Knowing Ourselves According To Our Temperament Hinders Our Purpose Now

We often live according to the belief that our temperament is who or what we are. But our temperament, the way God put our soul together, is not the basis upon which He evaluates us. In fact, most often our temperament, because of our misbeliefs, is our greatest hindrance because it provides a means to excuse the flesh. Our goal for freedom is not so that our temperament can be free, but so that He can be free, unhindered by our temperament. Before our soul (our temperament) can be fully available for the Lord to flow through, it must become unencumbered by the flesh. Not Understanding How God Uses Circumstances Hinders Our Purpose Now If your watch stopped, yet you still went by it because you didn’t know it had stopped, you would be believing a lie, you just wouldn’t know it. You’d start showing up late for things, and that’s how you’d find out your watch had stopped, that you were believing a lie. Likewise, God often allows things to go wrong in our lives, to reveal that what we are believing is a lie. If we don’t understand this, and then learn to listen for His voice, to see His hand in every circumstance of our lives, we miss out on learning to know Him in the practical areas of our lives. Our Flesh Hinders Our Purpose Now Flesh is getting our God-given needs met outside of dependence on God alone. If we don’t understand what our personal flesh patterns are, and how flesh develops, it will continue to develop and interfere with the learning process. As we begin to understand our new nature, and that all of our needs are met already, we will cooperate with God as He consumes our flesh. Wanting To Maintain Control Hinders Our Purpose Now The goal of flesh is to control, so as God brings healing into our lives, and we begin to enter into His rest and freedom, we more and more find ourselves giving up control to God.