Oh, but it is by force. Not force applied by my Lord, but force applied by me to deny myself. The Lord said over and over that to be worthy of Him we have to (i) deny ourselves and (ii) take up our cross daily. Galatians 5:17 teaches us that a monumental battle rages right within us; "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." The solution is to be rather violent with oneself on many occasions. So Matthew 11:12 says; "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
I don't mean asceticism. I mean that my old man - the flesh, sometimes wants to go one way, and the Lord says to go another. To obey the Lord might entail some loss. Obedience costs. Look what it cost Jesus. I don't always succeed, but to obey the Lord Jesus is not always easy. Just tonight I prepared a response to a poster who attacked me. It took 15 minutes. At the end of it, the Lord said to me; "Is that conciliatory?", and brought to mind 2nd Corinthians 5:18 where we are given a ministry of reconciliation. I wanted to set the record straight and the Lord wanted me to swallow the rebuke. To wipe out 15 minutes work, and take the blows, took force - by me. And for every time I win, I lose the battle in another event. Thank the Lord Jesus for His longsuffering. Under Law I would, by now, be in serious trouble.
Go well sister.