…work out your own
salvation…for it is God who works in you… —Philippians 2:12-13
CHAMBERS} “Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a
nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the
Lord initially comes in contact with our conscience, the first thing our
conscience does is awaken our will, and our will always agrees with God. Yet
you say, “But I don’t know if my will is in agreement with God.” Look to Jesus
and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him
every time. What causes you to say “I will not obey” is something less deep and
penetrating than your will. It is perversity or stubbornness, and they are
never in agreement with God. The most profound thing in a person is his will,
not sin. The will is the essential element in God’s creation of human beings—
sin is a perverse nature which entered into people. In someone who has been
born again, the source of the will is Almighty God. “…for it is God who works
in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” With focused attention
and great care, you have to “work out” what God “works in” you— not work to
accomplish or earn “your own salvation,” but work it out so you will exhibit
the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith on the complete
and perfect redemption of the Lord. […] Do I believe that Almighty God is the
Source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to
do it.”
{ELGIN} Paul addresses the
battle that rages between wanting to do the right but choosing the wrong
instead in Romans chapter 7. In the end
he says “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right
there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another
law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner
of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue
me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21-25) Our struggle with our old nature is a
spiritual battle. Many just give up
feeling that trying to resist is futile – hopeless. They resolve to be content with the presence
of sin in their lives. Instead of
seeking Jesus out and letting the Spirit change them from within, they assume an
air of spirituality and let that be their substitute for their new life in
Christ. We can never overcome our old
nature through self-effort, only through total abandonment to Jesus. It is a question of surrender.
During the war in Vietnam
there was a repatriation program named Chieu Hoi (chew hoy). The original name of the Chieu Hoi Program was
Phong-Trao Chieu-Tap Khang-Chieu Lam Dong, or The Movement to Regroup Misled
Members of the Resistance. Amongst the US forces the name eventually came to
mean – “I surrender”. The idea was that
the Viet Cong (VC) could be restored – repatriated. The VC would raise their weapons above the
heads and say “Chieu Hoi” – I give up.
My point? In a similar manner we must raise our will above our heads and
say “I surrender”. It’s the only way to
win. I have quoted this before … it’s from
the Focus on The Family study “The Truth Project” Dr. Del Tackett asks the question “Do you believe
that what you believe is really real?”
If you don’t really believe God and the Bible and willing to act on that
belief then you are bound to struggle … because what you are attempting to do requires
the power of God. That can only be happen
if you are willing to say “Chieu Hoi!”
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