After God has done the work of our salvation, there is something we must do: we must begin to work out what God has worked in, bringing every aspect of our lives into alignment with his will.
Do you find it difficult to do the will of God? Perhaps you want to obey, but something in your flesh makes you powerless to do what you know you should.
The barrier that keeps you from obeying God isn’t your own will. Will is the essential element in God’s creation of humankind; its source, in those who have been reborn, is almighty: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). What stops you from following God is the stub- bornness that arises from your sinful nature. Sin is something much less profound than will. Sin is a perverse disposition that entered into humanity after the fall; will comes directly from God. The only way to get rid of sin and stubbornness is to blow them up with dynamite— the dynamite of obedience to the Holy Spirit.
When you begin to obey the Holy Spirit, you’ll find that your will agrees with God, because God is its source. You do not bring an opposed will to God’s will; God’s will is your will. When the Lord, through the Spirit, presents himself to your conscience, the first thing your conscience does is ignite your will, urging you to action. If you remain steadfastly established on the complete and perfect redemp- tion of the Lord, this process becomes as natural as breathing, and stubbornness no longer gets in the way.
Do I believe that almighty God is the source of my will? God not only expects me to do his will; he is in me to help me do it.
