All for Jesus…

Today’s devotional builds a bit on yesterday’s thoughts. It begins with, “pure religion resides in the will alone” meaning that our will governs our nature and if the will is set right, all else will come into harmony. It goes on to explain that our emotions should not be allowed to govern our lives.

By this he means that as our will is not those sinful I-wants but our deciding power. I assume he means the deciding power of a will that is yielded to God and not the will yielded to the flesh. However, it seems to me that if my will can be in submission to God's will, then also can my intellect and my emotions. (See Nee’s diagram)

The Bible says of the human capacity called intellect:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5–8)

This is plain; don’t let my human thinking determine my actions unless that human thinking is totally submitted to the Lord. He will use my brain but my brain is not useful unless it is motivated by His Spirit. If I’m dismissing God's guidance and going with my way of doing things, then I’m not in God's will.

What then about emotions? Interesting that those who say facts must lead our faith always put emotions as the last item on the ‘train’ of how to live for God. They do not leave it off. I cannot either. Emotions are part of our lives, saved or not. I’ve known people who shut down negative emotions like raging anger only to find that they are not able to feel positive emotions like empathy and pity. What about God’s emotions? Cannot the Spirit convey to us the burdens He wants us to feel for others (so we will pray and/or act on their behalf)? Cannot He motivate my feelings about needy people that match His? I know He can; otherwise my fleshy emotions would not care at all about many things. He even says things like:

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26–27)

His Word does not forbid the emotion of anger but forbids me to allow it to motivate sin, a strong suggestion that it can motivate repentance or even action — quickly, before the sun goes down —  if it is yielded to God. I need to carefully consider how Jesus displayed anger and realize not all emotions are fleshy and sinful if they are governed by the Holy Spirit.

It is the same with my will vs. my I-wants. The Spirit of God can motivate me to want certain things. A simple illustration is the times I’ve been in Christian book stores without any particular book in mind, yet one catches my eye and the thought “buy this” comes to mind. I do and it turned out to be just what I needed to read at the time. Without that “I want this” thought, I would not have purchased that book, but God gave me the will to buy it.

Months ago, God spoke to me about organizing a family reunion. I resisted, had no desire to do that. His Spirit worked on my will so that I eventually said yes, but He also worked on my intellect and emotions so that I also heard His instructions on how to do it, but became excited about it. My flesh still resists and will whine about the work, but I know that God is still telling me to keep at it.

Being yielded to God is not confined to the will as the only motivating part of me. God uses emotions to move me to action. He also uses logical thinking to enable me to solve problems. The will is heavily involved in paying attention to His Spirit, yet He is able to get my attention in many ways and help me say yes to Him rather than resisting His voice or simply not listening at all.

PRAY: Jesus, each day brings varied challenges and varying emotions. If I listen to You and let You motivate my mind, emotions, and desires, then the day is so much different than when I make my own plans, or entertain my own feelings, or stick to whatever I want. You truly do bring “healing to my flesh and refreshment to my bones” for which I am joyfully grateful.