-Gen. Jim ~ POW-86322 — 12/6/19
Christianity, true Biblical “C”, is nothing else than doing the will of God, and not our own; that the one grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness is this SELF-WILL devil! NO indulgence of it can be trivial, no denial unprofitable!!! Even Jesus exclaimed, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge … I do not seek My own will but the will of My Father who sent Me.” -Jn. 5:30. Other places He exclaimed, “NOT My will but Thine be done!” (see also Jn. 5:19,20).
It has rightly been said by sober-minded Bible believers that Heaven or Hell depends upon this alone; His will vs our will. It is a sad day when ministers downplay the importance of God’s will. The Emergent Church et al. has indulged itself in the devil’s work, undermining the validity of Scriptures for vainglory/vainglorious reasons. These worldly ministers are guilty of “convolution revolution” against God’s perfect will for believers. The crucible of it all is the willingness to die to our will.
The sacred assignment of raising up/training up disciples (Mt. 28:19,20) can’t be underestimated: Some take their calling /assignment serious … even to the point of going to jail/prison.
Our innate, i.e. inborn/natural, nature must be taught to submit to God’s will. It is an ENEMY that we live with. Self-will is the cause of most misery and most sin. It will CRUSH the principle and substance of godliness if not subdued. The liberal Church today makes much ado about bondage, i.e. God’s Word puts us in bondage! But these poor fools are they themselves in bondage to self-will. The truth of the matter is the chances are SLIM that our undisciplined soul will ever make Heaven. (see Mt. 7:21). No cross, no glory. The liberal Church-ite will resist self-denial AND will insist on having its own WAY!
Some see the Heavenly Father as being harsh, unloving, even cruel to His children. If you feel this way I suggest you take a trip into Proverbs Land. Read the following texts: Prov. 13:1,13,24; 19:18; 20:11; 22:6,15; 23:13,14; 29:15,17 etc. Read also Ps. 94:12; 1 Cor. 11:32; 2 Cor. 6:9; Heb. 12:5,6,7,8,10,11; Rev. 2:19. When we allow the Spirit to bring the “sword that cuts and the fire that Burns,” we will produce fruit; if we deny the Fire/cutting we allow the self-will to produce rotten fruit, e.g. works of the flesh (Gal. 5).
So, let us deny self, pick up our cross and follow Jesus to glory land.