Believing: A Matter of the Will - Part 1 of the Series, Walking in the Spirit

John 20:25 (New King James Version)
25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the LORD". So he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Did you hear what Thomas said? I WILL not believe. Believing has to do with the matter of the will. He WILLED not to believe what was told him. Our mind is the part of us that contemplates options of what to believe, but it is our will that makes the final call. Our mind thinks, our will decides.  But what influences our will to make the "right" decisions?

In this passage, Thomas was saying that unless the influences of his FLESH could confirm what he was hearing, his will was not going to be swayed to believe. That is entirely because truth (in his mind) could only be confirmed by and linked to his five senses. Many of us find ourselves in that same boat.

The good news is that our will can be influenced more by the truth of God’s Word than anything else. But, it is going to take work to get there. We’re admonished to renew our minds in Romans 12:1-2.   More often than not, our five senses influence us to the point that it affects our will.  Often what our five senses reveal to us is contrary to what the Word says, and vice-versa. In II Corinthians 5:7 we are admonished "to walk by faith, and NOT by sight".  Paul told us this because he knew by the Spirit of God that what we would often see would look contrary to what the Word says. If we’re swayed away from the truth of the Word by what our five senses tell us, we see where our source of truth really lies.

This is a good place for fasting and prayer. Fasting, coupled with prayer, is a great way to put a restriction on those outside influences and to empower the correct influences. We need to see the contradiction between our flesh (five senses) and our spirit.

Galatians 5:17 (New King James Version)
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

We see here that both our flesh and our spirit want control. Both our flesh and our spirit want to be the boss. Both want the bigger influence, to be the largest contributor to our decision making process. Ultimately, the third part of us, the soul (our will), is the part that makes the decisions. SO, that means the winner of the battle between the flesh and the spirit will be the one to have the greater influence over our will. This is a huge part of our decision making process. Jesus gave us a key to this truth in John chapter 6.

John 6:63 (New King James Version)
63 It is the spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh, the influences of our five senses, profit us nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we need to chop off our nose, poke out our eyes, and plug our ears.  What I am saying is that these fleshly influences are not reliable sources of information when making decisions of faith.  This is because the flesh (the information we receive from our five senses) cannot operate in faith. So where does the spirit influence come from? It comes from the Word of God. He said His WORD is spirit and it is life.  Look at Romans Chapter 8.

Romans 8:6 (New King James Version)
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

To be carnal relates again to our five senses. When we are carnally minded, the only decisions we can make are those that are affirmed by our five senses. When we’re moved only by the things we can see, touch, hear, smell, and feel, we’re building a “will” or system of thought that will not respond to faith very well, if at all. That puts us in a real disadvantaged position to walk with God and receive by faith.

We have to find a place to squelch these influences, and I believe that place is found in fasting and in prayer. Fasting and prayer empower the spirit to have the greater influence over our will. It’s no wonder the Apostle Paul mentioned being in fasting and prayer “often”.

In the next of this series, “Fasting and Prayer”, we'll be exploring this topic in more depth - what it is and what God can accomplish through us as we apply this discipline in our lives.

Blessings!

Dan Owczarzak