“Will” and “Desire”

There is a major difference between willful choice and desire. I may desire to say “NO” to the Cheezey-Puffs, but if they end up in my mouth, then my “will” was to eat them. We can desire to be free of the lies we believe and yet not be willing to do what is necessary to know this freedom. There is often a major difference between what we say we desire to see happen and what is actually happening when it comes to moving forward in our mind renewal journey. This difference is determined by our free will.

Our “will” is where we are at any given moment.
Our “desire” is where we would like to be.

Even though we truly desire to be free from the lies we believe, and the painful emotion associated with them, our will is revealed by what is happening in the moment. Willful choice is driven and determined by what we believe. We can say we want to feel, move forward in a ministry session, remember some bad memory, etc. (desire), and at the same time refuse to allow it to happen (will). Our will is where we are in any given moment. Our desire is where we would like to be.

Our will is our “chooser”    Our “will” is shown by the choices we make, and our choices are based upon our belief. It is common for a person to encounter many different lie-based beliefs that hold his or her “solutions” in place; such as suppressing emotions, holding onto anger, or not allowing a memory to come to mind. Behind each of these behavioral choices is a belief. Beliefs such as “my anger keeps me safe,” “not feeling what I feel keeps me from being overwhelmed by my emotions,” or “by my not remembering the memory, it keeps what happened from being true,” are all common. Nonetheless, all of these kinds of “solution beliefs” impact the person’s ability to progress through the session.

Will and Desire are Realized in Experiential Core Belief and Intellectual Belief     I can intellectually know a Bible verse and desire to live it out in my life and yet struggle daily to make it so. For example, I might memorize the Word’s of Jesus who commands us to take the Good News to all the world (Matt. 19:28-28) and even desire to share the Gospel with my neighbor. However, when I think about talking with Him about his eternal destiny I may freeze up with fear and not become silent. My desire is to share the Gospel, but my will is expressed with my silence and my not sharing my faith with him.  My will is not what I want to do, but what I actually do. I can know the truth intellectually, but something in my core belief shuts me down and I freeze up at the thought of telling my neighbor about Jesus. I want to share the Gospel, but because of my heart belief, my fear holds me back. Not sharing is my will and choice.

Core belief is what we experientially believe to be the truth, but not necessarily what we believe intellectually to be true.  It is our core belief that produces the bad feelings we tend to run from, suppress and deny. However, no matter how far we run they are there with us. These lie-based emotions have major impact on all that we do and drives much of what we now call our belief and choice. Because I believe something, I feel something, and then I do something. It really is that simple.

What we experientially believe will express itself through what we feel, which will eventually override what we know intellectually. We feel whatever we experientially believe and will eventually do whatever we feel.  Someone will say, “I do not let my emotions control me. I control my feelings.” The very fact that this person has to put effort into controlling his feelings indicates that his feelings are having impact on his decisions.

Our “will” is revealed in the choices we make.   Our choices are based upon what we believe. When what we believe is contrary to moving forward, feeling, remembering, etc., we will find ourselves stuck; not moving forward. This is not because we are a victim or unable to move forward. It is because of the belief and choice principle. It can be very frustrating when we desire to be free and move forward, yet our belief keeps us ‘stuck.’ This is where we need God’s intervention of truth.

Whenever you encounter a time in the session (and it is common) where the session pauses, shuts down, or stalls-out for any reason, there will be a “belief and choice” issue at play.  The person is believing something in that moment that is producing what you see.  This is where the “De-Solution Tool” is effective in exposing the belief behind the behavior. This behavior is their “solution” to what they perceive as a problem.