Lesson for June 24, 2018
The Doctrine of Spirituality vs. Carnality
The Spiritual Walk of the Believer
Walking in a Worthy Manner
(Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10; I Thessalonians 2:12, 4:1)
In all the verses above, the Greek word for walk is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. It means what a person is occupied with. Applying that meaning to the worthy walk of a believer we must ask what is he to be occupied with? The answer to this question is Bible doctrine. If a believer is occupied with Bible doctrine, he will also be occupied with the Person of Jesus Christ by being occupied with the mind of Christ, which is the Word of God. Walking worthy is used for a command to advance to the objective of spiritual maturity by applying Bible doctrine on a consistent basis.
Since it is through the filling and power of God the Holy Spirit that we are able to learn and apply Bible doctrine, we must conclude that it is God Who makes us worthy. The virtue and integrity developed by the doctrine in our souls is God’s virtue and integrity. He alone gets all the glory for the worthy walk of a believer.
Walking in Wisdom
(Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:15)
The Greek word for walk in these verses is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. Wisdom is the Greek word “sophia,” which is a synonym for application of Bible doctrine. One meaning of the Greek root word of “sophia” means clear. Spiritual wisdom is a clear understanding of Bible doctrine and how it applies to your life. Spiritual wisdom is based on spiritual I.Q. not human I.Q. which means spiritual wisdom is based on a maximum amount of Bible doctrine in your soul. The more Bible doctrine you understand the more wisdom you exhibit.
Wisdom is knowing, understanding and doing the will of God. Wisdom is defined as knowledge of what is true or right combined with good judgment. The good judgment is the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit. (John 14:26) Good judgment is related to the believer’s scale of values, in which Bible doctrine is circulated in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness. You create a mirror in your soul, so that in the privacy of your priesthood you can look into the mirror of your soul anytime and see your spiritual status and your relationship with God, or failure to have harmonious rapport with God.
The foundation for wisdom is the filling of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom is the sum total of the teaching of Bible doctrine under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit and the positive response to that doctrine, resulting in perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.Wisdom understands both the will and the plan of God for your life. You have to know both. You have to know what the will of God is and what the overall plan of God is. The two go together. Wisdom begins when you understand that God has a plan for your life and you begin to see it from the Scripture, and then you begin to understand the spiritual life and use it. From this comes wisdom. You have to have wisdom and this wisdom must come from the accurate teaching of Bible doctrine.
You must have humility to have wisdom because no one is teachable apart from humility. With humility, your mind is open to teaching. Humility is the basis for teachability, and teachability is the road to wisdom. No one will attain wisdom apart from virtue and humility. From virtue comes great happiness. From humility comes great orientation to life.
Wisdom comes from the Word of God with emphasis on the New Testament epistles in the dispensation of the Church. We are to have wisdom regarding our life, our death, and our eternal resurrection body. This is all a part of the plan of God for us with regard to a personal sense of destiny. With this perspective a believer is able to live his Christian life in light of eternity. Our wisdom is based upon our interest in the plan of God for our life. How we arrive at death is based on how we lived our Christian life. Our perspective about death changes our perspective about life. God has a plan so that our life will be occupied with Christ and therefore dying will be profit. (Philippians 1:21)
Walk in Love
(Ephesians 5:1-2)
The Greek word for walk in these verses is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. Walking in love is to walk as Christ walked with unconditional love for everyone, which we call impersonal love. It is virtue in your soul developed as you reside and function inside the Divine Dynasphere that allows you to have a relaxed mental attitude toward others and treat them with kindness, compassion, patience and forgiveness. In other words, impersonal love is how we treat others. Therefore, impersonal love must be based on the virtue of the subject, the one doing the loving (“the treating”). Impersonal love is a function of the Royal Ambassadorship of the believer. It is our love for God that motivates us to exhibit impersonal love toward all. Impersonal love operates from the integrity and virtue that you have developed from learning and applying Bible doctrine.
As a Royal Ambassador, you represent God before the world. Therefore, as royalty, you are to conduct your life accordingly. This calls for high standards of excellence in every area of your life. It calls for honor in your dealings with your fellow-believers and with unbelievers alike. With Jesus Christ as our example, we are to exhibit the same kind of love that He exhibited. This kind of love can be accomplished only by a believer with Bible doctrine in the soul, who is being controlled by the Holy Spirit.
When we are properly functioning under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will adhere to the principles found throughout the Word of God. These principles will enable us to exhibit impersonal love toward others. This means that we will treat everyone with respect, not on the basis of our “pet prejudices” regarding race, social status, ability or what a person can or cannot do for us. We will refrain from gossip, maligning, judging, character assassination, etc. In other words, we will “live and let live.” The principle of treating everyone with respect also means that we will be tolerant, be thoughtful and be kind toward others. We will hold no grudges or resentment against anyone. (I John 4:17-18)
The Word of God teaches us how we are to love. We are to love unconditionally, as God loves. This means that we are to love others regardless of their race, their beliefs, their language, their place of birth, their body type, the color or style of their hair, their clothes, their behavior, etc. We are even to love them despite their sin. We love the “sinner” not the sin. And, of course, our great teacher was the Lord Jesus Christ. We simply need to practice loving in the same manner as He did. (I John 3:16-24; James 2:1-10)
Walk in Faith
(Romans 4:12)
The Greek word for walk in this verse is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. Walking by faith is the utilization of the Faith-Rest Technique. 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 consistently uses 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 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)
Walking in Truth
(II John 4-6; III John 3)
The Greek word for walk in these verses is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. Walking in truth is advancing in the Christian Way of Life through the application of accurate Bible doctrine. We must be doctrinally oriented to the truth found in the Bible before it can have any effect in our lives. The word “doctrinal” means pertaining to a teaching, a body of principles or a branch of knowledge. “Orientation” means familiarization with a particular person, thing or field of knowledge.
Doctrinal orientation, therefore, means to familiarize oneself with the teachings and principles of the Word of God. John 4:24 says that God is Spirit and those who worship are to worship in spirit and truth. Bible doctrine is the word of God the Father. (Hebrews 4:12) It is the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16) and the voice of God the Holy Spirit. (Hebrews 3:7)
The Word of God is profitable for doctrine (the body of teaching that we believe), for reproof (the Word of God is a mirror into our souls so that we can evaluate ourselves before God), for correction (once we evaluate ourselves and find there needs to be corrective action, the Word of God gives the correct course of action), and for instruction in righteousness (once we discover the right course of action, the Word of God gives us a blueprint of how to accomplish our goal). (John 16:12-13; II Timothy 3:16)
Walk Honestly
(Romans 13:13; I Thessalonians 4:1-12)
The Greek word for walk in these verses is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. The Greek word for honestly in the above verses is “eushemonos” and means decently, gracefully or honorably. Walking honestly with grace refers to our testimony before the world. It is God’s desire and His command that our lifestyle reflects the true nature of our positional relationship with God and follows the pattern set forth by Jesus Christ. It is impossible to live the Christian life without a spiritual life in place and functioning. The Christian life can be lived only under the filling and supernatural power of the God the Holy Spirit. When you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, your spiritual life is put on hold until you Rebound and get moving again.
How you treat others is a reflection of how your spiritual life is progressing. If you have a healthy spiritual life, then God is able to produce the character of Jesus Christ in you under the filling of the Holy Spirit and you will be able to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit toward others. God has provided everything that we need to fulfill the Christian Way of Life. We have more spiritual power in this dispensation than in any other in history. So it is not about getting more of the Holy Spirit, it is about Him getting more of us. Remember, to whom much is given, much is required and expected.
Walk Inside the Divine Dynasphere – God’s Power System
(Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 2:6)
The Greek word for walk in these verses is “peripateo,” which is used to express the entirety of a believer’s spiritual life. It is God’s plan for the Royal Family of God (Church Age believers). It is God’s will, plan and purpose for the spiritual life of believers. If a believer is operating in Satan’s world system, he is not operating in the Divine Dynasphere. Satan’s rulership of this world is administered through his own power system, while God’s rulership of believers is administered through God’s power system.
God’s power system is based on virtue (strength of character) and integrity (a strict adherence to divine truth). You cannot adhere to something that you know absolutely nothing about. For the believer with positive volition, virtue is motivational when directed toward God and functional when directed toward mankind or circumstances. In other words, when you begin to learn about God, His character and His attributes, you become motivated to love Him and depend on Him in every circumstance of life. As believers development their relationship with God, they are developing Christian integrity. Integrity is a state of being complete; an unimpaired state of honesty and purity; a soundness of moral principle; the character of uncorrupted virtue. In other words, integrity is uprightness of character or as Paul teaches – making your experience align with who you are as Royal Family of God. Christian integrity is loyalty to the truth of God’s Word. Within the Word of God truth exists in three categories: 1) the Laws of Divine Establishment 2) the Gospel message and 3) Bible doctrine. Residing in God’s power system is our loyalty to the truth in all three categories, which develops Christian integrity.
