A Prayer for Self-Control
For mastery over impulse — a disciplined heart, by the Spirit's power.
Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, not a feat of willpower. This prayer is for mastery over the impulses that master us — appetite, temper, tongue, and screen.
The prayer
Father, I am too often ruled by impulse — the sharp word, the second helping, the endless scroll, the temper that flares before I think. I want to be free.
Self-control is your Spirit's fruit, not my achievement, so I ask you to grow it in me. Strengthen me where I am weakest and most easily led.
Give me the pause before the reaction, the discipline to stop, the power to say no to what harms me and yes to what is good.
Rule the parts of me that will not rule themselves. Let me be governed by your Spirit and not by my appetites. Grow this fruit in me, Lord. Amen.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
The fruit of the Spirit is... temperance — self-control grows from the inside out, as fruit does; ask the Spirit to grow it.
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