To Will Or Not To Will...That Is The Question

Joshua 24:15
.......But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.

Step # 3
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
I don't know how many times I have taught on Step # 3......many.
But it wasn't until this morning, during my quiet time, that I saw something that had been right in front of my face for a long time.
Turning our will over to God isn't giving up our will. I use to think that it was simply me becoming a kind of blank slate on which God would write instructions. Not true.
We are turning the focus of our will toward God to follow Him.
To do what He tells us to do.
To go where He tells us to go.
To say what He tells us to say.
The will is very much still in play, it is just that I have now (in the knowledge that I am powerless) focused myself on listening only to Jesus, not my old nature or lusts.


Oswald Chambers, in his devotional My Utmost For His Highest,  writes, "Will is the whole man active. I cannot give up my will, I must exercise it. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God's Spirit."  In other words, the will remains present but the focus is almost an oxymoron. I will myself to not will myself to do the wrong thing. I will myself to give up and not give in to the thought that I must use. How do I do this? By turning my will to God.

It all goes back to what Jesus taught in Luke 9:23 ---"You want to follow me? Then deny yourself." There is the "Bingo"moment we have been looking for. That by denying what my sinful nature wants, I must have something to turn to in order to combat the lust that would seek to drag me away into sin. I turn, by my will, to Jesus. He is the HIGHER Power and as such, has the Power to break the lust and desire to do the wrong thing.

I Peter 4:2
And you won't spend the rest of your life chasing after evil desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.

Where your heart is....
There your thoughts will be...
Where your thoughts are....
The body follows.
Turn your heart toward Jesus and follow hard after him.

God on you....
mb