THE POTENCY OF YOUR WILL

THE POTENCY OF YOUR WILL.

Why on earth did I let this happen? I could have been in total control over this? How come I keep falling over and over again? These are questions that come to mind when we unwillingly do things that are morally wrong. There were times these questions filled my daily thoughts.

A lot of Christians have been engulfed with these questions for many years; yet having no answer to them neither do they have a remedy to the struggles of their heart. Many even find themselves doing what they have previously decided not to do.

I found a man in the scripture who was sincere enough to tell the saints about his struggle. At a point in my life, I began to relate with the pains and struggles Apostle Paul found himself in Romans 7:15

“For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do i”

We live in a time of great pretense and hypocrisy. Everyone appears to be a saint and are never struggling with any sin or weakness.

Let me digress a bit, to dive into some arguments most scholars hold over Paul’s outcry in Romans 7:15.

They believe Paul was relating his state prior to his saved experience.
Others believe that it is not the situation for a child of God.
But let me bring you to understand that apostle Paul’s experience prior to his salvation experience had nothing to do with the struggle in Romans 7:15 because he was not yet born again and the only account we saw in scriptures about him was this;

“And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witness laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul” -Acts 7:58.

Acts chapters 8 and 9 speaks of his havoc and threat against the church and the letter he requested from the high priest granting him permission to go to Damascus in order to arrest the Christians that fled for safety from Jerusalem.

It is not a sin for a child of God to struggle. The church should be a place where people could come to seek help for their struggles; but we have converted it to a place of pretense because we prejudge those that open up in sincerity, the worse sinners.

Thank God for Apostle Paul’s unveiling, to us, that a child of God can still struggle so long we are in this earthly suit (Body). But towards the end of Romans 7, he also unveiled to us a Great help in Jesus Christ only and only if we can open up to Him in sincerity like Apostle Paul, in verse 25.

Back to our study, I came to understand that the struggles we experience is a product of the disposition of our will. When your WILL is strong, you will overcome every struggle. Stay with me.

Let me take you back to the beginning of all things. You would easily agree with me that the highest of God’s creation is man, because man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26).
More also, God blessed man with what makes man uniquely different from other creation “WILL”.

This “WILL” is one’s independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one’s choice or intention. The WILL has the power to choose to do what is right or wrong.

WHERE IS THE WILL RESIDENT?

We need to understand that the “WILL” is encapsulated in the soul of a man. It can’t be seen or touched, but when it is manifested or applied, speaks for itself. The WILL plays a pivotal role between the spirit and the body. The WILL stands to enforce the desires of the Spirit or the flesh.

TYPES OF WILL

These types of WILL can easily be dictated when they are manifested. So it is not to be misconstrued that there two kinds of wills in its literal sense. Knowing this, I realized the reason why most believers who know the truth are easily ensnared by the devil into going against the truth they know and even preach. I also understood that until you surrender not just your life, but your “WILL” to be worked upon by the LORD, then the potency of the WILL in line with the flesh will continue to rule against the dictate of the spirit.

A strong WILLed believer is one whose WILL have been strengthened by the word and energized through their personal conviction of God’s word and are resolute to stand for what they believe irregardless of the multitude doing otherwise.

Weak WILLed believers are those who might know the truth of God’s word but has no power in doing the word. They believe Grace will help them but are not taking any step to align themselves to the Grace that will help them live for God and develop a strong WILL to resist the devil and his earthly pleasures of sin.

You can resist the devil when you have a strong WILL. The devil can never entice a man until he first weakens his WILL to the level where the individual doesn’t know when they yield to the plan of the devil. You hear people say, I don’t know how it happened. It happened first, when your strong WILL was as weak as a leaf.

HOW DOES THE DEVIL WEAKEN OUR WILL
When I was a child, I was taught on how to distinguish between the voice of God and that of the devil in the spirit of our mind. That God’s Spirit is soft and speaks one’s or thrice with intervals, but the devil speaks constantly, like every seconds to influence us to do wrong.

As much as this could be true, I came to realize that the reason the devil consistently speaks to the mind of men is to persistently reduce the power of the WILL from resisting his proposal.

The more words and reasons he gives the mind to commit an act, the easier it becomes to ensnare such mind by his pleasure driven desires when received and meditated upon.

That is why scripture gives a solution in this wise “…Resist the devil and he will flee from you”-James 4:7b. When you entertain the devil’s thoughts, you get the potency of your WILL reduced. It’s only a matter of time, and that which you talked against becomes your practice.

HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR WILL

You don’t play smart when sin is around. The best escape route is to resist the devil. But we need to understand that you don’t and can’t strengthen your WILL in the face of temptations; just as a man cannot learn how to shoot a gun in the face of battles.

Philippians 2:13- “For it is God which worketh in you both to WILL and to do of His good pleasure”.

Before any action can be taken, there must first be a deliberation in the soul, sponsored by the WILL. In the above scripture, for your WILL to do of His good pleasure, God must first work on your WILL.

HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

You must submit to God: James 4:7a “Submit yourselves therefore to God…”
You can’t submit to God in total sincerity of heart and not scream like Paul after his deliverance was confirmed through Christ “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…”- Romans 7:25.
It takes a man of strong WILL to resist the devil and that strong WILL comes through the working of God in us.

The Word and Prayer: You cannot do of His good pleasure when you have not surrendered your WILL to God to be worked upon through His Word and Prayer. Creating time to study the word of God is not for fun, because the more of God’s word you deposit in your spirit the more stronger your WILL becomes. Prayer and God’s word also helps build up your WILL that not even the devil can make you do the things you never planned to do.

The Holy Spirit: Jesus speaking about the Holy Spirit said; “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come”- John 16:13. The Personality of the Holy Spirit is a revealer and a guide, when you submit to His leading, then you are not just a strong WILLed believer but a son. It takes a son to handle matters that matter to God. This is because of the form the Holy Spirit has moulded them into.

The Holy Spirit helps us develop a strong WILL to be able to say YES to what God says YES to and NO to what God says NO to.

Do your engagements bring glory to God?

Check the potency of your WILL and upgrade it for we are in a battle.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”-Ephesians 6:12.

It is a serious war because the enemies are not visible and can’t be defeated with carnal weapons but through prayer, the word and the Holy Spirit and a strong WILL, because we have strongholds to pull down so our WILL must be strong enough to achieve victory.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds:”- 2 Corinthians 10:4

I Hope this blessed you! And I hope you don’t mind sharing this with your friends.

God bless you.

Amb. John C. Joseph
God’s Change Ambassador
#TheExceptionalWriter.