09.01.14 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV. 

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 1:5-8 NKJV. 

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls. - Proverbs 25:28 NKJV. 

What do you do when the wasps are out of control? You don’t call ghost busters; you do call the pest controller! What would you do if you walked into a bedroom in your home and found a giant wasp nest? A wasp nest about five foot long by three feet wide by two and half feet tall! Now that is a wasp nest! That is what a homeowner in Britain found in an upstairs bedroom that she rarely used. The pest controller estimated the colony of wasps contained approximately 5,000 wasps with thousands more grubs and 500 queens. The pest controller had to wear a bee keeper’s suit while he attacked the nest. The wasps were trying to attack the pest controller as he sprayed the nest and the room and then removed the dead wasps. The wasps had eaten an eight inch hole into the bed and the pillows were also destroyed. It took several hours to complete the removal the giant wasp nest and dead wasps. (Orange News 08.28.14) 

There are some clues here for how loss of control of situations and lives occur and how to maintain control or regain control of lives or situations. The first thing we notice about why wasps were able to build a gigantic nest is that the nest was built in a room that no one had entered in months. In 2 Peter 1:5-6, we are told “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control….” To avoid having another huge wasp nest built in a spare bedroom the homeowner in the future will need to take a look at the bedroom more frequently and check for any signs of nest building by the wasps. The same goes for our spiritual lives; we must have “diligence.” The Free Dictionary dot com defines diligence as: “Earnest and persistent application to an undertaking; steady effort; assiduity. Attentive care; heedfulness.” We often hear the term used in regard to legal situations as in exercising due diligence. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes this as: “The attention and care legally expected or required of a person as a party to a contract.” 

To keep from losing control of your spiritual life, there must be a frequent examination of your life. Are you moving forward in your spiritual life? Are you standing still? Are you going backward? If you are standing still or going backward, immediate action must be taken to prevent your life from going out of control. To move your life forward increase your contact with God by having more Bible, more prayer, more church, more giving, and more service. 

If your spiritual life is completely out of control, you will likely need help to regain control. Ask for help from a pastor or mature Christians. Ask them to pray for you and monitor your progress as you move toward God having control of your life. Just as with a gigantic wasp nest, cleaning up the mess may take some time. It is unlikely that it will occur in a moment of time, but it will begin with a renewed commitment to Jesus being the Lord of your life. Once that renewed commitment to Jesus has been made you will be able to step by step regain control of your life through His power.