First, we must understand that God has given all humans the power of choice. That was why, in the beginning, God gave instructions to Adam, presenting him with the choice of being in union with God through obedience or being separated from God through disobedience. So may I announce to you that you’re not the first to have this experience? The first man, Adam, had a similar experience, but it led to spiritual death. Which has brought some predicament upon the whole of creation. See what the Bible says.
Romans 5:12-14: 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (NKJV)
However, you must understand that man is a product of influence. The choices we make can be influenced by people, God, or the Devil, just like Adam’s choices were influenced by the Devil through Eve. But after the fall, one of the things that happened to human nature was the inability to naturally yield to the will of God but to rather do their selfish bidding. We had a stony heart; everything we do, either consciously or subconsciously, flows from the heart. So when one has a stony heart, they are unable to bend to the will of God. This is why the new birth experience is necessary. In the new birth, this is what God does to us:
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.(NKJV)
This is the permanent fix to the Adamic nature that was dominated by selfish desires and choices. Such choices, just like they did to Adam and Eve, will always lead to costly mistakes and consequences. However, we do not need to wait to make mistakes before we rectify this issue. We can learn from the mistakes of those who lived before us. For instance, the Israelites were such a people who often went against God’s instructions to them, and that brought bad consequences upon them as a nation. But I have good news for you:
Ephesians 2:1-3: 1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.(NKJV)
If you are born again, you have been made alive with Christ unto God. Your spirit man is no longer dead to God but alive to God with the capacity to obey Him. You no longer have the capacity to live like a slave to the devil but as a child of God. So are you born again? To be born again, you have to believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins, rose again on the third day for your justification, and confess him as your Lord. If you are born again, the problem of disobedience is a thing of the past for you! It is exactly as the apostle Paul described it in Ephesians 2:1-3 that you should see yourself now. You are not stubborn. You have the heart of flesh. What this means is that you now have the ability to naturally choose to do good works.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.(NKJV)
Now, what you have to do is renew your mind to this reality and begin to see yourself as the word of God describes you. Don’t be conformed to the way the men of the world operate, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. As you do this, you will begin to find yourself presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, such that you begin to do His will as the obedient child of God that you are.
Say with me: I am a child of God; I can do the will of God, and I will do the will of God. I am not stubborn; I do not have a stony heart but a heart of flesh. I was created in Christ Jesus for good works. Amen.
