“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:10-12. 

Our life was not our own before we are born again.  Before our Salvation, no matter how “good” of a person we were, our lord was satan.  We were unable to be “alive unto God” (Romans 6:11) until the Spirit of God comes to bear witness to us that we are a child of God (Romans 8:16).  It is only through our faith in the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus that we are able to reckon ourselves dead to sin.  With our faith on Jesus and His finished work (not our work) the Holy Spirit is able to do what He is commissioned to do by the Lord, dwell in us (we are the temple of God) and dethrone the current “lord” of our life, satan.  When our faith drifts anywhere else for victory over sin and the world other than the Cross of Jesus, the Holy Spirit cannot act on our behalf (Romans 8:2) – He can’t condone another way of victory because there is not any other way.

So are we merely puppets?  Absolutely not.  There is one factor that plays a major role.  God will not override this factor but satan will run all over it.  Remember, we have no power to defeat satan without the power of God through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the Cross.  “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 5:5.  It is purely God’s mercy that has kept us going thus far in hopes to bring all to the saving knowledge of Him.  This one factor I’m speaking of is our free will.  God has given us a free will that He will not override; we must choose Him to be our Lord and Saviour.  He will do everything He can to bring us to the saving knowledge of Him, including turning us over to satan but He will not override our free will.

Our life is not our own until we are born again.  Once we come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and what He has done and who He is, our life is given to us freely and eternally.  If you are not a born again Christian, your life doesn’t belong to you.  However, I know a Man, the Man Jesus Christ, that died so you could have life and have it more abundantly.  Satan wants us to believe his options are the only options, either sin or die but he won’t tell us those options are one in the same.  Sin pays but its wages are death.  There is deliverance out of that jail cell but there is only one way out and that is down Calvary Road.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6  If you believe that, He will set you free.  – Donna Clark Warren