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Jesus Christ said that whoever wants to be His disciple must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Him. The terms for the disciple include giving up his own will and replacing it with God’s will as expressed in God’s law.  It also involves doing all God’s law.  How does the disciple remain fruitful as he submits his will, talent, time and resources to the service of Christ?

THE DISCIPLE’S WILL
The disciple of Jesus Christ lives his Christian life in this world.  He is prone to sin.  It is not in his nature to deny self.  It is not his natural tendency to will and do the things according to God will.  There is the tendency to do portions of God’s will which is agreeable to his will and this means not doing God’s will at all.  Obedience to God’s will is often corrupted by human reason which issues from the heart and we know that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.  God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours and often they may seem to lack logic and consistency.  When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He said of the Father: “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  We must always pray this prayer to God.  We will be able to align our will to God’s Will by the empowerment of God the Holy Spirit.

THE DISCIPLE’S DOING
The disciple is filled with the Holy Spirit but his old nature is always in him.  The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are natural desires that are in him and they need to be overcome.  Jesus also taught his disciples to pray: “they may not be led into temptation but be delivered from evil”.  This prayer should be constantly on our lips.  To sin is to disobey God’s law.  The evil one tempts us so that we will sin.  He often uses pleasure and the threat of sufferings and death to cause someone to be tempted to sin.  Such threats cause fear to the disciple and cause him to be unfruitful in God’s service.  He fears man more than he fears God.  The need to be delivered from sin shows sin in its true light.  Someone who sins, will continue to sin and finds himself powerless to stop sinning.  He is a slave to sin, has no will of his own and continues to do his master’s commands.  The one who sins cannot break free and needs God to deliver him from this evil called sin.   We must allow the Holy Spirit to always fill us so that we stop sin in our lives and start doing God’s Will – ALWAYS.