Lesson for November 12, 2017
The Doctrine of Spirituality vs. Carnality
The Divine Dynasphere, Lesson #4
Gate 2: Basic Mode of Operation of the Christian Life
Consistency in using the Rebound Technique by keeping short accounts when you commit a sin is the important factor in this gate along with humility, objectivity and tolerance. This gate is where you begin to function in the Faith-Rest life; not the advance stage of applying the doctrinal rationales to life, but the early stage of mixing the promises of God with faith. This gate is just the beginning of your ability to overlook insults, arrogance and stupidity in others. Basic virtue slowly begins to emerge from your life as you study Bible doctrine consistently and begin to slowly apply it on a daily basis.
This intake and understanding of accurate Bible doctrine adds up to objectivity, without which you will never learn enough to understand how you relate personally as Royal Family of God to the integrity of God. You receive two commissions at salvation: 1) your Royal Priesthood which is your personal relationship with God and you represent yourself to God. Since you are able to get your advice straight from the Word of God, you should never need psychological counseling. This allows you to live your life as unto the Lord and 2) your Royal Ambassadorship where you represent Christ to mankind. Every Christian is an ambassador for Jesus Christ. You cannot properly represent Jesus Christ on earth if you are not advancing in the Christian Way of Life. (II Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20) The Royal Ambassadorship of the believer is your visible relationship with others and is the result of (not the means of) your spiritual life (your invisible relationship with God). As believers we take our precedence from Jesus Christ. Christ was God’s ambassador on earth. Since Christ has ascended to Heaven, believers are now God’s representatives on earth. With Christ as our standard, the believer, controlled by the Holy Spirit, is to strive to become an effective ambassador for God. (Hebrews 1:1-9)
The Faith-Rest Technique
“But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a “rewarder” of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Faith in its verb form is “to believe” and must have a subject and an object. In salvation, the subject is whosoever and the object is Jesus Christ. (John 3:16) In the Christian life, the subject is the believer and the object is the Word of God. (II Timothy 2:15) Faith is effective in the believer’s life only if faith has the right object. Faith is thinking. The content of what you’re thinking is what determines faith’s effectiveness in your life. There is no limit to the amount of faith that a believer can have, but doctrinal content in the soul is what determines the strength of your faith.
Faith is developed by the study and application of God’s Word under the control of God the Holy Spirit. Faith is developed by means of spiritual growth when a believer begins to consistently use the Problem-Solving Devices, such as Rebound, Filling of the Holy Spirit and the Faith-Rest Technique. Faith can also be developed through suffering. (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:1-3, 12:2; Galatians 5:22-23; I Peter 1:7-9; I John 5:1-5) The principle of Faith-Rest is from God, who is perfect. Therefore, the Faith-Rest Technique is perfect. No human deed or work can be added to a perfect provision from God. The believer must cease from human good and enter into a rest where he does no work. The Holy Spirit does the work. The requirement, therefore, for the believer is faith, not human works. Faith is the absence of any human merit, which means, that in and of itself, faith has no value or worth. The value or worth is in the object of our faith. The object of faith for the believer should always be God and His Word.
Faith-Rest is knowing, believing and applying the promises, the principles and the doctrines of the Word of God. (Isaiah 33:6) There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible for the believer. These promises do us no good unless we mix them with faith and apply them to our situation. (Hebrews 4:2) Claiming these promises eliminates mental attitude sins such as fear, worry and anxiety, which cut off Divine Viewpoint Thinking. Faith-Rest will restore Divine Viewpoint Thinking and stabilize the believer in times of pressure and adversity. Faith-Rest results in a relaxed mental attitude. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Satan is going to use everything at his disposal, which includes his world system and Human Viewpoint Thinking, to distract you from your spiritual life. Remember that the spiritual life is a battle. When you spend time worrying, being upset and disgruntled about life, you’re lining up with Satan’s program and you have lost the battle. Peter warns us about the strategy of Satan in I Peter 5:7-9, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world.” Casting means “to make a deposit.” In the case of the believer he is to deposit “all of his cares” or literally “all of his anxieties” on the Lord. In other words, give all your worries to God and leave them there. This means that no one is strong enough to carry his own worries. So stop trying to do the impossible and instead use God’s system, Faith-Rest.
The mechanics of the Faith-Rest Technique means that you have made a resolve – a decision as to future action. This means that you have predetermined in your mind what course of action you will take when a problem arises. The Faith-Rest Technique is a versatile technique for overcoming any difficult situation, any problem or any disaster. By faith the believer applies doctrine logically while resting in the promises of God. By reaching a doctrinal rationale the believer is re-explaining to himself the basic concepts of doctrine that pertain to his relationship with God. This will be necessary in a crisis because emotion will normally take over and suppress proper thinking. You must take deliberate steps to reestablish the control of the Holy Spirit in your soul. Here is how the Faith-Rest Technique works:
- A believer claims a promise. A promise is a guarantee from God that expresses His essence (sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability and veracity). When you lay hold of one of these promises you are able to bring emotion under control, which allows you to think. Before, you were in a state of panic, but now you have peace. This, however, is only the beginning of the drill. Now you must begin to think. (Romans 8:28 – God is working all things together for my good, if I am an advancing believer.)
- A believer applies doctrinal rationale. The application of Bible doctrine requires the believer to recall certain doctrines that have been stored in his soul. A rationale is the rational basis for something or an explanation of reasons or principles. It is at this time that the believer explains again to himself the doctrine which is pertinent to the situation. (Romans 8:29-30 – God has a pre-designed plan for my life.)
- A believer reaches a doctrinal conclusion. This means that a believer is able to take control of the situation. By asking and answering certain questions pertaining to his spiritual life, the believer takes control and evaluates the circumstances. He can now make good decisions from a position of strength and take action using the good judgment and the wisdom from Bible doctrine stored in his soul. (Romans 8:31-35 – If God is for me, who can be against me or separate me from the love of Christ? Therefore, I can take control using the power of the Holy Spirit to enable me.
We cannot apply what we do not know. Therefore, we need to be consistent in our intake of God’s Word for the purpose of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth means learning to use the Word of God resident in our souls to combat and to control our sin nature and the influences of Satan’s world system.
The best illustration of the Faith-Rest Technique is Romans 8:28-32. We can easily follow the progression from claiming a promise, to application, to reaching a conclusion. Romans 8:28-30 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
This is the Biblical promise to those who are maturing in their faith by executing God’s plan for their life. This promise is guaranteed by God. When a believer claims this promise, it can reduce a very complicated situation into a very simple one. When we claim this promise, that God is working all things for our good, fear is brought under control because we are now thinking, not emoting. Once thinking is resumed, we can move on to step two, application. A doctrinal rationale can be any doctrinal truth that you have learned and stored in your memory. In our passage the doctrinal rationale is a series of five related doctrines. These five doctrines in Romans 8:29-30 outline God’s plan for every believer of this age. By recalling these doctrines, the believer can remember his place in God’s overall plan.
- Foreknowledge – God’s awareness of all the assets that He prepared for the believer in eternity-past. This assures us that God was thinking about each of us in eternity -past.
- Predestination – God predesigned a plan for us in eternity-past. That plan calls for us to be set apart unto God in time and in eternity.
- Election – God chose each Church Age believer to be spiritual royalty. Since Jesus Christ was elected, we share in His election because of our union with Him.
- Justification – God declares the believer to be righteous. God actually imputes His righteousness to each believer, setting up the potential for divine blessing in time and in eternity.
- Glorification – God will give each believer a glorified body and eternal rewards based on execution of His plan in time.
Finally, in Romans 8:31-32, the believer is able to reach a doctrinal conclusion. This passage says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Reaching the doctrinal conclusion “that God is for us,” allows us to retake control of our situation and restores confidence in God and in our ability to make good decisions. If the problem is too overwhelming, beyond our ability to solve, we are still able to cope by placing ourselves in the “mighty hand of God” and trusting Him for the solution. (Exodus 14:13) Utilization of this technique restores the most important ability God has given us: thinking. This technique does not need to be a mechanical, “step one, two, three,” but can be if the situation demands it. The key is to restore the thinking process by using the Faith-Rest Technique.
The Christian Way of Life is a life of thinking the thoughts of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5, says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” The mind of Christ is the doctrine found in the Word of God, the only source of absolute truth. In order to have the proper thinking, a believer must be consistently learning, believing and applying the Word of God to every circumstance in life.
God has given all believers a command to grow spiritually and He never gives us a command without giving us the means necessary to obey it. God, therefore, has provided His written instruction book (the Bible) and the filling (control) of the Holy Spirit. Both are grace functions for every believer in this age, regardless of education or I.Q. Any believer with a positive attitude towards Bible doctrine can learn, believe and apply it accurately.
At salvation all believers are placed into union with Jesus Christ and become complete in Him, positionally. (Colossians 2:10) However, experientially we are not complete because we still have a sin nature. For this reason all believers are commanded to grow spiritually and to advance toward spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity and a stabilized mind should be the goal of every person who has trusted Christ as Savior. (Ephesians 4:14-15; II Peter 3:18)
Spiritual maturity does not happen overnight. It takes a lifetime of persistent and consistent study to learn Bible doctrine. God’s Word likens spiritual growth to building a house. Often expressed as edification, the concept in Greek is to build or to build up. For the Christian, this occurs in his soul as he exposes himself to accurate Bible teaching and applies the truth that he learns. As with any building, we must be careful to first lay the right foundation before we build on it. The Scripture is clear that the only foundation for the believer is Jesus Christ Himself. We know that the Word of God is the mind of Christ. Therefore, the foundation is the written Word (Christ is the living Word). The written Word of God is meant to be understood and utilized as a blueprint for building your spiritual building (the Christian Way of Life).
Your way of life right now is being influenced by what you think. Since you have free will, you can think whatever you want to think. According to Proverbs 23:7, you are what you think. The world system has a way of thinking that, generally speaking, is contrary to the thinking of God. We call this Human Viewpoint Thinking. We call God’s thinking Divine Viewpoint Thinking. (I Corinthians 2:16; Hebrews 3:7, 4:12; II Peter 1:12-21)
In order to have Divine Viewpoint Thinking, you must know the doctrines taught in the Bible. The more Bible doctrine you know and apply, the more Divine Viewpoint Thinking you will be able to utilize. The less Bible doctrine you know, the more Human Viewpoint Thinking you are going to utilize. The more Human Viewpoint Thinking you use, the more insecure and unstable you are going to be.
Daily study of God’s Word keeps Divine Viewpoint Thinking fresh in the mind and helps counteract Human Viewpoint Thinking. (Psalms 119:129-135) Thinking your way through life with Divine Viewpoint Thinking will bring victory, peace, power and stability. (Isaiah 26:3-4, 33:6) It also eliminates mental attitude sinning, such as maligning, character assassination, gossiping, jealousy, self-pity, etc. Vacillating between Divine Viewpoint Thinking and Human Viewpoint Thinking makes a believer unstable according to James 1:8. An unstable believer is an unhappy believer.
The Christian Way of Life is a supernatural way of life, which cannot be lived apart from knowledge of Bible doctrine and the guidance of God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 7:6, 8:2; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18) This way of life requires thinking. All changes in our lives must come from the inside. The true character of the believer is determined by what he thinks, not by what he does. God never forces the believer into any course of action. We determine what our own spiritual lives are going to look like based on what we allow ourselves to think. Divine Viewpoint Thinking equals a victorious Christian Way of Life.