James 4:1 (NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? The problem is, your will-power isn’t always in control. You may DESIRE to do the right thing and not do the wrong thing and your heart and mind can override your will. Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. If you are going to get your will-power in charge of your decisions and actions, you are going to need God’s help.

James 4:2 (NIV) You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. You can spend a lifetime pursuing something that you never end up getting. Just because you want something doesn’t make it happen. There are thing that are out of your reach. But, you can either find that out by wasting your entire life pursuing it; or, you can ASK God and He will tell you whether or not it is worth the battle.

James 4:3 (NIV) When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Your heart and mind can be contaminated by your body, the world, or the devil. You can actually want something that IS God’s will for your life; but, your heart and mind want it for the wrong reason. So, what’s wrong with having a bad motive? Your body, the world, and the devil can take a good thing and use it for wrong, bad, or evil. They can take a good career, a good marriage, a good friendship, or a good business deal and contaminate it.

Bait, lures, and traps can be made up of good things but with an evil intent. A fish hook typically has something good wrapped around the hook. A lure just looks good; it is a fake good with hooks attached to it. A trap can have something good close to the trigger; the good entices the animal to the trigger for them to step on. If your will-power isn’t connected to God’s will, you can be fooled by worldly and satanic bait, lures, and traps. The Holy Spirit can warn your conscience, the Bible can make you familiar with what baits, lures, and traps look like, and Jesus can give you the power to resist them. But, the main thing is, when you pray for everthing you get, God will say “no,” and that will keep you from being fooled.

Gal 5:19-21 (NIV) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures); idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. God labelled these as sins because they offer extreme pleasure so as to addict, enslave, and control you. You should allow God to set your will-power against them.

Gal 5:22-23 (NIV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. God labelled these as righteousness because you can safely involve yourself with them and they won’t hurt, enslave, addict, or control you. You should allow God to set your will-power for them.

Galatians 5:19-23 is what Romans 7:15-25 is all about. Romans 7:15 lays out the problem: Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. When this new or untrained Christian says: “For what I want to do I do not do,” they are talking about those things like found in the Galatians 5:22-23 list. And, when they say: “what I hate I do,” they are talking about the things like found in the list in Galatians 5:19-23. Their will-power has been transformed and submitted to Jesus. Salvation and justification did a major change to their will-power.

DESIRE isn’t just the first step in The Six Biblical Principles. It is your first step into all of Christianity. The new and untrained Christian described in Romans 7:15-25 is born again and in a right relationship with God because of their transformed DESIRE. They are failing on so many levels that it is almost hard to read about them. But, that is you and all of the rest of new and untrained Christians. Every new and untrained Christian starts out in Romans chapter seven. Some go through it and right on into Romans chapter eight faster than others; but, no Christian skips it. If you will submit your power-will to Jesus like He wants you to, you will move right through your Romans chapter seven phase and your will-power will get empowered by the Holy Spirit. This will lead you into The Victorious Christian Life.