WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

This question reveals the individual's power of choice.

One of the greatest lies of the devil and deception many of us have come to believe is that when confronted by life's pressures, we simply do not have a choice.

Choice is the greatest gift that God has given to man. We always have a choice and because we fail to grasp this we often succumb to life's pressure.

You see that when asked this question, Eve did not answer the question. She blamed the serpent. Like many people we say it was the devil.

Today's reflection deals with what we do when we are tempted. The question really is, are we compelled to do wrong or do we choose to do so?

James 1.13

"When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me" For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

Jesus Christ said, "it isn't what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of the man....for out of the heart come all kinds of evil desires"

Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life.

The ancient Jews talked about two wills; the inner will and the outer will.

The inner will was the true desire of people and what they really want to do. This is quite difficult to judge since the heart is difficult to understand even for the individual in question.

The outer will on the other hand is the actions that can be seen and through which the inner will may be understood.

So we can get a sense of the scripture which refers to God working in us to will and do.

This speaks of inner and outer wills. God works in what we must will and do.

The idea of the gospel is to ensure that our will is subject to God's will so that we only do what he will have us do.

We always have a choice.

It never begins with our actions. It begins with our hearts.

If you recall in the book of Genesis, the scripture says, "when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food(desire) and pleasing to the eyes(desire), and also desirable for gaining wisdom(desire), SHE TOOK(Action).

Never blame the devil for wrong doing when you stand before God.
The Lord always will have us acknowledge our wrong and repent because if you really think about it, that's exactly what we wanted to do.

Our hearts need to be truly converted. Our will conformed to His will and our way aligned to His way.

Nothing can stand in the way of our will. If we will it, we will do it so let our will be his then our deeds will be His deeds.