Sanctification made easy 2

Part one is here.

Another way to see what effort is like in progressive sanctification is to see it in the category of will. Acting from self-will vs. acting from God's will.

Self-will is bottom up will. God's will is top-down will. God's will is a descent-of-the-dove type of action. Self-will is a strenuous 'will power' type of action.

So the question is: how do you cultivate a 'descent of the dove' type of will?

1. By having the living word of God in you complete. The word of God not only is (or can be) turned into real understanding but it is (or can be) turned into real will as well.

2. By prayer. When you pray to be guided by God's will, and you pray to be able to mortify your old, fallen nature, and you pray to be able to have and to use the features of your new nature, your new heart, you are in effect cultivating God's will.

3. By waiting on the Lord. Our fallen nature reacts *fast* so that our new nature can't take control of us from above. There is great folk wisdom in the 'counting to ten' thing before speaking or acting in a wrought up situation or event. (But if you're going to indulge the features of your fallen nature anyway you can count to a million and it won't work. In fact, you'll just create more of a pressure cooker environment within you. Really the key is observing yourself, valuing acting from God's will, and extending your limits. But now I'm going to have to give you the whole template which I won't do. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.)

4. By fearing God alone and not man. (This is a big one.)

There that's four points. That's a good, solid foundation to build from.

Just discern between bottom-up self-will and top-down God's will.