This post is part of a prayer challenge, 21 Days of Prayers For Your Friends. If you would like more information about the full challenge with daily email prayer guides, I invite you to find it here.
Self-control is one of my biggest personal weaknesses, in one of those “three steps forward, two steps backward” kind of ways.
But still, I press on.
I press on because I believe God’s Word, which says my entire testimony can be disqualified when lack of self-control is displayed in my life.
The longer I walk with the Lord, the more clearly I see that a lack of self-control can take many forms.
Lust, fury, gluttony, and laziness come to mind, to name just a few.
Lack of self-control is a common struggle; even those who have some can always benefit from having more.
It’s my prayer that you’ll be encouraged by praying the Scriptures for your friend to develop self-control. God has laid these verses on my heart in the time of my own need, and it’s my prayer that He continues to conform us and our friends into the image of His Son Jesus Christ in the realm of self-control.
Prayers That Your Friend Would Develop Self-Control
Thank God that your friend is not alone in temptation, claiming the truth that no temptation has overtaken her that is not common to man. Praise God for His faithfulness in not letting her be tempted beyond her ability. Ask Him to give your friend an awareness of the way of escape He always provides, and the courage to make use of it (I Corinthians 10:13)
Pray that God would give your friend an athlete’s mentality, as one who is exercising self-control in all things as she trains for the race and then runs to receive the Prize. Ask Him to help her to run the race in such a way that she may obtain the eternal Prize. Beg Him for the grace she needs to discipline her body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others she should be disqualified (I Corinthians 9:24-27).
Ask God to keep at the forefront of her mind the truth that the end of all things is at hand, and that this understanding would motivate your friend to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of her prayers (I Peter 4:7).
Thank God for His grace that has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession who are passionate about doing good works (Titus 2:11-14).
Remind God of His promise to work in your friend, giving her the desire and the ability to act according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
Claim the truth that your friend has been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer she who lives, but Christ lives in her. Recommit to the Lord that the life which she now lives in the flesh she will not live by her own power, but by faith in the Son of God who loved her and gave Himself up for her (Galatians 2:20).
Ask God to help your friend walk by the Spirit, not gratifying the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
Acknowledge to God that your friend’s body is a temple of the Holy Spirit of God within her. Pray that He would remind your friend often that she is not her own, for she was bought with a price and is therefore obligated to glorify God in her body (I Corinthians 6:19-20).
Beg God to grant your friend a love for Him instead of the world or the things in the world. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. Ask that He would enable her to live each day with an awareness that the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (I John 2:15-17).
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you would draw my friend closer to You, that she may walk in Your Spirit every moment of every day, and that in so doing her life would bear the fruit of self-control. This is impossible for her apart from Your grace, so please grant it lavishly, as You promise. It’s in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.
If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to sign up for the rest of the prayer challenge! It will be a source of blessing in your life (and your friend’s life) as you continue to pray the Scriptures over her.
