Who Controls You?

God has a plan for your life. The enemy has a plan for your life as well. Be ready for both. Just be wise enough to know which one to battle and which one to embrace. 

I feel the need to bring to your attention what the voices of each of these people will bring to you, so that when the time comes, you will recognize good from evil. Lets start off with a little chart: 

God's Voice: 

Calms

Conforts

Convicts

Encourages

Enlightens

Leads

Reassures 

Stills

Satan's Voice:

Obsesses 

Worries

Condemns

Discourages

Confuses

Pushes

Frightens

Rushes

Remember those things. Think of that situation that is eating you up right now. Who has control of it? God or Satan? It's up to you. 

We tend to let the opinions of other people control who controls us. The goal of this blog is to get us all to this midset: "I don't care what other people think. I care about what God thinks and what God wants for my life." 

This mindset is something that I've been working on for about the past month or so. It isn't easy. It takes practice and hard work. 

I was talking with a good friend about a week ago, and he told me something that I'll never forget. He said, "How do you expect other people to accept who you are when you don't even know who you are?" 

Now, this kind of caught me off guard a little bit, because I felt like I knew who I was. I'm a pretty confident person for the most part and I don't act like someone that I'm not. As he explained his comment further, I came to understand what he meant a little more. It's not that I wasn't confident or that I was being fake. It was more that I was too worried about things that were out of my control. I was letting Satan's voice control my life. I was worried and confused and frightened. Not a piece of me was calm or still. 

So, how do we get to that point where we don't worry about things that are completely out of our control? Well, it's easier said than done. First of all, you have to recognize those situations where the control is out of your hands. Ask yourself this question: What can I do to change the situation? 

If the answer to that question isn't direct to you, then it is out of your control. If the answer isn't something that you can change within yourself, then it isn't in your hands. If the situation is out of your control, then move on. The thing about people is, you can only help as much as the other person allows you to. Don't waste your time or effort trying to help someone who doesn't want your help. I've been down that road and I promise you, it isn't worth it. You end up drowning while you're trying to be someone else's anchor. 

The thing that screws us up the most in our lives is that unrealistic picture in our heads of how things are "supposed to be"... REALITY CHECK: NO ONE IS PERFECT. That family you see at church every week that has it all together...guess what? They don't really have it all together. That mom you see at the gym that brings her three perfectly behaved kids with her and is in tip top shape? Guess what...she's not perfect either. Once you realize that that picture in your head is Satan's voice, you'll be in a much better place. Satan is tricky. One of my favorite things I've ever heard is this: "Satan doesn't come dressed in a red cape and thorns; He comes dressed as everything you've ever wanted." 

It's so true. That picture is Satan. Stop thinking that your life is supposed to be perfect. Even when you get to the point of hearing God's voice instead of Satan's, your life still won't be perfect. It's all about your perspective and how you handle things. Your life is a result of your choices. If you don't like your life, then its time to start making better choices. 

In the end, it doesn't matter how many likes you get on your Facebook post. It doesn't matter what Suzy or John think of you. It doesn't matter how much money you have or what kind of car you drive. What matters is how you see things. Do you see a weed or do you see a wish? 

What is your favorite sin?

You are a sinner. You make mistake after mistake. Sometimes you even make the same mistake over and over again. You have a favorite sin. You know, that one sin that you hate to love and love to hate. That sin that you swear you'll never commit again and then you do it again anyway. Maybe you even have several favorite sins. You commit these favorite sins and then you find yourself begging for forgiveness the next day. This is a routine. Sin, slight pleasure, guilt, denial, realization, begging for forgiveness, and then repeat.
Now, hopefully by now, you have an idea of what your favorite sin is. Something has popped into your head while reading this blog post. And now you're in that stage where you're thinking about how awful you feel for realizing that you have a favorite sin. DON'T. Stop right there. NEWFLASH: It's not just you. Everyone has a favorite sin. Everyone. Your mom, your neighbor, even that one person at church that seems to have it all together and a one way ticket to heaven.
Now read this next sentence VERY slowly and carefully:

YOUR SINS DO NOT DEFINE YOU; What you do about your sins does. 

So what does that mean exactly? Well, too many people let their sins define them. They like to drink, so they're obviously an alcoholic, right? They like to go out and party every now and then, so they're obviously a trouble maker, right? They let the occasional curse word slip, so they must cuss like a sailor, right? WRONG. 

This is where the world gets so screwed up. See, the wonderful thing about sins is they've already been paid for. So does that mean you go out and sin and sin and sin, and it's okay because they've already been paid? NO. That would be like going bankrupt and then spending all the money on your new credit card just because your credit started over. You just don't do that. You learn from it.

Now let's go to the second part of the statement: What you do about your sins does. If you're the kind of person that commits a sin and then decides you're automatically doomed to hell, then you're probably right. Don't be that person, because it's not true. You aren't doomed to hell...
Get up, wipe the dust off and try again to be better. The number of times that you can be forgiven is endless, however, do not confuse this with thinking that you can sin and then turn around and be forgiven. That's not how it works. The problem with us sinners, is that sometimes we forget what repentance really is.

In Webster's Dictionary, the actual definition of repentance is the act of repenting; sincere regret or remorse. KEY WORD: SINCERE.
If you are sincere about your repentance of a sin, then you are committing to a life style change. You are saying that you will make a true effort to not commit that sin anymore.

So what will you decide about your favorite sin? Will it define you? Or will you overcome it and beat the title that comes along with it? Only you can decide. Only you can make your favorite sin become your favorite call to repentance.

Give away your sins. Let them go. Don't let them decide who you are. Defeat them. For if you give away your sins, you will come to know Christ.

He is the ultimate comforter. He is the ultimate friend and brother. He will be by your side when you're giving up on those sins. He will be there to be your cheerleader. He is not going to be only at the finish line. He is not in front of you. He is not behind you. He is beside you, every step of the way. When everyone else is gone, he is there. You need only be still.