by Allyn Smith

Created on: May 28, 2009

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and do His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) This verse tells us that not only does God cause us to do what He wants, but to wish to do it. But, how does He do this?

There can't be a free-will if He causes us to do something, otherwise we could refuse. We can't refuse to do something if He makes us want to do it.

Does He think for us? We are sinners and "dead in sin and trespasses" the bible says. Doesn't God doing the thinking for us make Him a sinner, also?

Are we like puppets? Do puppets love or know that they are loved. Aren't they little more than rocks being pushed to and fro?

Does He guide us through other means? It must be. Because Jeremiah 10:23 wrote "Oh, Lord I know the way of man is NOT in himself; It is not in man, that walketh, to direct his steps."Soloman says the same thing in Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directs his steps." He also says in Prov. 16:1 "The preparation of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the lord." He didn't say the Lord does the speaking. What we speak, though, comes from Him.

God is not within us, but works within us from the outside.

There is a good analogy for how this is done. We are like a train on a train track. We're born on that track on a certain date to certain parents in a certain country. That track is determined by our Heavenly Father to be the way your life is to be lived in order that your life is to be lived to the fullest extent possible, with the greatest love possible, going to the greatest destination possible. We all are on our own track of experiences; some to be rich and white in America, some to be poor and black in Africa, and everyone and everywhere in between. Our track may be long or very short, full of curves or straight, bumpy or smooth. We are continually making choices of what we do and say and where we go and so forth but we are given only those choices (through experiences, ability, availability, aptitude, environment, etc) that are given to us to keep us on that track. We can't switch tracks and make choices that aren't available to us. The son of a witch doctor in Africa who lived and died never having heard of Jesus will never have the choices that the son of a preacher in America did. But each will enjoy the benefits of that track of life that their Heavenly Father has so ordained for them.

"God created the Heavens and the Earth and ALL things therein" "in order to have sons and daughters holy and without blame in Him in love". He brings us from the uttermost (1 Thess 2:16) to the uttermost (Heb 7:25) in order to show each of us the greatest love possible. Some that will forever be happy to glorify Him in Heaven and some who will forever be happy to glorify themselves in Hell. This is the "good news to all men"(Lk 2:10) that the angel proclaimed to the world after Jesus was born.

God is stronger than we are. He loves us more than we can love ourselves. He gives us lessons in life that we can't give to ourselves. We won't find these lessons in any one school or church or book or place. You'll only find them by reaching the end of the track of life that He, with His infinite wisdom, power and love, built for you.

This can only be because "He works in us to both wish and do His good will" (Phl 2:13) and "Of Him, and through Him and to Him are ALL things."(Rom 11:36)

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