Who is in Control
Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author
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Who is in control, you or the flesh? Now when we talk about the flesh we do not mean your body, but the lust, desires and sin nature we are until Jesus makes us new in Him. We think we are in control but true control only comes when the blood of Jesus and the help of the Spirit free us of sin and the flesh. When the Spirit is in control, we are actually more in control. The Spirit gives us the choice to decide, where the flesh does not. The flesh is of the world and Satan is of the world and neither will give you a choice, but they will try and force themselves on you. The flesh is the part of you that wants to be DIS-obedient to God, while you are inside yelling NO. But you have no idea of how to stop what you are doing. You have heard all the scriptures, and know them and repeat them but still nothing. Mainly because of one of two things. Either you are not ready to give up what ever it is you are doing, or you do not have that personal relationship that helps you overcome. If you try on your own, you will fail 90% of the time, but with Jesus you will succeed. I would rather have the choice and follow God, than have the world forced on me. The world is not consistent at all, just look at the stock Market, or money, 30 years ago you could by a house for what a car cost now and then you could buy a car for under $1,000 new. Hourly pay was an average of $1.75 an hour; gas was 25 cents a gallon. Pay is now an average of $6.00 an hour, but everything else has gone way up; gas $1.25 a gallon and a car is $20,000 for a good one, and a house from $10,000 in the early 60's to the hundreds of thousands now. No, nothing is consistent in the world. But God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. We think we are in control, but how many times have you gotten mad at someone for cutting you off on the freeway. Haven't you cut someone off or almost hit someone because you did not see them? But that is different right? Why? You do not know if they did not see you or have a medical emergency or just late for something. We all have cut someone off, but God forbid if someone cuts us off. Well, that is judging, and strife, and offense all in one, first we judge them in their action and we are in strife with them for what they did and offense enters to keep the flame burning. And how about drinking? That is fine, right? Or smoking? Well smoking may not send you to hell, you'll just smell like you just came from there, right? Wrong! A sin is something that sends us to hell if unforgiven. And that is why Jesus came to release us from the wages of sin and give us an out. He will always supply a way out of sin. So who is in control, your flesh or your spirit? Look at the fruit of the Spirit. The last one is self-control, meaning we get self-control, the ability to control our self from the Spirit. If we look at the fact that we are deceived from birth to our death, then we can understand how misled and not in control we really are . The world has gotten parents to lie to their children. First lie Santa Claus, second lie tooth fairy, third lie Easter bunny, fourth lie Halloween, and the lies go on and on. How can a child raised believing in a nice old man and singing songs about how he knows everything and can see us when we are asleep or awake and so on, believe in God (whom they can not see) after they find out what a lie it was. The same goes for the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. Do not fall in the trap that these have been around forever, they have not. Mostly they are of this century only. So who is in control here? Also look at something in the word Santa---move the n in Santa over 2 and see what you have (Satan); and a Claus is a form of law, so you have Satan's law. Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus, but it has become the highest selling time of the year for merchants, it is just a comercial now. We are brought up in lies and deceit. No our parents did not do it on purpose any more than we do until we see the truth. But anything Satan can use to deceive you and get you as far removed from God as possible, he will do. Is this being in control? Not at all. This is being controlled and manipulated for Satan's purpose. But again where is the problem? We can not earn salvation, but we can work it out, by allowing God to be God in our life. I am not perfect and have my faults, and many they are, but a lot fewer than a year ago, because God is working in and through me to help me. Let's see some problems. Offense: we get offended at some one or some group and the next thing is we are judging them and strife between them and us arises. Example: You hear about murder and robbery, but it is always one race of people you hear about, and then something happens; some one of this race does something to you. Now you have gone from pre-judging (prejudice) to offense and then strife. All the while it is only a small element of this race that you are seeing, so you make a mistake. The rest of the race are just as good as you, maybe better, because maybe they are not judging you. It is not being in control when we see a black or white person and call them that "black man" or "white man" that is prejudice we are seeing color. All we should see is the man and who is in the man; the world or Jesus. Control is also being able to say no, and sticking to it, say with drugs, smoking, drinking, sex, prejudice, offense, strife, jealousy and so on. But the world feeds into us to say yes, or just to accept the offense, strife, drugs and so on. You should be able to have the body you want, thin, fat or in between, not controlled by the flesh but by you. Why can we not look at someone and see God in them, not color, sex, size, etc... The only true sacrifice God wants is that of the world. He wants us to sacrifice the things of the world so we do not get caught up in them. He wants us to have life eternal, not eternal damnation. True obedience is listening to God and following, not acting out what WE think we should do or be like. True control comes from God not the world or the flesh. Remember you have a way out, it is with Jesus. My prayer for you is that you gain the self-control you need to be in control. Amen
2-20-04 H.O.M.E.