Overcoming Control Pt. 4

Hi Everyone!! I hope you all are doing well!

Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing overcoming control. A few things mentioned about overcoming control include:

• Peace
• When you give God control of things (and not worry about its status after you have given it up), you experience a level of peace that you wouldn't have otherwise experienced had you kept trying to do something you couldn't do and/or maintain.
• Isaiah 26:3

• Wisdom
• Know and understand that there are things we can control and things we cannot control and if you have a hard time differentiating between the two, ask God to help you distinguish between them.
• Create your circle of control:
• The things that you can control (tongue, thoughts, actions/reactions), control it
• The things you cannot control, adjust and be okay with the fact that you cannot control it
• Daniel 6

• Affection
• Your affections cannot (should not) be tied to the things that are changing around us or our okay-ism will never be satisfied and we will constantly ride the emotional rollercoaster.
• Colossians 3:2

• Seasons
• Last season is for last season; this season is for this season. Last season's instructions were appropriate for that time. This time may require something different
• Exodus 17: 1-7
• Numbers 20:2-13

• Let Go
• Peter's arrest was a great example of what happens when we are consistent in our good works and when we are obedient. We experience freedom by way of sweatless victories.
• Acts 12:1-11

This week, we continued the series and looked at it through the lens of gaming.

*Disclaimer: for those of us who are not gamers, consider something else in our lives that we 1) can fully control, that we 2) like to use as a replacement for the things we cannot control, and that 3) gives us an opportunity to escape reality.

Controller: Person or Thing that Regulates

It is okay to have a thing that we use to escape for a little while to relax, whether it's working out, singing, playing an instrument, playing a game, watching tv, shopping, etc. However, we have to be mindful of how we're using our getaway. It becomes an issue when we run to it for a rush of control more than we deal with what's really happening because, in reality, the escape has the potential to control us.

Impulse Control Disorder (ICD): failure to resist a temptation, an urge, an impulse, or the inability to not speak on a thought.

Our healthy habits to relax become unhealthy and crippling when they get to the point where it becomes a disorder and you have trouble resisting the desire to do whatever it is or when we focus on the fantasy more than we deal with real life.

Colossians 3:1-2

MSG So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed [Be aware of what is absorbing you, your time, and your attention] with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Solution: You have to lose control in order to gain control

Phillippians 3:8

(NKJV) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

 (NLT) Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 

In verses 1-11, Paul is talking about his experience essentially when he had control on a purely natural/humanly/fleshly level. He then goes into how he's had a perspective shift and has now placed value in knowing God. He realized that he had to let go of the previous things in order to gain Christ. He later goes on to discuss how he is pressing toward perfection in Christ, but the notable thing as it relates to control is that he understands that he cannot come remotely close to obtaining his heavenly prize if he doesn't let go of the natural desire to have an unhealthy amount of control.

When we lose control, we have less responsibility and we gain peace, contentment, and testimony.

"We've fallen in love with the joystick because it makes us feel in control. What's the joystick in your life?"

What and/or who are your joy thieves ("I'm not good until/unless/as long as....)?

The goal is to identify them and place them in the appropriate ring in the circle of control.

There is freedom in letting go and letting God.

Facebook Live: Sunday, June 9, 2019

Til next time,

Upcoming Events:

• Word of Prayer Bible Institute: Graduation
• June 22, 2019 @ 1:00pm
• Wise High School
• 12650 Brooke Ln
  Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

• Marriage By Design: Pizza & Paint Night
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