THE BATTLE FOR CONTROL IS REAL

BIBLE PASSAGE:
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in
mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead
in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.
(Ephesians 2:3-5)

MEDITATION:
Do you know what it’s like when something just doesn’t
feel right in your life? You aren’t doing anything out of
the ordinary, but you feel like there is something in your
life needs to change.

Finding peace and contentment is a struggle as you try to
cope with continual worries and anxieties. It can even be a
challenge just interacting comfortably with those around
you, (even with your friends). If someone were to ask you,
“What’s wrong?” you may not be able explain these feelings
you are having; it’s just a restlessness that keeps hanging on.

This is the kind of feelings we had whenever the Holy Spirit
was trying to communicate with us while we were pleasing
our natural cravings and desires. We were under the control
and manipulation of Satan, but the Holy Spirit was speaking
directly to our soul. We could feel this tug-of-war feeling and
it kept us in a state of restlessness.

Truthfully, most everyone wants to be in control of their own
life, however, when we are NOT guided by the Holy Spirit, we
are giving Satan an opportunity to regulate our thoughts,
desires, attitudes and actions.

Praise God for His overflowing mercy and His great love for us.
When we were being dominated by sin in our lives, God saw that
we were in a dying state, and this is not the condition He wants for
any of creations. So, what did He do? With His abundance of grace
and mercy, through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, God gave
us a chance to join the living (for now, and for eternity).

God loves us so much that He wants to calm the anxieties we
feel when we are living without Him. He wants us to be able
to experience a life without the uncomfortable feelings that
dominate our lives (and they will when we are controlled by
the things of this world). God has given us an opportunity to
‘clean house’ of all the worldly clutter, so He can create an
orderly environment for us, that includes a bright future.

Many of the things of this world are in opposition to what God
wants for us. We are bombarded with a surplus of opportunities
to sin (sometimes it is sin that we probably would not have thought
of committing if the world had not brought it to our attention).

We know this is true because Satan is still active in the world we
live in. His desire is to suppress everything that is Godly (which
includes God, Himself), and to embellish everything that can lure
us away from God.

We have three choices available for managing and controlling our lives:
1. There is Satan,
    who clearly prevents us from enjoying
    the things God has prepared for us.
2. There is God,
    who sincerely wants to see us live a life in fellowship with Him.
3. There is self,
    who is really not in control, but has made a choice of who will
    be in control of our words, thoughts, actions, desires and emotions.

Since the battle for control of our life is between God and Satan,
them we really only have two options for us to choose between:
1. God, with His gift of a new life that includes many
    blessings to enjoy now, and a glorious future life to
    look forward to after death.
2. Satan, with his temporary pleasures that
    keep us on a path of self-destruction and death.

If we have been given God’s gift of salvation, then we know
about, and have experienced the benefits of choosing to give
Him control of our lives. We are no longer living a chaotic life
of confusion and uncertainty, but we are now enjoying the path
God has mapped out especially for us (including the gifts and
talents we can use in serving Him, which can help us avoid the
distractions created by Satan’s temptations).

As members of God’s family, we have discovered how refreshing
it is to begin a new life without the clutter that bogged us down
before we were saved. We understand the depth of God’s love
and how it can be exhilarating to fellowship with Him.

We still have struggles as our old nature strives to regain
control, but we now have an Advocate (given to us by God)
who loves us and is much stronger than our adversary. When
we sense the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we have a new
freedom to enjoy many of the blessings from God that Satan
has prevented us from experiencing in the past.

And, as a result, we no longer continue in the life we were living
(a life of guilt, anxiety, fear, confusion, etc.) because God gave us
a new birth, and we became a new person who is now a child of His.

ACTION:
Have you allowed God to have control of your life? Have
you accepted His gift of salvation? Are you still struggling
with a life of disorder and confusion? Are there areas of
your life that you have not given to the Lord?

If so, then the Holy Spirit is probably speaking to your soul
and inviting you to ‘come to the Lord’ and experience a new
life that is orderly, has a purpose, and is looking forward to
eternal life with the Lord. Don’t shut down the Spirit’s voice
and miss out on this opportunity God has given you.

Pray,
“God, I thank You for Your offer of salvation. Just
knowing that You are in control of my life gives me
a peace that cannot be found anywhere else. Forgive
me for the areas of my life that I am still trying to
manage myself and show me how to give these to You
as well. I delight in knowing that there is nothing in
my life that is incapable of being changed through
Your redemptive power. Your promises are true and
my desire is to trust and depend on You to guide me
on a path that leads to Your blessings, and away from
the evilness of the temptations of a world that is under
the control of Satan. Thank You Lord for your love,
mercy and grace, and thank You Jesus for making my
new life possible through Your loving sacrifice for me
on the cross.”

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