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...When you are TRULY born again of the Spirit, your old man dies and Jesus Christ lives His Life and Will through your TOTALLY SURRENDERED LIFE.
When you come to Christ, you SURRENDER your will.
This does not mean that when you become a Christian all of your decisions will be made automatically...that you will have no control over your actions...or that you will no longer have a will. No, you do not lose your will. You will continue to face decisions involving right and wrong, but it means that your will must be kept continually in line with the Word of God. Your will must become Christ's will. His desires must become your desires. And His purpose must become your purpose.
Do you want to be used of God?
Then this process of dying to self is not optional. It is a requirement if we are to be true followers or disciples of Christ (Galatians 2:20).
...When you are TRULY born again of the Spirit, your old man dies and Jesus Christ lives His Life and Will through your TOTALLY SURRENDERED LIFE.
When you come to Christ, you SURRENDER your will.
This does not mean that when you become a Christian all of your decisions will be made automatically...that you will have no control over your actions...or that you will no longer have a will. No, you do not lose your will. You will continue to face decisions involving right and wrong, but it means that your will must be kept continually in line with the Word of God. Your will must become Christ's will. His desires must become your desires. And His purpose must become your purpose.
Do you want to be used of God?
Then this process of dying to self is not optional. It is a requirement if we are to be true followers or disciples of Christ (Galatians 2:20).
In Love,
Verna.
Verna, would you please define what you mean by one's 'will.' Thanks...
Originally Posted by Verna Perry;10713755
This does not mean that when you become a Christian all of your decisions will be made automatically...that you will have no control over your actions...or that you will no longer have a will.
Your will must become [B
Christ's will[/b]. His desires must become your desires. And His purpose must become your purpose.
yeah but the above paragraphs are contradictions. your will must BECOME Christ's will? So you might want to do something but you know Christ's will is another thing. So you follow Christ's will? That doesn't sound like you'd have much control over your own life in an honest way.
yeah but the above paragraphs are contradictions. your will must BECOME Christ's will? So you might want to do something but you know Christ's will is another thing. So you follow Christ's will? That doesn't sound like you'd have much control over your own life in an honest way.
No. The entirety of our purpose on this earth, in our lives as believers in Christ is to glorify God. When we are physically born, we have the free will choice to either believe in Christ or not to believe in Him. If we have believed in Him for salvation we then have a choice to either grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, or not to. But Jesus said, "if you love me you will obey my commandments." (This is not about following the Mosiac Law. The law is fulfilled in Christ and as believers we are in Christ and the spirit of the Law is fulfilled. The Mosaic Law was never for the Church as Paul is explaining in the book of Romans.) The commandment is grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Everything else is wrapped up in that. God wants us to grow in knowledge of Him and His plan for us. And as a result we will have spiritual production. But it is our choice as to whether are not we do. It is a life time process, and at any given time we are either progessing in our spiritual life or we are retrogressing. There is no standing still in the spiritual life.
1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20) For you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body.
Therefore, we can obey Christ's will for us, or we can ignore His will and follow our own will and fail to grow up into spiritual maturity and lose out on all the blessings in both time and in eternity that God wants to give us.
So we can pick up our cross and follow Him or selfishly live for ourselves.
It sounds like you are saying that there really is NO such thing as free will. Is that right? Why would god make people but force them to do what he wants? I never did understand that concept.
It sounds like you are saying that there really is NO such thing as free will. Is that right? Why would god make people but force them to do what he wants? I never did understand that concept.
[quote=Mike555;10715998]No. The entirety of our purpose on this earth, in our lives as believers in Christ is to glorify God. When we are physically born, we have the free will choice to either believe in Christ or not to believe in Him. [quote]
That is a fallacy of the carnal human mind:
1 Cor 2:14But a natural man (unbelievers) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
John 6:44"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 3:3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"
5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7"Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
8"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (Being born again is not something one sees or feels)
John 1:13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Rom 8:28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
We as carnal human beings are spiritually DEAD. Dead people can't see, hear or respond to the Gospel message until GOD gives us a new heart to do so. We have to be born again, by GOD and only GOD, before we can. God is absolutely sovereign in ALL things and that includes who comes to Christ.
If you believe the bible teaches the sovereignty of man over God, which is what "free will" teaches, you are teaching a false gospel. There are no scriptures that support that teaching. Grace is not man making a choice, which makes salvation a work of man. Grace is a gift that GOD bestows on whom He wills to have it. Grace is no longer grace if one has to perform the work of choosing...that says man saves himself and leaves GOD at the mercy of man's decision and is totally unbiblical.
No. The entirety of our purpose on this earth, in our lives as believers in Christ is to glorify God. When we are physically born, we have the free will choice to either believe in Christ or not to believe in Him.
That is a fallacy of the carnal human mind:
1 Cor 2:14But a natural man (unbelievers) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
John 6:44"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 3:3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"
5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7"Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
8"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (Being born again is not something one sees or feels)
John 1:13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Rom 8:28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
We as carnal human beings are spiritually DEAD. Dead people can't see, hear or respond to the Gospel message until GOD gives us a new heart to do so. We have to be born again, by GOD and only GOD, before we can. God is absolutely sovereign in ALL things and that includes who comes to Christ.
If you believe the bible teaches the sovereignty of man over God, which is what "free will" teaches, you are teaching a false gospel. There are no scriptures that support that teaching. Grace is not man making a choice, which makes salvation a work of man. Grace is a gift that GOD bestows on whom He wills to have it. Grace is no longer grace if one has to perform the work of choosing...that says man saves himself and leaves GOD at the mercy of man's decision and is totally unbiblical.
Good post!
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