We have choices to make.

Pro 25:28  He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. 

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 

What are all the above verses telling us?

We must rule over our own spirits.

We must cast down our imaginations.

We must cast down everything that tries to put itself above the knowledge of God.

We must bring into captivity EVERY thought- to the obedience of Christ.

We must set our affections on things above, not on things here on earth.

We must keep our bodies under subjection.

Do you comprehend the importance of realizing how truly involved in our own spiritual life we have to be?

None of those verses talk about God doing these things for them. We aren't told that God must keep our bodies under subjection. We aren't told God must set our affections on things above. We aren't told that God has to cast down our imaginations for us, that God has to bring captive our every thought. We aren't told that if God doesn't rule over our spirit we are like a broken city without walls of protection.

We have CHOICES to make, God won't choose for us!  Even if we want God to choose for us, He can't because CHOICE is ours and never taken from us. Being a Christian is a LIFE LONG choice, not a single choice and no more. We will daily face many choices that determine our spiritual walk and we must choose to have our God, our Savior, our Holy Spirit influence our choices. We will have every bit of help we need once we choose, but that power of choice will forever remain untouched by any other unless we choose to give it to one who has no qualms at all over stealing our power of choice and doing all he can to keep it. Satan wants to take away our power of choice and will do all he can to convince people that he can and has done that to them, it's a lie, it's deception, but the evil one deceives many in this way.  We must choose GOD all the time, not just once or twice a day, but in our entire lives we must make a choice for God. 

We have to knock but He will open for us. We have to seek but He is found. We have to ask but He is the giver.

We aren't told to open for ourselves, or to be what we find, or to give ourselves. We are told this--

Luk_11:9  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Ask, seek, knock.   Make the choice to ASK, make the choice to SEEK, make the choice to KNOCK.

We have a part to play in our spiritual life a huge part that so few want to talk about because it means comprehending that being a Christian is not something that is a part of us simply because we lay claim to the name. Being a Christian is an entire life endeavor, a way of life in all things.  Being a Christian is recognizing the war, the battle we are daily engaged in. Not a single day will pass by when we are not in that battle. There is no 'leave' for the soldiers in this war.

May our Savior forgive us, and may we be kept from evil, all through HIS Love!

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'What the Christian must therefore control by his will are:

(a) his own spirit, maintaining it in its proper state of being neither too hot nor too cold. The spirit needs the control of the will just as do the other parts of man. Only when one’s volition is renewed and is filled with the Holy Spirit is he able to direct his own spirit and keep it in its proper position. All who are experienced agree that they must engage their will to restrain the spirit when it becomes too wild or to uplift it when it sinks too low. Only so can the believer walk daily in his spirit. This is not contradictory to what we mentioned before about man’s spirit ruling over the whole person. For when we say the  spirit rules the total man we mean that the spirit, by knowing the mind of God intuitively, governs the whole being (including the volition) according to God’s will. Whereas in stating that the will

controls the man we mean the will directly controls the entire man (including the spirit) according to the will of God. In experience these two perfectly agree. “A man without self-control is like a city

broken into and left without walls” (Prov. 25.28).

(b) his own mind and all the rest of his soul’s abilities. All thoughts need to be subjected fully to the control of the will; wandering thoughts must be checked one by one—“take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10.5). And “set your minds on things that are above” (Col. 3.2).

(c) his own body. It ought to be an instrument to man, not his master by virtue of unrestrained habits and lusts. The Christian should exercise his volition to control, discipline and subdue his body in order that it may be entirely submissive, ready to do God’s will and hindering not. “I pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Cor. 9.27). (KJV  1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.)  Once the believer’s volition has achieved a state of perfect self-control he will not be hindered by any part of his being, because the moment he senses God’s will he immediately performs it. Both the Holy Spirit and man’s spirit need a will under self-control by which to execute God’s revelation. Hence on the one hand we must  be united with God and on the other hand subdue our whole being so as to render it obedient to us. This is imperative to spiritual life. '

Excerpt The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee