All men (people) love to have a certain amount of control over our lives. And, we are exhorted to have self control and to manage ourselves (our lusts, our appetites, our behavior). So many ministries will tell us what we "need to do" to have this great control over our lives.
But there is another factor in all this, and that is the Sovereignty of God. The ONLY person who had control over their personal life dimensions was Jesus who expressed that, when He said He had the power to lay His Life down and to pick it up again. (John 10:18) Only the begotten Son of God could do that, but He became fully man to identify and relate and overcome the works of the devil, becoming an example to us too.
In the Garden, Adam had access to God in a pure, but obviously naive way. But real love has the element of choice that makes it held dear, and the enemy was cruel in his rebellion. Angry at God, he is willing to destroy everything around him and it is powerful, but God had a Plan from the Beginning to cover it.
Some are suffering greatly because of these demonic choices but Romans 8:28 says that God will work all these things together for our good, because we love God and are called according to His purposes. We are willing to submit to Him and agree with Him and act for Him in the face of adverse people and circumstances for Him.
God has always looked for the people who could deny their flesh and see Him and respond to Him. He does not despise the good natural activities in proper order, but is pleased when mankind can deny themselves for His sake. That speaks Love to God. It's not about performance, but reasonable service and He notices the sacrifices. It's pure worship to Him.
Some sacrifices that are done are done to impress man, but He notices the inward man of the heart, because there is spiritual fellowship there. And there is where He will note and remember and even reward.
So there are the three areas of the human which are body, soul [mind, will and emotions] and spirit of a person, and we are spiritually born again. This Spiritual transformation affects the soul with a good Life encounter which will also affect the body of a person. Prayer will sustain that encounter and move it forward.
God has put order and limits in place and wants the most out of man spiritually, so He set up a Spiritual plan for man to discover and embrace, and it is most life changing. (I am doing my best to explain what is bigger than me here!) He set up the times and the seasons and the influences of earth AND He takes into consideration all the responses of man towards Him. He's a Genius! Smile...
I've shared all that to say that we are responding to God and working with Him and doing battles against evils. Every life does this. Our discovery of God is life changing for our benefit. But because of natural order and even spiritual order, some things will play out a certain way and we can only respond to them and learn to work with them. In all that, we do have choices too.
Jesus' goal when He came to earth was to destroy the works of the devil. (See 1 John 3:8) He was born, lived and learned like man with man's limitations, but He had a goal and an assignment - and this was very Spiritual. In doing this, He taught that man could call on the Holy Spirit (Spirit of God) for the Anointing or power of God that can break and destroy the yokes of bondages.
We do more than just vote for God and agree with Him without a mind of our own! And we are less than Sovereign ourselves, but we can unite with His Sovereignty that He does not give up. It's an awesome submission! Man can be powerful with powerful spirits (good or evil) but the winner is God. He offers everlasting life and that wins. And, He is good. He can fulfill every heart's desire with the fullness of Life.
God created man and He is overseeing man. He also gives man choices for his eternal decisions and life! He invites man to understand him and He even gave him a Spiritual Book (the Bible) and other people with gifts to help him understand things. It is an amazing life that we are offered!
Yes, there are a lot of things we can't control but a lot of things that we can! There are a lot of ways that we can grow up in God! We have a will AND we have a destiny. Find yours in Him.
Ephesians 3:
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
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