Why acting from God's will makes you a real individual with real liberty 2

Example of acting from God's will rather than from self-will:

Practicing the command to love your enemy in a moment when your self-will would rather indulge resentment and anger.

You definitely have to actually give something up when you give up your self-will and act from God's will. Indulging resentment is pleasurable. Being a victim is pleasurable. I have to give that up? your carnal self asks. Well, yes. If you value acting from God's will you do. You have to value acting from God's will though.

What's in it for me? your carnal self asks.

(What's in it for the carnal self? death. Shhhhh.) In the short term, alot of friction and confusion and negativity from the world and so on. In the long term (and maybe not so long a time) real awakening, real understanding, and real will. You can't imagine what all that is now, but this is why you need to value the 'program', so to speak. The program is contained in the Word of God.

Real awakening comes by regeneration. You can't do that, but you can approach God via His Word. Approach God and He says Himself (in His Word) that He will approach you.

Real understanding comes by engaging higher influences - history, imaginative literature, philosophy, art, music, science, religion - (and ultimately, a real gauge, the more you understand the Word of God the more your understanding is increasing). Understanding is also developed by developing all divisions, so to speak, of your being: physical, emotional/creative, intellectual.

Real will comes by cultivating and developing the will of God within you. This is done by following the Word of God at the practical, doing, level. This involves a search, usually, starting from lesser influences that one can begin to grasp; even the lowest of the low...self help books (some of them contain bits and pieces of actual wisdom). What I mean by that is this: practical knowledge (i.e. what you are actually to do) is rare and difficult to find, and you start usually in very low lying levels of influences - where separating alot of chaff to find a little wheat is usually the order of the day - until you find threads to follow and things to pursue and so on. It's a process of whatever it takes. Reading the Bible all along the way. Basically, though, real will in action is a top-down action just as self-will is a bottom-up operation. Just as, for instance, thoughts (or reason) should control emotion (rather than allowing your emotions to do your thinking for you) God's will needs to control your thoughts. It's hierarchical within you. God's will is above intellect, intellect is above emotion, emotion is above the physical level desires and fears.

In a person where self-will is the driving force physical desires and fears drive emotion which dictates thoughts and God's will is not even in the picture.

Atheists have a point regarding reason being high on the totem pole, yet if reason is left to itself without God's will - God's influence - controlling reason from above reason eventually just becomes the servant of the lower parts of human nature and being. Reason alone can't control emotion and physical demands, especially when the entire being is corrupted with original sin.

Addendum: in the paragraph above where I mention self-help books I wasn't real clear. What that is getting at is this: to see the practical level in the teachings of Jesus, for instance, is not easy. You have to approach it from other influences (you just do). You begin to find this rare, practical level knowledge in sometimes not very prestigious places like for instance, the lowly self-help category of books. But Christian publishers are aware of this (lest anybody mock too loudly out there)... To see the practical level teaching in the two great commandments of Jesus requires alot. It just does. I've been up the mountain on all that. I'll tell you it requires effort and time and a willingness to learn from everything. (Everything.) If you fear man more than God you'll never engage some of the influences you simply have to engage to get there. If you fear God then the Holy Spirit Himself will guide you in your efforts. As stated self-help books would be the lower end of the spectrum. There are bodies of knowledge available - remarkably refined and inspired knowledge, actually, language...practical knowledge - that one can come into and learn from. The knowledge exists. You can only find it on your own. The reason for that is it can be right under your nose, but if you're not ready for it or able to recognize its value you won't see it. And if your dutiful fear of man makes you pronounce everything new age or occult or some similar name then...it's just not for you. Not everything that looks new age or occult is new age or occult. Including the Gospel of John or the Book of James...