Understanding Human Willpower: Its Power and Limitations

Understanding human willpower is crucial for spiritual growth. It is influenced by the heart, teaching, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

### Understanding and Strengthening Willpower through Spiritual Transformation
* 🧠 Elder Wang Gang discusses the concept of willpower, emphasizing its **limitations in the face of spiritual challenges**.
* 🔒 Human willpower is insufficient to overcome spiritual enemies without the support of the **Holy Spirit and the power of Christ**.
* 🌱 According to the Bible, human willpower goes through four stages: **pre-fall freedom**, **post-fall bondage**, **reborn freedom**, and **future eternal freedom**.
* ❤ The transformation of the heart from "**stone**" to "**flesh**" is crucial for developing **strong willpower** to serve God.
* 📖 Instruction from God's Word and the Holy Spirit is necessary to **strengthen the heart and willpower**.
* 🙏 Prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit are essential for **empowering and sustaining willpower** in spiritual battles.
* 🏗 Building a "temple" for God, symbolizing spiritual service, requires **careful and continuous reliance on the Lord**.
* 🌟 The ultimate goal is to reach a state of **eternal freedom from sin**, where the will always chooses to **obey God**.

Good morning everyone. Elder Wang Gang, who just spoke last Sunday, talked about information related to human willpower. Every time we talk about will, we hear people say you can choose to obey God, you can choose not to commit a crime, you can choose to strive. So, from this will, we add a power to it, which is called willpower. I want to explain the power of this willpower. In fact, we humans really believe in the power of will because we see people using their willpower every day. Some people stay up for several nights studying for exams, continuously reading without giving up. We say this person has strong willpower. Some people can't study for long; after reading for one or two hours, they collapse. You would say this person has weak willpower. When we were in the army before, we had to walk twenty-four kilometers, and the colonel was always beside us saying, It’s all in your mind. It’s all in your mind, constantly emphasizing the need to activate our willpower. Some people can endure this hardship and complete the twenty-four kilometers, while some give up halfway and end up being punished, right? So, we can see that the world values willpower a lot. The rewards and punishments in this world are related to their willpower. Why is that?

Because we see this person with very strong willpower, he can really get things done. Have you noticed that whether it's studying, working, serving in the church, a person with strong willpower will bite into something and must do it well, to the end. A person with weak willpower seems to be unable to accomplish anything. As soon as they encounter a problem, they give up. So, unconsciously, we believe in this willpower. But you must know that when we encounter a very powerful force, our willpower simply cannot overcome it. If I encounter a lion today, no matter how strong my willpower is, to overcome it, it's impossible, right? Similarly, if today our enemy is a fallen angel, a ruling and powerful one, I ask, as ordinary humans, how can we overcome it with this willpower? It will just consume our hearts, and there will be times of temptation when we can do nothing. So, it seems that human willpower is very useful, but if you are facing this spiritual enemy and do not know the spiritual secret, then it is useless.

So let's not think that we can overcome sin by our own willpower. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, without the support of the Holy Spirit, there is no way. Without the love of Christ, the power that Christ releases in you, your willpower simply does not work. Even the apostle Paul said, To will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. I am truly in distress. But in the midst of this distress, he turned to Christ. When you read the book of Romans from chapter 7 to chapter 8, suddenly in this weak will, he turned to Christ. In Christ, there is no condemnation. The power released by Christ came upon him. Then as you continue to read in chapter 8 of Romans, he says that we who now have the Holy Spirit, how should we rely on the Holy Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body. So his will turned towards the Holy Spirit, relying on the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we need to clearly understand that human will is not almighty. In fact, in the spiritual realm, human will is not so strong. Sometimes we are overwhelmed, you know, like being submerged by problems, overwhelmed, filled with negativity, or when your body is very tired.

You immediately see that you have no willpower, no power to serve your loved ones. You can't go on. Have you noticed this? So, when you see someone like this, they immediately become prey to the enemy. Every time we have a joke that this person has become emo again. Do you know what emo means? It means their emotions are out of control. They can no longer face the problem with a clear mind and strong will. So, everyone, when it comes to a person's willpower, we must first have a correct understanding. Don't assume that just because you see someone with strong willpower, who finishes marathons, studies, works, gets promoted, and has a strong will, that they can do everything. In reality, when it comes to sinful things, they are completely powerless. Therefore, if we follow the teachings of the Bible, we need to understand that human willpower has four stages. The first stage is the will before a person's fall, that is, Adam and Eve before they sinned. At that time, their will was free. They could choose to sin or not, choose to obey God or not. So, when we talk about free will, it means their will is free to choose to do or not to do.

This is the scene of his will before a person commits a crime. The second stage is when a person has already fallen into crime. At that time, his will, his will, also falls. So the Bible says that at that time, his scene is to obey the ruler of the air, the leader of evil spirits. Living under such circumstances, his will, strictly speaking, is not free. It is bound, bound by sin. So his will can only be used for committing crimes, not to please God. You say, I see in this world that some people have strong willpower and can still do good. The good they do is not actually good strictly speaking. What they do in their will is actually nothing that pleases God; it is all done in a fallen scene, away from the light of God. So, strictly speaking, they do not have a free will; they only have the will to commit crimes. Although it may seem like today, I can choose to go here or there, do this or that, but in all these things, they are done under the bondage, control, and influence of sin. So we need to understand that all people who are not reborn and saved, who belong to the world, who belong to the flesh, their will is like this.

They can use that will to study, to work, to earn, to do this, to teach children. But in all of this, it has nothing to do with God's goodness, with obeying God, not to mention overcoming sin, right? So, my dear brothers and sisters, let us first understand, according to the definition in the Bible, when we talk about human will, we should not only see a kind of positive motivation in people. We must first understand, do people really have a free will? Only then can we talk about their willpower. So, just now I said the first stage is before a person sins, what is the second? After a person sins, their will is no longer free but bound. Later, thank the Lord, what is the third stage? It is when we are born again. When we are born again, at that time, our will is also born again. The meaning of being saved is that our will is also saved. So, at that time, our will is free again, able to choose to obey God or not, able to choose to either walk in the Spirit or grieve the Spirit. They can choose to be considerate of the old self or follow what the Bible teaches us, to daily put off the old self and put on the new self.

So his will is not just to do good deeds. His new, reborn will also knows how to rely on the Holy Spirit, to rely on the Holy Spirit to do good, not just live casually, but with fear and trembling to accomplish the work of salvation. So of course, we understand that in this process, there are many battles. Therefore, the challenge of the entire Christian faith life is here, that is, when we are reborn, we have an old self and a new self, right? We also have the help of the Holy Spirit. We choose to obey Him or not, to rely on Him or on ourselves. So, the challenge and struggle at this point is something that Christians often encounter. Of course, the fourth stage is when we Christians, at the time of the Lord's return, have already been redeemed physically. At that time, our will is of course free, not only free, we can choose to sin or not, right? But at that time, we will always choose not to sin. We have gone through this history of redemption, right? After experiencing all of this at that time, we will always choose to obey God. At that time, there will be no more temptations from the enemy, no more weakness of the flesh.

Without that sinful invasion, so we Christians at that time will praise God forever, never betray God forever, we will always choose to love the Lord, obey the Lord, thank the Lord. That is the day we Christians most long for, right? Without the control of sin, do you long for it? Not longing for it means you are not a Christian. Maybe as a Christian, you know the struggle between your current self and sin, the tension between the new me and the old me is very hard, right? So, actually, when you say you have no struggle, it's because you don't understand sin. Having something to eat every day, being happy, being loved, hallelujah, praise the Lord, you still don't understand. The more you understand what the Bible says about sin, the more you realize that inside you every day, there is fear and trembling to work out your salvation, right? And when will you shed this flesh, when will you shed it? Even when we live to the last moment, sometimes when illness comes, the whole mood is low, you start cursing, and then a sense of negativity, you will know that even a little weakness in the flesh can lead to sin, right? So sometimes we don't think about it, we don't understand the sin that the Bible talks about.

Just living in a fleeting happiness, let me tell you, after truly knowing the gospel, I understand that leaving the world is a victorious and liberating day, right? The day of death surpasses the day of birth. Life is in suffering, in sin, and then we leave to meet the Lord, in paradise, where there is no longer the dominion of sin and suffering forever. Amen. Of course, that is something in the future. Now, which stage are we in? The third stage. So, we need to talk more about this third stage now because this third stage is very difficult. Like Paul, I desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out. So, this old self has truly been shed off yesterday, but just when you think it's gone today, it comes back again, wanting to dominate you today. That's why this is something we need to do every day - to shed off this old self, put on the new self, continuously shedding off the fleshly impurity, and putting on the spiritual cleanliness. This is why we start talking about what willpower is, what it means to be strengthened by the Lord. Let's look at the Word of God together, 1 Chronicles chapter 28. 1 Chronicles chapter 28, we look at verse 9. Let's read it together, right? Sorry, 1 Chronicles 28:9. Alright, this is what God said to Solomon.

1 Chronicles 28:9 And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. What is being emphasized here is the heart, right? Before you understand your will, you need to understand the heart of people. Your will is influenced by your heart. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 1 Chronicles 28:10 Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. Although the word will is not mentioned here, you will see that you should serve the Lord willingly and be strong in your actions. In fact, it all comes down to matters of the will. So, we need to understand that our service, our following of the Lord, is not about a one-time, grand gesture, but it's a marathon, just like a marathon race, right? Therefore, some Christians, we see them, at one point, they put in a lot of effort, very enthusiastically wanting to serve the Lord and others, then suddenly they lose strength, and end up discouraged.

We will see some believers' problems that they have not exercised themselves as Paul said to conquer oneself and make the body obedient. Because of the lack of training in their lives, their willpower is very weak. Sometimes when they encounter a small problem, they become agitated and cannot continue. This is a scene we often see. So, their problem is not a matter of willpower, it is a matter of what? A matter of the heart. Everyone, the focus is on this issue of the heart. So, God said to Solomon, You must know that God examines the heart of all people. He knows all their thoughts and intentions. Therefore, your weak willpower is a problem of your heart. What is the problem with the heart? What problem? The first problem is not knowing God. If you do not know God, so God's first words to Solomon were, You must know the Lord your God. Therefore, when the church does not teach the word of God properly, how can people know God? How can they know? People are born not knowing God. They are born in the flesh. When you are born, you only know this visible world, the entire universe, and behind all that, the great God who created everything, manages everything, and sustains everything. We cannot see Him, right? If we cannot see Him, we feel He does not exist. Therefore, it is a heart that does not know God.

How can his will be so strong to serve God, so we don't live by motivation. Every time I ask my child why don't you want to study, no motivation, you don't understand. I said you don't understand, it's not that you have no motivation, you need to act on motivation, right? So, not understanding, we look at a person's life, why is his will so weak, why always ask him to serve God, don't go to church, can't do anything, actually, have you ever asked if his heart doesn't know God, you can't rely on this motivation to give him strength, give him positive energy, but without properly teaching him who this God is, the attributes of this God, loving, just, holy, so his heart can begin to fear Him, sincerely willing to serve Him, we haven't let a person truly understand the great works of God, without knowing God's daily guidance and help, at that time, we do many things, how does it matter, not done before God, done before people, sometimes serving as a task, as a duty, then you won't do it for long, because how can you do it for people, you can only do it for the Lord, people can give you how much motivation, but when the Holy Spirit strengthens you, no matter how difficult it is, you will be able to do it.

But the motivation people give you today, the motivation given today, will not be there tomorrow, right? Tomorrow they will turn their backs on you, so it's not possible. Everyone should understand clearly that when we come to the Lord's church, we look at a person, especially we look at the person's life. We need to understand that the church is a gathering place for the reborn, where reborn people come together to love and serve each other. So, if a person is not reborn, it's obvious when the evidence of rebirth is not present in him, asking him to serve in many ways, to do this and that, it will be very difficult for him, and he will quickly stumble because of issues in his heart, his fundamental problems are not resolved. Therefore, we don't need to talk about willpower. So, when we talk about the heart, the most important thing is that a person's heart of stone must be transformed into a heart of flesh, right? So, a heart of stone is hard, rigid, doesn't know God, but when it becomes a heart of flesh, it begins to be responsive to God, responds to God, then can hear God's voice, can humble oneself before God, this is called a heart of flesh. So, only when this heart of flesh is obtained, can one start serving God. If there is no heart of flesh, no ability to respond to God, just a heart of stone,

How to make this heart, if it can't be done, how do you motivate him, so we need to understand the matters of the heart first. The heart needs to be renewed and changed, there's no need to talk about doing God's work. So, God said to Solomon, You need to know the Lord, your father's God, right? He is also your God. Then secondly, what should the heart of a person be influenced by? It should be influenced by teaching. The Lord said the Holy Spirit will come and teach you all things. Once your heart is taught, willpower will come. So, usually when a person's willpower is weak, it's because their heart hasn't been taught. Sometimes when we shepherd people, we are not just comforting them, but we are teaching them with God's words, guiding them on how to think, how to judge a situation, and then how to act, right? When a child has a problem, how do you assess the current situation of the child, what is God doing in his life, and then how to pray for him? So, after the heart is taught, it will be different. Pastor, what you just told me, although my problem is still the same, the perspective you gave me allows me to see God's faithfulness and His works. I have hope now, I know what to do when I go home. Have you noticed that? So, have you noticed that you

When you embrace him, I feel comforted. When you encounter problems at home, it's the same, right? He needs to receive instruction from God's Word. After that, he will know what to do, and his willpower will become strong. Of course, sometimes instruction includes discipline. Sometimes people are confused and stubborn, we need to rebuke them, we need to rebuke. When you rebuke someone, if you rebuke them correctly, they will wake up. Then they will submit to the Lord. Therefore, instruction is not only instructive but also disciplinary. So, when you listen to the Word, receive some rebuke, some counsel, ah, you will have a bit of awakening. This awakening is something that often happens in our faith life, it's what the Holy Spirit teaches us. Without a teachable heart, there's no need to think about having strong willpower. And lastly, especially in very challenging situations, our hearts need to be empowered. In English, we say it like this: your willpower, your heart is strengthened, willpower follows being strengthened. Why does it need to be strengthened? The Holy Spirit, everyone. How does Acts begin? But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

Ability, right? That ability, why is this ability so important? It's very important. Only when this ability is present can the gospel be spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, right? Serving the Lord is not based on your own willpower, positive energy that you cannot generate on your own. Because you need to change another person's heart, which you cannot do. In this fellowship of grace operating, if you trample on grace, right? If you force it on someone, they will leave. What can you do, right? Therefore, you must have the power of the Holy Spirit. So, you need to know how to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why sometimes as Christians we need to pray. Why does the Bible tell us to pray? After reading God's word, you need to pray, especially when you start feeling negative. You need to calm yourself down. You know, when you come together today, you feel very negative because you think about a busy day ahead with many challenges. You need to quickly get up and pray, calm yourself down. If you are not careful like this, facing a day like this, facing this challenge, that challenge, people's words against you, people's demands on you, you will immediately feel mentally ill.

The whole thing can quickly overwhelm and become emotional, do you understand? This is something that can easily happen to people, so why did God tell Solomon to be careful? Why? Because the Lord chose you to build this temple as a sanctuary. This is such an important matter, right? Do you think you can just build it casually? You have to be very careful in building it. How do you build it, stone by stone? And how should God's laws, statutes, and ordinances be? They should be engraved and placed inside this temple for the serving priests. These things need to be handled carefully when building the temple. The challenge is great, and it must be done relying on the Lord continuously. That's why our prayer life is weak, or we don't know when to pray quietly. Without caution, you will find that important things are often not done well. When we go out for missions with pastors, you can see the tension. When we go, it's not about joking, eating, or drinking; it's not like that. Let me tell you all, of course, after a meeting, we relax a bit, then I go to sleep, and the next morning I get up early to prepare to go to the meeting. It's a whole state of readiness. This is the time for concentrated prayer to receive double the power of the Holy Spirit. If you are not in a state of readiness, wait a minute.

When serving, if mistakes are made, many problems will arise, and then fatigue sets in, the whole person loses spirit. Many such attacked scenes, especially when you are doing the work of God. So, did all of you wake up this morning ready for battle? If not, we are just here to listen to the sermon. Where is the readiness for battle? It's the team leader who needs to be ready for battle. So, team leaders need to be a bit cautious. Pastors are the most cautious, right? If I sleep until ten o'clock, and then get up like this, with my eyes still not open, to lead the meeting, how can I deliver such a message, right? So, every word, every word needs to be pondered, prayed over, written down, and then preach God's word, to reclaim your hearts, to strengthen your wills. How to prepare this message? It needs prayer. So, will you understand? I am talking about spiritual warfare. So, may the Lord help us, so our hearts will be strengthened, our hearts will receive instruction, we will understand, and our willpower will naturally follow. May the Lord bless everyone. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank You for being in this short message today, guiding us on matters of our hearts and our willpower, this important information, to help us who often find ourselves in weakness and incapacity.

We know this is because we are under some spiritual attack, and it is also correct to say that it is because we do not know how to put on the full armor and pray in all directions at all times. That's why we are facing such attacks. Lord, please help us. May the Holy Spirit inside us strengthen us. After hearing Your truth, we know how to rely on You, obey You in this matter. Lord, help all of us and bless those in this group who will confirm Your word together. We thank You. We pray in the victorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

20220901 周四早间聚会 | 怎么理解人的意志力？

The Life Church and Missions

Human willpower is widely believed to be a strong force, influencing people to achieve tasks and endure hardships.

However, the speaker emphasizes that when facing a powerful spiritual enemy, human willpower alone is insufficient to overcome it.

The message highlights the importance of the Holy Spirit and the power of Christ in supporting and strengthening one's willpower, as expressed by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans.

The Four Stages of Human Willpower According to the Bible

Human willpower is discussed in four stages in the Bible: free will before sin, a bound will after sin, a will to commit crimes without pleasing God, and a renewed will after being born again.

The concept of free will is central to the discussion, emphasizing the ability to choose to obey God or not.

Salvation is portrayed as a transformation of the will, allowing individuals to freely choose to follow the teachings of the Bible.

The Christian faith life involves a constant battle between the old self and the new self, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Christians long for the time of redemption when they will be free from sin and will always choose to obey God.

The current stage is marked by the daily struggle to shed the old self and embrace the new self, relying on the strength of the Lord.

The Importance of the Heart in Serving the Lord

Understanding the heart is emphasized in serving the Lord, as it influences one's will and devotion.

The focus is on serving God willingly and consistently, highlighting the significance of endurance and training in maintaining strong willpower.

The primary issue is not just a matter of willpower, but of the heart's knowledge of God, emphasizing the need for proper teaching and understanding.

Teaching about God's attributes and guidance is more effective than relying on motivation alone to strengthen one's will to serve God.

The transformation of a person's heart from stone to flesh is crucial in enabling them to respond to God and serve Him.

The focus should be on nurturing a genuine understanding of God, rather than solely depending on external motivation or willpower.

Nurturing the Heart: Guidance and Strength

The key to motivating the heart is through teaching and instruction, leading to a strengthened willpower.

Teaching with God's words not only provides comfort but also offers perspective and guidance in challenging situations.

The process of nurturing the heart includes not only instruction but also discipline and empowerment through the Holy Spirit.

The Significance of Operating in the Power of the Holy Spirit

Operating in the power of the Holy Spirit is crucial for spreading the gospel and serving the Lord effectively, as it cannot be done through willpower alone.

Trampling on grace and forcing it on others drives them away, highlighting the need for the power of the Holy Spirit to work in people's hearts.

Building the temple and handling God's laws require great care and continuous reliance on the Lord, emphasizing the importance of a strong prayer life and knowing when to pray, especially in challenging situations.

The Importance of Being Spiritually Prepared

Mistakes during service can lead to problems and fatigue, especially in the work of God.

The message emphasizes the need for spiritual readiness and careful preparation, particularly for team leaders and pastors.

Spiritual warfare and the importance of prayer in strengthening the heart and willpower are highlighted, with a closing prayer for strength and guidance.