Shackled

As a Christian, I believe that we can desire to make changes in our lives, but permanent, life-giving adjustments only come through the power of the Holy Spirit. This inner strength for change and vision comes after repentance & baptism and is a promise from God. The depth and permanence of this life change however, can be inhibited by our own lack of faith and fear of letting God have control. Our lead pastor, Mike, was preaching a few weeks ago and talking about the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. His accurate statement was that Christians aren't being led by the power of the Holy Spirit because we won't cede the authority to Him. 

How pitiful is it that we beg God to remove the chains of sin & bondage from our lives and then we turn around and put them on the Holy Spirit? God did the hard work of setting us free from sin and we are afraid of letting Him work in the rest of our life so we bind Him up. We are afraid of where He might lead us, have become too comfortable in our old patterns and don't want to give them up, or simply think we can manage our lives better than God. The Holy Spirit is inclined to transform who we are and we negate that potential through our unwillingness

It's interesting how we seek freedom from the consequences of our decisions, but resist God's power to help us change the character that led us there in the first place.