God's Will = Self Denial

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Obeying God = self denial

Luke 9:23 NKJV — Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

This is the main way I can know I am obeying God, or not. Am I fighting to make a way for what I want, or am I laying down what I want and letting God make a way for what He wants?

The heart is very slippery... What I think, feel, and plan to do will lie to me.  All people have slippery hearts.  The worst decision a person can make is to, "follow their heart."

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV — “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

The problem with our heart and following God is that the flesh wars against the Spirit of God. My flesh (thought life, emotions, and will) does this cunningly.  It tries to convince me that what I want is what God wants.  It is always angling to be God.

Jeremiah 23:26 NKJV — “How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

God has a way for me I wouldn't take, but it actually does lead to a better life than the one I would choose.  My flesh wants the fastest route to what I think is good.  God makes the way for His will, I make the way for my own.

I have to know this about myself.  If I want to truly follow God, I have to be real about what is in the way: what I want and think is good.

It's impossible to know whether or not someone else is obeying or disobeying God.  It's easy to see God making a way for someone else and believe they made their own way.  God requires we make decisions to obey Him.  That makes true selflessness hard to detect.  God doesn't do involuntary obedience.

I have to know this about myself: am I using "God reasons" to do what I want, or am I denying myself and doing what God wants?  The answer is ultimately one of life or death. Winning the world (getting what I want out of life, especially "God things") is forfeiting the soul.

My way promises to satisfy my heart, but it never does.  The happiness lasts for a moment and then leaves me empty. Instability, uncertainty, lawlessness, frustration, victimization, and an opportunistic mindset are some of the main marks of self will.

Not every open door is one God opened.

God's way empties me of my will and vision for a moment and then leaves me more satisfied in God, more ready to obey, more confident to die to my flesh and let God lead me. This is sustainable and stable over time, against all natural odds.  It isn't hard work to stay in God's will.  It's death of self effort.  Stability, supernatural provision, humility, sobriety, meekness and gratitude are some of the main fruits of a life possessed by God's will.

From the outside, it's impossible to tell.  It's only in my quiet conversation with God that I can know.  No one could know whether God is blessing me for my obedience, leading me in a good way, and replacing my self leadership, or if I am positioning myself to get what everyone else seems to want, flaking out on my responsibility to give my life to God, and actually living selfishly.  But God and I know.

Both selfishness and selflessness can be covered in an appearance of Godliness.  We can make up God reasons for our disobedience just as easily as God can lead us into selflessness and it actually looks desirable to the world.

Selflessness does lead to a desirable life... But you can't get to that same reality selfishly!!  There is only one gate: denying yourself, taking up your cross, and doing what Jesus says, in faith.  Our self-willed flesh wants to try to take what others die into.  We need God's help to see this!

Jesus only did what He saw the Father do, but in His day, very few could see how selfless He was.  They accused Him of being demonized, filled with delusions of grandeur, building a rebellion, etc.  

It's important that I know obeying God is denial of self. Then I can have an honest conversation with Him about what He wants and what I want.

Most people will never take the time to parse it out.  They just always look for ways to get what they want, build what they want, and do what they want especially when it seems godly to them and to others.  This mindset is opportunistic... It is always taking from the church, the world, and from God.

The few that find the road to life are laying down what they want, but still finding a better life in God.  It's not what they would do, it's what God is doing, and He makes a way, not them.

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