John 15:5, 11-14 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. . . . . These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you."
Matthew 18:1-4 "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.'"

© ATTITUDE --> BEHAVIOR  --> COUNTENANCE .
(Emotions are generated & reinforced by the ABC's you choose.)
Submitting in faith to the Lord & marching/stoicheo under His authority results in the fruit of His Holy Spirit:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control (Galatians 5:22-25).  

     Character consist of ingrained patterns (habits) of attitudes, behaviors, & countenance (Ephesians 4:20-24). Yet, only God's grace can produce the mature character of Jesus in us (Romans 8:28-29), as His Spirit rules as Lord over our thoughts, words, and actions (Gal 2:20; 4:19; 5:22-25).  He does this through regeneration (spiritual rebirth - John 3), progressive sanctification (spiritual growth - Gal 5:25), then finally at the resurrection, glorification (a new body without sin - 1 Jo 3:2).

     Our responsibility is to simply trust & obey His Lordship, by grace alone through faith alone. Faith is not a feeling, but an act of submission.  The difference between demonic faith (Jam 2:19) and true saving, sanctifying faith is submission to Jesus, not just believing facts about God. The choice of faith is nothing mystical. It is simply a heart attitude that determines, "Who will be LORD: self or Jesus Christ?". Growth as a Christian simply involves learning to walk (march - stoicheo) so that the duration and frequency of a submissive character under His Lordship increases. In any moment that a believer is submitted to the Lord, the full fruit of Christ's character will flow through him like a river of living water (John 7:37-39). But when the heart attitude changes to self-will, the dam slams shut and the fruit of the flesh rises to the surface like old swamp scum. As a born rebel, these truths were hard to swallow. From my terrible twos to my hard-hearted teens, I insisted on doing it my way.

     Please, think carefully about the following example. Suppose a Christian man stops a drug habit, yet at the same time he intends to continue an immoral life. Is this limited change in his life really from the fruit of the Spirit? No, because the Spirit's "fruit" is a singular, inseparable package. The Holy Spirit is a person, God Himself (Rom 5-8), not a program from which we can produce parts or pieces. So how and why did the drug habit stop? This question is always answered by examining the root, the intent, the motive, the attitude of the heart (Mat 15; Heb 4:12).   Stopping the drug habit and not the immorality might have motivated merely by a desire to avoid embarrassment, or reduce the cost in money or other consequences.  But very likely it was not the fruit of faithful, loving submission to the Lord - for His glory.

     Once a person is born spiritually from above, his new relationship with God the Father is sure and secure for all eternity. But the daily intimacy of his fellowship and joy with God is dependent upon his ABC's (Philip 2:12-13; 1 John 1).

ATTITUDE (of Heart)  
We are commanded by God to choose humble submission (hypotasso) of our will to God's will (faith- Jam 2:19), for His glory above all. We are to trust what His Word says about Himself, Satan, our selves, others, trials, blessings, etc.. This is the Way of the Son (Joh 14:6; Luk 22:42).  Jesus said that only God is good. We cannot live His perfect goodness (Rom 5:5-8). Only Jesus can live His abundant life in you, through the Holy Spirit (John 15:1-13; Gal 2:20; 4:19; 5:16-6:3). The Way of the Son is to love God more than yourself, and to love your neighbor as you naturally care about and often please yourself.  (See the article Christ-Esteem).  Only then can anyone experience true J.O.Y.. When our heart attitude has the right priorities, only then can true J.O.Y be consistently experienced:  

 J -esus first:
Choose to please and honor Him above all (Mat 6:33-34; 22:36-40).  
O-thers second:
Choose to bless others, meeting their needs not wants (Eph 5:29-32).  
Y-ourself last:
Choose to sacrifice the desire to please self first (Luk 9:23-26). 

Matthew 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."   
James 2:18-19 "...I will show you my faith by my works.   You believe . . . even the demons believe, and tremble."
Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."   
Luke 22: 42 (Jesus said) "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." 

BEHAVIOR - (Thought, Word, Deed)  
The moment by moment, ongoing choice to submit your will to God's will, is called WALKING ("Stoicheo" = marching) in the Spirit, or obeying His Word as you respond to people & circumstances. This simply means that when you are tempted, you freeze and look to the Master, humbly allowing the Lord to rule over your thoughts, words, and actions. This is how Jesus can live through you and bear fruit.

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."   
Galatians 4:19 "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you...."   
Galatians 5:16 "I say then: 'Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."   
Galatians 5:24-25 "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." 

COUNTENANCE = (Face, tone, body language ....)  

Countenance is also a choice to submit your will to God's will, letting the Holy Spirit reflect Himself, i.e., His fruit, through your face, tone, etc. Spirit filled & overflowing! 
(See the separate article for more about why "Countenance Counts")

Genesis 4:6-7 "So the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry?  And why has your countenance fallen (become depressed)?'" 
Galatians 5:22-23 "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."   
2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."   
Romans 8:28-29 "For we know that God causes all things to work for good, to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose. . . to be conformed to the image of His Son. . . ."   
Romans 5:3-5 "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character; hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." 

Examples: "Eating Disorders" (See © The Painful Pursuit of Pleasure): 

     The good news is that the Lord's Spirit and His profoundly simply Word are sufficient for all counseling problems of the non-organic soul (psyche). Man's theories say that anorexia and bulimia are unique, modern problems requiring an esoteric, therapeutic formula to overcome. But  remember the fruit of God's Holy Spirit listed in Galatians is God's sufficient solution: God's Way is the Person of Jesus, not a program (Gal 5:22-24, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control").  

     Any soul (psyche) problem is merely a package of basic biblical, relationship issues (pleasure, fear, guilt, anger, trust, confusion, pride, etc.). Destructive eating patterns, like other bad habits, are symptoms of desires that are out of priority.  

     These desires for pleasure are not wrong in and of themselves. But the Bible clearly tells us that we must choose to put our desires in the right order of priorities J.O.Y.. Otherwise we end up on a never ending road in the ©"Painful Pursuit of Pleasure" (Pro 14:12). You "can't get no satisfaction", unless you are filled full with the Lord (Jer 31:14; Eph 3:14-21).

     Remember, that Gen. 3, Mat 4, Gal 5, James 1:13-15, and 1 John 2 tell us that there are three categories of self-pleasing desires which tempt us at the root of "fleshly" fruit (symptoms). These root motives/attitudes are the:  

1. Desire (epithumia) of the flesh (desire for physical pleasures like food, drugs, sex, etc.).  
2. Desire of the eyes (desire for toys to play with like clothes, TVs, boats, etc.).  
3. Pride of life (desire for the pleasure of ego strokes received for beauty, intelligence, or achievement, etc.).  

     Anorexia often occurs when a person becomes enslaved to the pleasure of being esteemed by others as beautiful (which she defines as thin). When this prideful desire for esteem is placed above the commitment to please God and bless others, then enslavement escalates, just as Romans 6-8 describes.  Nothing brings true satisfaction other than submitting to God and letting His Spirit love others through you like a "river of living water" (John 7:37-39). 

     Bulimia often results when a person becomes enslaved to two conflicting desires. One is the desire for the pleasure of eating favorite foods. The other is the desire to be esteemed by others as beautiful (thin). And, the only way a woman can indulge in both pleasures is to "binge" and then "purge" (vomit) so she doesn't get fat. As with anorexia, this pattern of enslavement develops when the choice to please self is greater than the desire to please God and bless others (Romans 6 & 12:1-3).  Also, an underlying pattern of bitterness often (but not always) accompanies sinful patterns of attitude and behavior. The bitter pattern looks at life and ungratefully complains: "This is not fair, I deserve better than this".

     Some folks who struggle with these patterns are simply ignorant of how to overcome them. Others know exactly what the real problem is, yet in rebellion they refuse to submit their desires to the Lordship of Christ's authority. Instead of following Jesus as Lord and Master, the Way of the Son in self-sacrifice for other's needs and God's glory, they have chosen the "way that seems right . . . but ends in death" (Proverbs 14:12).  What we all need is the profoundly simply counsel of God's Word for abundant joy (John 15:1-13; Eph 5:17-18), patiently ministered one to another.  

1 Thessalonians 5: 14
"Now we exhort you brethren, warn those who are unruly,
comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all."
Galatians 6:1-3
"Brothers, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

1. Temptations: What pleasures are you tempted to use above God for satisfaction?
2. Attitude Check: Set a schedule to get alone with God 3x's daily for self-confrontation.
3. Behavior/Countenance: List patterns you need to change so when people look at your life, they see that God is your real source of satisfaction.
4. Accountability: Prayerfully choose a fellow believer who will regularly check on you to encourage and exhort as you put off the old habit and put on the new (Eph 4:22-24).