Proverbs 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.

The greatest battle you and I will ever fight is the one against our own spirit. No matter what right and godly desires we determine to fulfill in life in any God-given role we have, our inner selfish man is constantly challenging our spirit so that we would fulfill the lust of the flesh.
 
The Bible tells us in Romans 7:19, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
 
Great men, great fathers, yea, great husbands learn early on that ruling their own spirits is a major key in fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives. They decide that temptations, lusts, or anger will not govern their lives, but rather, they acknowledge that the power is in their hand to choose to do right or wrong. 
 
Oftentimes, a man that does not rule his spirit will give in to his flesh. This can be done through anger or pride or an altogether out-of-control lifestyle, and they will try to say that “they” don’t have a choice…but in fact, they do…WE ALL DO.
 
My success as a man is rooted in how well I rule my own spirit. Our spirit is the inner man, who happens to control all our actions. When we don’t rule our spirit, then our actions are sinful or may even be evil. When we rule our spirit, then our actions are virtuous, truthful, and wise.
 
Paul said in I Corinthians 9:27, “But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
 
In this chapter, Paul is describing his life of self-sacrifice to win others to faith in Christ. He uses an example of competition to bring his point across. He likens himself to an athlete who practices self-control to win a race.
 
His training, his diet, his schedule—all must be fine-tuned in such a way as to help him win that competition. Paul’s ultimate prize was God’s recognition of his faithfulness. If we truly see the value of being a man that is “disciplined, and under control,” we will rule our spirit!
 
The Bible compares the man that does not rule his spirit to a city that is broken down and without walls. We must consider the timeframe in which this was written. During Solomon’s time, a city was fully dependent upon having strong walls to fortify and protect its people.  These walls would either repel opposing armies from easily taking over the city, or cause them to reconsider their actions altogether.
 
If a city’s walls were destroyed, or if the city failed to have walls in the first place, that city was viewed as extremely vulnerable to incoming attacks.  As a matter of fact, a wall-less city was an easy target for those that wished to plunder, pillage, or conquer.
 
With that context in mind, a man that has no control over his spirit and over his actions is very vulnerable. This could mean being vulnerable to spiritual attacks. No rule over oneself could mean that we are up and down spiritually. One day we want to win the world for Christ, and the next time we are contemplating going to church–and sadly, our decision could be based on how we felt for the day, or what someone did to us or didn’t do for us.
 
This could be a vulnerability to losing our purity. If what we already know about the Bible won’t get us to “rule our spirit” or our lusts, then we will be susceptible to giving in to them. This would result in us doing something that would break our marriage vows—which is catastrophic in itself, but add to that losing our family, losing the respect of our children, and the endless shame associated with such an action.
 
Not ruling our spirit could mean allowing anger to dominate our homes. If we must overreact to every little mistake that happens, we create a lack of security in our marriage and in our parenting. Our family will think they can do nothing right because they are always getting blown up on, and as a result, there will be no joy! Shame on us if there is no joy in our home!
 
If we are hypocritical in the home or take swipes at authority often in the home, our young children may appear to not let it affect them, but they will get OLDER, and they will REMEMBER, and we will REAP the fruit from those seeds planted. 
 
If we discipline our children in anger, in an out-of-control way where the biggest emotion our children see is not love or disappointment or concern but rather pure anger—we will lose our children! And in addition to that, they may mimic the same behavior with their children and lose them, too! This is how the generational curse works!
 
Ruling our own spirit means we are fully in control of our actions regardless of the “happenings” in our life. We can lose our job, suffer financial hardship or even physical illness nevertheless, one of the greatest gifts we can offer our families is to be under control.  Ruling our own spirit is basically being under the control of the Holy Spirit so that we can always choose right over wrong, spirit over flesh. 
 
How about it? If you were likened to a city… would you have walls? Strong, fortified walls to keep the enemy out? Or would you be a city that is broken down…and without walls.

Proverbs 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.