The Spirit Controlled Life Order Printed Copy

Author: Sadhu Sunday
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About the Book

"The Spirit Controlled Life" by Sadhu Sunday explores the importance of surrendering to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to guide and empower every aspect of our lives. The author emphasizes the need to cultivate a deep relationship with God and live a life of obedience to His will. Through personal anecdotes and biblical teachings, Sadhu Sunday offers practical insights on how to experience the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and live a life filled with purpose and joy.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni Eareckson Tada is a remarkable woman. Injured in a diving accident at the age of 17, Joni has had to endure more physical suffering than most of us ever will. Though she suffered a deep depression and lost the will to live in the aftermath of her accident, she gradually came back to a deeper relationship with God. Because of her early struggles, she has become strong in her faith and is a testimony to the world of how when we are weak, God is strong. Her story is not one of bitterness and despair, as we might imagine it to be, but one of love and victory. Joni Eareckson Tada was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1950 to John and Lindy Eareckson. She was the youngest of four sisters, Linda, Jay, and Kathy. Her name is pronounced “Johnny”, being he named after her father. Joni inherited her father’s athletic and creative abilities, giving father and daughter a special bond. Her childhood was an extremely happy one. She grew into a young adult surrounded by love, happiness, and security in her parent’s home. The Eareckson family shared a great love for the outdoors, which promoted family togetherness. They shared in various outdoor activities such as camping trips, horseback riding, hiking, tennis, and swimming. In 1967, after graduating from high school, Joni had her fateful accident. It was a hot July day and she was to meet her sister Kathy and some friends at the beach on Chesapeake Bay to swim. When she arrived, she dove in quickly, and immediately knew something was wrong. Though she felt no real pain, a tightness seemed to encompass her. Her first thought was that she was caught in a fishing net and she tried to break free and get to the surface. Panic seized her as she realized she couldn’t move and she was lying face down on the bottom of the bay. She realized she was running out of air and resigned herself to the fact that she was going to drown. Her sister, Kathy, called for her. She ran to Joni and pulled her up. To Kathy’s surprise, Joni could not support herself and tumbled back into the water. Kathy pulled her out and Joni gasped for air. Joni was puzzled as to why her arms were still tied to her chest. Then to her dismay, Joni realized they were not tied, but were draped lifelessly across her sister’s back. Kathy yelled for someone to call an ambulance and Joni was rushed to the hospital. Joni’s life was changed forever that July day in 1967. She had broken her neck – a fracture between the fourth and fifth cervical levels. She was now a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down. While her friends were busy sending out graduation announcements and preparing to go to college in the fall, Joni was fighting for her very life and having to accept the fact that she would have to live out the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Joni’s rehabilitation was not easy. As you might imagine she was angry and she raged against her fate. She struggled with depression and often times she wanted to end her life. She could not understand how God could let this happen to her. Before the accident she had felt that she wasn’t living the life she should be so she had prayed that God would change her life – that he’d turn it around. After months of staring at the ceiling and wallowing in her depression, Joni began to wonder if this was God’s answer to her prayer. This realization that God was working in her life was the beginning of Joni’s journey to wholeness as a disabled person. She participated in various rehabilitation programs that taught her how to live with her disabilities and she immersed herself in God’s Word to become spiritually strong. Joni’s life has been a full one. She has learned early on to compensate for her handicaps. Being naturally creative, she learned to draw and paint holding her utensils with her teeth. She began selling her artwork and the endeavor was a great success. There was a real demand for her work. She kept herself very busy with her artwork and gained for herself a degree of independence. She was also able to share Christ’s love in her drawings. She always signed her paintings “PTL” which stood for “Praise the Lord”. Joni has also become a sought after conference speaker, author, and actress, portraying herself in the World Wide Pictures production of “Joni”, the life story of Joni Eareckson in 1978. She has written several books including “Holiness in Hidden Places”, “Joni”, which was her autobiography, and many children’s titles. But her most satisfying and far-reaching work is her advocacy on behalf of the disabled. In 1979, Joni moved to California to begin a ministry to the disabled community around the globe. She called it Joni and Friends Ministries (JAF Ministries), fulfilling the mandate of Jesus in Luke 14:13,23 to meet the needs of the poor, crippled, and lame. Joni understood first-hand the loneliness and alienation many handicapped people faced and their need for friendship and salvation. The ministry was soon immersed with calls for both physical and spiritual help for the disabled. JAF Ministries thus uncovered the vast hidden needs of the disabled community and began to train the local church for effective outreach to the disabled, an often overlooked mission field. JAF Ministries today includes local offices in such major cities as Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Phoenix, and SanFrancisco. The goal of the ministry is to have ten such offices in metropolitan areas by the year 2001. Through JAF Ministries, Joni tapes a five-minute radio program called “Joni and Friends”, heard daily all over the world. She has heart for people who, like herself, must live with disabilities. Her role as an advocate for the disabled has led to a presidential appointment to the National Council on Disability for over three years. Joni also serves on the board of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization as a senior associate for evangelism among disabled persons. Joni has also begun Wheels for the World, a ministry which involves restoring wheelchairs and distributing them in developing nations. Joni has won many awards and commendations throughout her life. In 1993 she was named Churchwoman of the Year by the Religious Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Evangelicals named her “Layperson of the Year”, making her the first woman ever to receive that honor. Also among the numerous awards she has received are the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award, The Courage Award of the Courage Rehabilitation Center, the Award of Excellence from the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, the Victory Award from the National Rehabilitation Hospital, and the Golden Word Award from the International Bible Society. In 1982, Joni married Ken Tada. Today, eighteen years later, the marriage is strong and committed and they are still growing together in Christ. Ken and Joni travel together with JAF Ministries speaking at family retreats about the day to day experiences of living with disabilities. At the helm of JAF Ministries, Ken and Joni strive to demonstrate in tangible ways that God has not abandoned those with disabilities. And they speak from experience.

valentine’s day for single christians

There is a strangeness to Saint Valentine’s Day. G.K. Chesterton saw the oddness of it with his remark that “there seems to be a comic incongruity in such lively and frivolous flirtations still depending on the title of an ascetic and celibate bishop.” Valentine’s Day remains a massively popular holiday in America, despite the fact that many people don’t simply consider the day strange, but dread it all together. For some, the day is too commercialized — a waste of money, they say. All those cards and flowers and chocolates for a holiday we’ve made up needlessly. But many who cringe at Valentine’s Day are simply lonely — they hate being sad, and being reminded of what they don’t have. But as a single Christian who longs to be married, I propose another reason to step back from this annual day of love: it stirs up longings in us that can’t be filled — yet. Valentine’s Day is not an easy or light thing to face as a single person. The chick flicks, charming cards, and chocolate hearts can easily make us feel sad and tired — and tired of feeling sad. But for Christians, this is no excuse to wallow in our loneliness or discontentment. This year, I will not celebrate Valentine’s Day, but it is not simply because I’m frustrated or lonely. It’s because I would rather enjoy God’s gifts of contentment, fulfillment, and hope — gifts that Christ died to purchase for us, whether we’re single or married. Real Contentment When you’re on a diet, does it help you to look at pictures of food, or does it make you even more weak, hungry, and miserable — and more likely to cave to your cravings? For me, it’s the latter. Looking at what we long for but cannot have stirs up feelings in us we cannot satisfy. It causes us to feel drained, despondent, and worse still, discontent. “Single Christians, Christ died to give you contentment, fulfillment, and hope — even on Valentine’s Day.” Longing for companionship, romance, marriage, and sex is not wrong. God himself created these gifts so we would enjoy them (Genesis 2:18; Proverbs 5:18; Song of Solomon; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Timothy 4:4; 6:17). Desiring these good things — and feeling loneliness and sadness without them — is natural. It is not necessarily sinful. It is being human the way God created us to be. But for those of us not-yet-married, these yearnings remain unfulfilled. As a result, we sometimes turn to other things — romantic comedies, chocolates, relationships we know won’t lead to marriage — trying to satisfy the voids in our hearts. However, when we are in a state of weakness, verging on the precipice of discontentment or even dissatisfaction with God, these activities can quickly become dangers. Through fruitless relationships we can exploit other people to get the emotional security we crave without seeking to love and honor them above ourselves (Romans 12:9–10). For many single people, the cheap pleasures of pornography or other sexual experiences become most alluring when we feel discontent. But even good things like movies or chocolate can become dangers when we use them to quench our loneliness. They make us laugh, have a good time, and forget our sorrows — but when these fleeting pleasures fade, we only feel more aware of our alone-ness. For Christians, this should not be the case. We can combat this disappointment and loneliness by turning to the only one who can fulfill us: Jesus Christ. He is the only source of happiness which will never disappoint us and never leave us feeling discontent (Jeremiah 2:13). If anyone thirsts, let him come to Christ and drink (John 7:37) — he will not leave you discontented. Real Fulfillment God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Only Christ can fill the emptiest hearts, the loneliest moments, and the saddest days. He understands them all (Hebrews 4:15–16). He loves each of his children (Jeremiah 31:3). He promises to fulfill all of our needs (Philippians 4:19). “Singleness cannot keep you from the abundance of life and fullness of joy that God promises you.” We may feel like we need a boyfriend or girlfriend. We may feel like we need the special intimacy and companionship only a spouse can provide. We may feel like we need sex. Again, these are legitimate longings. But even if God does not satisfy these specific desires right now, he does promise his comfort and support during the pain of waiting (2 Corinthians 1:3–4). Leaning on his strength, we can carry on (Philippians 4:13). And we can do more than that — we can live full, satisfied, truly joyful lives (Psalms 16:11). Instead of using the season of singleness as a time to mope and bemoan our loneliness, we can use it to chase after our Creator, pursuing a deeper, more satisfying, more glorifying relationship with him every day. It is true that God created marriage and sex for us to enjoy, but he did not create us for enjoying marriage and sex, ultimately. He created us to enjoy him , in whatever circumstances (Philippians 4:11) — singleness cannot get in the way of God’s promise of full joy in him (Psalm 16:11). Instead of marking our calendars for an annual day of mourning while the world revels in mutual love, we can mark our calendars to celebrate the special relationship we have with our Father in heaven, who lovingly looks on us and showers us with his glorious blessings and assures us that we are never alone. Real Hope No matter how lonely we feel right now (and sometimes that’s pretty lonely), we are assured that it won’t be like this forever. Our lives here are merely a vapor, a breath (James 4:14; Psalm 39:5). Think of this: even if we remain single for the rest of our lives here on earth, it is only a fraction of time compared to the eternity we will spend rejoicing in the presence of Christ, who we will know more fully through our pain and loneliness than we ever would have otherwise. “God did not create us ultimately to enjoy marriage or sex. He created us to enjoy him.” I do not relish the idea of living out my days alone in this world. Nevertheless, I am comforted, encouraged, and hopeful in remembering God’s eternal perspective: my days here are limited (Psalm 39:4), and sooner than I realize, I will be in his comforting, fulfilling presence, enjoying perfect harmony and companionship with him and all the saints for all eternity. This light momentary affliction — whether a lonely Valentine’s Day or a lifetime of singleness — is preparing an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). This gives me hope. Real Love Dear single friends, let’s not dread February 14, but look forward to it as a special day God has given us to glorify him. Let’s see our loneliness as a reminder to search for satisfaction in Christ. Let’s use our sadness to dwell on his sacrifice, purchase, and love for us. Let’s seize the day to pursue him. I’ll be worshiping him, and enjoying him, right alongside you.