Lesson for March 4, 2018
The Doctrine of Spirituality vs. Carnality
The Divine Dynasphere, Lesson #4
Gate 7: Momentum Testing
6. Thought Testing (cont’d)
Satan and his world system are going to do everything to distract you from thinking divine viewpoint. Therefore, thought testing occurs at all stages of Christian experience as a part of suffering for blessing in momentum testing. Thought testing occurs in all three stages of spiritual adulthood – spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy and spiritual maturity. In spiritual self-esteem, suffering provides some preliminary thought testing, as noted in II Corinthians 12:10. In spiritual autonomy, momentum testing includes thought testing. In spiritual maturity, evidence testing provides thought testing.
To pass thought testing at any stage of the Christian life, a believer must have metabolized doctrine to meet thought testing at a given stage. And he must have the filling of the Spirit at the time of thought testing to make the correct application of doctrine. This means having the ability not to be distracted by false issues or to be misled by wrong priorities, which are continual distractions in the Christian life. And they accumulate a tremendous amount of self-induced misery under the Law of Volitional Responsibility.
Mental attitude in the Christian life is the function of your thinking and you may have questions about certain teachings. If you’re patient and consistent in your study of God’s Word, you’ll eventually receive the answers. Who we really are at any given time is what we think. Therefore, the real you is the thought content of your soul. Proverbs 23:7, “As he thinks within himself, so he is.” This verse uses hypocrisy as an illustration of the fact that we are what we think, not what we do, and not necessarily what we say.
A thought can make or break you, depending on the nature of the thought. It’s either thinking derived from Bible doctrine or thinking derived from the cosmic system. In others words, what you think at any given moment is either divine viewpoint or human viewpoint. One will improve you; one will break you apart. Mental attitude is the function of thought in your own soul, not what someone else thinks. So your ability to cope with life, your happiness in life, and your fulfillment in life is based upon what you think. In other words, you have to live your own life. You can’t borrow the thoughts of others; you have to do your own thinking, make your own decisions, and handle your own problems and challenges.
Jesus said that when praying, don’t pray with meaningless repetition. In Matthew 6:7 Jesus said, “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” Matthew 9:4, “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, `Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?’” Jesus explained failure in prayer as being based on wrong thinking. If your thinking is mixed up, your prayers will not be answered.
Romans 12:3 addresses thinking in the Christian life, “For I say through the grace which has been given to me to everyone who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion as God has assigned to each one a standard of thinking from doctrine.” (corrected translation)To be “rational without illusion” means to have no illusions about yourself. Once you reach spiritual self-esteem, you begin to recognize your abilities, your capabilities, what you can handle and what you cannot. (Galatians 6:3; I Corinthians 10:12) Romans 12:2, “Stop being conformed to this world [age], but be transformed by the renovation of your thought, that you may prove what the will of God is, namely, the good [spiritual self-esteem], the well-pleasing [spiritual autonomy], the complete [spiritual maturity].” To be able to think, you must not only develop a vocabulary for life, but you must come to understand the technical vocabulary of the Word of God, the “renovation of your thought.” You can never prove to yourself what the “will of God” for your life is without renovation of thought. The conflict of thought in the soul is brought out in Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord [positive volition to Bible doctrine] while He may be found.”
There are pseudo-solutions (human viewpoint) related to thinking. II Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the equipment and the weapons of our warfare [spiritual] are not human attributes, but attributes of power by means of God [Father], against the destruction of fortifications [cosmic thinking], assaulting and demolishing [with Bible doctrine] speculations [cosmic thinking, human viewpoint thinking] and every obstacle of arrogance against the knowledge of God; even making a prisoner of every thought [contrary to the will of God] to the obedience of Christ; holding in readiness [metabolized doctrine as an instant reaction force] to punish all deviation when your obedience has been fulfilled.” (corrected translation) You can capture erroneous thinking and supersede it with correct thinking only by means of Bible doctrine. This means that each stage of spiritual adulthood has the ability to destroy certain mental attitude doctrinal deviations. The advance to spiritual maturity through residence, function, and momentum inside the Divine Dynasphere provides an instant reaction force, doctrinal viewpoint for the “search and destroy missions” in our spiritual warfare.
When spiritual self-esteem combines with undeserved suffering for blessing to form spiritual autonomy, spiritual autonomy has dynamic force in this field of performing “search and destroy missions,” eliminating human viewpoint thinking. So each advance in spiritual adulthood eliminates a certain amount of human viewpoint that is resident in our thinking. When spiritual autonomy combines with momentum testing to form spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity functions in a “search and destroy mission” to eliminate another level of human viewpoint. And when spiritual maturity faces evidence testing to glorify God in the Angelic Conflict, even more human viewpoint is removed from the thinking.
Evidence testing is Satan’s “cross-examination” of every witness presented by God in Satan’s appeal trial. Every believer who attains spiritual maturity is an argument or witness for the Prosecution against Satan.
Man’s divine viewpoint thoughts are entered as evidence and argument for the Prosecution (God).
Believers so often oscillate between happiness and unhappiness, because there are too many areas of thinking that are strictly human viewpoint. When human viewpoint comes into conflict with divine viewpoint, instead of pushing aside divine viewpoint, there must be the “search and destroy missions” from your stored doctrine to eliminate human viewpoint from your life. Each stage of the advance in spiritual adulthood destroys more human viewpoint which has infiltrated the mind. To the extent that we have human viewpoint, we have a permanent source of unhappiness. To the extent that we have divine viewpoint, we have a permanent source of happiness!
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.
Spiritual growth 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).
Perception and metabolization of doctrine is the major part of worship which requires thinking. John 4:24 describes worship, “God is spirit. Those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” In Spirit refers to the filling of the Spirit in the Divine Dynasphere. In truth refers to the perception of Bible doctrine.
The communion service is a part of worship that requires thinking. This ritual is dependent upon memory, recalling Who Christ is, concentration and application of doctrine to fulfill the mandate, “Keep on doing this in memory of Me.” Even singing God’s praises is a part of worship that requires thinking. Without doctrine, singing is meaningless. With doctrine and divine viewpoint, singing God’s praises becomes meaningful. Too many reduce singing to a mere emotional response, which is not worship. The significance of music in worship depends upon your doctrinal thinking. In its proper use, the lyrics provide the doctrinal thoughts and the music provides the correct emotional response; the two are balanced in the worship of God.
Giving is also a system of thinking, from which you make decisions. But first there must be the proper attitude of grace generosity in the thinking of the soul. Generous people habitually give because they already have a generous mental attitude; it’s simply a matter of deciding where and what to give and when to give it. People without this generous mental attitude from Bible doctrine are calculated or stingy in their giving. A gracious giver is a person who has the divine viewpoint mental attitude of giving. He may give money, a kind word, thoughtfulness, good manners, or of himself in many ways. Giving is a mental attitude, not an overt act. God provides the right circumstances so that you can give your kindness, your thoughtfulness, yourself at a critical moment in another’s life. God utilizes your gracious mental attitude.
7. Prosperity testing
Every believer must pass the prosperity test before he can achieve spiritual maturity. Prosperity cannot bring happiness apart from the believer’s residence, function and momentum inside the Divine Dynasphere. Prosperity is the most subtle distraction to life in the Divine Dynasphere. Our capacity must always precede our prosperity. The only protection you have to pass this test is spiritual self-esteem. Prosperity cannot be accompanied by happiness unless the believer has spiritual self-esteem.
Satan’s cosmic system can offer you success, fame, wealth, promotion, social and professional prosperity, but all these without divine happiness will result in self-induced misery. The prosperity test is vitally necessary before reaching spiritual maturity. Passing this test consolidates the believer’s scale of values, making them consistent with the Protocol Plan of God, resulting in stabilizing the right priorities of life, and giving capacity to enjoy prosperity. Passing this test means that the spiritually mature believer receives God’s greatest prosperity – greater blessings while on earth and in eternity. If you are unhappy in the midst of prosperity, it means that you have failed the test. When you have the same happiness in prosperity as in adversity, you have passed the test. If you pass the test, you accelerate your spiritual growth.