Lesson for October 28, 2018
The Doctrine of Spirituality vs. Carnality
The Doctrine of the Lifestyle of Wisdom
The Lifestyle of Wisdom emphasizes relationship with God before relationship with people. The trend in “Christianity” is to emphasize the believer’s experience with people as taking precedence over the believer’s experience and relationship with God. This erroneous emphasis results in the idea that if you’re right in your relationships with people, you’re right in your relationship with God.
God is invisible, and He can become the object of our love only through understanding Bible doctrine. As long as a believer emphasizes his experience with people over his experience with God, he will always be under some form of suffering, self-induced misery, divine discipline, and will never advance beyond spiritual childhood. The Protocol Plan of God gives highest priority to relationship with God, not to relationship with people. Though we still have to interact with people and though there are certain people that we personally love, God should always be the number one Person in our lives.
People-emphasis over God-emphasis means a believer will never advance in the Christian life. Spiritual growth by means of learning and applying accurate Bible doctrine is the key to knowing and understanding God, His policies and His plan for us. When a believer remains in spiritual childhood after salvation, his priorities are toward things other than God and His Word. The result of wrong emphasis is a life of divine discipline and constant turmoil. A believer’s relationships with people and with life will keep him distracted and he will never advance beyond spiritual childhood until his number one priority is his relationship with God over his relationship with others. A right relationship with God results in a right relationship with others.
To give meaning, purpose, and definition to life, a believer must develop personal love for God. He must learn the doctrine regarding what he has and who he is as a believer in Jesus Christ. In order to accomplish this, he must find a pastor to teach him accurate Bible doctrine. By doing this, a believer can begin to learn the pertinent doctrines for spiritual growth. Those doctrines begin with knowing about Jesus Christ and what He did on the Cross and developing a love for Him. A believer also needs to learn about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and develop a love for Him. Learning the mechanics of fellowship with God and the filling of the Holy Spirit are the beginning of the development of a relationship with God.
The Lifestyle of Wisdom means advancing through the three stages of spiritual adulthood: 1) Spiritual self-esteem, which is spiritual self-confidence, the beginning of the effective use of the Problem Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age 2) Spiritual autonomy, which is spiritual independence and the continuation of effective function of the Problem Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God 3) Spiritual maturity, which is spiritual invincibility and maximum application of the Problem Solving Devices for the Protocol Plan of God.
The Lifestyle of Wisdom Characterized by Spiritual Self-Esteem
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 practice. Spiritual self-esteem results in maximum humility. Spiritual self-esteem is confidence in God, and His Word. It is not confidence in human viewpoint thinking. (Romans 12:1-3)
Spiritual self-esteem is attained through Bible doctrine in your soul, and as a result, things begin come into focus, spiritually. Things like sharing the happiness of God, which begins with contentment, which becomes capacity for life, love, and happiness in every circumstance of life. Execution of the spiritual life requires understanding the mechanics of the Christian Way of Life: mechanics related to your very own Portfolio of Invisible Assets, mechanics related to the Problem-Solving Devices and mechanics related to everything that God has given you.
Bible doctrine in a believer’s soul and the proper application of that doctrine to life in spiritual self-esteem keeps priorities aligned with accurate Bible doctrine. The proper application of Bible doctrine keeps a believer from“getting the cart before the horse.” Before any believer attempts to “serve the Lord,” they must first learn some doctrine. Failure to do this is the meaning of “getting the cart before the horse.” For example, no believer can be an effective witness for Christ until he fully understands how to clearly present the Gospel. An unclear presentation of the Gospel only confuses an unbeliever. Therefore, spiritual self-esteem keeps Christian service in proper perspective. Spiritual self-esteem gives you the spiritual strength to avoid the“beyond doctrine” movement which says, “Bible doctrine is not enough, there must be more,” which is normally tied to some emotional experience.
The advance to spiritual self-esteem occurs through the consistent learning and application of doctrine. Spiritual self-esteem includes the following characteristics: 1) learning accurate Bible doctrine from a pastor-teacher 2) humility, without which there is no teachability in life. 3) the development and use of spiritual common sense and good judgment based on Divine Viewpoint Thinking. 4) proper application of Bible doctrine 5) understanding and utilization of the Problem-Solving Devices 6) Divine Viewpoint Thinking replacing Human Viewpoint Thinking so the believer has the same mindset as Christ had 7) making good decisions from a position of strength instead of making bad decisions from a position of weakness.
Spiritual self-esteem is synonymous with a personal sense of destiny. The doctrinal status of spiritual 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 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.
Spiritual self-esteem recognizes that emotions are never the basis for the spiritual life. Spiritual self-esteem begins the process of spiritual adulthood where emotion as a controller of life is replaced with accurate Bible doctrine. Spiritual self-esteem continues to make Bible doctrine the number one priority 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. A believer with spiritual self-esteem eliminates arrogance as a rule of life, emotion as a criterion for the spiritual life and lack of problem solving. A believer with spiritual self-esteem begins by learning all the Problem-Solving Devices as a system.
The Problem-Solving Devices encompass every aspect of the Christian Way of Life, the victorious life that God has planned for every believer. The Problem-Solving Devices are to be used as a system of problem solving for every Christian, regardless of his stage of growth in the Christian life. In other words, no one ever outgrows the need to use all ten. Depending on the problem to be solved, a believer may use one or several of the devices simultaneously as the solution to any of life’s challenges. When learned, believed and applied, this system will stabilize, sustain, empower, and liberate a believer. Consistent utilization of the system will advance a believer far beyond what he can imagine, to a lifestyle of a relaxed mental attitude toward circumstances, toward self, toward others and most importantly, toward God.
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 reality and shock of one’s personal sins. A person’s personal sins are never as important as what Jesus Christ did on the Cross about our sins. We all 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, a believer has recovered fellowship with God and the filling of 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. Our happiness should never depend on the circumstances surrounding us. Our circumstances are not the issue in life. Bible doctrine must be more real to us than our circumstances.
Spiritual self-esteem is having a personal sense of destiny from Bible doctrine 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: personal love for God and impersonal love for all mankind. Spiritual self-esteem is the first stage of reaching 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. It is the first step in becoming an invisible hero since spiritual self-esteem includes grace orientation and results in humility rather than arrogance. Spiritual self-esteem always emphasizes the spiritual skills of being filled with the Spirit, learning and understanding Bible doctrine and the execution of the Protocol Plan of God.The person who keeps learning and applying accurate Bible doctrine will reach spiritual self-esteem.
Spiritual self-esteem is the beginning of 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. (Proverbs 9:9-10)
Bible doctrine in the soul is sustained by learning more doctrine than you forget. When this process is reversed, scar tissue can quickly be formed in the soul. This means that the believer must be consistent and persistent in Rebound when necessary and continually learn and live accurate Bible doctrine. Spiritual self-esteem becomes a “the mirror into the soul” so that a believer can evaluate his own spiritual life without the intrusion of others and make any necessary corrections as he advances to spiritual maturity. No Bible doctrine in the soul results in no “mirror into the soul.”
Understanding Bible doctrine and how to execute the Protocol Plan of God or even how to live the Christian Way of Life comes over a period of time as spiritual self-esteem is developed. Spiritual self-esteem results in development of a believer’s confidence in the Protocol Plan of God. The key to spiritual self-esteem is love and respect for God and His Word.