Not my will…

 
Today’s devotional is about the human will and encourages readers to choose to obey God by exercising their will. Emphasis is put on the power of our will. This is a common theme in this devotional book ironically titled “God is Enough.”

Every time I read the statements that say our power to live the Christian life is in the will, I think of what Jesus said in the garden: “Not my will but Thine be done” and have to assume that there is a difference between my will and the will of God. Jesus had no problem with His will because He didn’t think about Himself or what He wanted that might be contrary to the will of the Father, but I do. My will, which is a strong part of my old nature, wants what I want when I want it.

When Jesus came into my heart, I became aware that His nature and mine were not the same. I too can say, “not my will but Thine be done” — particularly when the conflict is obvious and I’m walking in the Spirit. Even though my old nature wants whatever it wants, the Spirit alerts me to the will of God and the difference. 

For instance, when driving in heavy traffic, I’ve noticed that I can choose patience. That is, this attitude is in me, the attitude of the Spirit of God, and because of Him I choose to live by it instead of the old way. Even in that ordinary situation, this applies:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2:14–16)

God wants me to choose to “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do…” (Galatians 5:16–18)

However, there is another part of this that is often overlooked; I also need the Spirit of God to even make that choice. Without Jesus in my life, there is only one will — mine. With Jesus, there are two, and enabling me to choose His will is part of what He does — simply because my old nature, which died with Him, is persistent to crawl off the altar and live. Again, Jesus comes to the rescue:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now…. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

God works in me to enable me to want His will as well as do it. He knows the weakness of human flesh. A Christian once said that this weakness is a problem, not because it is weak but because it should be considered dead, not able to function at all, never mind interfere with our decisions.

Yes, God is enough. Relying on Him may seem like my choice, but without Him, I would not see the choice, never mind be able to make it. The human will left untouched by the power of redemption will never say “not my will” but will always insist on having its own way. This is why Jesus came and had to die, that He could change hearts and give sinners a new way to live.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:14–18)

PRAY: The older I get and the longer this walk through time with You, Jesus, the more I realize that You alone are my Savior and the One who enables me to follow You. In all of life, my will needs to be ignored and Your will totally relied on, and to make that choice, I also need Your Spirit and Your grace.


 

Unbiased vision

 

 

It’s well known that many people assume that other people think like they do. Those who tell lies assume that everyone else is a liar. My loving mom assumed that every mother sacrificially loves their children. A friend assumes that “everyone talks and behaves differently depending on who they are with” — which reveals more about him than he realizes.

I know this happens because I make assumptions too. I used to think that everyone told the truth. After a few betrayals and heartbreaks I realized that is not correct. Worse yet, I’ve realized I’m not beyond stretching the truth myself. However, I’ve also realized that how I appear to others is not always correct about who I am. I can be seen according to their assumptions and prejudices even though I’d like to appear BLAMELESS. In studying that biblical word, I found this statement about God:

Psalm 18:25–27. “With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.”

God does not change. He is blameless, a God of mercy and purity. However, this tendency to ‘see what I am being the way others are’ also shows up in my view of God, or as this verse says, I can falsely see in Him what is true about me. However, the Bible says if I want to see the purity of God, I need to be rid of the impurity in my own life. Jesus did say, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

Again, if I want to see the blamelessness of God, I need to get rid of the sin in my life. Proverbs 10:29 hints at this with, “The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.”

While it seems foolishness to define God by my own characteristics, this is a good way to determine what needs to change in my own life. As I read about Him and find myself doubting that God is just like He says He is, then maybe my problem is using my self-centered filter. In other words, if I think God does not care about me or about the starving folks in the world, could it be because I’m the one who does not care about God or about those hungry people?

Jesus came to redeem sinners. He also came to reveal God to us because this principle works another way: if I see what God is actually like, then what I see in Him transforms me!

It is important to know that the Bible describes Him as totally free from defects, spotless and sinless.

Hebrews 7:26. “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”

1 Peter 1:18–19. “Know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Hebrews 9:13–14. “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

God knew how badly I needed to see Him as He is — so He sent His Son to open my eyes. Colossians 1:21–23 personalized says,

“And I, who once was alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present me holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed I continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that I have heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven . . . .”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Seeing God as He is without any filter of assuming He is like me changes my life. As Scripture says, when I gaze into His glory, I am transformed by what I see. It works out in practical ways. For instance, I quit complaining and arguing and start love others —

Philippians 2:14–16. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

1 Thessalonians 3:12–13. “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

Such is God’s amazing grace that He would see me in Christ and like Christ — only because He has revealed Christ to my eyes and heart . . . !

 

 

He merely needs to say it . . .

 

Yesterday I ran out of space before running out of what I wanted to say about the WORD of God, particularly its power. It begins in the beginning when God spoke and His Words created . . .

Genesis 1:1–3. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light . . . .”

Let that sink in. Even the best technology does not have that power. It is hard to believe. No wonder humans came up with the theory of evolution. How can anyone, even God, speak anything into existence!

However, accepting that, then the next thought is not too difficult to believe: Whatever God says will accomplish what He intends it to do.

Isaiah 55:10–11. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Another power in His Word is that God’s speaks and it builds faith in those who hear Him and receive what He says:

Romans 10:17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

James 1:21. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Believing what God says also changes lives. This action is called many things and because it is so powerful, the Word of God calls it a new birth:

1 Peter 1:23–25. since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 says this great work should be received and accepted as from God and obeyed. 2 Timothy 3:14–17 adds that all who do this must continue in “what you have learned and have firmly believed” because it makes us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” and because that Word was “breathed out by God” and “is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” that God’s people “may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

His Word does this by showing us what is from God and what is from the old nature as in Hebrews 4:12.

”For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Allowing the Word to work means holding fast to it: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” (Philippians 2:14–16)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. One writer says that I am to receive the Word assuming it will work in me. That means giving it time to build my faith and give me a desire and the power to obey it. His Word creates trust and the ability to put that trust into action in all areas of my life. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I have the power to do His will because the Word of God works in me. I may not sense that power at the time He speaks to me, but His Word will come back later as His command and to give me His power to do what He says.