Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

deep desire is where life flows. Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly. The suppression of creativity and innovation is often the result when people are controlled by others. The Greek word for self-control means 'the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.' The Church has often gone overboard teaching this characteristic. In the extreme, it has meant, ‘let ME control you.’ Well-meaning people have heaped rules and regulations upon fellow believers in hope of modifying behavior. We all have divergent desires, but those who seek to control are actually teaching us to go underground. Rather than a life of authenticity, we end up working just so we don’t get caught. We present a fake, hypocritical spirituality that destroys us on the inside. A repressed, lifeless person fits well into some churches because they don’t break rules or they're just very good at hiding a broken inner life. Developing a life of intimacy with Jesus and the practice of openness with close friends is the key to having self-control. Some conclude moving to a monastery as a perfect place to serve the Lord. “If I could just get totally away from everything in the world, all appetites and desires will go away,” WRONG! Sometimes God will hide us away for a while as He works on our inner man, but I do not believe a monastic lifestyle is God’s intention for His followers. Who is in charge of my appetites? I choose to submit myself to Holy Spirit. Everything I have is from the Lord. Everything I receive is fromHim. If it’s not from the Lord I don’t want it! There was a man who moved to Alaska to study bears. He spent so much time with them he began to let down his guard around them. He gave reports that the bears have been