(tm) It is not easy or pleasant to lose one’s life.
Back to What comes after Pentecost?
There are many flaws in the human will. These flaws must be corrected by the grace of God working through the Lord Jesus Christ before we can serve as kings, priests, and prophets in the Presence of the Lord God of Heaven. Christ was probed for these flaws during His three temptations (Luke, Chapter Four). Christ passed the tests with honors.
Some of the more prominent of the flaws of the will include: presumption, personal ambition, disobedience, double-mindedness, suggestibility, man-pleasing, self-aggrandizement, stubbornness, pride, self-pity, self-destruction, self-preservation.
We Christians are to walk in the way that Christ directs us and not attempt to force spiritual results before the Lord prepares the time and place. There is a significant difference between presumption and aggressive faith, although sometimes we must be prayerful in order to distinguish between the two.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. (Psalms 19:13)
Presumption leads to sin and defeat. Faith leads to victory in the Lord.
No person can serve the Lord and personal ambition at the same time. He will end up hating one and cleaving to the other.
Some of the principal motives behind the desire of the elders of Israel to crucify the innocent Christ were their envy, personal ambition, pride of station, desire for self-glorification, and instinct for self-preservation. They were fearful that Christ was threatening their position as the leaders of the Jews.
An uncrucified will can lead to tragedy. Jonah was a disobedient prophet. The nation of Israel, from the time the people demanded a king until the carrying away into Babylon, witnessed few periods in its history when God was able to bless the nation because of obedience to His ways.
It requires the resources of Heaven and earth in order for the Holy Spirit to create obedience to the Lord in the will of a human being. We by nature are disobedient to the will of God. We must learn obedience, and it is a difficult curriculum.
A double-minded person is unstable in all his ways and cannot proceed in the plan of redemption because he cannot make up his mind. Double-mindedness is a flaw in the will.
The Christian who is suggestible is unable to proceed straight on in God’s will because he is open to all voices. Do you recall the prophet who was led into disobedience by the suggestion of an older prophet? (I Kings, Chapter 13).
It is well that we "salute no man by the way," so to speak, but steadfastly go about our business in the Lord without being led astray by the suggestions of others. We are not recommending that we refuse to heed the advice and counsel of other Christians, because it is a fact that there is wisdom in the multitude of counselors. Rather, we are speaking of being led off course by suggestions and by not bringing each decision that we make into careful prayer before the Lord.
It is impossible to be a true prophet of the Lord if we are given to man-pleasing. Jesus never went out of His way to "sell" the Gospel or to please His listeners. "The fear of man brings a snare."
If we fear the faces of clay that are looking at us we never will be free to declare the whole counsel of God. We must prepare the Divine food and make it palatable so the sheep will be inclined to eat. However, we never are to hold back what the Holy Spirit is speaking in order to gain the approval of our audience.
Neither self-pity nor harsh criticism of ourselves is pleasing to the Lord or has any place in the Kingdom of God.
It is impossible for one to be God’s prophet, priest, and king—God’s servant, in other words—while being subject to presumption or personal ambition or disobedience or double-mindedness or suggestibility or man-pleasing or self-pity. Christ is able to correct these flaws in our will so our will begins to correspond to the will of God.
Back to What comes after Pentecost?