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NASB | John 7:16 So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 7:16 Jesus answered them by saying, "My teaching is not My own, but His who sent Me. |
Bible Question:
Hi everyone.I will put this in short forms as possible. Ever since Wednesday June 7th 2006, I have been discovering more about my spirit and my will to do things in life. I have felt very passionate about it lately. Its helped me concentrate, its helped me visualize and focus on the thing I would want to achieve. What Iam talking about is free will. Have you ever herd the saying where there is a will, there is a way? I believe if your will power to do something that you want to achieve in life such as a personal goal that you can control. If the will power is at 100 percent, nothing on earth besides God hopefully knowing God will allow you to, but nothing will stop you from achieving that dream and personal goal. See for all we know, our will power might only be at 10 percent, we dont know for sure. Basically, could somone please reference this in the bible somewhere, that could talk about this? About achieving your full will power and what will power can do. Basically definitions about human spirit, will power. Thanks all who reply. Jason |
Bible Answer: Jason, young friend, I wouldn't get carried away with this "will power" thing and would be extremely wary of the mantra, "Where there's a will, there's a way," which has shades of meaning too uncomfortably akin to the superlatively unscriptural poem "Invictus" by William Henley. A comment on "Invictus" that you may find interesting is this: Timothy McVeigh, the heinous rebel bomber who murdered 167 souls and wounded some 500 others in Oklahoma City in 1995, was executed in 2001. At the end McVeigh chose not to make a "last words" statement from his own lips, but through a spokesman expressed the following sentiment taken from Henley's "Invictus": I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." McVeigh, the master of his fate and the captain of his soul, is dead and his ashes scattered over the dust of the earth from which he came. Master? Captain? How much "free will" did he have, how much power did he possess to control his destiny? Read what Jesus said about the best laid plans of man in His parable of the rich man, Luke 12:16-21. ...... We've got to get our priorites straight and be sure we have things in their proper pecking order, my friend. There is no such reality as "a personal goal that you can control," to use your terminology. God is absolutely sovereign, absolutely omnipotent, absolutely in control. We are dependent solely on Him for each breath and each hearbeat. ...... I knew a man in his early forties. He worked hard and made a lot of money. He told me he "had it made" and was going to retire in a couple of years, at age 45, take it easy and enjoy life while he was still in his prime. Six months later the man was dead, the victim of an extremely virulent strain of cancer. ...... Jesus laid it down clearly for us in the Sermon on the Mount how we should live. He warned us against laying up for ourselves treasures on earth and taught us instead to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, pointing out that our hearts will be where our treasure is. He taught us that it is impossible to serve two masters. We cannot serve God and riches. And He taught us not to worry, but to look at how superbly God takes care of even the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, and asks which of us can add to his stature by worrying. He teaches us that our heavenly Father already knows our needs, so seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added. Reference: Matthew 6:19-34. ....... The Book of Ecclestiastes is the account of a king going through what we might call a mid-life crisis, an enormously rich man who had seen all and done all, and yet through it all did not find happiness or fulfillment, but only vanity and grasping for the wind. Solomon of old was not unlike modern man today. He wanted happiness and satisfaction in life, but he, like Frank Sinatra, wanted to do it his way. And he found, as modern man ultimately finds, that there is a huge void when one tries to do things his way, and so masw the profoundly gloomy and dismal observation, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." But in Chapter 12, just before the Book of Ecclestiastes ends, the king comes to his senses and puts things in their right pecking order, wrapping up the book with these words, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 12:13). ...... In conclusion of this post, Jason, I wasn't able to find much of anything substantive in Scripture about any good things that human "will power" can do, but it says much indeed about the power of Almighty God. And about the wisdom of trusting in Him and His Word. --Hank |