Romans 7.15-25 to 8.6 speaks of the law of sin and death and the spiritual laws of God, His divine order of things.

We constantly have an inner battle to fight if we are going to choose to go God’s way.

What I want to do and will to do are two different things.

God works through our will, not our wants.

He supplies our needs, not our wants.

Most times, ‘I want’ is me looking for something coming in to me.

’I will ‘is often an active flow out from me. So exercising my will over my want is a decision I have to make; God has given me this freedom to choose whether or not to act on my free will.

Greek meanings of ’will’ in the New Testament include:

• To have a purpose; that which I determine shall be done

• To have in mind; to intend

• To be resolved

• To desire

• To love

• To take delight in; have pleasure

• To know in the mind what ought to be done

My will is the response from the whole of my life, reflecting and acting on the desire within me. My will has to be activated by an immediate response of obedience. If I do not act on it, the desire will weaken, be challenged and may turn into a negative power. There will be a hardening and corruption of God’s leading within me, possibly leading to deception and mis-understanding.

If we know the right thing to do and do not do it, that becomes sin. We have not been obedient. I will then suffer the consequences of disappointment and condemnation because I did not respond as I should have done.

Whenever the Holy Spirit’s conviction comes to us, our whole character is softened so as to obey.

Obedience brings its blessing, and disobedience brings its own loss. It is better to never hear the truth than to hear it and refuse to obey.

We must determine to take the initiative and obey the truth, to never hesitate regarding God’s character at work in our lives. We must remember to protect our own will by taking our first thought captive, which will most times either hinder or enhance our second, deeper thought. Never postpone a Godly decision, because the second thought about it will often be a deflection from the first.

When concentrating on His Word, allow the deeper thoughts to penetrate the will. We have to speak to our mind and soul and tell it ‘THIS is good for you, receive it.’

We have to set our mind on Him and His ways. The only true way to know His will is to do it; simply to do what He says.

This often has to be an aggressive stance to the stubborn parts of our mind and soul.

For example, a runner wants to win a race. He or she trains, prepares their body and mind, commits to self effort. Likewise, we accept God’s will in our lives and commit our will to see His power manifest in our winning the situation.

Who would want to try to be a Christian? Certainly not a spiritual Believer. We can not be a Christian by trying; we are or are not a Christian. Likewise, if the call of God is there in your life, we have to give it our total commitment.

When we say ‘yes’ to Jesus and His will, we accept God as our Father, we accept His Holy Spirit in us, and we accept His Word and will too.

Then we gain the benefits of God’s kingdom and spiritual power beyond anything we have ever had before, and an everlasting love and support for us. We live the life by His power and not ours. We feed our new spiritual life with His spiritual food, and we grow. We must act on even just a little bit of understanding, and as we prove it as being God, we go for more. Our mounting experiences of obedience to God help us to really know God’s voice. All of this is activating my will to do His will.

Is Jesus alive in you?

Then do as He did and find what He found, the love of the Father, the will of the Father and the life of the Father.

If our intention is to obey God rather than just hear Him, then the Spirit of God opens up the ability for us to respond. Moreover, we gain more insight into who He is.

As you respond to His will with determined intent to follow it through, so you will receive more instruction or direction from Him, because your will is more than willing to submit to His divine order and calling of you. Jesus said to the Father ‘Not my will be done, but yours’

‘I want this’ or ‘I want that’ is so often short sighted; a ‘give me now’ attitude or even selfishness. Romans 8.28 encourages us that as all our circumstances are allowed by God, they are ultimately there for our benefit, often to refine and develop our Godly character, not meet our wants.

Only the pure in heart shall see God, understand God and enjoy being obedient to Him. Further insight comes to us when we are pure hearted and working out God’s will in our lives.

If we follow after self motivated activities, we will find it very difficult to hear any of God’s leading. Until we turn from our own desire to do His will, we will struggle in our decisions.

We must say ‘not my will but Yours be done’.

His conviction of what is right and wrong is always there in a Believer. Freedom of our will is God’s gift to us. Submission to His will is our gift to Him.

Good discipleship training turns the disciple from our own way to God’s way. A preacher or teacher has to bring people to a place of doing something. When I pray for you, you have to exercise your will to respond to God.

Now let Him know what your will really is.

DT March 07.