Lesson for April 24, 2016
Spiritual Dynamics
Spiritual autonomy is utilizing the problem solving device of sharing the happiness of God. Sharing God’s happiness as a problem solving device begins in spiritual self-esteem, gains momentum in spiritual autonomy, and reaches its peak in spiritual maturity. Sharing God’s happiness gives us the ability to be content in prosperity or in adversity, and it gives us the solution to the problems people have in constantly becoming slaves to their circumstances. Sharing God’s happiness is victory over your circumstances.
Spiritual autonomy is orientation to God and His Word and rejecting anything that destroys the spiritual life such as fear, worry, and anxiety. Mental stability from spiritual self-esteem and spiritual autonomy is a key issue in the spiritual life because spirituality is a mental attitude produced by the filling of the Holy Spirit inside God’s power system
Mental stability is the ability to think accurate Bible doctrine and divine viewpoint under pressure. It is the ability to make correct and accurate application of metabolized doctrine in the midst of testing. Mental stability is the God-given ability to make accurate application of metabolized doctrine. From spiritual autonomy comes a maximized stabilization of the mentality. In spiritual autonomy, when you hear truth, you identify it as truth because you have learned so much Bible doctrine that your norms can identify truth in any area, wherever it is stated and by whomever it is stated.
The key to contentment is impersonal love for all mankind. Others’ imperfections and mistakes will not be a source of unhappiness to you with impersonal love. Impersonal love is the build-up of virtue so that unconditional love is directed toward everyone. If you, in spiritual autonomy, have unconditional love toward all mankind, you have the most fantastic capacity for personal love toward those in your periphery. Personal love in the human race is based on the attractiveness of the object. Impersonal love is based on the virtue of the subject. Impersonal love is a relaxed, objective mental attitude toward the entire human race. Impersonal love is free from arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, self-pity, hatred, implacability and guilt.
Spiritual autonomy means the state of being independent. This is not fully accomplished in the Christian life until the believer has the use of virtue love as a problem solving device. Personal love for God must precede spiritual self-esteem, and impersonal love for all must precede spiritual autonomy.
Spiritual autonomy is cognitive self-confidence. Cognitive self-confidence means you have gained the perception and metabolization of accurate Bible doctrine, so that you have a tremendous amount of divine viewpoint that can be used in pressure situations as well as non-pressure situations. Having cognitive self-confidence means your hope and your confidence are based on the Word of God and not on human opinion. No one should form an opinion without the facts. Cognitive self-confidence is maximum use of metabolized doctrine in facing and overcoming the problems of life. Cognitive self-confidence is
understanding and loving God by means of metabolized doctrine.
Cognitive self-confidence means no one can hurt you any longer, not even those closest to you. You are now insulated against the failure, the disappointments, the frustrations, and the disillusionments that come from association with people. With all that doctrine in your soul, you never again feel threatened, and you never again slip into human viewpoint living.
Spiritual maturity is the maximum expression of the grace of God utilized in the Protocol Plan of God. In eternity past, God provided everything necessary for a believer’s advance to spiritual maturity. The Protocol Plan of God is the only plan for the Church Age. Spiritual maturity is characterized by maximum cognitive independence, which results from additional metabolization of doctrine plus passing four momentum testings: people, system, thought, and disaster testing. This means spiritual maturity can face every problem in life with a maximum amount of inner happiness. There is no tragedy, disaster, difficulty, or heartache that can overcome the cognitive self-confidence of a mature believer. Cognitive independence is maximum perception, maximum metabolization, and maximum accurate application of doctrine to life. A mature believer is totally independent. However, this does not imply that a mature believer or any believer will ever be independent of accurate Bible teaching. A mature believer is an invisible hero.
A mature believer functions under maximum effectiveness in life. Maximum effectiveness means maximum contentment. (Philippians 4:11-13; Hebrews 13:5; I Timothy 6:6-8) Maximum grace orientation to life is another function of a mature believer. Grace orientation of a mature believer literally removes the “rough edges of life” into smooth grace thinking, along with grace motivation, grace decisions, and consistent grace functions and actions. Each stage of spiritual adulthood advances and perfects grace orientation in the life. In spiritual self-esteem, the process begins. In spiritual autonomy, the process continues. In spiritual maturity, the process is perfected and completed.
Maximum control of your own life also accompanies spiritual maturity. This means maximum utilization of the privacy of your royal priesthood, used properly before God as a part of your personal love for God. This means maximum use of impersonal love toward all mankind. This means the elimination of false applications in your life, such as comparing yourself with others. In spiritual maturity, a believer lives his own life as unto the Lord rather than as unto another. Therefore, he is able to control his life. Since the Lord really has all the control and a mature believer’s volition is subordinate to the Lord, he is in a state of maximum happiness.
A believer in spiritual maturity takes responsibility for his own decisions (good or bad). He also takes responsibility for others if they are under his authority, but does so without seeking to control and interfere in their lives. Therefore, a spiritually mature believer is motivated without being possessive or lusting for power. A believer in spiritual maturity is not possessive of those whom he loves, thus avoiding the pitfall of jealousy.
Three Spiritual Skills
Spiritual metabolism is the first skill. The Greek word for metabolism is “metaboleus” meaning change or transition. Medicine has translated this word into the English language as the medical term “metabolism.” Metabolism refers to the intake and the absorption of food, plus the process of respiration by which oxygen is made available to the tissues for chemical transformations involving: 1) anabolism, the building up and 2) catabolism, the tearing down. Therefore metabolism, as a medical term, includes all the body processes by which matter, either organic or inorganic, is utilized for growth, repair, and maintenance. The metabolic process by which oxygen is supplied to the brain is how you think. This makes a perfect analogy to the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Physical metabolism is analogous to the various stages of the spiritual life. Anabolism is analogous to the doctrine which provides momentum in our spiritual lives. Catabolism is analogous to the doctrine which provides the destruction of human viewpoint in our lives.
Dynamics
Just as the Holy Spirit metabolized the Gospel for us, He metabolizes the doctrine we learn. Physical metabolism involves both eating and breathing, which is once again a perfect analogy of the intake and exhale of Bible doctrine. Like a good doctrinal lesson, food on the table can be prepared magnificently. But the food on the table must be eaten and metabolized to sustain life and create energy. Food on the table in itself is not energy. The key to your physical energy is metabolism. Any malfunction in metabolism produces disease. So also, an accurate doctrinal lesson from a pastor-teacher is not spiritual growth; it does you no good until it’s metabolized. We have believers who have been exposed to doctrine and simply look at the spiritual food and leave.
The greatest doctrinal message in the world from any pastor-teacher is no guarantee of spiritual growth; it is merely the first phase in bringing the believer up to the point of metabolized doctrine. Metabolized doctrine is a matter between you and the Holy Spirit. You provide the positive volition; the Holy Spirit then metabolizes the doctrine. God provides in logistical grace everything you need to assimilate doctrine: life, a local church, a pastor-teacher, the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, the divine power system, and the protocol plan of God. God’s grace provision of the human spirit makes possible the understanding of doctrine and sets up a spiritual I.Q. to prepare you for spiritual metabolism.
Spiritual metabolism is the Holy Spirit converting academic knowledge (gnosis) of Bible doctrine into spiritual knowledge (epignosis) of Bible doctrine. But the Holy Spirit cannot do so without your consent. Therefore, you must have positive faith perception; the Holy Spirit metabolizes only what you accept on a non-meritorious basis. Spiritual metabolism is the function of positive faith perception, whereby the believer inside God’s divine power system acknowledges in his own soul the truth of academic doctrine. He understands it through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in his human spirit. Only after the believer acknowledges the truth of it does the Holy Spirit metabolize it. The pattern is, “I understand what you are saying, and I believe it.” If you are negative, you do not believe it and you reject it.
Problem solving is the second spiritual skill. Every problem in life has a solution which is found in the Word of God. Today, God reveals Himself and His policy through the inspired written page of the Bible, which we call the Word of God, the mind of Christ, and the voice of the Holy Spirit. The definition of inspiration is that God so supernaturally directed the human writers of Scripture that without waiving their personal feelings, human intelligence, their literary style, or any human factor, His complete and coherent message toward mankind was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture, the very words bearing 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.
The subject of problems and solutions is directed toward the believer in Jesus Christ, and specifically toward the Church Age believer whose possession of the mystery doctrines of the Church Age, his very own portfolio of invisible assets, the unique availability of divine power, the fantastic privileges related to being a member of the royal family of God, all have clearly-defined problem solving devices. So unless you put Bible doctrine first in your life, you will have unsolvable problems in your life.
The problem solving devices, when utilized, provide accurate and objective application of metabolized Bible doctrine to your experience. God did not give us His Word without the means to apply it. Bible doctrine is not applied through human functions. Doctrine is applied to experience by learning and using the problem solving devices. The problem solving devices are the only means of application of doctrine in your soul. When you attempt to apply doctrine apart from any one of the ten problem solving devices, it is inaccurate, it is distorted, and inevitably it leads to false doctrine. The problem solving devices are how you relate doctrine to your experience.
The Protocol Plan of God is the third spiritual skill. Protocol is strict adherence to precisely correct procedure. In the case of believers, protocol is strict adherence to the mandates from God and using the correct procedure for carrying out those mandates. These mandates and the precisely correct procedures are found in only one place, the Word of God. By learning and applying the truth found in the Bible, believers can fulfill God’s purpose, plan and will. When this truth is presented from the Word of God in a systematic manner it allows any believer to grow spiritually, regardless of I.Q., by following God’s plan.
God, in His grace, has set up certain protocols that must be strictly adhered to if a believer is to advance in his spiritual life. Random intake of Bible doctrine will not accomplish the goal. If a believer is to properly execute God’s protocol plan, he must be consistent with his intake and application of Bible doctrine. There is no other plan for believers in this Age.
There are eleven Principles of the Protocol Plan of God: 1) The Protocol Plan of God has a system of authority. God has delegated that authority in two areas; a) the laws of divine establishment and government, b] Bible doctrine, communicated by the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. (Psalms 33:12; Ephesians 4:11) 2) The Protocol Plan of God has a spiritual life for each believer. Therefore, you and you alone are the only one who can live your spiritual life – no one else can live it for you. (I John 1:5-10)
3) The Protocol Plan of God recognizes the volition of a believer. Each believer is a production of his own decisions, whether they are positive or negative. Volition is important for establishing values. As you establish values, those values dictate the manner and function of your own volition [free will]. (Philippians 2:1-16) 4) The Protocol Plan of God has a system for spiritual growth… metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. (II Peter 3:18) 5) The Protocol Plan of God has a system of problem-solving devices. They are related to metabolized doctrine in your soul. The Christian Way of Life was designed for you to personally resolve your own problems before God without interference from others. (Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 5:11-14) 6) The Protocol Plan of God has both historical and individual time reference. The historical time reference is during the unique dispensation of the Church Age. The individual time reference is from the moment you believe in Christ till the moment of your death or resurrection [Rapture], whichever occurs first. (Colossians 1:25-29) 7) The Protocol Plan of God has a portfolio of invisible (spiritual) assets provided for each believer in eternity past. (Ephesians 1:3)
8) The Protocol Plan of God has a system of invisible impact on history, which comes in 5 categories: a] personal impact – blessing by association with a mature believer, a winner and invisible hero b] historical impact – blessing by association to the client nation through the Pivot (remnant according to grace) c] international impact – blessing by association to a non-client nation through spiritually mature missionary function d] angelic impact – invisible heroes become a witness for the prosecution in Satan’s appeal trial, which extended from prehistoric times into the Church Age e] heritage impact – blessing by association with the invisible hero after his death. (Romans 11:1-12) 9) The Protocol Plan of God has precisely correct procedure, based on the principle that God has only one way of doing a thing – a right thing, done in a right way. (I Corinthians 14:40) 10) The Protocol Plan of God has a system of eternal rewards and decorations for each believer who executes the Protocol Plan of God. And even if you fail to fulfill God’s plan, your rewards will be on record…they will be in Heaven, available for you to see. (I Corinthians 3:12-15) 11) There is also failure to execute the Protocol Plan of God by believers because of negative volition based on arrogance. This becomes the basis for whether a believer will succeed or fail because arrogance means a believer thinks his way is superior to God’s way. (James 4:6; I Peter 5:5-6)