Here’s another quote by Spurgeon for you to chew on: “Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have always met with will, and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in the blessed bonds of grace.”

Just wondering, Gerardo, if you’re in Chicago, which you seem to be, I think with John Y, let’s have coffee one of these days, if you have some time and availability.

“Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher? I’ve spoiled this one.”….
I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted….
And gave him a new one all unspotted…..
And into his tired heart I cried,….
“Do better now, my child.”….

I went to the throne with a trembling heart, The day was done…..
“Have you a new day for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.”….
He took my day, all soiled and blotted….
And gave me a new one all unspotted…..
And into my tired heart he cried,….
“Do better now, my child.”….

Here’s a John Piper quote I just read today: “The link between Christ canceling my sin on the cross and my sin being conquered is a Holy Spirit empowered will.”

The article goes on to suggest that doubting ones free will may undermine the sense of self as an agent. So related to this article, I wonder how a Calvinist who might struggle deeply with sin, musters up the will to continue to try to pursue a relationship with Jesus. I always wondered whether a calvanist who stumbles a lot would take that as a sign that they must not be one of the saved. I guess it would make for an interesting question to study the behavior of devout Calvanist who struggle deeply vs. those who struggle less so.
I must admit, my understanding of determinism in calvanism is very poor but it always seemed that if I believed that I have no free will and God pre chose those who will be saved, then I would take my many failures as evidence that I may not be one of the saved.
Along a similar vein, I remember often rebuked myself for simply being a “worthless sinner” who could not be saved when I was younger. Even now, I sometimes fall into this trap when I consistently return to my own vomit. I am tempted to think that my struggle with this or that particular sin will never be over. However, much of this changes when I  ask myself “are you really trying to change?”
When I ask myself this question, I realize that much of my inability to overcome sin is a result of a poor prayer life or lack of effort on my part. Hence, instead of thinking “it is hopeless, God have mercy on me” I find myself energized to change if I actually try and run the race and believe that holiness is something that comes through effort. I am here referring to effort in terms of maintaining a relationship with God not raising yourself up by your own moral bootstraps. One of the things Mother Theresa taught her nuns was that we are called to be faithful and not  successful. That is, we are judged by how we respond to our struggles with sin despite all our many obstacles and not whether we can completely overcome them (though we are called to overcome). God takes into our account our circumstance and does not judge everyone to the same standard.  
I have often been scared and comforted by William Law’s statement that when we look at our life and evaluate why we are not a Saint we find that, “the only reason you are not a Saint is that you do not wholly want to be.”
I often find more comfort in this statement in the idea that God has chosen those who are to be saved and those who wont. So if your part of the former, then great! Continue living a faithful life. But if your part of the latter, it’s too bad for you but you should continue to try to live a faithful life. Again, I may be twisting what Calvin actually taught. Either way, you wont know so you should hope for the best.

So I don’t think faith, and the issues of faith, have as much to do with intelligence as with the heart. God is able to make the simple, wise, but wisdom has less to do with knowledge and more to do with how a person lives their life. So if a someone is not doing well spiritually, I don’t think that it is because they are dumb necessarily, but because they need more wisdom. Although, now that I think about it, Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived except for Jesus, and yet look at how his life was! (Gerardo, I still love you in Christ even if you do not love me:)