Activate God’s Design for Your Success.
Little known and scarcely understood truths about our “free will.”
OUR FREE WILL.
Throughout the ages man has been in search for purpose. Philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, and many others spent their entire lives in pursuit of, sought after, and wrote about their visions of the meaning of life and it’s free will. Books crowd library shelves with man’s philosophies of life. Some authors acknowledge that choosing, what IS OUR WILL TO CHOOSE is a powerful gift from God. I found the KJV of the Bible God uses Choose 63 times, choice is used 23 times. All are references to the gift from God that is our free will. A most significant choice man has appears in In Deuteronomy 30:19 when God says, “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” This is just one of many examples of God’s illustration of the power of choice-our free will.
Viktor E. Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” It is as Viktor Frankl’s said “…choosing one’s attitude…” that I write about here today.
The God given power of self control & self discipline, our willpower, our choices directs our lives. Men and women often traditionally referred to mankind as being of body [flesh and bone] and containing spirit and soul to have three parts body, soul, and spirit. I have noticed the Divine three as part of God’s plan. I have learned, too, there are three parts of the soul; the will, mind, and emotions. It has been said we have a mind, will, and emotions and in this order. I contend that tradition may have inadvertently placed this order. The will, mind and emotions, seems to me, to be the more appropriate order because of the power our will holds for our lives. Ultimately the will holds the power over the mind and emotions.
I am forever awed as I continue to learn the purposes of the many parts [members of the body] of man in which God creatively implanted our abilities and powers. God has created and placed within the body of mankind a spirit, soul, mind, will, and emotions: Our body houses our human existence and our life is expressed through these driving forces. I have come to believe that when God breathed into man’s nostrils the “breath of life” and man became a “living soul”, man also was endowed with many powers [driving forces]. Of the body’s many members, “the will” is the gyroscope and compass directing our life journey. Through our unwavering strength to carry out our wishes, our will power, determines how well we master our life journey.
We reside in life under the control of our will. While we must become aware of all the members of our bodies, we must keep our willpower at center. I once met a person who, was experiencing failure after failure in life. He actually made the statement, “What ever will be will be, so why should I even try?” He did not accept that will power is a gift of God to each and every person. The last I knew, this man died without taking control of his life.
The power to choose will supersede all our body members, even the mind and emotions. It is the power that tells the mind, “Now, choose what I have willed”. Oh, be sure, the emotions will try at times to take over, but we must “will” our emotions to not be in charge.
Influences
One cannot live without influences; particularly outside pressures to our will to self controlling the powers we all have been given. Through our will we have the ability to choose to be influenced or not. Our emotions can be influenced so powerfully that emotions can take control if allowed. Controlling our will, our power to choose, is for our mind to reason on choices, and then, it is our will to act on those choices. My will is me, as I think, as I know, as I feel it is the I in all I do, it is my ego; what my will does, I do.
When I will emotions are in charge, then I am emotional. Maybe even emotionally out of control. The will can bring emotional thoughts into captivity and in so doing give your emotions something to rejoice about through happy emotions.
From birth throughout our informative years and beyond, we are being influenced. Hopefully we learned right from wrong so as adults we can be on guard against bad influences and our emotions that can lead us into wrong decisions. Life is full of outside pressures from social, government, friends, neighbors, TV, and even ourselves because of choices we make. Wrong choices that lead us into bad habits such as tobacco, drugs or alcohol can be corrected when we willfully choose to correct our mistakes and overcome such habits.
Such habits are dangerously life threatening and may require professional help. When we choose to include God in our lives we can go to Him and ask for help. Ask, Seek, and Knock it says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” We must choose and believe. God will help. We can pray for guidance on whom and where to seek help from man. It may involve medical and counseling. God can give us the power to accept the help and work through withdrawing from such habits. We must exercise our will to choose and believe; then will to act on our choice.
How are you choosing to use the driving forces directing your life journey?
Some people believe they don’t have “enough” willpower. And often say “If only I had more willpower…. .” I don’t believe it is “lack of willpower” that is needed. But rather an understanding of the power we have for self control. Seems to me it is not lack of will power, but a weak willpower that is at fault. Strengthen your willpower in these ways. First, gain knowledge and understanding, Second search out proper motivation and establish it, third, set goals, and fourth, learn to monitor your behavior toward your stronger willpower, and last, exercise your will to improve. Strength will come through use, whether it be a positive, or negative. Strengthen willpower to establish your ability to resist inappropriate temptations in order to reach worthwhile goals. Increased knowledge and understanding, of the forces influencing our motivation can have a positive effect on our life.
I am aware that dealing with the mind, will, and emotions can be difficult and even confusing at times. Emotions can affect our thinking [mind] in many ways. Using the power of the will we can direct the mind to choose the way that is best, or worst, for our being.
With each new learning experience, my curiosity has driven me to find more of God’s design for man, that is, His purpose. It could well be said we are designed to be for the Lord and the Lord for us. This being a vast subject there is much more to be said about our earthly existence.
God created man and woman with will power, a unique power, to have dominion of all the earth. This is an inner power to succeed which resides in each of us. It is a gift of God. Your will is you, you are your will, so as you will, you do. Some are saying, “If this is so, then why am I failing? I want to succeed. So this must not be so!” As I have studied God’s word over the years and have asked Him continually for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding I have come to believe in the power placed in all of us as our will and its place in our life’s Journey.
Where to start?
Your will is your inner Power to choose: Making a deliberate choice is your deciding power and your being will yield to that power. The STARTING PLACE for successful life journey starts NOW; and may well be in learning of the power of the will. Learn to use your mind to control your will and set your sails for a successful life journey.
Use your mind to change average into amazing by learning to make the right choices!
As I post this writing, I pray that each of you reading this can find the truth of the matter of your will. It seems to me that our goal should be to align our will with the WILL OF GOD.
Join me next time as I explore how our Mind works with our Will to keep us on a successful life journey.