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So we know we may have to lose weight, seek out a new job, read our Bible more often, stay away from the "bad" internet sites, read these "Nuggets" on a consistent basis, and resist many things this world tosses into our lives, but something in us just keeps getting in the way. For this "Nugget," let's make it personal and give it a name. How about Will? That sounds fairly accurate since Will has lots of power. However, all of Will's power comes from deep with our human spirit and that spirit has the ability to set the direction over every other voice within us. Dr. Meyer explained to us that "the SPIRIT factor allows for CHOICE, the ability to exercise WILL, [and] the ability to CHOOSE a course of action which is contrary to all of our emotions and is at odds with the natural tendency of our bio-chemistry and even our brain wiring." In fact, we need to be better equipped to control "Will's power."
For some, will-power is temporarily enough to overcome some of those things mentioned above. However, our will was never designed to function alone. "The human spirit was designed to share an intimacy with the spirit of God, and in that intimacy to find a strength and holiness we could never generate alone." Breaking this down to it's simplest form, if our will-power is broken, our spirit power is broken.
In Romans, Paul was speaking to the people about spiritual law, and in Romans 7:15, Paul puts that last "nugget" statement into Biblical perspective, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do." He continues by saying in verse 21: "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members."
So what do we do when our will-power is not enough:
And in Revelation 3:20, John quotes Jesus as saying:
In closing, we simply need to remember that will-power alone will not get us through even the easiest of temptations. We need a right spirit that is intimately linked with the spirit of God. This can only happen by spending time with Him. And the more time we spend with Him, the stronger our spirit power will become. The stronger our spirit power, the less reliant on will-power we'll require day in and day out.
Until next time, keep
your eyes on Jesus !
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