Chapter 20 - The Will

Chapter 20 used 7 passages to enlighten the Biblical view of “The Will”, as follows:

John 3:10-21
Luke 11:14-28
Matthew 26:36-46
Luke 9:57-62
Mark 8:34-9:1
Luke 5:1-11
Luke 13:22-30

Prayer:

“If Jesus believed that his life was to be spent doing ‘the will of the Father,’ then our task is to be no less. Pray for his will to be accomplished in your life; that you may bring glory to him as Jesus did.”

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 20 was “My Jesus, As Thou Wilt” by Benjamin Schmolck. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Mother Teresa, Emilie Griffin, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Evelyn Underhill, Georgia Harkness, George Fox, Thomas R. Kelly, Richard J. Foster, and Andrew Murray. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves – on God’s grace and on our will to be holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. …and make myself a willing slave to the will of God.”
· “There is a moment between intending to pray and actually praying that is as dark and silent as any moment in our lives. …It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing. …we can approach the abyss that lies between us and prayer and retreat from it under cover of being-too-busy or having-family-obligations or even serving-God-in-other-ways. This seemingly justified retreat makes the approach more difficult the next time… .”
· “Man is constantly producing words and deeds, giving them over either to God or to the forces of evil.”
· “Real power is the result of inner harmony… .”
· “…motives, desires, and the spirit’s use of bodily powers will be in harmony with the will of God. If prayer did only this, it would do for us the most important thing that could be done.”
· “…there remained in me an unsubjected will…”
· “…we cannot take Him by storm. The strong man must become the little child, not understanding but trusting the Father.”
· “What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. …almost all church fights and splits occur because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other. …Only in submission are we enabled to bring that spirit to a place where it no longer controls us. Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will.”
· “…Jesus called us to self-denial without self-hatred. Self-denial is not the same thing as self-contempt. …Jesus made the ability to love ourselves the prerequisite for our reaching out to others.”
· “Jesus in His prayers on earth, …makes this His first objective – the glory of His Father. Is it so with us too?”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 20 not quoted) mean to you?

Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John