True story: my friend was a pastor in transition. I'll call him Joe. We were youth pastors at the same time in different churches and then we both become pastors in different churches and were buddies.

His current church was in a transition, and Joe was losing his job. So Margi and I met with Joe and his wife to talk it through.

Joe said, "I'm so upset, and I don't know what to do."

He told me all his options, and he didn't like any of them. So I asked him a question.

I said: "Joe, what do you want?"

Joe said, "I just want to do the will of God."

I said: "I believe you. I admire that, Joe. But that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking what do YOU want?"

He said, "I don't know what you mean."

I said: "Joe, look inside your heart, look to your own desires, and tell me what you want."

He said, "No, no, no, no, no! It's not what I want. It's what God wants."

I said: "I understand that. I get that. But what I really want to know is where is your heart? What is your desire? What do you want?"

With that, he just burst into tears and couldn't get out another word.

The War
You woke up in a warzone today.

And the fiercest battle isn't for your money, your job, or your stuff. The war rages at one precise and primary point: the command center of your soul.

The Bible puts it this way:
"That they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:26)

And what part of you does he work overtime to take captive? Your free will.

You have a diabolical enemy, and his entire strategy is not to get you to be bad, but to get you to be nobody.

He can't break God's promises, so he wages an all-out war to break your will.

Your sense of agency. Your ownership of the direction of your own life.

He wants to infect you with a weak-willed virus that convinces you that you can't, even when God says you can. He wants you so paralyzed by that lie that you never even get around to thinking about dreaming bigger or believing bigger.

He wants you lulled to sleep in a comfortable cage of complacency. He wants you to forget you were born for battle and created for victory.

Well I'm here to sound an alarm today. Today, the trumpet blasts. Today, we remember who we are, we remember WHOSE we are, and we escape the snare of the devil.

We've been in a series of talks through the book of Philippians called: Quit Telling Yourself I Can't.

We've been learning how to fight the battle that matters most—the one that's won or lost right here inside your own heart and your own mind.

The title of my message today is not a suggestion; it's a declaration of independence for your whole psychological make up.

It's called: Quit Surrendering Your Ground.

And we're going to find our marching orders in a couple of power-packed verses in Philippians 2:12-13

In these words is the divine counter-offensive. It is God's strategy to help you stop retreating, to draw a line in the sand, and to start taking back every inch of the territory that Jesus Christ bled and died to give you.

Why did my friend Joe break down? Why did a simple question—"What do YOU want?"—short-circuit a man who loved God with his whole heart?

Because Joe, like so many of us, had been poisoned by a lie. A pious sounding painful lie. I think it's a doctrine of demons dressed in a choir robe. The lie that to be holy, you have to amputate your own desires and will.

Your soul has 3 parts: mind, will (volition), emotions.
Your will is the part of you that wants, that desires, that chooses.
Your will is the command post of your soul.

The New Testament word for your will is the Greek Word thelo (verb) and thelema (noun).

 

So...

Unfortunately way too many Christians never got the memo.

They have taught that your free will is bad, that your will must be broken, and that your will is the bad guy in your soul. So they're still in the snare of the devil.

That was my friend Joe's struggle.

But none of that is what the Bible teaches. It's a lie.

And when you believe that lie, you surrender the most valuable ground you possess.

You surrender the territory of your will.
You surrender the landscape of your dreams.
You surrender the birthright of your own God-given desires.

So that is why we are here today. That is why we are going to war against that lie.

The verses right before today's paragraph paint a picture of the most absolute, cosmic victory you can possibly imagine...

"...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth..." (Philippians 2:10)

Paul says that God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and given Him the name that is above every name... so that at the name of Jesus, EVERY knee will bow.

In heaven. On earth. And listen to this—under the earth.

That is a direct reference to the demonic realm.

Your King has won an absolute and total victory. Your enemy is a defeated foe. He is a squatter with an eviction notice, not a king with a crown.

His snare is a broken snare. His captivity is a fake captivity. Be free. The battle's over. Exit the premises of darkness and despair.

And that is why verse 12 starts with one of the most powerful words in the Bible: Therefore.

Because the enemy is defeated... therefore...

Because every dark lord will bow to him... therefore... here are your marching orders.

Occupy Your Promised Land
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation..." (Philippians 2:12)

This is one of those Bible verses that get used as a stick to beat Christians over the head.

Yes, they say, you're saved by grace, but you have to live by working it out, or else you're not saved.

See, they say, there's God's part and there's your part. God's part is to save you, but your part is to work out your salvation...

See, they say, you can't push this grace thing too far... you've got to have "balance."

I've gotten to a place where every time I hear a Christian preacher talk about balance, I throw up in my mouth.

Balance? How do you balance grace? How do you balance an old rugged cross? What counterweight is there to match the suffering and blood of Christ? Grace is by definition one-sided.

 

He suffered.
He died.
He paid the price.
He did the work.
He rose again.
He gives the gift.
He saves the soul.
He grants life.
He makes the new creation.
He loves.
He saves.
He's the one.

So you're going to balance all what with what, exactly? It makes no sense.

Dear Christian... back away from your hyper religious super-spirituality and quit trying to bring balance to a wildly imbalanced wonder called grace.