WEEK 10
TOPIC: The Nature of Man (Part 6) – The Human Soul.
TEXT: Heb. 4:12
The Will
The next subject we shall be looking at is the will. The will is a component of the soul of man that deals with decisions, choices and even certain level of desires. This is where a man’s character is judged primarily. No matter what the mind has received and processed as information, until the will makes decision based on that information, the man remains inactive. The will of man is his drive to do things and it is embedded in his soul. The will is the ‘judge’ that gathers “evidences” from the mind and emotion, and then takes decisions based on those “evidences”.
A man can have a strong will or a weak one. Neither position is right nor wrong, does it depend on what the will is strong or weak towards. A man is not made just by his mind alone, but by the decision of his will. All actions in life are products of the will of man.
The Battle of The Will
The greatest battle on earth revolves around the will of man. God and Satan are involved in this because whoever gets the will of man determines what agenda will manifest in the earth, whether heaven’s or hell’s. God has a will and Satan has his too. But the will of man is the door through which God’s will or Satan’s will gets done in life. The will of man is legally free from external control. God made it so because man has to be responsible for his own decisions and actions. Satan however has to be responsible for his own decisions and actions. Satan however does violate this and captures man’s will and forcefully drives it to do his own bidding. This is what we call demonic oppression. God only appeals to man’s will and leaves him to make his own decisions. However, the will of man can be compromised through overwhelming force from the emotion and ceaseless pestering from the mind if these are not brought under the control of the Holy Spirit. Remember that the will only makes its decisions from the pool of information available in and processed by the mind. Therefore it matters a lot the information you allow into your mind. Now you see why Satan is bombarding the earth with negative and filthy information through various forms. His target is to get your will to make decisions in respect of those information. Anytime you see people do things that they wouldn’t do in their normal senses like suicide, other forms of destructive actions, satan has captured their will and is driving it against their wish.
Submit your Will to God
You remember in Matt 26:41 Jesus told Peter that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He made this statement as a warning, not as an excuse. He is warning us of the impact the flesh can have on our will if we don’t watch it. The way to handle this is to:
- Be very circumspect about the information you expose your mind to. That’s where it all begins. Remember your mind can influence your will. This was how Delilah got the will of Samson to make the deadly decision of revealing the source of his power. The Bible says she pestered him continually with the “thought you said you love me…prove it by telling me your source of power” information until his mind began to have overwhelming influence on his will. This is a critical warning for us today. If you don’t want your will to come under the influence of the flesh, check what you open your mind to.
- Pray always in the spirit. This will strengthen your will supernaturally to make the right choices always. Jesus demonstrated this in Gethsemane when He was overwhelmed with pressure from the thought of whether to accept the cross which He knew was the divine plan or not. He prayed earnestly at that time and He received divine strengthening from God to accept the cross. Remember He was already saying “..Let this cup pass over me..” His will was already under a strong battle between right or wrong, but prayer helped strengthen His will to make the right decision and till date we are still enjoying that decision to take the cross.
- Worship God in songs always. This will help even your emotions get enraptured in the Holy Spirit’s influence such that even your very emotion will assist your will in making decisions in line with God’s word.
Conclusively, your will is important to your personality and character. Therefore, guard it against negative influences so it can remain free to make decisions that are consistent with the will of God.
Point to Note
- The will is embedded in your soul, and is the centre of decision making.
- The mind and emotions provide materials for the will to make decisions from.
- The greatest battle on earth revolves around the will of man.
- A will submitted to God brings a man’s life under the divine plan.
Prayers/Declaration
Father, I bring my will under influence of your will. I declare that every other influence trying to get my will under their control is destroyed in Jesus’ Name.
Questions for Meditation
- What is the role of the will in the human soul?
- Why is the major battle in the spirit centered around man’s will?
How do you protect your will from the oppression of the devil?