July 2

“The will is the stronghold of our being....If God is to get complete possession of us, He must possess our will.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 7/2

As I reread Hannah’s devotional for today I could not find the statement that prompted me to choose it for today’s writing. Then I realized it must have come from me....or God.  What I “heard” as I read the above statement was “but WE must possess it first in order to give it to God.”  My problem is I’m constantly giving it away.  I do this by making what I do, and even think, dependent on what others think or say I should do or think.  Then doing what God wants becomes dependent on what other people want.  No wonder I struggle so at times.  God has said I cannot serve two masters at the same time.  We automatically translate this to mean God vs. ourselves.  But because the need to please others can be so subversive we often are not aware of the control we’ve given to others.  Why do I feel so uncomfortable possessing my own will?  It’s because we were created to give it to God.  But to take it back from all the others we’ve given it to in order to give it to God is no easy task in a world that runs on appearances.  Perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children is to help them see the traps laid out for them.  The best way to do this is to model for them a dependency only on God.

“So Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me; if any man’s will is to do His will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”  John 17:17