Pastor Younce

22. Pastor Younce When I first trusted Christ as Savior, I knew that I was doing things God did not want me to do. Drinking and other things were not God's will for my life after I was saved, but for a year I still did a lot of those things. I knew that I was saved and that I still possessed eternal life because it was not predicated upon my good works. When I was saved, God never rescinded my free will. It was God's will and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and influence of other Christians, my life began to change. Later, I dedicated my life to Christ and went ahead and followed the leading of the Lord, going to Bible college and getting prepared for the ministry.

One must remember, this was God's will; but, it was my choice. God did not make me do it. I could have resisted If I had wanted to, and at times there was much opposition against fulfilling God's will for my life. I had difficult decisions to make but I chose to go ahead and put the Lord first in that respect. But I did not have to. Again, God did not take away my free will or my right to make that choice. God did His part, as far as convicting and leading, but it was then up to me to decide if I would yield to God's will or reject it. Should I seek to please men and stay on the job I had with security, or seek to please the Lord and quit that job to enter Bible school? Again, I thank God that He did not make me a robot but allowed me to choose to serve Him out of love. My free will was not over-ridden by the Lord. I was allowed to make that choice and I thank God for that. You and I must stand responsible for the decisions we make because of the free will that God has given us.