But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Eph.4:20-24
Willpower! Do it myself! Ingrained within us from babyhood, it controls us the majority of our lives. When a youth with someone to guide us, it can be a good thing. Yet when we start to get into adulthood, willpower while still good can become a detriment. There will be times, when you need more power than just willpower in your life. You are going to need God’s power. This is why God has given us His Spirit, fulfilling his promise of John 14 (Rom.5:5, 8:15-16,26-27, 14:17; 15:13; Gal.5:22; Phi.2:1) so that we do not have to do it alone.
How does God produce the fruit in your life? Not by willpower. You don’t go out and say, “I’m going to be a more patient person!” You and I both know that doesn't work. Ask any addict and they will tell you at some point they tried to quit and couldn't. It was only when they surrendered their desire for God's with the express wish that God do it because they couldn't, that they could quit and get their lives back to normal. The Holy Spirit has to grow it on the inside. You try to say, “I’m going to be more loving. I’m going to be better at not losing my temper.” It doesn't work that way. Fruit can only come from the inside (Mt.15:11; Mk.7:15) — his Spirit living through you.
The natural question here, is how does the Spirit do this? How does the Spirit of God work in our lives. Many would say, "by the written word of God dwelling in you." This is crucial and true. The actual answer is gradually, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18 )." You didn't collect your hurts, habits, and hang-ups overnight. It took you a long time to get where you are and the way you are! When you've had a problem, attitude, mind-set, etc. for YEARS, it is going to take time and God's Spirit to overcome. A "PAT" answer to a question that everyone wants to hear, even the quotation of a bible verse is not necessarily the best answer. Until you peel the layers back to find the root cause and let God help you in doing that, you will never truly surrender to God (Mt.11:28-30). The Holy Spirit works within us to become gradually more and more like him. Your character is the sum total of your habits. Your responsibility is to develop new habits to change the old, so that the fruit you bear is not of yourself, it is because God is living in you (Gal.2:20).
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. - Rom.7:15-25
Jim
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