I guess this is officially DAY ONE of “The Radical Experiment” and today I am in awe of God! It is amazing how the Holy Spirit knows us better than we know ourselves!

This morning I was driving and praying and, like most other days, I was asking God to take control over this day. I regularly relinquish control of the areas that I have unintentionally or unconsciously seized from God’s control. I do a visual thing in my mind as I ‘give over’ the reigns (steering wheel, or whatever) to God.

Today, as I prayed, a very wrong attitude and practice of mine was exposed. The Holy Spirit clearly showed me that on most every occasion when I ask God to control my day and life, I am really only asking Him to control the things that I can not control myself! The words from God that came to me were, “You only want ME to control the things that you can’t!”

WOW!!! WHAT??? Did I hear that correctly??? DO I DO THAT??? I immediately realized that this is exactly what I do! It was TRUE!

Of course, this attitude of mine is not deliberate. I truly love the Lord and always, quite sincerely, WANT Him to have full control in my life. You know…LORD OF ALL. But…that is not what has or was occurring in my life. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that even in my service to Him, I still maintained some level of “control”. Even though I prayed for opportunities to serve and minister, it was always *I* who made the final decision of when and where, even to whom, I would serve and minister. Again, not in a conscious way, but this attitude was more a ‘default’ mode. I guess that attitude is the ‘mode’ of our old man and sin nature.

It is a rare servant of Christ who totally allows the Lord to have FULL and TOTAL control of his or her life. I know very few. I believe that my method of operation was like that of most other Believers. We serve when it “suits our schedules”, when it “fits our profile and personality”, even serving only those people “with whom we are most comfortable”. In reality, what we are doing is dictating to the Lord just what WE will allow! YIKES!

Today the Holy Spirit has given me much to think and pray about. As always, there is much to CHANGE and UNLEARN in my life! I am so thankful that my Christian walk is a “walk in progress”. It is an active, moving, growing, changing and deepening process of getting to know God and of becoming more like Christ. Today’s lesson from the Holy Spirit is just the beginning of this “Radical Experiment”…and it’s only DAY ONE!