Hey Lightbrights! Happy Friday, and welcome to last part of this series. Today's topic is control, having it or lack thereof.
I think this topic was saved for last because it's one a lot of us struggle with.
Everyone knows someone who is a control freak or maybe you're the someone. I will be the first to admit that when I feel out of control or helpless my first instinct is not always to pray or consult God. Often I need to rein in the feeling of being out of control or helpless by busying myself with a task. That can be cleaning, reorganizing or shopping. Doing these things are just a quick fix of course, that do not solve the matter. I honestly don't feel a calmness or real sense of control until I settle myself, talk with God about it , pray or read the bible. Other things to feel a sense of control are really just distractions that keep you from getting to the realization that we are just not God, things do & will happen that are out of our control...and WE ARE NOT ALWAYS RIGHT.
The last fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 is self-control. Since every good thing we do is the work of God in our lives, we can conclude that we are unable to effectively have self control without the Holy Spirit. And I would argue that the other side of that mirror is the desire to have all control is also a lack of spiritual maturity- 2 sides of the same coin if you will. Wanting to harbor control may be one of the worst sin crutches we have discussed in this series. How many of us know someone who never gets asked to lead anything or anyone because of their attitude and controlling behavior ? There is also the person who refuses to be apart of anything unless they are running the show or in control. These types of people are avoided like the plague. God won't use a person like that and neither does the world like to deal with that type of character. Sometimes we give people who we love that act this way a pass, we make excuses with the terms " Oh, that's just how she is.. or "he doesn't mean any harm, he is just bossy". We enable others to act out in sinful ways when we allow them to have the sin crutch of controlling behavior.
2 Timothy 1:7, says "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control". Having the need or want to always be in control I believe is rooted in fear. Fear of not knowing what will happen if we don't intervene, fear that our plans won't come to fruition, fear that we will fail-- all of these things cause us to sometime attempt to play God and have control.
For the believer, we submit to the authority of Christ, realizing God's way will always be better than our ways- and most time His way of working out things in our life or orchestrating our path are not revealed to us in totality. We have to trust God daily to keep away the itch to be a control freak! I often have to remind myself, that I don't know it all OR I hardly know anything! Some may have anxiety in expressing that, but to me it's freeing.
I learned to tell God, "Hey God that's your business, You handle it. It's above me now". I really have to remind myself that God sees and knows and in this area- I'm just going to have to trust His track record and allow Him to work it out. And guess what, He always does.
Romans 8: 28 says And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
That verse alone is reassurance that however the situation unfolds, it will be for my good.
When you feel the dread, anxiety of fear of being out of control creeping up on you I encourage you to do these 3 things:
Admit you're feeling out of control. Take a moment and recognize the feeling for what it is in that moment.
Immediately take those thoughts captive as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 10: 5, which says, "We take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ". Every thought and feeling is from a human perspective and we know Jesus is both fully God and fully human, and the bible says nothing we are tempted with- HE wasn't tempted with, so He is familiar with all of our thoughts and feelings!
Surrender it to God. Your surrendering can look like prayer, it can be expressed thru worship, thru journaling , thru reading your favorite bible verse or simply by being still. Whatever plans you made to show that you're control- cancel them. Just by being still and letting God be God in your situation is also a surrender.
Man makes plans, but only what God has purposed will come to pass. And for the believer that is far better than any plans we can make and carry out.
Let us have more self control in how we handle life circumstances- the good and the bad. Fruit only grows in good soil. So if the soil is bad either the fruit will be bad, or it simply won't grow. Think back on the times, when you took control and a situation did not turn out good. Then contrast that with thinking about a time when you surrendered to God and you literally saw Him move on your behalf and all worked out in your favor.
This is what helps me. God's track record in undeniable.
He is a good Father, and knows how to give us good things.
I pray during this series you were able to identify the sin crutches that we often hold on to even though they are not needed for the believer who puts their trust in God. This series was eye opening for me, there are still areas I need to surrender to Christ to enable me to walk in my full purpose which is the same purpose we all have- to spread the gospel and make disciples.
I hope you come back here and re-read this blog when you're being tempted to do things that can ruin your testimony and make sin palatable in your life.
We are no longer hiding under the excuse of "that's just the way I am", we are now proclaiming that IF any man be in Christ He is a new creature, the former things have passed away, behold all things have become new!
Thanks for sticking out this series with me, I hope it blessed you!
Until next time, keep shining!
Kee Isadore
Scriptures to meditate on:
Proverbs 25:28 - A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
2 Peter 1:5-8 - "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love"
Mark 9:43-48 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
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