Week 8 – Friday - Both to Will and to Act

Go read Philippians 2:12-13.

So yesterday we spent all day just thinking on what God is doing in our lives. It’s an incredibly important discipline to sit and think about where you can see Him actively working in your life because it is both humbling to remember that you are not the one doing the work and encouraging to recognize that He is at work. Today is going to continue that trend of humility and confidence in the gospel.

“For it is God who works in you to will and to act . . . ”

When There’s No Will
We’ve often heard the phrase, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” The frustrating thing in trying to follow Jesus is if we would be completely honest, there are some days when we have NO WILL. If you aren’t playing some ridiculous religious game where you force a smile on your face regardless of the circumstances of your life and lie constantly so that people will think you’re a good Christian – then you can admit with me that there are days when you have no will to follow Jesus. No desire. No yearning. No goose-bump causing intimate feeling with the Holy Spirit. No ability to do anything about it.

<> So what do you do?
<> When was the last time you felt stuck with no will to follow God?
<> Are you there right now?

I have very encouraging news. He doesn’t run out of desire for you even when you run out of desire for Him. He doesn’t fail to want His holiness and His design for your life, even when you want to go run amuck in all of your old sin.

Go read 2 Timothy 2:13.

<> How good is it to know that He is faithful even when you are faithless?
<> How does that birth both humility and confidence in you?

Two Possible Reactions
When you really start to grasp the concept that God wills for your life even when you don’t will for His life through your life – there are a couple of reactions.

The WRONG reaction: “Well if God’s the one who is supposed to will and act in me, then I’m going to sit on my spiritually proud and lazy butt and do nothing until He changes me.”

The RIGHT reaction: “God I’m sorry that the truth is I don’t even want You right now. I don’t want to obey – I don’t want to surrender – I don’t want to submit to what You say is best, and the truth is I don’t even care that much. So I’m in desperate need of you to change my backwards heart of stone. Please give me the desire to want holiness. Please put a new heart in me. I can’t do this on my own.”

When actions are wrong in our life I think most of us are starting to figure out that we recognize it as sin and then we repent and then we get accountability and whatever kind of help we need to absolutely kill it in our lives. The truth is though that God wants more than just our actions. He wants our hearts. He wants our will. He wants complete control. So just as with our actions, when our will is wrong, we recognize is as sin and then we repent and then we get accountability and whatever kind of help we need to absolutely kill apathy in our lives.

<> Have you given up because you don’t have the will to seek Jesus?
<> Do you think God doesn’t want to talk to you because you don’t really want to talk to Him?
<> Have you tried to humbly ask God to give you the very desire to obey as well as the ability to obey?