Four steps to a liberated will ( Rom. 7:8 , 24 ; 2 Cor. 8:12 ):

1. First step is to accept responsibility for being what we are, and doing what we do.
2. Discover the places and effectiveness of the will.
3. Understand the importance of a full liberation of the will as it cooperates with the Holy Spirit.
4. Learn how to live in the will.

Illustration: A Strong-willed wife rules the home

1. Husband:as head of the home, he, not wife, is responsible.
2. Man must exercise his will to stand with God as head of the home.
3. He sees that God not only wants him to will His will but to accept the liberation of his will from his feelings.
4. And finally, to take the abiding position to live in the will of God.

Maturity:
Matt. 7:1-5 - Honestly facing and accepting responsibility for conditions of life; blaming others is infantile, to face-up is the beginning; seeing the 'reality', not the illusion as by divine illumination of the importance place for the will in God's intention

Provision:
Rom. 12:1-2 - God has made ample provision at the Cross that by our union in His death every vestige of self-will may be put down and the liberated will will be free to wholly co-operate with God. The hub of life is to be in the center of God's will. We can align our wills with His, can make the victory a joint victory-a complete fusion of our will with God's will.

Obedience:
1 Cor. 3:21-23 ; Eph. 4:22-24 - To live the God centered life is when we take the theological fact , (doctrine), and act upon this fact which becomes a life-giving truth, the put-off and put-on, then all things become ours in Christ.

Union with God:
Psalm 31 - In union with God, the Master Gear, we do not need to ask for things: they automatically become operative. God becomes the how, where, when, and why.

• vs. 4-5 - "THE HOW"… "for Thou art my strength. Into Thy hand I commit my spirit…"
• vs. 8 - "THE WHERE"… "Thou hast set my feet in a large room…"
  To deny our own independence and to accept complete dependence on God is only to allow God to enlarge the potential capacity of the human heart. Being made in the image of God, it is capable of almost unlimited extension in all directions.
• vs. 15 - "THE WHEN"…"My times are in Thy hands"
  Who else but God can understand the proper living in His universe. How blessed to leave our anxious will enmeshed into His own will and know in reality 'there is a time and season to every purpose under the sun'. Surely He Who sets the timing of the universe will keep men in perfect timing as they live in union with Him.
• vs. 3 - "THE WHY"…"therefore for Thy name's sake, lead me and guide me"
  We are to be in gear with God's will for His glory, for His purpose, for His satisfaction. Thus, the secret of 'living' in His will is living wholly for His glory.

Thomas Aquinas: 'It is clear that he does not pray who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God should lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.'

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