Quotes about Control

The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your thoughts and imagination under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work?

The things that happen do not happen by chance—they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.

We take such liberties with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to our Lord. Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances

It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us.

Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.

Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.

We cannot control our circumstances, but we can control our character.

Honestly facing your lack of sovereignty over your own life produces either anxiety or relief. Anxiety is God-forgetting. It is the result of thinking that is life is on your shoulders, that it is your job to figure it all out and keep things in order.

Could it be that desire for a good thing has become a bad thing because that desire has become a ruling thing?

Jesus demands everything, not just so we would submit to his control, but to free us from the control of things that were never designed to control us.

I forget that every achievement points to God's awesome glory. I could not achieve anything without the body that he has given me, the gifts he has bestowed upon me, the control he has over me and my world, and the grace that daily rescues me from me. My successes should depend on my awe of him rather than tempting me to be in awe of me.

Adam and Eve weren't just after God's forbidden fruit; they were after God's position.