The Battle of the Will. Free Will Versus God's Will

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will .

Too often we hear the tried and true Christianisms being used to excuse inaction in our walk with God. "Well, God is in control of everything" or "It's in God's hands" are frequently heard amidst Christian dialogues. While it is true that God is always in control and that everything is in His hands; that does not absolve us from responsibility within our walk. The truth of the matter is that we are in a constant struggle in life. The struggle is between the will of God and our own free will. Remember that while God has His will for your life; that does not mean that we play no part in it. We can still step outside of the will of God for our lives through our own exercise of free will.

We see this play out in the story of the Israelites. They had seen the mighty works of God in their lives. They had seen Him unleash the ten plagues upon Egypt as they were delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh. They had seen the Red Sea parted. They had seen the Lord provide for them in the wilderness with manna from heaven and water from a rock. They had seen the greatness and glory of God in their lives. Here they were, within striking distance of the land God had promised their forefathers on oath. A land flowing with milk and honey, already sworn to them. Yet when the 12 scouts come back from searching the land out, ten of them came back with a negative report. The bible says these ten spread the bad report throughout the camp of the Israelites and the people rebelled. The only two who had faith that God could deliver what He had already promised were Joshua and Caleb but their assurance was not enough against the negativity of the report of the other ten. The Lord was not pleased:

The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." Numbers 14:11-12

God was ready to wipe them all out and start over with Moses! But Moses interceded for them and God spared their lives, He did not spare them the loss of His promise for their lives however:

The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. Numbers 14:20-23

What can we learn from this? God had promised the Israelites the land already. It was already a done deal! Yet Israel chose to rebel against the promises of God and believe the report of man. They allowed the negative report of the ten dissuade them from the word they had already received from almighty God Himself! They certainly must have remembered all of the miracles he had performed in their lives, yet still exercised their free will in stepping outside of the will of God. Remember, it was the will of God that they take possession of the land, yet every one of them except Joshua and Caleb would die in the wilderness instead of stepping into the Promised Land; into the promises of God for their lives.

God also has a Promised Land for us. That Promised Land is His will for our lives. His will for our lives is also flowing with milk and honey and all the good things of God. Yet too often we choose to step outside of the will of God through our own free will. Too often we also allow people to speak negativity into our lives. Surely we also have seen the manifest glory of God in our lives already! He has saved us and delivered us from so much already. We too were in bondage before God delivered us. We know and believe in the miracles God has produced in our own lives yet there we stand in disbelief. We stand on the edge of our own Promised Land, doubting the God we know has already delivered for us and has promised us the land we are to possess! We can also start to treat the Lord with contempt and risk wandering in our wilderness; never to attain the Promised Land He has reserved for us.

Following the story we see how the Lord viewed the two who did believe:

But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Numbers 14:24

God is looking for the spirit of Caleb in all of us. He is looking for a people who will believe the promises He has sworn. He is looking for a people who do not treat Him with contempt. Yes He is in charge of everything but do not fall into the trap that His sovereignty eliminates your free will. Too often we are waiting for the Lord to do something in our lives while God is actually waiting for us to make a decision. Are we going to believe the report of man or the report of the Lord?

The greatest exercise of our free will is to choose to follow the will of God for our lives. Romans 12:2 outlines how this occurs. We must begin by renewing our mind. This will allow us to be transformed. How do we renew our mind? By no longer allowing it to be conformed by the world! There are two sides battling over your free will; the world and God. If you choose one, you deny the other. Paul is exhorting us in this verse to no longer conform to the world. When the report comes in that is in direct opposition to the word you already have received from God, you dismiss the report. Your mind is renewed into that of Joshua and Caleb who knew that as long as God is on their side, what they saw did not matter. Remember, the report of the ten was that the land was filled with giants and let's see how this frightening visage affected them:

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." Numbers 13:33

We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. Not only did the giants scare them, but they reduced them. They not only forgot the promises of God but they thought even less of who they were. Too often we see the giants in our lives in the same way. We begin to think that we will never be able to overcome our sin, our addictions, our fears, or our past. We start to look at ourselves as less than God sees us. The water starts rising in our lives and soon it is all we can do just to keep our head above the waves of life crashing down around us. That is not how God intended you to live your life! He is willing to take all of our sin and fear and blot out our past from its continuous infection of guilt into our lives. He has promised this to you already. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)! You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)! You cannot possibly look to your future and take possession of the Promised Land God has for you if you are staring at the giants of your past. God has a good, pleasing and perfect will for your life. You can test and approve it if you renew your mind by refusing to allow yourself to be conformed to the patterns of this world. Have the spirit of Caleb! He saw the same giants in the land that the other ten scouts saw. He saw the dangers but knew what God had promised for his life. He knew the miracles God could do were so much larger than the giants he saw before him. God is still bigger than your giants today. Step out of the pattern of this world and the past that haunts you and step into the future and the Promised Land God has already given to you!

What is God speaking into your life today? Have you found yourself staring at the giants in your life and believing the report of the world? The report of the world is the enemy whispering right into your ears. "You will never defeat those giants! Look how big they are! You are but a mere grasshopper!" Don't listen to the lies of the enemy. God is bigger than your giants today. He is looking for the spirit of Caleb in you. Believe the word God has given you already and let no one detract you from it. Let no one make you doubt it. Renew your mind today. Exercise your free will by stepping into God's perfect will for you. His Promised Land for your life awaits you.

Anthony Wade April 26, 2008