Lesson for April 17, 2016
Spiritual Dynamics
Three Categories of Spiritual Adulthood
Spiritual Self-Esteem
There are three categories of spiritual adulthood: 1) Spiritual self-esteem, which is cognitive self-confidence, the beginning of the effective function of the ten Problem Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age. 2) Spiritual autonomy, which is cognitive independence and the continuation of effective function of the ten Problem Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God 3) Spiritual maturity, which is cognitive invincibility and the maximum effective function of the Problem Solving Devices for the Protocol Plan of God.
Self-esteem is defined as respect for self, satisfaction with one’s self, or a good opinion of one’s self. Self-esteem is confidence in what you know, and how to put it into operation. Spiritual self-esteem is all of the above resulting in maximum humility on the basis of the metabolized doctrine in your soul. Spiritual self-esteem is confidence in God, and confidence in the Word of God. It is not confidence in the energy of the flesh with its human viewpoint thinking. (Romans 12:1-3)
Spiritual self-esteem is attained through metabolized Bible doctrine circulating in your soul, and as a result things begin come into focus spiritually. Things like sharing the happiness of God. This begins with contentment, which becomes spiritual capacity for life, love, and happiness in every circumstance of life. Execution of the spiritual life means understanding the mechanics of the Christian Way of Life: mechanics related to your very own portfolio of invisible assets, mechanics related to the ten Problem Solving Devices and mechanics related to everything that God has given you for the dispensation of the Church Age.
Maximum understanding of the Problem Solving Devices and maximum spiritual strength to execute these mechanics is the status of spiritual self-esteem. Having spiritual self-esteem means you can make proper applications so that your life becomes full of meaning, purpose, and definition. This means the effective function of three of the Problem Solving Devices: personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, and occupation with Christ.
A successful Christian experience in time of life’s disasters includes the following: 1) Occupation with Christ replacing self-absorption, which is preoccupied with or eyes on self. Therefore, you meet the disaster, not in preoccupation with self, not in complaining and whining, but through the principle of occupation with Christ. 2) Impersonal love for all mankind replacing preoccupation with people, having your eyes on people. 3) Sharing the happiness of God which includes tranquility of soul and contentment replacing eyes on things, which is a part of the lust pattern of the sin nature.
In spiritual self-esteem, a believer keeps priorities aligned with accurate Bible doctrine. The function of the stream of consciousness under the filling of the Spirit becomes an important issue and avoids the arrogance of the production skills preceding the spiritual skills in the function of Christian experience (getting the cart before the horse). Production skills are potential at the moment we believe in Christ. For example, our spiritual gift, royal priesthood, and royal ambassadorship are all for the function of Christian service and are in place at the moment of salvation.
Spiritual self-esteem keeps Christian service in proper perspective. Spiritual self-esteem gives you the spiritual strength to avoid the “beyond doctrine” movement with its dead works, human good, and evil. The “beyond doctrine” movement says, “Bible doctrine is not enough, there must be more,” – which they normally tie to some emotional experience.”
The advance to spiritual self-esteem can occur only through two functions: 1) Bible doctrine must be number one priority in your life 2) There must be consistent perception, metabolization and application of doctrine. Doctrinal orientation in spiritual self-esteem includes the following characteristics: 1) The development of humility, without which there is no authority orientation or teachability in life. 2) Avoidance of inordinate ambition and inordinate competition, which is always self-demeaning. 3) The development of spiritual common sense and good judgment related to the divine viewpoint of life. 4) Correct and accurate application of Bible doctrine through the two advanced Problem Solving Devices of personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind. Correct application of doctrine in spiritual self-esteem destroys any distortion or attempt at self-justification. 5) Maximum understanding and utilization of the ten Problem Solving Devices as a habit of life, as a way of life, as a victorious life in Christian experience. 6) Divine viewpoint thinking replacing human viewpoint thinking so the believer has the same mindset in this dispensation as Christ had in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. Philippians 2:5, “Keep on having this mental attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” 7) Making good decisions from a position of strength replacing bad decisions from a position of weakness.
Spiritual self-esteem is synonymous with a personal sense of destiny. The doctrinal status of cognitive self-confidence means that doctrinal concepts are fully realized, though perhaps not fully developed. You have attained the first objective with regard to spiritual self-esteem, but that objective needs to be stabilized. You have a tremendous amount of doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness, but you also have tremendous vulnerability to the sins of arrogance (self-deception, self-justification and self-absorption). The rapidly advancing believer can be vulnerable to failure. Spiritual self-esteem frees the adult believer from legalistic bullying and being distracted by dependence on other people’s legalism, but other distractions can get you off track. You must beware!
Spiritual self-esteem begins using advanced Problem Solving Devices through personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind. These two Problem Solving Devices are stabilizers and motivators for continued spiritual advance. Spiritual self-esteem eliminates emotion as a criterion for the spiritual life. Spiritual self-esteem is the beginning of freedom from irrationality. The spiritual life is a system of thinking under the filling of the Holy Spirit, metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness, and Problem Solving Devices in the soul.
When spiritual self-esteem deploys the two advanced Problem Solving Devices [personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind] in the soul, it establishes two things which stabilize spiritual self-esteem: a strongly organized system of humility (teachability) and spiritual poise. Personal love for God the Father begins to replace the former focus of eyes on self (self-absorption). Failure to deploy this problem solving device leads to great vulnerability related to arrogance.
Spiritual self-esteem recognizes that emotions are never the basis for the spiritual life. Spiritual self-esteem begins the process of the advanced spiritual life with the subordinating of the emotion to the spiritual intellect. The spiritual intellect of spiritual self-esteem is defined as maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness.
Spiritual self-esteem continues to make Bible doctrine the number one priority in the life and fulfills the command of Philippians 3:16, “Let us keep on living by that same standard to which we have attained.” Spiritual self-esteem is not discouraged by the setbacks in life. Therefore, it is free from self-pity, which is the function of self-absorption. The momentum of spiritual self-esteem eliminates the three high risk factors upon entering the adult spiritual life: 1) all sins of arrogance 2) emotion as a criterion for the spiritual life and 3) incompetent problem solving. Spiritual self-esteem begins with the effective harmonizing of all the Problem Solving Devices into one cohesive system. It upgrades and enhances the basic Problem Solving Devices, where they coordinate with personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind.
Spiritual self-esteem is related to all of the Problem Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God. Spiritual self-esteem is confidence in the Rebound Technique rather than in the “horror” of one’s sins. A person’s personal sins are never as important as what our Lord Jesus Christ did on the Cross about our sins. We will fail and shock ourselves from time to time, but we will never shock God. Spiritual self-esteem is not dependent on emotions or any form of penance. Spiritual self-esteem is the knowledge that after Rebound the believer has recovered fellowship with God and is filled with the Holy Spirit no matter how he feels. How you feel is never the issue; the issue is what the Bible says.
Spiritual self-esteem emphasizes the reality of the Faith-Rest Drill over the reality of one’s problems, adversities, disasters and stress situations. Spiritual self-esteem is grace orientation rather than circumstance orientation. Too often, we think that our happiness depends on the circumstances around us. Our circumstances are not the issue in life. Bible doctrine must be more real to us than what we see, touch, hear, taste, or smell.
Spiritual self-esteem is having a personal sense of destiny from metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness under the filling of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual self-esteem is sharing the happiness of God, therefore, maximum contentment in every circumstance of life whether it is good or bad. Spiritual self-esteem is the function of virtue-love in all three categories: personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, and occupation with Christ.
Spiritual self-esteem is the first stage of spiritual adulthood, the status of giving number one priority to Bible doctrine, resulting in dependence on God’s grace rather than depending on human power and dynamics. It is the first step in becoming an invisible hero. Since spiritual self-esteem includes grace orientation, it is the quintessence of humility rather than any form of arrogance. For this reason, spiritual self-esteem always emphasizes the spiritual skills as taking precedence over the production skills. Spiritual self-esteem never tries to reverse the procedure. It is the status of well-developed spiritual skills: consistency in being filled with the Spirit, consistency in learning and understanding Bible doctrine; consistency resulting in the execution of the Protocol Plan of God.
The person who keeps learning and applying accurate Bible doctrine eventually gains spiritual self-esteem. Spiritual self-esteem is not arrogance; it’s wisdom. Wisdom is the result of perception, metabolization and application of doctrine. Wisdom is the application of accurate Bible doctrine to daily experience. Spiritual self-esteem replaces the former focus of eyes on self, eyes on others and eyes on things.
Metabolized doctrine in the soul is guarded by the rate of learning exceeding the rate of forgetting. Scar tissue of the soul replaces metabolized doctrine when the rate of forgetting doctrine exceeds the rate of learning doctrine. This means that the believer must be consistent and persistent in Rebound when necessary and doctrinal inculcation.
Spiritual self-esteem functions objectively toward self through “the mirror into the soul” concept. The positive result should be self-confidence based on metabolized Bible doctrine in the stream of consciousness. No Bible doctrine in the stream of consciousness results in no “mirror into the soul.” Self-identity, based on the mirror of doctrine in the soul, is formed from metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. In this way, the three mechanics of the Christian life become effective: 1) the foundation of humility 2) learning the mechanics of the Problem Solving Devices and other mechanics of the Protocol Plan of God, and 3) Christian integrity, which is a strict adherence to the truth of the Word of God. Being a Christian does not imply that you understand the Protocol Plan of God or even how to live the Christian way of life; this comes over a period of time as spiritual self-esteem is developed. Spiritual self-esteem is that virtue of the Protocol Plan of God whereby the believer’s confidence is based on Bible doctrine which he has learned through perception, metabolization and application. The secret to spiritual self-esteem is love and respect for God and His Word.