Replies

Thank you so much for your posts and for Isaiah 42! And thank you for not seeing me as a dualist! And I deeply appreciate your testimony at post 161.

I have a real problem with willfulness. It was willfulness that caused Satan and Adam to fall, and it was for willfulness that Moses laid the book of the law as a testimony to the children of Israel.

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. – Ezekiel 28:17
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. – Genesis 3:4-6

Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? – Deuteronomy 31:26-27

Conversely, Jesus Christ who was the very presence of God – perfect in all ways – submitted so fully and completely His will to the Father that we cannot tell where the one ends and the other begins:

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. – John 5:30
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. – Luke 22:42
Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; - Hebrews 1:2

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. - Philippians 2:5-8

My delight is in becoming nothing in Him. And the more I surrender, the more I pour myself into Him, the more He fills me with Himself. This is my direct experience and my testimony - and why I can't enter "her" mind any longer.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. – John 15:4-5

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. – John 17:20-21

Well A-G, about the Scriptures you presented, in each case of sin, the sinner set his will against God and in each case of obedience, the believer set will in agreement with God -- even, shucks, ESPECIALLY! ;-` in the case of Jesus, who despite admitting to his dreadful paradox of will, set his will to the cross, after setting his face like a flint toward Jerusalem for that purpose. And it was He who decided to come in to the cold, stinking world do all this from Eternity with the Father. Now THAT was WILLFULNESS!!!

I can't seem to find willfulness to be a problem any more than I find that guns are to blame, in the hands of criminals. Moses paradoxically enough, though at times setting his will wrongly, wsa singled out by God for his meekness. I imagine at least in part, this was due to having so much God-given will with which to subordinate himself to God. Such strength of will to choose identifying with slaves over the Pharaoh.

And in the New Testament, who may just be the most willful man described save for Christ Himself? I wouldn't be surprised if it were Paul, who had to be physically removed from the riot in Ephesus and who wrote of "his" gospel. ;-) (The long-lived John may be a contender for that "title" too.) Thank God for those Apostle's great, great willfulness!

I may be biased, since my name is Williams, but I don't think that's it. ;-) I'm not saying that our human will has worth of itself, of course. I'm saying it is of transcendent value, since it is from God, wonderful essense of being created in His image. Wow, I wouldn't ever will to suppress such an expression of God about Himself. That would be "lieing against the truth," to me. :-`

Please let's not allow anyone to stifle our wills, not even oneself! That's not joy. Joy is turning one's will to God in His glory! Passivity is "disgusting," but "conspiring" with God is worshipping in Spirit and in Truth.