11-21-23

I was praying this morning that God would enable me to live a life submitting my will to His will.  The Holy Spirit quickened a thought to me, “What you are praying for is perseverance which means patience.  Are you willing to undergo such trials?”  My answer was that I wasn’t asking for patience because I know the outcome of asking that!  I said, “Thy will be done in my life, thy kingdom come in my life.”  The Holy Spirit again said, “Throw off the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for you.”  This led me to Hebrews 12 which I will include below.  I realized that God disciplines me so that I may become more like Jesus.  I came to understand that discipline is not only a form of correction when I do wrong (sin), but also a form of training in righteousness.  Just as an athlete trains for competition (to run the race with perseverance) so too must I discipline my mind, soul, spirit, and body to run the race He has marked out for me with perseverance.  As God showed me before in 2 Tim. 1:7, He has not given me a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love and a “disciplined” mind (NIV – self discipline; KJV – sound mind; my understanding is a “disciplined mind”).  Part of my training in righteousness is to take captive my thoughts to make them obedient to Christ. 

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV1984 – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.   We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,  and we take captive every thought to make it obedient  to Christ.

A Renewed Realization

A renewed realization in this passage is that if I want to get rid of strongholds of sin in my life I need to use God’s spiritual weapons which have divine power. These strongholds will not just be done away with, they will be demolished.  Paul said we demolish every “argument and pretension” and that those are “against the knowledge of God.” Strongholds in my life keep me from knowing God and experiencing His deliverance.  Deliverance from God will demolish those strongholds.  One of the spiritual weapons at my disposal is to “take captive every thought.”  It’s not just stopping the thought and replacing it with a new one.  That is how psychology says to do it.  Psychology is a worldly philosophy or a “weapon of the world.”  Paul said to break a stronghold, which sets itself up against the knowledge of God, we must use spiritual weapons.  Taking every thought captive is not just stopping the thought in my own strength and power.  It’s using God’s divine power to make that thought obedient to Christ.  God’s divine power comes through the Holy Spirit who brings to remembrance all that Jesus taught us in the word of God and to then put into practice what Jesus taught.  Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments (John 14:15).  James said that we are to not merely be hearers of the word and so be deceived, but doers of the word (James 1:22).  When we put on the FULL armor of God, our salvation enables us to use the weapons of attack which are the word of God (the sword of the Spirit) and prayer in the Spirit(Eph. 6:17-18 [Just a thought I had: When David rejected Saul’s armor he put on the full armor of God!]).

Summary

I must pray that God opens my eyes to the strongholds of sin in my life, use the divine power of God through the word of God and prayer, put on the full armor of God, surrender myself wholly to the discipline of God in order to persevere so that I might become mature in my faith, and develop a disciplined mind which is in obedience to Christ and the teachings of His word (Acts 17b-18; 2 Cor. 10:4; 2Tim. 1:7; Heb. 12:4-9; James 1:4; see below for printed verses).  That is how to submit my will to His will.  I thank you Lord for showing me how to submit and for answering my prayer.  James 4:7 NIV1984 – “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Related Scripture

God Disciplines His Sons

Hebrews 12:1-13 NIV1984

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Scriptures from the Summary

(Acts 17b-18; 2 Cor. 10:4; 2Tim. 1:7; Heb. 12:4-9; James 1:4)

Acts 26:17-18 NIV1984

17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles.  I am sending you to them  18  to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV1984

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

2 Timothy 1:7 NIV1984

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power,  of love and of self-discipline.

Hebrews 12:4-9 NIV1984

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

James 1:2-4 NIV1984

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.