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MY STRENGTH
Your Strength Comes From Your Will-Power
John 7:17 (NIV) If anyone CHOOSES to do God’s will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own. Jesus, teach me that I am a spirit being; I have a soul; and I live in a body. Help me see that inside my spirit is a STRENGTH or personal power that makes the actual decisions. After I have examined my feelings on a matter and after I have examined all the facts as I know them, I make my own decision as to what I WANT to do or believe. Teach me that this decision I make is what God cares about.
Even If I Can’t Do What I Want
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. Jesus, make it clear to me that everyone but God only looks at what I say and do; I and those around me don’t always care about why I say or do things; I just judge the words and the deeds. However, help me understand that God looks way done inside me and judges my motives. Why did I say what I said? What was my purpose for being that way? What was my reason for doing what I did? And, what motivated me to say and do what I did? Show me that He can see this part of me and very accurately evaluate it. Yes, I made a certain choice and came down to a certain decision; but, why did I make that choice and decision? Teach me that, that is what concerns God.
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My Spirit Creates My Motives
1 Cor 2:11 (NIV) For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Jesus, the world teaches me that my relationships and my circumstances have shaped me into being the person I am. But, the Bible makes it clear that I am not a product of my environment; I am a reaction to my environment. Show me that my God-given free will has been in effect since I was a young child. Help me see that I was exposed to the same things that many people were exposed to; but, I reacted to them the way I decided to react to them.
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God Opens Doors To My God-Given Free Will
Rom 8:29-30 (NIV) For those God FOREKNEW He also PREDESTINED to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. Jesus, make it clear to me that before I was born, God knew me and prepared a life for me that gave me the greatest opportunity to reach my greatest potential. Help me see that it takes a supernatural God to know where to put me, when to put me there, and what kind of circumstances to allow to come my way. Show me that God made sure no one took over my life in such a way that I couldn’t exercise my free will the way I needed to.
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My Will Decides My Decisions
James 4:4 (NIV) You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Jesus, if I were a product of my environment, if my parents, the society, or the circumstances of my life “programmed” or shaped me into the person I am now, then I would automatically be friends with my own kind of people. But, make it clear to me that my God-given free will was placed in me so I can choose who my friends will be. Teach me that all my choices and decisions are being made by the STRENGTH of my will.
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Trapping My God-Given Free Will
Rom 7:22-23 (NIV) For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. Jesus, by the time You found me and I responded to Your invitation to salvation and justification, I had trapped my God-given free will. My free will was still making decisions; but, my body was no longer responding to my God-given free will. The first aspects of my Christian life were very frustrating. I madechoices and decisions, but, my body wouldn’t let me carry them out.
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Recognizing My Trapped Free Will
Rom 7:18 (NIV) I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Jesus, even though I and the people around me are judging me based on my words and deeds, help me not forget that God is looking deep down inside me; He is judging me based on my motives. As long as I WILL to desire to do what is good, I will be a candidate for getting God’s help. I am a sincere person who is in a situation that God knows I can’t solve on my own.
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Why Did I Do It?
Rom 10:9 (NIV) That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Jesus, teach me that the reason I did this was because I wanted salvation and justification, so, God gave me salvation and justification. If I did it because someone else wanted me to get them, then it wouldn’t have worked for me. God looked deep down inside me and saw what my WILL was on the matter. My WILL caused me to DECIDE to do what Romans 10:9-10 told me to do. And, God responded to my WILL and did it for me.
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