In order to be one with the Almighty and walk with Him in agreement until the end man must have the proper attitude toward His will and man’s own will and understand that there is a continuous war being waged between the two that is life-long.  As was the case of Jesus of Nazareth just hours before His death, man must continually say, “Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.”  By subjugating His will to the Father’s will Jesus qualified to be the Savior of the world.  As did Jesus, each of us keeps his/her will until death.  But in order to spend eternity with God, man must at times defy his own will and bring it in line with God’s will, even when dealing with life and death issues, as was the case of Jesus on that fateful night when He asked the Father if He would “… let this cup pass from Me.”  It was not His will to suffer and die a terrible, agonizing death.  But He knew that it was God’s will that He do so.  Recall that He was under so much stress that He sweated “great drops of blood” (Lk. 22:44).  In military parlance this is when man’s true valor comes to the fore.  God’s true saints prove their valor by submitting their will to God’s will, even when it means certain death.  In all areas of his daily life, man has a free will and the right to satisfy it.  He also has the right to subjugate his will and in so doing fulfill the will of God.  This is impossible without the power of God’s Spirit working within us.

This fact was voiced in a secular incident by a recent Supreme Court nominee when being questioned by a congressional panel.  When asked what he would do if a case was brought before the court about which he personally disagreed with the U. S. Constitution.  The nominee replied that in such a situation he would “vote against myself.”  He noted that this was the case with all judges–they sometimes had to set aside their personal beliefs and desires in order to comply with the Law of the Land.  Christ’s spiritual brethren must do the same relative to God’s will.  Only His true spiritual brethren have the wherewithal to do this.  So who are His true brethren?  He tells us in Matthew 12:50 where He identifies His brethren as: “… whosoever will do the will of My Father in heaven.”  As did the Messiah, so must be done by every soul who qualify to spend eternity with Him in the Kingdom of God.

There are those who excuse their sins on the “fact” that Jesus retained His God status when He came to earth as a man.  For those who believe that Jesus had an advantage over the rest of us when it came to obeying God, read Jesus of Nazareth, God, Man or God-man?  Use “Nazareth” as your key term.  That series proves beyond a Scriptural doubt that He was 100% human.  Otherwise, He could not be our example and could not qualify to be the Messiah.  He was our perfect example.  SO MUST EVERY SOUL WHO SEEKS SALVATION.  Jesus (the Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) is the Standard against which God’s saints measure themselves.  We must “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) and be as “pure as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:3) and “… overcome (Satan) as I overcame (him)” in order to sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21).  Only those who follow in His spiritual footsteps “… until the end will be saved” (Mat. 10:22).  Only these few (Mat. 7:13,14) will “rule and reign with Him forever” (Rev. 22:5).  THERE IS NO OTHER PURPOSE FOR THIS LIFE.  The war of the wills is on-going as long as man lives.  But the rewards for life’s battle victories are sweet along the way.  Living a victorious life produces the ultimate reward–eternal life.  As John the Baptist said concerning Jesus of Nazareth, “He must increase, I must decrease.”  There is no other path to the Kingdom of God.  Jesus said that few would walk that path (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14).   I resolve to be one of those few.  Won’t you join me?

In his letter to the church at Rome the Apostle Paul made a statement that has been misunderstood by the Institutional Church for some 1900 years.  This Satan-caused error has caused the spiritual destruction of billions of people.  I was one of those people until God broke my will and made me capable of hearing His “voice” concerning what Paul wrote in 7:18-25.  This passage has been used billions of times to justify sin in the lives of professing Christians.  It is the mantra of all church people who claim to be sinners saved by grace.  I believe that it is the most effective tool used by Satan to lure salvation seekers into his deadly Catholic/Protestant church system and keep them there.

In his statement Paul wrote about the many losing battles he had waged against himself and God.  He did not understand how to subjugate his desires to those of the Lord.  Being a proud Pharisee and accustomed to wielding power over people, Paul had become a very proud man who had made things turn out the way he wanted by the sheer force of his will.  His conversion following the episode on the road to Damascus did not automatically tame his personal will.  This was revealed in his letter to the church at Rome in which he admitted his past losing battles with himself and his Maker.  Like all others who would walk with God in this life, self-death was the first step in his walk–a step he was loath to take.  The old (self-centered) Paul had to die, but he would not go down without a fight.   Paul shares his experience in this area in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15 and Ephesians 6:24 where he explains that the old, intellect-dominated man must be destroyed by him and a new, Spirit-directed man must be created by God.  The New man–God in the form of man–is he who’s will is deliberately and perfectly subjugated to the will of the Lord.  It is ONLY for those who will develop this mind-set that Jesus died.  He told His disciples in John 15:13,14 that He would die ONLY for His friends.  He said to them: “You are My friends IF (and only IF) you do whatsoever I command you.”  He told those men who had been with Him physically and spiritually for three years, who had preached the gospel, healed the sick and cast out demons, who had been persecuted along with Him, that He would die for them ONLY IF THEY OBEYED EVERY WORD HE HAD SPOKEN (THE BIBLE FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION).  Only by doing so would they please God and “fulfill His good pleasure.”  Are we better than the disciples?  Are we allowed to defy Him with impunity?  Billions of people would say “YES” as they point to Romans 7:18-25.

As is the case in any war, there are winners and losers.  However, in the war of the wills, there is a twist in the winning– losing scenario.  In order for the war of the wills to have its desired outcome, man must win the war over himself, then surrender himself to God for the working out of His will in man.  It is a win-win situation.  Man wins by defeating (humbling) himself; God wins by controlling the now-humbled man.  In this life, man has a will as long as he lives.  In this life man will always be involved in will warfare, Jesus being the prime example.  The true winner of the will war is he who sets aside (defeats) his will and embraces God’s will, even when it hurts.  This is one of the “costs” the Lord told us to “count” before joining Him.  The cost is both real and inevitable.  Only those who pay that cost will spend eternity with Father and Son in their earthly kingdom.  Next we will allow the Lord to explain how we can walk (live) so that we can join Him in His eternal kingdom on earth.  L.J.