Contrilling Spirit

“For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:16

“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity of the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all of the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Galatians 5:13-18  

A large part of church debates are due to people who have a “controlling spirit”. It does not mean that they are evil or are a bad person it just simply means that they are yielding to their own human desire to be in control. The “controlling spirit” has a tendency to lean towards the “pride of life” that John talked about in 1 John 2:16 because it involves trying to get others to do their will and not God’s will. A “controlling spirit” a lot of the time will use manipulation to get their will. God wants us to be under the control of the Holy Spirit and that’s it, nothing else. When we are under the control of the Holy Spirit, it sets us free to live in the righteousness of God no longer bound by the chains of sin but if we yield to someone with a “controlling spirit” it hurts our relationship with Christ because we are doing someone else’s will and not His. This particular spirit can cause severe damage to a church body and cause individuals to stumble. "It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is made weak." Romans 14:21 So make sure you are not manipulating other people to do your will rather than letting them do God’s will.