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Keep Your Will on the Lord’s Side, October 7
The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever.
1 John 2:17
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Pure religion has to do with the will. The will is the governing power in the
nature of man, bringing all the other faculties under its sway. The will is not the
taste or the inclination, but it is the deciding power, which works in the children
of men unto obedience to God, or unto disobedience....
You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire, but you
can control the will, and you can make an entire change in your life. By yielding
up your will to Christ, [you] will be hid with Christ in God, and allied to the power
which is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from God that
will hold you fast to His strength; and a new light, even the light of living faith,
will be possible to you. But your will must cooperate with God’s will, not with
the will of associates through whom Satan is constantly working to ensnare and
destroy you....
By steadfastly keeping the will on the Lord’s side, [you will bring] every
emotion ... into captivity to the will of Jesus. You will then find your feet on solid
rock. It will take, at times, every particle of willpower that you possess, but it is
God that is working for you, and you will come forth from the molding process a
vessel unto honor.
Talk faith. Keep on God’s side of the line. Set not your foot on the enemy’s
side, and the Lord will be your helper. He will do for you that which it is not
possible for you to do for yourself. The result will be that you will become like a
“cedar of Lebanon.” Your life will be noble, and your works will be wrought in
God. There will be in you a power, an earnestness, and a simplicity that will make
you a polished instrument in the hands of God.
You need to drink daily at the fountain of truth, that you may understand the
secret of pleasure and joy in the Lord. But you must remember that your will is
the spring of all your actions. This will, that forms so important a factor in the
character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan....
But the infinite sacrifice of God in giving Jesus, His beloved Son, to become
a sacrifice for sin, enables Him to say, without violating one principle of His
government, “Yield yourself up to Me; give Me that will; take it from the control
of Satan, and I will take possession of it; then I can work in you to will and to do
of My good pleasure.” When He gives you the mind of Christ, your will becomes
as His will, and your character is transformed to be like Christ’s character.—
Messages to Young People, 151-154
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