I WILL (Part IV)
Kingdom
Principle Number Four: Your will cannot
remain aligned with God’s will if you dialogue with the devil. The Bible describes Satan as “more subtle
than any,” and this is a sober warning against entering into communication with
him. (Genesis 3:1) Consider this. Communication
is the first step in communion (intimate
fellowship). A friend of mine often
points out the fact that long-term married couples have a tendency to physically
resemble one another. One day he asked
me “why?” I responded with a smile and said, “They eat
the same diet, they share the same living environment, they engage in the same
conversations which results in an eventual alignment of thought processes and
worldviews. Why wouldn’t they wind up looking like one another?” There is an important life lesson embedded
here.
In
the words of my high school health teacher, Mr. Arthur Feldman, “You are what you eat!” While my
teacher was speaking of physical health, the same principle pertains to
spiritual health. Our will is an amalgamation (a potent
blend) of every life experience that we “eat,”
that is, we internalize and digest. Therefore,
our will (which is the foundation
for our choices and decisions) is the primary determiner of emotional and
spiritual health. If we would be
transparent enough to reveal what we have been ‘eating’ lately (intellectually,
emotionally, spiritually), discerning persons could tell us how we will be ‘thinking’
and ‘deciding’ and ‘acting’ in the future.
Wow! Our will is in a constant state of flux because it is the
product of our personal interactions with life experiences and our unique responses
(reactions) to them.
Kingdom
Principle Number Five: Our will can be
adjusted when we choose to transcend our circumstances via a close encounter
with Jesus Christ. Since we human
beings are creatures of habit, we tend to follow familiar pathways that I term ‘life momentum’ unless some outside force
compels or empowers us to do otherwise. Case
in point: the man at the Pool of Bethesda.
It seems unfathomable to us that he had actually been laying there for
38 years! But such was the case. Periodically, an angel “troubled the water”
and the first person to enter in would receive complete healing. (John 5:4)
This
man’s will had been negatively altered by his associates and by his environment. According to John, he was surrounded by “a
great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered” individuals. (John
5:3) But these powerful impediments only
constitute healing opportunities for the Living Lord!
Therefore,
“when Jesus saw him…and knew that
he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?” (John
5:6) Christ’s question is pivotal to our
understanding. The healing of this man’s
long-term handicap would be directly predicated upon his will to seek and embrace wholeness. But instead of answering Jesus directly, the
crippled man offered excuses: “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled,
to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before
me.” (John 5:7)
Jesus
graciously ignored his excuses and took authority over both his will and his
infirmity with these Words: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” (John
5:8) Kingdom Principle Number Six: The Word alters the will. This fact should motivate all believers to be
steadfast students in the Word for our daily attitude adjustments.
In
the aftermath of his personal deliverance, some took strong exception to the
fact that Jesus Christ had healed him on the Sabbath. They were more concerned with legalism than
deliverance. A word to the wise is
sufficient: ‘Never ever allow anyone to define either your will or your
personal experience with the transforming power of Jesus Christ.’ I love the fact that Jesus did not argue with
the religious naysayers. His response
was simple: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” (John 5:17)
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