For to will is present with me
Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
There is within each of us, the old nature. Exactly, what is the old nature? It is called by several names…the old man, the flesh, and as here, the old nature.It is that principle within us, that has been dominated by sin and rebellion against God’s right to rule our lives.
Our old nature rules us, when we are unsaved….but when we become born again, a new nature…Christ’s nature, comes within us, by the Holy Spirit…to lead us into the forming of Christ’s character within us.
(We often cry, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:24, for the old man harasses us often…demanding the old reign within us. But we can also cry, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord….For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 7:25, 8:2 )
Romans 7:22 “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:” Here is where I need to be strengthened…the inward man. I need to learn how to yield to that inner unction (1 John 2:20), or power; that is the workings of the Holy Spirit in my spirit. (For He is the new nature within us)
He has ample strength for us, if we learn to “quench not the Spirit”…but yield to Him.
Jude 1:20 “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, “ This sounds like a exercise regimen, for good health….…..and in a way it is.If we want to have sound spiritual health….we must “build up”…which is to build on the foundation of faith…to strength the things that are already there….….but how?“Praying in the Holy Ghost.” is the first thing we need to exercise ourselves in. When we pray, we should listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit.
(That is to say, we are not to stop praying…and just wait. But we are to yield to the way the Holy Spirit would have us pray.Example: a man who had helped my husband, when he was first come into the ministry, had a controversy with the Lord…(though my husband did not know it)…..and came to my husband and asked him to pray for him. Well, as I said, he had been a help, so my husband started praying to encourage this man. Well, not too far into the prayer, my husband plainly received…”Pray My will done in that man’s life! He does not need to be encouraged, he needs to submit to My will.” And so my husband did. Later that man told my husband that the Lord really dealt with him about a change in his life….he wanted. But was not according to the Lord’s will.)
The next thing we need to exercise ourselves in is: Jude 1:21 “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
This is “keep yourselves”….how often we skip over the times of fellowship, or do not stop to thank the Lord for an answered prayer…(and how often our old nature pushes us, here).
And “keeping” requires holding on to what we have….standing on the promises of God…and guarding our hearts that we will not lose the knowledge, for ourselves, of : “the love of God”, no matter what comes to us. 2 John 8 “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”
Our old nature needs to be brought into subjection to Christ’s nature within us. It is never an easy thing….we must exercise our wills. It will take a lot of spiritual concentration on the Holy Spirit….and honesty….but the reward is great.
Luke 8:15 “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” Good only because the heart is honest.And real honesty begins with turning to the Holy Spirit for help:
Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
When God does this, we will know honesty….and if we bow, as creature before the Creator, we will become meek.Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek shall He guide in judgment. And the meek shall He teach His Way.
Not the self-assertive, or the self-demanding……but those ready to lose their self-life….their old man, that they might find their life under the rule and reign of the Holy Spirit.
This is to truly find…”how to perform that which is good” in our everyday lives.
“ Living for Jesus a life that is true…striving to please Him in all that I do.Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free, this is the pathway of blessing for me. O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee, For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me; I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne, My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 