. God
Himself, Who is the Creator of man,
exercises restraint because He loves
man and wants to maintain relationship
with man. We also need to do the same and hold back
from doing things that we might later on regret, so we do
not fall into the habit of living with regrets throughout our
lifetimes. Discover in this book the areas of human living
and endeavours where self-control must be
exercised and how to do this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Mar 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462881611

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Akinwale Kola-Ayannowo.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011903999

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-8160-4

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-8159-8

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-8161-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

301567

Contents

Introduction

1 WORDS

2 SEXUAL DESIRES

3 EMOTIONS

4 MONEY MATTERS

5 HUMAN SENSES

6 THOUGHTS

7 THE HUMAN SPIRIT

8 FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES

9 SLEEP

10 LIFE PLEASURES

11 TIME WISE

12 HABITS

13 WHAT HAS GOD TOLD OR SHOWN YOU?

Conclusion

Dedication

This book is dedicated first to my Precious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who has given to me and all those who believe in Him the gift of eternal life. I thank and praise the Lord for inspiring me to write this book in order to change the world and for mankind to be blessed. This book is also dedicated to every living being on planet earth, to let you know that God cares for you and wants to meet with you.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Our General overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor E A Adeboye for his role in providing leadership, direction and care for us all in the ministry. Letting us know that God has called us all to greatness and has given us all the ability to change the world for good. Sir, it’s an honour to serve the Lord under your leadership.

Pastor EBO Isiaka, a big thank you for all the advice and support in putting this book together. Your sincere words of wisdom and guidance are priceless sir.

My Parish leader, Pastor Charles Juba, thumbs up to you sir for all the encouragement and help. Keep up the good work sir because I know more champions from your leadership are about to take the world stage by surprise.

Pastor Tosan Abuwa of The Redeemed & Restored Ministries, RRM, thank you so much for all your time and effort in making this book a reality.

My dear brother, Ayanyemi Kola-Ayannowo thank you for all your help and support and Mrs Folake Labaeka—Aboyade your contribution was highly appreciated, thanks.

And many thanks to all my well wishers.

May the Lord God bless you all real good. Amen.

Introduction

In all that we do in life, being able to exercise self-control is of great importance. Exercising self-control is in the character of God who made man. Can you imagine if God didn’t exercise self-control towards sinful man? I personally think that there will be no man left alive today on earth if the Almighty God didn’t exercise self-control towards sinful man. Even the people of today’s world system who do not believe that God exist have this attribute existing in some things that they do; they might be loose in some areas, but in most they do exercise self-control.

An example of this can be seen in a car manufacturer. Have you asked yourself before why a car has got not just the accelerator for speed but definitely brakes to control and stop the car? How many human beings today would like to be driven in a very expensive car with no brakes to control the car? It’s very obvious what the end result will be—an accident which might lead to death. This is one of the reasons why God in His infinite knowledge wants man, especially His children, to exercise self-control in their lives.

Just as a car being driven without brakes can lead to physical death, so a life without self-control will lead to spiritual death.

A close look at the Bible points us to how many times the nine godly virtues appear in the Bible, one can find that the word ‘love’ appears 361 times, the word ‘joy’ appears 158 times, the word ‘peace’ appears 397 times, the word ‘long-suffering’ appears 15 times, the word ‘kindness’ appears 46 times, the word ‘goodness’ appears 45 times, the word ‘faithfulness’ appears 27 times, the word ‘gentleness’ appears 9 times, and the word ‘self-control’ appears 8 times, according to NKJV. This might be the reason why we talk about self-control the least of all the nine godly virtues in the Bible because it appears the least times in the Bible.

The Bible as our manual of living on this earth will help us to exercise self-control and please God in all our ways if we do what it teaches us and not just knowing and hearing alone.

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lust against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which l tell you beforehand, just as l also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the