LET JESUS CONTROL YOU

Rom. 13:14  But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires.  NLT

      We are naturally born with a tendency to love and long for the things of the world.  Chasing after evil is what we want to do.  We like it when we are engaged in the pleasures of sin.  We sin naturally and easily.

       But, for the child of God, we must move beyond our natural instincts.  Jesus changes our natural desires into longings for God.  We no longer are satisfied by evil desires.  They are empty and delusional.  We discover that only God can satisfy the soul.  Therefore, we must work hard at staying away from our evil desires and let Christ control us.

      Jesus can only have control of us with our permission and cooperation.  He will not make us into a people after His own heart that pleases God unless we give Him full control over our lives.  What we must do is engage ourselves in those things which help us to stay surrendered to Him.  We must faithfully and consistently be students of the Scriptures.  We must stay in constant touch with Him through prayer.  We must put feet to our prayers and seize opportunities given to us daily to serve Him.  We must develop a grateful spirit and learn to praise Him often in our lives. 

       In other words, we must discipline our souls so that we have a mindset for godly things.  We must shun those things which pull us away from God.  We must refuse to participate in sinful practices.  We must strive to keep our thoughts off of evil and onto those things which are wholesome and good for our souls.  It's not always easy to do, but try we must.  We will stumble and fall, but we must never give up. 

      Let the Lord have control of you; great will be your reward in heaven.