Freaking Out Over Control

Freaking Out Over Control

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Freaking Out Over Control-------------------------- Date: 6/13/2000
Keywords: "drunkenness" "filled with the Spirit"

Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

Passages: Ephesians 5:16*

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Questions

1. When a man is filled with alcohol, what controls him?

2. When a man is filled with the Holy Spirit, what controls him?

3. “Dissipation” means about the same as “evil” or “debauchery.” What is
it about being controlled by alcohol that is inherently evil?

Practical help

The unquenchable thirst for alcohol that controls the actions of an alcoholic is not a function of the body’s natural thirst for fluid replacement. It is an appetite for a “good feeling” run amuck. The problem is that the “good feeling” that is experienced through the bottle soon changes from that of a nice little pet to that of an overpowering master. The result is that a man - a person made in the image and likeness of God! - is reduced to a slave. He is not in control of himself, but is controlled by the alcohol.

Porn works in the same way. When a man gives free rein to explore the sexual fantasies available on the web, he discovers the same thing the heavy drinker does. He is CONTROLLED. He finds the temptation to click on to the porn web sites irresistible.

The only remedy when such a state exists is to put Another Person in the driver’s seat.

If you have reached a point where porn has taken control, here is what to do: Ask the Holy Spirit to take over. Give Him the keys to your life and appetites.

There will be other things to DO after this key-exchange - but nothing can be done until that is done. And here is a promise from Scripture. As you walk away from porn and into the embrace of the Holy Spirit, you will find yourself gaining what Paul calls in another place the fruit of the Spirit - SELF-CONTROL (Galatians 5:22-23).

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLEŽ, Š Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."