Control-Part 3

Back to that control issue.

If you think about it, anytime we try to take control of any situation, we open the door for sin. We eat that fruit all over again. So much for doing better than Eve.

Check out this scripture. I Samuel 15:23: For rebellion (taking control) is like the sin of divination (witchcraft).

Man! God doesn’t take this lightly, does He?

We start taking the reigns, we think we’re in charge, but guess who we’ve invited on the scene? Yep. The one behind the spirit of witchcraft and sorcery. We’ve put out the welcome mat. Wow! That’s a hard thing to think about. We would never intentionally invite satan into our homes, into the lives of our friends or family members, or into our own hearts. But, when we step in the way of Jesus, that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Jesus is a gentleman. He’ll never push His way beyond our choices. So when we usher Him out of the way, there’s someone ever-ready to take over. And we’ve allowed it by giving in to our nature. By thinking that we know what is best.

And if we don’t recognize it and stop it, we’ll be headed for a fall.

Overcoming it? It’s really no different than any other sin in our lives. The solution is the daily choosing to give complete control of our hearts and minds over to the power of the Holy Spirit. Asking Him to show us in his gentle way when we have moved into His rightful place. Having a willing spirit and a desire to overcome our natural tendencies.

God will always meet a willing spirit.

Ready to trade in that controlling nature for a willing heart? I am!

E-mail me if you would like me to pray for you specifically in this area. Manymeadows @ yahoo.com (no spaces)

Do you see control as a sin? Or is it only a personality trait?

Control-Part 2

Our nature is to control. Married, unmarried. It’s mostly a woman thing.

I would suggest that our motivation to control is divine; even holy. After all, we’ve been made in God’s image. And we want people to do well. We want our families to be safe. We’re fearful of what might happen, or what has happened in the past. We want our husbands to succeed. We want….. We want….

However, I think it’s our method where the problems arise.

-We use things like emotions, manipulation, and many, many words to control.

-We justify.

-We get in the big middle of things.

-We’re afraid what might happen if we do this, or don’t do that.

-We misuse our power of influence, and rather than taking everything to Christ, we want to help make it “better”, fix it; stop the problems before they arise.

You see? Those problems will likely be our problems and we don’t like problems, so we’ll just make sure they don’t ever happen…and…and... And we end up making a mess and alienating our husbands, our families, our friends, our God. We wonder why our husbands shut down and won’t talk anymore. We wonder why God seems so far away. We’re actually setting ourselves up for a fall.

Hard words, I know.

But, I challenge us all to be aware of our nature. To allow this knowledge to cause us to stop and think before we use our God-given giftings and abilities to do anything more than taking our thoughts to Jesus in prayer and supplication. Does the Creator of the Universe really need our help?

I’m thinking He can do a much better job than me! Maybe I just need to get out of the way.

Do you have some control issues?

What areas in your life and heart do you need to relinquish?

Think about it….pray about it. Ask Him. He’ll tell you.

Control-Part 1

You know the scripture. You’ve probably heard it taught a million times. Genesis 3:16. “To the woman He said, …yet your desire shall be for your husband”.

That word “desire” is from a Hebrew word, pronounced tesh-oo-kwah, meaning longing, craving, like a beast wanting to devour. (whew!) It comes from a root word meaning overflowing, like non-stop liquid continually being poured into a glass. It seems to be a much different definition than the meaning we usually apply to the word “desire”.

Yes. Our desire is for him…to control him. It’s a curse from our mother, Eve. (Thanks, Eve—do you ever find yourself thinkin’, man, wish that’d been me there with Adam. I never would have eaten that fruit! Just put me in that garden. I know how to handle it! See? We are controllers! )

And it’s not just to control our husbands, but everything, and everyone, whether we’re married or not. It’s our nature. And, well… we have good ideas about how things should go, right? And if things go our way, then life is not so scary.

Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation of this word “desire”?

What teachings have you heard on Genesis 3:16?

Is controlling part of our natural nature?