THE BATTLE OF OUR WILL by Ryan Roth

“THE BATTLE OF OUR WILL” by Ryan Roth

If God did not care for us, He would leave us as we are, unchanged and stuck in the present condition for our whole lives. If He didn’t care for us, He would remove the consequences for bad decisions.

In the church we look forward to that day as it says in Ephesians 4 when we shall no long be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, instead growing to become the mature body of Him who is the head.

Sometimes we see people physically grow older, but their minds are stuck in the past. They act in a way that was at one time somewhat understandable but now kind of pathetic.

Have you ever been angry at God because of something that has happened to you… or maybe something that is happening to you?

Have you ever lost a close friend, spouse, parent, or child? When difficult things happen and we can’t see the will of God in it, there are several responses we do as humans to the difficult things happening in our lives.

Shock: How could this happen? Is this really happening? How could it when everything was so good yesterday? This doesn’t make any sense.

Pain: The emotional and physical connection we feel toward people and things is real and difficult when we are presented with change.

Anger: How could God allow this to happen to me? Does He not understand my desires in this? I prayed and had the whole church pray and did not get the result I wanted.

Guilt: This is my fault. If I were more perfected God would have heard me. I didn’t pray as hard as I could have or read my Bible enough last week. If I had, perhaps God would have listened.

We are all being challenged in our faith to some degree or another. Things happen around us that can challenge our belief that God is in control and that in all things He is truly FOR US.

Does God being for us mean that God does our will? Certainly not.

Romans 8:28 says ^“… all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” 

We can look at other stories from the Bible and see how we relate to the journeys of the faithful.

Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho who saved her entire family by risking her life to protect two Israeli spies whom Joshua sent to search out the land before they destroyed it. Rahab made a lot of poor decisions in her life, but this decision changed her future. She and her family were the only ones to survive after Israel attached Jericho. By this act she restored her family and was able to marry an Israelite and have a son named Boaz.

Boaz’s future wife Ruth would have a difficult decision to make as well. She lost her first husband but stayed committed to her mother-in-law when she could have easily left her for better options. With Boaz, Ruth would have a son and become part of the generational line that helped bring Christ into the world. Through her line would come greatness to Israel and the world.

The lineage goes on. Ruth was the great-grandmother to King David, one of the great warriors of Israel. David was a man who cared for sheep but wasn’t afraid of dealing with giants. David ran toward Goliath. He faced fear. He didn’t run away from his commitments.

What do all these stories teach us about ourselves and our purpose?

Jesus didn’t come to the world through perfect people. He came through imperfect people who made mistakes but loved their families dearly and through their love brought restoration.

I believe no matter what, Christ was coming to the world and was to be born in Bethlehem. If Ruth decided to not love Naomi and sacrifice for her, Christ was still coming. But it allowed Christ to come to the world through her and her generations.

We too are imperfect like all the generations before Christ, and we want Christ to come to the world through us. He is coming either way, but we desire His manifested Body to be through this church in this time.

But God only uses those who are … willing.

Those who are willing to love no matter the consequence. Those who are willing to submit themselves to something greater than their own will. God used a harlot in Rahab and a childless widow in Ruth to bring Jesus to this world. When there seemed to be no hope, they placed their hope in God.

Like those in the Bible, we too have the ability to make this decision. The body of Christ will manifest to this world with or without us. But it must be our decision to yield to God and yield to His will. This will determine if His body will manifest through us and that we will be part of this.

But what if His will makes me angry? Then we need to put away our childish ways.

A week before Christ was crucified, He was welcomed as a triumphant king into the capitol of Jews in Jerusalem. People took off their coats and laid them down to honor His entrance to the city.

Perhaps they heard of His miracles, or His teachings or His ability to multiply loaves, fish, and the wine and they wanted to welcome Him. They were looking for the Messiah; a King to save them from the worldly bondage of their present condition. They were an occupied people. Their land was not their own. They were under the control of Rome.

So, Palm Sunday happened. Many saw a Prophet or a Messiah as their answer to the suffering in their physical land. To many the understanding of ancient scripture was clear. The events seemed to perfectly align. This was God’s chance to change the world and rid the Jews of their physical captors, many thought.

Jesus had been tested in His desire for His Father’s will. He was not swayed by the things of this world. He was a man after God’s own heart. He knew His purpose was not as the men and women who greeted in Him Jerusalem on Palm Sunday must have thought.

Only a few days after Palm Sunday Jesus was praying to His Heavenly Father asking if this cup could pass from him. In Matthew 26.39 it says Jesus fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

I believe Christ could have acted in His own will at that moment. Did His Father force Him to yield to the spirit? I don’t think so. Jesus could have made a different decision that day but thankfully His spirit ruled and not His flesh. He made a decision to yield to God, not in ignorance but knowing full well the pain He must endure. But of course, He made a good decision. A decision like His ancestors made many times before Him when they brought forth the lineage of Christ. He yielded His will for the will of the Father.

Many times, I say I want to do the will of God. But what if the will of God is so completely opposite to what I want? What if His will was for me to grow in my faith and trust in Him regardless of what happened?

Can I follow His will and not forgive someone? Certainly not!

I cannot have two competing wills, both His and mine. Can I follow the will of God and hold unforgiveness to God Himself? Are we willing to surrender to our Father and seek His will no matter what? We need to grow up in all ways and leave the childish ways behind us.

Thankfully, God is for us. To think otherwise is to live a life of anger, guilt, with pain and shock every now and then as these things try to separate us from our Father.

Either God is for you or He isn’t.

Either He will work all things out for your good or He will not.

Either we make up our minds or we keep going in circles… like the Israelites in the desert, hearing of the promise land but too scared, too angry, too opinionated to go in and claim what was theirs.

Father in heaven, we submit to Your will in this time. May we show ourselves worthy of those who have gone before us and chose love in all things. The battle of the will was won by Your Son when He yielded to You in the Garden.

The world might lay their coat down for us one day or do us harm the next, but if our aim be to love and follow Your will, we shall be in the lineage of the manifested Body of Christ in this time.

Do His will and manifest the Body of Christ.

Ryan Roth is a ministry son and administrator of Active Living Ministries in Appleton, WI. You can contact Ryan at ryanroth2010@gmail.com