“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power...”
Psalm 110:3 KJV
NIV ~ Your troops will be willing on your day of battle......
NLT ~ When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly...
ESV ~ Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.....
Freely and willingly are words that describe his church here and while willful simply means deliberate, full of will, or determination, somehow it gets a negative application in life.
The legal section of the freedictionary.com gives this information concerning the word
willful ~
“There is no precise definition of the term willful because its meaning largely depends on the context in which it appears. It generally signifies a sense of the intentional as opposed to the inadvertent, the deliberate as opposed to the unplanned, and the voluntary as opposed to the compelled.
Our pursuits of God are to be intentional with planned deliberation that are always joyful and voluntary, producing willful obedience to our Lord. We don’t arrive at this place of planned deliberation, willful obedience, because we have to, but rather because we want to.
Jesus is described from Isaiah chapter 11 with the seven spirits of God resting upon him., highlighting His fear of the Lord, King James uses the phrase “quick understanding”. ESV uses the word delight, “his delight was in the fear of the Lord.” The fear of Lord flows from a heart that desires Him above all and this desire yields willful obedience because we desire to please Him.
There is a pulling by the Holy Spirit, a steady reminder that we are not of this world. Hearts being drawn to greater attachment to heavenly realities above earthly blessings. A pruning, purging of the negative willfulness to yield to the necessary willful obedience needed for our next season.
Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:13
Our invitation is always one to come up higher, for heaven to fill our thoughts and affections, so we can join with Jesus and declare, “It is written of me, I have come to do your will.” All wilfulness that hinders us from a place of deep commitment to the one whose we are must give place to willful obedience and this can only be birthed in and through intimacy.
We are expecting and looking for a mighty move of God with demonstration of His power and glory in these days. He’s looking for the faithful servant whose yielded heart has produced willful obedience that He can trust to use His power righteously and give the glory to Him.
“Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power....”