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Personal discipline is an important aspect of life in the Spirit of God, as it is power, or love. These three characteristics will show in the life of any christian who has been Spirit filled. You may agree with me that any person, who sincerely surrenders to Jesus, experiences a radical change of attitude at first. This initial evidence is only the beginning of a longer, deeper transformation process taking place by the power of God and the supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit.
I have heard of many people who have been supernaturally freed from all kinds of addictions and destructive behaviors after receiving Jesus. That is the job of the Holy Spirit bringing freedom to those who were imprisoned by sin. Let's say that this is a first dose of self-control, but it is not the last one. A strong first dose is required to break a cycle of dependence on any destructive habit, but several, small, successive doses of the same medicine are still needed to ensure that habit will never come back.
This is how the Holy Spirit deals with you personally to bring grater deliverance and healing. He will use different means to make you aware of something going wrong and then he will show you a way to fix it. Once you overcome this first objective (whether it has taken you hours, days, or years to solve it) the Holy Spirit will come back to you and call your attention about something else, and so forth, until your character clearly resembles Christ's himself. His will is for you to experience true freedom in Him, and such freedom is linked to the power to exert self-control.
The apostle Paul had knowledge of this truth and wrote, " I have the freedom to do anything, but not everything is helpful. I have the freedom to do anything, but I won’t be controlled by anything." (1 Co 6.12) The New Living Translation concludes: " I must not become a slave to anything."
Certain behaviors or habits are enslavering and will certainly become obstacles to our freedom. Frank Herbert said: "Seek freedom and become a slave of your desires, seek discipline and find freedom." I think he is right on this point, there is great freedom in self-control.
You may want to list some habits or behaviors that are not beneficial to you and that you'd like to submit to the Holy Spirit. You may not feel strong enough to give up right now, but you can always ask him to help you exercise supernatural self-control in order to overcome these weaker areas of your life. I am convinced, if you are constant in your purpose and persistent in your prayer, he will open new doors for you and take you to a point of radical change.
