Romans 8:6 The mind governed by the flesh is death but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. NIV
The bible says that the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Now how do we come to the place where the Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, governs our life?
Steps to Christ, p47 says “Many are inquiring, “How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?” You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centred upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him”.
So when you get up in the morning you consecrate yourself to God. You say “Lord I give you my will.” Have you ever had a habit or addiction or secret sin in your life you cannot overcome? It seems like every New Year’s resolution, whatever promise or track record that we’ve had up to a certain point, seems to break down if we try to use our will power to overcome these things.
But the principle is that when we get up in the morning we give our will to God.
Foundationally, this is the only decision we can really make. To give God our will and to cooperate with the Spirit in working in our life on a day to day basis.
Now what does that even look like, when we talk about giving God our will? What if we don’t really want to give God our will or have wrong motivations? What if we really or really love our particular sin/addiction/habit and don’t want to let it go?
“The will must be placed on the side of God’s will. You are not able of yourself to bring your purposes and desire and inclinations into submission to the will of God, but if you are willing to be made willing, God will accomplish the work for you.” Thoughts of the Mount of Blessing, p 142.
In other words, we can’t even surrender our will to God without the Holy Spirit!
We can come to God and say “Lord I am willing to be made willing. I desire to desire.” We can come to God and say “Lord, I love this sin. Help me to hate it. I love this addiction. Help me to hate it. I love this secret sin. Help me to come to the place where I despise it. Change my heart, give me the desire to desire.”
If you are struggling with something in your life, give your will to God and say ”Lord, I am willing to be made willing. This is who I am. Give me the desire to desire.”
This is so foundational to our prayer life. Because sometimes we can be so inauthentic with God. We say we are fine when really we have some things we are struggling with inside. Or we can come to God and admit our struggles. Admit what challenges us and ask for help – be willing to be made willing.
David Shin is a pastor in America. Twelve months ago, he preached on prayer life in Quarantine. His message is just as relevant today… His sermons can be heard on Faith FM and the AudioVerse podcast.
You can read this full transcript prepared and edited by IntraVic here .