Chapter 1
Preliminary Comments:
There is a profound reason why you have been unable to stop your anger
problem by trying very hard not to get angry. This chapter will explain exactly
why you have failed – and it is NOT because you are a wimp or are not trying
hard enough. Read on and see.
(The rest of this web page is taken from my book “Exceedingly Great and
Precious Promises).
Why We Fall Short of the Divine Nature
My first objective is to help you to understand the profound
reasons WHY we fail to do the good that we want to do, and do
what we hate, as Paul so eloquently describes above.
The Reality God Created
When God created the universe, He created it to operate in an orderly way in
accordance with unchangeable laws.
There are three aspects, or realms, to the reality we experience:
The Physical Realm
We can all see the orderliness of the physical realm. The physical laws, such
as those of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, are unchangeable. We may
not fully understand them, and we may misapply them, but they still operate.
When an aircraft manufacturer is building a new aircraft, they test fly it. If
there are problems in the way it performs, they do research to find out what is
wrong with the design. The engineers know for sure that the laws of physics
haven’t changed since they created the design, so there must be a problem
with the design, or with the manufacturing to the specifications.
If I were to go onto the roof of my house, convinced that I can fly, flap my
arms really hard and step off the roof, I would make a discovery. I would then
discover myself lying on the ground with a broken leg. It wouldn’t matter
whether I knew about the law of gravity or not. It wouldn’t matter if I
understood it, or whether I agreed with it, or whether I believed in it. It wouldn’
t matter how much faith I had that gravity didn’t apply to me. My broken leg
wouldn't mean God was angry with me. I didn’t break God’s law. All I did was
demonstrate it. The law of gravity is constant. There are no exceptions.
The Spiritual Realm
The spiritual realm (another aspect of reality) is just as orderly as
is the physical realm, and it always operates according to unchangeable
laws and principles. God told us about these laws in the Bible. His
commandments are simply a description of how the spiritual realm operates.
When He said not to lie, He was saying, "Please don’t lie; because if you do,
something bad will happen to you." It is the same as God saying, “Please
don’t step off the roof, because something bad will happen if you do.”
In the physical realm, nobody ever defied the law of gravity. The spiritual
realm is just as sure, and so nobody ever gets away with anything. There is
always a consequence. The law of God always operates.
Disobeying God’s warning is what we call sin. When we sin, we will always
reap harmful consequences. You will always fall and get hurt when you "step
off the spiritual roof." The consequences are often less immediate and less
easy to connect to our specific misdeed than when we are reaping from
physical laws, but they are just as sure.
The Psychological Realm
The third aspect of reality is the psychological realm. The psychological
realm operates in accordance with our own powers and abilities. Habit
patterns, our intellect, and our own willpower are aspects of the
psychological realm. Our willpower has been given to us as a tool to
manage this psychological realm, and it has authority there.
If I have a habit of brushing my teeth without flossing, and I decide to start
flossing, I can generally succeed in doing so. I may forget from time to time,
but eventually the new habit pattern will be established. With my intellect and
will power, I can succeed in making the change.
We Have Made A Huge Mistake
We have made a huge mistake, because we have believed that our willpower
also has authority in the spiritual realm. However, our willpower only has
authority in the psychological realm.
Our willpower is impotent in defying the laws of the physical realm, and it was
never given to us for this purpose. We cannot fly by flapping our arms. We
cannot lift a 1000 pound weight. We discover that no matter how much we
want to lift it, we can't. We can will it, but we cannot perform it.
What is perhaps harder to understand is that our willpower is as
impotent in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical realm. It was
never given to us for the purpose of managing the spiritual realm. We
discover this impotence when we try to do a spiritually impossible task, like
obeying the laws of God. We discover that no matter how hard we want to do
the good that we ought to, we cannot. We can "will" it, but we cannot
perform it.
Our failure to do the good that we want to do is not due to a lack of willpower,
it is due to our misunderstanding about reality. We are under the illusion that
we ought to be able to "will" it and thus do it.
To imagine the relative power of our willpower and the operation of God’s
laws (the spiritual realm), picture an ant standing on a highway. A huge truck
is coming his way at full speed, and the ant thinks he can stop the truck by
standing up and blocking its movement with his body.
STOP! -----
The ant's degree of failure is at the same level as our failure to stop the
operation of God’s laws with our own willpower! Yet we have been under the
delusion that we can do so. And much worse, we think that God has
expected us to be able to do so! Even though He says over and over
that we can not. For example:
Unfortunately, we have often been led into trying hard to obey God by
teachings that imply that we are supposed to be able to live up to the higher
standards, as delineated in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Chapter 5.
However, this is not what Jesus is telling us to do. Rather, He is telling us
that we cannot possibly do it with our own willpower.
What was the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? It was their
willpower! And we need a righteousness that exceeds willpower. Jesus
goes on to say that the only way we can truly keep the laws of God is to be
changed into His image:
Jesus did not say, “You shall behave perfectly," but rather He said, "You shall
be perfect" (be like Me). We will have a new existence, a new nature. We will
be like Him! "Being" like Jesus leads to, and results in, "behavior" like Jesus.
HOW can this happen? That is what I will explain if you will
read on.
The Illusion Of Our Willpower
One of the great tragedies in our Western culture is the elevation of our
willpower and our intellect to the throne of our life. We think that the only
things we can trust are these two faculties. The heart, and anything that we
cannot consciously understand or control (such as our emotions) are seen
as untrustworthy, or even perhaps as bad. We are stuck in this delusion. Our
trust is so firmly entrenched in our willpower and intellect that whenever we
are in need, without thinking we automatically rely on our willpower and
intellect.
The bumper sticker that says "Just Say No" is a perfect example of this. If
people who were hooked on drugs could "Just Say No," many would. Many
try - and fail, over and over again. Their failure is the result of "trying hard" to
quit - making a decision with their intellect and relying on their willpower to
bring it to pass. They are doomed to failure because of what we have
just seen about God's laws. This misunderstanding is a big problem, and it is
rampant in the church.
The Bible makes very powerful statements regarding the illusion of our will.
It is a universal flaw in mankind to think we can manage our own
life in our own strength. It is so automatic, insidious, and covert that we
don't even realize what we are doing.
Commentary
Next I will explain to you how come you are being controlled by something
inside you that is impelling you to be angry. Since it doesn’t respond to your
will power, then it must be a spiritual issue.
Preliminary Comments:
There is a profound reason why you have been unable to stop your anger
problem by trying very hard not to get angry. This chapter will explain exactly
why you have failed – and it is NOT because you are a wimp or are not trying
hard enough. Read on and see.
(The rest of this web page is taken from my book “Exceedingly Great and
Precious Promises).
Why We Fall Short of the Divine Nature
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do,
that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do (Romans 7:15).
My first objective is to help you to understand the profound
reasons WHY we fail to do the good that we want to do, and do
what we hate, as Paul so eloquently describes above.
The Reality God Created
When God created the universe, He created it to operate in an orderly way in
accordance with unchangeable laws.
There are three aspects, or realms, to the reality we experience:
- • The physical
• The spiritual
• The psychological
The Physical Realm
We can all see the orderliness of the physical realm. The physical laws, such
as those of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, are unchangeable. We may
not fully understand them, and we may misapply them, but they still operate.
When an aircraft manufacturer is building a new aircraft, they test fly it. If
there are problems in the way it performs, they do research to find out what is
wrong with the design. The engineers know for sure that the laws of physics
haven’t changed since they created the design, so there must be a problem
with the design, or with the manufacturing to the specifications.
If I were to go onto the roof of my house, convinced that I can fly, flap my
arms really hard and step off the roof, I would make a discovery. I would then
discover myself lying on the ground with a broken leg. It wouldn’t matter
whether I knew about the law of gravity or not. It wouldn’t matter if I
understood it, or whether I agreed with it, or whether I believed in it. It wouldn’
t matter how much faith I had that gravity didn’t apply to me. My broken leg
wouldn't mean God was angry with me. I didn’t break God’s law. All I did was
demonstrate it. The law of gravity is constant. There are no exceptions.
The Spiritual Realm
The spiritual realm (another aspect of reality) is just as orderly as
is the physical realm, and it always operates according to unchangeable
laws and principles. God told us about these laws in the Bible. His
commandments are simply a description of how the spiritual realm operates.
When He said not to lie, He was saying, "Please don’t lie; because if you do,
something bad will happen to you." It is the same as God saying, “Please
don’t step off the roof, because something bad will happen if you do.”
In the physical realm, nobody ever defied the law of gravity. The spiritual
realm is just as sure, and so nobody ever gets away with anything. There is
always a consequence. The law of God always operates.
Disobeying God’s warning is what we call sin. When we sin, we will always
reap harmful consequences. You will always fall and get hurt when you "step
off the spiritual roof." The consequences are often less immediate and less
easy to connect to our specific misdeed than when we are reaping from
physical laws, but they are just as sure.
The Psychological Realm
The third aspect of reality is the psychological realm. The psychological
realm operates in accordance with our own powers and abilities. Habit
patterns, our intellect, and our own willpower are aspects of the
psychological realm. Our willpower has been given to us as a tool to
manage this psychological realm, and it has authority there.
If I have a habit of brushing my teeth without flossing, and I decide to start
flossing, I can generally succeed in doing so. I may forget from time to time,
but eventually the new habit pattern will be established. With my intellect and
will power, I can succeed in making the change.
We Have Made A Huge Mistake
We have made a huge mistake, because we have believed that our willpower
also has authority in the spiritual realm. However, our willpower only has
authority in the psychological realm.
Our willpower is impotent in defying the laws of the physical realm, and it was
never given to us for this purpose. We cannot fly by flapping our arms. We
cannot lift a 1000 pound weight. We discover that no matter how much we
want to lift it, we can't. We can will it, but we cannot perform it.
What is perhaps harder to understand is that our willpower is as
impotent in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical realm. It was
never given to us for the purpose of managing the spiritual realm. We
discover this impotence when we try to do a spiritually impossible task, like
obeying the laws of God. We discover that no matter how hard we want to do
the good that we ought to, we cannot. We can "will" it, but we cannot
perform it.
- O wretched man that I am (Romans 7:24).
Our failure to do the good that we want to do is not due to a lack of willpower,
it is due to our misunderstanding about reality. We are under the illusion that
we ought to be able to "will" it and thus do it.
To imagine the relative power of our willpower and the operation of God’s
laws (the spiritual realm), picture an ant standing on a highway. A huge truck
is coming his way at full speed, and the ant thinks he can stop the truck by
standing up and blocking its movement with his body.
STOP! -----
The ant's degree of failure is at the same level as our failure to stop the
operation of God’s laws with our own willpower! Yet we have been under the
delusion that we can do so. And much worse, we think that God has
expected us to be able to do so! Even though He says over and over
that we can not. For example:
- "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
Unfortunately, we have often been led into trying hard to obey God by
teachings that imply that we are supposed to be able to live up to the higher
standards, as delineated in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Chapter 5.
However, this is not what Jesus is telling us to do. Rather, He is telling us
that we cannot possibly do it with our own willpower.
- "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means
enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).
What was the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? It was their
willpower! And we need a righteousness that exceeds willpower. Jesus
goes on to say that the only way we can truly keep the laws of God is to be
changed into His image:
- “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect” (Matthew 5:48, I added the red).
Jesus did not say, “You shall behave perfectly," but rather He said, "You shall
be perfect" (be like Me). We will have a new existence, a new nature. We will
be like Him! "Being" like Jesus leads to, and results in, "behavior" like Jesus.
HOW can this happen? That is what I will explain if you will
read on.
The Illusion Of Our Willpower
One of the great tragedies in our Western culture is the elevation of our
willpower and our intellect to the throne of our life. We think that the only
things we can trust are these two faculties. The heart, and anything that we
cannot consciously understand or control (such as our emotions) are seen
as untrustworthy, or even perhaps as bad. We are stuck in this delusion. Our
trust is so firmly entrenched in our willpower and intellect that whenever we
are in need, without thinking we automatically rely on our willpower and
intellect.
The bumper sticker that says "Just Say No" is a perfect example of this. If
people who were hooked on drugs could "Just Say No," many would. Many
try - and fail, over and over again. Their failure is the result of "trying hard" to
quit - making a decision with their intellect and relying on their willpower to
bring it to pass. They are doomed to failure because of what we have
just seen about God's laws. This misunderstanding is a big problem, and it is
rampant in the church.
The Bible makes very powerful statements regarding the illusion of our will.
It is a universal flaw in mankind to think we can manage our own
life in our own strength. It is so automatic, insidious, and covert that we
don't even realize what we are doing.
Commentary
Next I will explain to you how come you are being controlled by something
inside you that is impelling you to be angry. Since it doesn’t respond to your
will power, then it must be a spiritual issue.
Divinely Designed
Being changed into the image of Jesus
Being changed into the image of Jesus
Click here to discover more about HOW you can have victory over anger |
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When we try to use our willpower to control the physical or spiritual realms, we fail! |
Jesus did not say that Him, but that you you should "act" like should "be" like Him. |
Our trust is firmly entrenched in our willpower and intellect. Thus we try hard and yet fail to "be good." |
