Ultimately our choice comes down to our either “Denying ourselves” or “Denying Jesus” it has always been one or the other. The battleground for this war is found within each one of us for the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of self are found within. This brings about a civil war that wages within each one of us over who will rule. Is it I or is it God, I fear many times it is I.
How many times has our mind come to a conclusion only to have lost the battle on the field of our emotions? For some reason I have felt that it is my emotions that hold the key to my victories. But I believe we must all come to realize that there is something behind our emotions, something independent of them that really decides what we ultimately will do. Whether we are having a good or bad day is often the result of how we are feeling emotionally. We are all a composite of our emotions but our emotions are not who we really are. I have come to the conclusion that if God is to have all of me He must take possession of that place where the final decisions are made, my will, my ego my very personality. The old king must die and a new King must come and take possession, for as a man’s will is, so is the man.
It is a struggle we will face our entire Christian life and there will be times our feelings will tell us that we are not any closer to victory. In fact the more we struggle against our ‘will’ the greater the battle seems to be. Take for instance the favorite New Years resolution to go on a diet. I know that I need to watch what I eat, so I am determined to loose weight. I do my homework by studying several types of diets, the South Beach, Atkins or Weight Watchers and then decided that the South Beach Diet is the best. But it failed because I felt that for some unexplained reason my heart just wasn’t in it. We believe that if our heart is not in it then it just isn’t going to work. That is why I have become convinced that the ’heart’ does not mean the ‘emotions,’ which is typically what we understand by the word heart, but it means the will, the personality of the man. It is not the feelings of the man that God wants, but the man himself.
Each time we try and fail we feel like hypocrites declaring we will do something, which only our will alone can determine the outcome.
Our will is where all our decisions are made and during the fall when sin entered into man our will was handed over to the dominion of Satan and he has been working on it ever since to produce within us a life filled with misery, pain and ruin. Didn’t God say, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—…Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
The chief weapon the old king has in keeping us in a state of constant submission is discouragement. Discouragement is Satan’s counterfeit humility and it produces an emotional response within us that drives us to despair. True humility can always bear to see itself as being utterly weak and foolish because it is not ruled by our emotions but finds its strength in being dependent on God alone. Living on the feelings that come from our emotional responses to situations drives the soul deeper into discouragement.
Ours is to believe but it is God who does all the work!
I have been asking of God how I may find victory over my will so that it falls into submission to His will and I believe He has led me to understand this simple truth. I do not have the power to bring my will into submission anymore than I had the power to bring about my own salvation. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
When I accepted Jesus it was by faith, I said it and I believed it but I could no more make it a reality than if I tried to jump over the moon. My faith was in the saving power of Jesus. By faith I believed and He did the rest. By faith I have been saved. For my will to come into submission to His will it must be through that same principle. Having faith to believe that He has the power to change me I must stop trying to do it through my own strength.
Perhaps it would be best if we understood that for our relationship with Father God to be restored there must be a relinquishment of the principle of self-ownership. That we are not our own but bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:20) One day a few years ago I made a decision to give my life totally to him, without any reservations. So I stood there and gathered all that there was of me, not withholding any part of me, and laid it upon the altar. As I did this I also made a covenant with him that he could have all there was of me the good, the bad, and the ugly. Afterwards I felt no change in my feelings, no wind from Heaven came and blew upon me nor did I hear the angels sing. But I knew I was sincere in the intent of my heart, mind and soul.
But even knowing it is wrong to be led by my feelings, when uncertainty and doubt would come upon me, I would still at times go down that same old path that I so often journeyed in the past. I wanted to believe that God was working a good work within me, to will and to do, but it was like I couldn’t help but fight the battle in my own strength, which always led me back into discouragement.
It was then that I understood that the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10) had a legal case against me and I was trying to handle the case through my own strength. That old adage, “He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client,” came to my mind and the Holy Spirit reminded me that I needed a new lawyer and led me to my ‘advocate’ Jesus, (1 John 2:1) The Holy Spirit told me to gather up every scrap of paper containing every accusation against me along with every argument I submitted in my defense, everything, and hand it over to Jesus. And so I made a prophetic act of gathering everything up and I turned and handed it into the hands of Jesus. He looked into my eyes and said this, “Do not answer any questions or receive any accusations from the accuser of the brethren. You are to send him to me, from now on I will come to your defense and respond to all the accusations leveled against you.”
I turned and said this to the accuser and my old nature as well, “This is my lawyer he has instructed me not to answer any further questions and you are to direct all questions to him.” I turned and Jesus came and stood between me and the accuser and amazingly all the guilt and wavering disappeared and from that moment on I began to experience victory. (Proverbs 24:3-4) Yes there were times the accuser brought it up to me but I quickly pointed toward Jesus, did not respond to him, and Satan finally left me alone.
A Resolution worth keeping!
Even though the above illustration deals with a negative situation I have found that positive situations can be even more dangerous if it is not based out of ‘His will.’ When things are going right it is easier to forget God, giving over even more authority to the old nature within. When our thoughts, either old or new, negative or positive come upon us we need to quickly give them over to God. If I am to repent - I do so quickly, if to confess – I do it immediately! Then I believe that God is working it out within me and I no longer entertain the accusations of the enemy, because I know that the Lord is giving me a steady victory over sins which before would have kept me prisoner.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
My friends, the Lord loves you. He works with you. May the Lord fill you with all His fullness and give you the mind of Christ. Be faithful, walk before God in holiness and rest your soul fully upon the promise, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:8
All our love,
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