I wrote yesterday about being on a 'tightrope'...Oswald Chambers this morning speaks directly / painfully to what I was trying to say.
Phillipian 2: 2:12 - So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a disposition which renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the Lord is presented to the conscience, the first thing conscience does is to rouse the will, and the will always agrees with God. You say - "But I do not know whether my will is in agreement with God."
Look to Jesus and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. The thing in you which makes you say "I shan't" is something less profound than your will; it is perversity, or obstinacy, and they are never in agreement with God.
The profound thing in man is his will, not sin. Will is the essential element in God's creation of man: sin is a perverse disposition which entered into man. In a regenerated man the source of will is almighty. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." You have to work out with concentration and care what God works in; not work your own salvation, but work it out, while you base resolutely in unshaken faith on the complete and perfect Redemption of the Lord. As you do this, you do not bring an opposed will to God's will, God's will is your will, and your natural choices are along the line of God's will, and the life is as natural as breathing. God is the source of your will, therefore you are able to work out His will. Obstinacy is an unintelligent 'wadge' that refuses to be enlightened; the only thing is for it to be blown up with dynamite, and the dynamite is obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Do I believe that Almighty God is the source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it...........Oswald Chambers My Utmost for Your Highest June 6, 2006
All that churchy stuff about flesh and will...And when I say 'churchy' I do not mean it as a criticism, it is simply words and phrasiology that doesn't make sense to me, it is not in my data bank so to speak. I grew up Catholic and know about God and guilt and then coming to Christ in the last couple of years, I mean really desiring to follow Christ all this is new and a very good kind of challenging....I love asking questions and being asked....
So didn't God give us Free Will?? So where does the belief that I am on a journey come in? Am I a new person? So what does a new person do? His will ....Ok but when I 'think' I am doing His will I don't think I am as loving as I am supposed to be...is that my will getting in the way??
So I pull out the look to Jesus......in all things all the time....look to Jesus.....
flesh wants what it wants all the time right?? And the point of the journey is to want what God wants more than anything...I get that........will I want what God wants before I die?? Do I want what God wants but my flesh won't allow me to follow it...dynamite.....the dynamite is obedience to the Holy Spirit..........blow me up Lord...blow me up!
3 comments:
it is refreshing to come here.
You already want what God wants. You want to know Him, and that's where we start.
Perhaps the church's worst legacy is the assumption that becoming a follower of Jesus is instant. Some people can will themselves to follow, but it's their own energy and only works when young. I'm too old for that; if Jesus wants me to continue following him, then he has to show me how.
He's a good teacher. I find that he's less like dynamite than he is like a rain of love that corrodes my old stone walls. Perhaps he uses dynamite with others. The truth is that he will use any technique that works... for you.
If there were one idea I could get through to people, it's that God isn't the distant rule-giver presented in most churches. He is with us all the time, living with us... and he knows how the changes hurt us. He's patient.
"Obedience is better than sacrifice"
O' the wisdom of the Bible is so beautiful! Paula said it right!
Another 'lil' bit of wisdom- You must me willing to do whatever God wants you to do. Otherwise he cant use you at all!
"I don't want my life to look good father, I want it to be good"
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