Is the power of the human will enough? This is going to be an interesting discussion. Before we get started here are some quotes I found online:
“Will power is human electricity. You have enough of this electricity generated in you to achieve the greatest things in life if you would keep the current on.” Elsie Lincoln Benedict
“Addiction has the capacity to disconnect the human will and nullify moral agency. It can rob one of the power to decide.” Boyd K. Packer
“The development of willpower -I will, I won’t and I want- may define what it means to be human.” Kelly McGonigal
“Will Power is bigger. It fuels us. It motivates us. It inspires others. Don’t underestimate your own will Power.”
“It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.” James Gordon, M.D.
“We often hear the mantra “You can do anything you set your mind to.” And we believe it—until it all falls apart and we’re stunned to realize that our willpower was not enough.” Got Questions
What does the Bible say about willpower? We find in ( 3 John 2 ) “that it is Gods will that we prosper and be health even as our soul prospers.” Our soul is made up of our mind, will, emotions, personality, conscience, and subconscious. The Bible states very clearly that we are a tri-part being, made up of spirit, soul, and body. ( 1 Thess 5:23 ) Our will is part of who we are. God our Father has a will and we are created in His image and likeness. ( Geneses 1:26, John 1:12-13 ) God has given us free will. We can choose to have a relationship with Him or choose not to. Human will is the strong determination to make choices in our lives. They can be good or bad!
We heard the expression.” I can do anything I set my mind to.” It sounds like the Bible verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). Is the Apostle Paul saying, “that I have the will to do certain things so long as Christ strengthens me to follow through, and I know I can’t do it on my own, just by shear will power.” We see Paul’s frustration in Romans Chapter 7: Romans 7:15 (NKJV) -15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Is He speaking that will power as good as it is, is not good enough? How many of us have made New Year’s resolutions? We start good and as the months go by we forget what it was. On the other hand, we hear stories of great courage, people overcoming great obstacles because they had a will to survive or reach a certain life goal. The researchers have identified four different kinds of willpower:
- The control of thoughts
- The control of emotions
- The control of impulses:
- Perseverance of focus.
Would you agree that we have a responsibility to control how we think, feel, respond, and what we ultimately focus upon? You heard the expression you are what you eat. It is also true that what you continually think about will govern your life. In Proverbs 23:7b, it states, “as a man thinks in his heart so is he.” We are the sum of our thoughts and our will is involved in the decisions we make in life.
We know from the scriptures that Jesus had a will. John 4:34 (NKJV) -34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Also in John 5:30 (KJV) -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. Jesus surrendered his will to his heavenly Father. Yet it took Jesus’s will to follow through with God’s will for His life. It just wasn’t his will alone, for he was empowered by the Holy Spirit. A sanctified will set apart to do God’s will, free of wrong motives, wrong desires, and wrong impulses. Remember the Word of God is God’s will for us! Our human will play an important part in life. Our goal is not to trust in human will alone. Yet the will is very powerful.
Think about the story in the gospels ( Mark 5:1-19 )about the demon-possessed man who lived among the tombs. Jesus crossed the sea of Galilee in the middle of the storm to reach this guy, just one guy! He did everything to reach you, even die on the cross for you! What amazing love! Anyway, we have this man taken over by a demon. When Jesus asked his name, he said, “My name is Legion.” We know from history that a legion was made up of at least six thousand Roman soldiers. So we can conclude there was a demon influenced by a legion of other demons. That’s incredible. This man was tormented, day and night, naked, bruising and cutting himself. The townspeople tried to control him binding him with chains but under demonic powers, he was able to break free of them. Yet when he saw Jesus come ashore he ran to him and worshipped him.
Here is the good news. No demon from hell can keep you from Jesus if you decide to, not even two thousand or six thousand demons. No demon can keep you from fulfilling God’s plan for your life. No demon can keep you from being healed or delivered! Once you choose to believe God, believe His word, and act upon it you will have the victory. We see Jesus cast the spirit out and they requested that they be sent into the swine (pigs) and he allowed it. (Demons need some kind of body to operate through.) And they entered two thousand pigs, which eventually went off a steep slope and drowned in the sea. The man was seen by the townspeople after his deliverance, in his right mind, fully clothed and desiring to follow Jesus. What a miracle. There has to be something about the power of the will. This man wasn’t even saved before meeting Jesus. Yet he was determined to meet and follow Jesus!
Isaiah 50:7 (AMP) -7 For the Lord God helps Me; therefore have I not been ashamed or confounded. Therefore have I set My face like a flint,(rock-immovable) and I know that I shall not be put to shame. ( Luke 9:51 ) This is a prophecy concerning Jesus on the way to the cross. We see Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane under great emotional and physical stress, so much so that he was sweating great drops of blood. He is praying which was pretty incredible. In Matthew 26:39 (KJV) -39 And (Jesus) he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. Total surrender of his will to his Father. The best place for our human will is in the hands of the Father. Our human will can be a starting point but it cannot sustain us in the long hall. We need something else. Here is an example I found:
“It is willpower that controls our actions and emotions, but our wills are fueled by something more powerful. We can think of our soul as a train, and the will is the engine. Wherever the engine goes, the train goes. The engine pulls the boxcars of experiences, perceptions, needs, motivations, and actions. But directly behind the engine is the fuel car. Without fuel, the mighty engine can’t move. Before we surrender to Christ, our will is fueled by our flesh. Passions, habits, opinions, impulses, and lusts continually feed our will, and it goes wherever they direct ( Romans 8:6-8 ). But when we bow to the Lordship of Jesus, we switch fuel cars. The Holy Spirit replaces self in our “fuel car,” and His power enables us to go where He wants us to go.“(Gotquestions.org)
I thought that was a great analogy for understanding the power of the will and what it is fueled by. A sanctified will is a will empowered by the Holy Spirit. God has given us a will and it can be powerful and fruitful if directed in the right way. So it’s more than just sheer determination it can start there and you need God’s help to finish. That’s what grace is all about. ( Ephesians 3:7 ) Look at this verse: 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 (PassionNTPsa) – Yes, I am the most insignificant of all the apostles, unworthy even to be called an apostle, because I hunted down believers and persecuted God’s church. But God’s amazing grace has made me who I am! And his grace to me was not fruitless. In fact, I worked harder than all the rest, yet not in my own strength but God’s, for his empowering grace is poured out upon me. God made grace provision for the Apostle Paul. He has also made grace provision for us. We can say ,“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Through Christ” is the key! “The all things” is what the Spirit and the Word of God lead us to do. ( Romans 12:1-2 )
God bless!
Brent and Linda