It hit me this weekend that millions of Christians on planet earth are, despite what God commands, trying to CONTROL their circumstances. Trying to control their pain and pleasure. Trying to control their lives.
That is IMPOSSIBLE, of course. But God DOES give us the power to control what we THINK; FEEL; SAY; and DO.
This life-long fight begins every day when we wake up and immediately start generating our first thoughts that will eventually total over 50,000 when the day fades to black.
That’s a lot of thinking going on and each thought steps onto our porch with the power to draw us off God’s purpose pavement and takes us down the wrong road.
Of course we don’t stand a chance of controlling our thoughts by ourselves.
The only chance of winning this battle is to take every single thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). That’s why we must CHOOSE to RELEASE control of our:
MIND to God (Ephesians 4:22-23).
BODY to God (1 Corinthians 3:16).
WILL to God (Romans 12:2).
MIND. BODY. WILL.
Jesus could have called down enormous power at any time against his enemies. But instead he exercised the kind of discipline we need to emulate.
It’s the only way we can wrangle the impulses that percolate up inexorably from our soul—what we think and feel and say and do.
We must never forget that any CONTROL we have in life is created by the HOLY SPIRIT.
Winning the battle to control our emotions is not about us controlling anything, but rather about God giving us the ability and blessing to control our self.
God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves. That’s why we must allow him to tame our fleshly desires and emotions and attitudes by having his Holy Spirit’s power of self-control take over and infuse us with the mind of Christ.
I ask God to help me suppress my pride and elevate his sovereignty to enable me to control how I THINK, FEEL, SAY, and DO. To give me the power and strength to control the thousands of thoughts that enter my mind each day.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you calling on God to help you control how you THINK and FEEL? What you SAY, and DO?
“As a man thinks, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5
“It is better to be patient than powerful. It is better to win control over yourself than over whole cities.” Proverbs 16:32
