Lesson for August 7, 2019
Spiritual Dynamics
Three Spiritual Skills
Problem Solving
Every problem in life has a solution which is found in the Word of God. God reveals Himself (His character) and His policy and instructions for us through the inspired written pages of the Bible, which is the word (divine viewpoint) of God the Father, the mind (attitude and the position on truth) of Christ
(I Corinthians 2:16), and the voice (what He teaches us and helps us recall from the Word of God) of the Holy Spirit. The theological definition of inspiration is that God supernaturally directed the human writers of Scripture so that without setting aside their personality, human intelligence, their literary style, or any human factor such as their background or social status, His complete and clear message toward mankind was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture, the very words having the authority of divine authorship. Therefore, there is no such thing as a problem in life that does not have a solution in the Word of God. For believers, handling problems and finding solutions are contained within the Problem-Solving Devices.
The Problem-Solving Devices encompass every aspect of the Christian Way of Life, the victorious life that God has planned for every believer. The Problem-Solving Devices are to be used as a system of successfully handling problems for every Christian, at every stage of spiritual growth in the Christian Way of Life. And, no one ever outgrows the need to use all ten. Depending on the problem to be handled and solved, a believer may use one or several of these doctrinal principles simultaneously as the solution to any of life’s challenges. When learned, believedand applied, this system will stabilize, sustain, empower, and liberate the believer. Consistent utilization of the system will advance the believer far beyond what he can imagine, to a lifestyle of a relaxed mental attitude toward circumstances, toward self, toward others and most importantly, toward God.
The Problem-Solving Devices, when utilized, provide accurate application of Bible doctrine to your daily experience. God did not give us His Word without the means to apply it. Bible doctrine is applied to experience by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. The application of doctrine to experience establishes spiritual values that are not shaken by anything you see or hear in your experience. Spiritual values are established through the application of doctrine to your circumstances. This same doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness is the mirror into which you can look and see yourself as you really are – objective self-evaluation. Doctrine changes your values in life related to your volition. Problem-Solving Devices in the soul establish right priorities and true spiritual values, which cause the believer to fulfill the Protocol Plan of God.
The Problem-Solving Devices provide self-motivation as believers begin to see them work in their lives. The Problem-Solving Devices function to prevent the outside pressure of adversity from becoming the inside pressure of stress in the soul. Adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. Adversity is what circumstances do to you, but stress is what you do to yourself. Stress in the soul means sin nature control of the soul and puts your spiritual life out of action. Since stress in the soul is contrary to the Protocol Plan of God, the function of the Rebound Technique (a Problem-Solving Device) must be applied.
It is no accident that in the Church Age each believer is a priest and as such represents himself before God. In reality, this priesthood is the basis for the function of all the Ten Problem-Solving Devices. For example, there can be no solution to human relationships until we have sorted out our relationship with God. God is perfect, which means the plan He has for us is perfect. A perfect God could only design a perfect plan. However, we who are in that perfect plan are obviously not perfect. So, perfect God has designed the protocol plan for the Church Age believer so that he can have a relationship with God, which should be our number one priority.
The perfect plan of God can only be executed by perfect power. Perfect power is God’s omnipotence. The only way God’s power can be executed is by means of the power of God the Holy Spirit. God has provided His power for the execution of His plan; the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit of every believer. As a matter of fact, each Person of the Trinity indwells every believer as well. Divine power is guaranteed to every Church Age believer through the indwelling of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Never before in history has so much power been made available to the individual believer.
So, the key to fulfilling the Protocol Plan of God is the fact that divine power is guaranteed to each one of us, available to each one of us, delegated to each one of us through the understanding and application of Bible doctrine, and utilized by us by means of the Problem-Solving Devices. Therefore, the Problem-Solving Devices become the real key to experiential Christianity.
The fact that so many believers reject Bible doctrine means they are ignorant of every divine subject related to handling problems from Divine Viewpoint Thinking. When you are not using God’s plan, you automatically default to your own plan based on Human Viewpoint Thinking. The basic problem with many Christians is ignorance of Bible doctrine, which leads to wrong thinking. Ignorance is no excuse, because God provides prepared pastor-teachers for every generation of the Church Age for the communication of accurate Bible doctrine. Ignorance of Bible doctrine means no ability to handle and solve problems. God designed us to understand, believe and apply Bible doctrine, and to learn and use the Problem-Solving Devices within the privacy of our priesthood. We were never designed to handle our own problems independent of the help of God.
If your number one priority is not Bible doctrine, there is no way you can effectively use the Problem-Solving Devices because the Problem-Solving Devices are contained within Bible doctrine. Believers who do not have the system of Bible doctrine with problem-solving devices function as any unbeliever would in a crisis. The only Person who can solve your problems is God and He has provided the Problem-Solving Devices for us to use.
The filling of the Spirit converts human I.Q. into spiritual I.Q. Once the filling of the Spirit converts human I.Q. into spiritual I.Q., it then combines with the Bible doctrine in the stream of consciousness to prepare the way for the formation of the Problem-Solving Devices. Technically, the Problem-Solving Devices are formed by metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness.
The filling of the Spirit is unique to the Church Age because this is the first time in history when all believers are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. The whole concept of the filling of the Spirit goes back to the principle that there is no human attribute, no system of human success, no talent, no system of works, no system of any kind whereby we have the ability to handle and solve our own problems. God the Holy Spirit is the One Who empowers and guides our lives when we are living inside God’s power system and He is the One Who enables us to handle our problems.
At salvation, God the Holy Spirit immediately and permanently indwells the body of every believer in order to create a temple, a place of residence, for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory. The indwelling of Christ is a guarantee of great blessing. So, the believer’s body is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, but it is also indwelt by the sin nature. The issue is who controls the soul, the Holy Spirit or the sin nature? The gate to the soul is volition, and your volition decides who controls your soul. The sin nature is the source of temptation; the Holy Spirit is the source of the spiritual life. When the Holy Spirit controls your soul, you are filled with the Spirit. But when your volition succumbs to temptation and you sin, then the Holy Spirit is either quenched or grieved, and He no longer controls your soul and you are out of fellowship with God.
The filling of the Spirit is an absolute state of being in fellowship with God. You are either filled with the Spirit or you are not. There is no such thing as a graduated concept of spirituality. You are either 100% spiritual or 0% spiritual (and 100% carnal). You are either in fellowship or out of fellowship. You are either filled with the Spirit or you are grieving and/or quenching the Spirit. However, spiritual growth is a graduated concept. Tragically, Christians confuse the relative concept of spiritual growth with the absolute concept of spirituality.
Spiritual growth is either progressive or retrogressive. As a new believer, we start out as a “spiritual baby.” If we make progress through learning and applying Bible doctrine, we advance to spiritual adolescence and then to spiritual adulthood. Or we can retrogress through the various stages of reversionism.Progression is the believer’s advance in fulfilling of the Protocol Plan of God. Retrogression is the believer’s failure to fulfill the Protocol Plan of God, resulting in reversionism and cosmic involvement.
So, a believer is either controlled by the Holy Spirit or by his sin nature. He is either inside God’s power system or in Satan’s cosmic system. He is either in fellowship with God through the filling of the Spirit, or in a state of sinfulness through succumbing to the temptations of the sin nature. Therefore, the filling of the Spirit is the basis for the function of all the Problem-Solving Devices. It is not only the basis for learning doctrine, but it is the only way the Problem-Solving Devices can be properly applied.