Sin Wants To Destroy You....

 ".. that they should repent, turn to God and do works befitting repentance." (Acts 26:20). 

"Testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21). 

"Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance." (Matt. 3:8). 

"He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." (Prov. 28:13). 

"Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin." (Ezek.18:30). 

God had warned Cain: "Sin wants to destroy you but don't let it!" (Gen. 4:7). God always precedes judgment with a warning.  There might come a time when we seek repentance with tears and it is hard to come by as in the case of Esau. We must heed the warning and take it seriously and know there is a time to repent! Today is the day of salvation!  Also, we can never look upon repentance as a finished work but should as an ongoing, continuing solution.  Just like we "keep" the faith, we "renew" our repentance.  We cannot ever say that we "had" faith if we do not "keep" the faith!  Likewise, we are not just "filled with the Spirit" once but continually!  God gives us a regular time to reflect on our sins when we partake of the Lord's Supper and we should take it seriously and not tolerate our pet sins.  Paul urges us to "examine ourselves" as a form of assurance of our salvation. 

We must realize that sin is spitting in God's face, offending his holiness, insulting his person, rejecting his truth, contradicting his truth, repudiating his justice, resisting his grace, nullifying his grace, contradicting his wisdom, and outright rebellion against His authority.  We need to "listen up" when God speaks to our hearts lest we turn a deaf ear to his voice and become spiritually hard of hearing.  We cannot excuse ourselves or rationalize our sins to justify ourselves.  This is a time as Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." If we do not know ourselves, how can we know God!  Also as the Greeks said, "Know thyself!"  

We cannot alter the truth of God to make ourselves look better or to blame others for our problems or sins.  We are all culpable and accountable to God and shall give an account of ourselves at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how we lived according to the grace given us. We must not water down the gospel message or dumb down it either to exclude the call to repent!  There will come a time when we violate even doing something when we know better and our own conscience judges us.  God is patient with us not willing any should perish and this means our salvation!  If we got what we deserved, we would be in hell! 

Now, Paul had a unique view of weakness: he would boast of his weakness so that the power of Christ would rest on him.  God's power is made perfect through our weakness.  The more we acknowledge our weakness and the more we depend upon the grace of God, the more glory we bring to God. Weakness to God is letting him get things done through us and depending upon him to use us.  Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to him. The problem is that most people will not admit their weaknesses and give a sham they are strong or masquerade as mighty in the faith when it is weak.  We need to be strong in faith not in self-confidence. We don't need self-esteem as much as God-esteem. It is also not how big our faith is, but how big our God is. Obedience must be viewed as the measure of faith: "By faith Abraham obeyed..." 

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith as God said, "Look unto Me and be saved...." Our focus is on him when we admit our weakness and need for him but many people are so self-confident and think they are so righteous they see no need for God.  Remember how Peter began to sink in the water when he got his eyes off Jesus? Well, we must focus on our Lord and give him authority over our lives and see things from his perspective. 

Now, I have mentioned but not defined or expounded on repentance itself. First, is it granted by grace when we believe (they go together as in believing repentance and penitent faith) according to Acts 20:21. They are linked just as works of repentance must follow to prove its genuineness. (Acts 26:20).  It is a complete and radical change of mind, will, and emotions toward our sin; not just a change of heart of opinion.  We must renounce our sins and begin a new life with Christ at the helm. We must turn from our sin and towards a walk with God. It is the missing ingredient to our faith because most preachers shy away from preaching on this topic.  It is more than just feeling sorry but actual control and change of direction.

We must become radicalized for God!   We must see the seriousness of our sin: rebellion, independence, faithlessness, lovelessness, and irresponsibility. We do a complete turnaround, about-face, or a 180 and this is more than a New Year's resolution, AA pledge, or turning over a  new leaf!  There can be no genuine repentance without saving faith! They go hand in hand or they do not save!   That is what Judas lacked though he was sorry for what he had done and betrayed innocent blood!  Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is An Obedient Believer?

"And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him" (Acts 5:32, ESV).
"Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..." (Matt. 28:20, ESV).
"And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal [not temporary, probationary, nor provisional!] salvation to all who obey him" (Heb. 5:9, ESV).
"For they have not all obeyed the gospel..." (Rom. 10:16, ESV).
"[I]n flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess. 1:8, ESV).

It has been wondered among believers what the obedient Christian looks like--can we spot them? Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments (cf. John 14:21). Obedience is the only test of faith according to John MacArthur, and can be distinguished but not separated from it, as they are equated and correlated in Heb. 3:17-18; Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7, and John 3:36. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said eloquently: "Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes." In Acts 5:32 it says that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him.

There is no such thing as a disobedient Christian as a subclass or rank of Christian, though Christians can and do disobey God and sin both willingly and unintentionally. We never reach a point of entire sanctification or perfectionism as Wesleyans and Deeper Life or Keswick movement people like to call it, because if we deny we have sinned we make Him a liar and His word is not in us according to 1 John 1:10. Also, Proverbs 20:9 (ESV) says, "Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure, I am clean from my sin?'" The psalmist said he'd seen the limit of all perfection in Psalm 119:96.

We are not fruit inspectors of each other's fruit but should examine ourselves carefully to see whether we are walking in the faith--don't break faith! In other words, we should be too busy in our walk with the Lord to wonder about our brother's walk and whether he is obedient. We should search our own hearts and examine our own fruits. The Spirit-filled life exhibits the fruit of the Spirit in increasing bounty as one matures because fruits are grown and if we abide in Christ they are a natural result.

The reason we obey God is that we are His creatures and it is fitting and proper as we owe Him this. We don't feel we have to as believers but want to or get to. God alone is worthy of our obeisance and homage. God's commandments are not burdensome (cf. 1 John 5:3) and we do them "in love." To love Him is to obey Him! The Bible was given to shed light on God's will and as believers, we naturally seek God's will in our lives as a matter of His lordship. All sin is disobedience according to Scripture, and we become more godly and less sin-prone as we mature in Christ. 

God's Word gives us instruction in righteousness. Bear in mind that it is God's Spirit living in us that gives us the power to overcome sin and obey Christ and become Christlike--we cannot do it on our own (the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible!). God's commandments are for our own good and He knows what is best for us. We must not rely on the energy of the flesh, but learn that He gives us the power in the Spirit--we don't have the freedom to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit.

The Navigators taught me a great truth: The obedient Christian is regularly involved in prayer, getting into Bible study and reading, fellowship and worship, and witness and outreach. We have both a ministry to our brothers and a mission to the unsaved in our obedience. There are Lone Ranger Christians who navigate solo and think they don't need the body--if you love Jesus, you will love His body! We must be "rooted and grounded" in the body of Christ and in the truth to have discernment and growth and move forward in our walk. It is absolutely impossible to be living in obedience apart from the discipline, nurture, discipleship, and fellowship of the body of Christ! We all need each other and no one, no matter how gifted, has all the gifts and doesn't need the other members of the body.

Furthermore, obedience not only implicates obedience to the Word per se, but to all dully delegated authority or "the powers that be" in Paul's lingo. A Christian must obey the law unless it is in clear contradiction to the Word. He is a good and upright or model citizen who not only exercises his rights but does his responsibilities. To obey authority also means parental and any authority in loco Dei or in the place of God, even an institution. The government is a God-ordained institution, just like the church and the family--but family is the premier authority and most important one to be protected. 

Another aspect of obedience is submission to one another in the name of Christ, and not lording in over others, for instance, but allowing Christ to rule in His body, the church. The final aspect of obedience that must take place is accountability because if one is a rogue all on his own and doing his own thing he is out of fellowship with Christ and disobedient to direct commands. Every believer needs accountability and is accountable, whether it is to his suiting or not.

In my personal walk, obedience is how I relate to the leading of the Holy Spirit as I walk in the Spirit and walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7). Paul said, "As many as are led by the Spirit are sons of God." The goal is to know Christ through the body and, our walk and make Him known by our testimony, witness, and mission. When I read the Word I get "Aha!" moments where I feel God speaking to me or me of something convicting, which you might call an existential experience--you can experience God in the Word and He has promised to use it to speak to us. I obey Christ by submitting to authority and not trying to make up my own rules, and do my own thing, like Israel was doing in Judges 21:25 ("each man did what was right in their own eyes...").

I believe prayer is the acid or litmus test of the believer and a true gauge of his pursuit of holiness and fellowship with God. Fellowship is another test to consider: '"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another ..." (1 John 1:7, ESV). God has put me in the ministry of doing a Bible study and I am being obedient by preparing and studying for that--when God considers us faithful, He puts us into the ministry. 

I also obey God by abiding (or staying in fellowship by having no unconfessed or unjudged sin) in Christ and being sensitive to the Spirit so as not to quench or grieve the Spirit I am ready to witness of my faith in obedience and look for open doors from God at all times, and thank God for every opportunity that He gives me to share my faith in observance of the Great Commission. In short, I have heard it expressed very well: A great Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment! There are many commandments in the Bible as well as prohibitions, but basically, we become a natural as we go on to know the Lord and walk with Him in faith and fellowship.

"... [A]nd a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7, ESV). Unbelievers are called "sons of disobedience" in Eph. 2:2 and God delights in obedience: "To obey is better than sacrifice..." (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22). Jesus said that you cannot love Him and be disobedient, for if we love Him we will obey Him as the proof of the pudding. Christ doesn't give suggestions, hints, or good advice, but commands! He instituted two ordinances to be done in His name and memory (baptism and communion). Jesus said, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me..." (John 14:21, ESV). What are these commands that are so pivotal to our salvation being fulfilled?

Jesus did say that His yoke is easy and His burden is light in Matt. 11:30, and John said in 1 John 5:3 that His "commands are not burdensome." "And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us" (1 John 3:23, ESV). Note that in the Upper Room Jesus instigated a new command: to love one another as Christ has loved us. He who loves another has fulfilled the Law! Paul says in Gal. 5:6 (NIV) that the only thing that matters is "faith expressing itself through love."

At the Bema or tribunal of Christ, our works will be judged, not our shortcomings and mistakes or sins, because they were judged at the cross, and this includes sins of omission. If Jesus commanded us to do something and we fail, it's a sin of omission. He is not going to inquire as to what school of theology or denomination we subscribed to, but will be interested in granting us rewards for the deeds done in the Spirit--the ones done in the energy of the flesh will be burned as wood, hay, and stubble in a fire (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-13). Sin can be defined as knowing the right thing to do and falling short or not doing it. There is a legitimate place for ignorance if it's not willful.

There is a danger in sectarian pride and bias, such as feeling you're right and everyone else is wrong or disobedient to the Word of Truth. Churches aren't saved en masse, but members individually as if going through a turnstile one at a time. A good believing and faithful Lutheran has the edge over a disobedient Baptist because churches don't save and aren't necessary for salvation, as Roman Catholics espouse, Christ alone is the Savior. However, it is important to remain faithful to the faith you were taught and to abide in the truth without apostasy or heresy. A church is a cult when they get exclusive and think they have a monopoly on the truth, or think they are superior to other churches or denominations.

The real reason we get baptized is that we are disciples who desire to follow our Lord and His example in baptism to inaugurate or make our testimony official and public. We should never feel that it is just a hurdle to jump over or test to pass to get accepted and that we "have to do it for salvation." Grace-oriented believers never feel they "have to" but that the "get to" or "want to" obey their Lord and do as He did, following in His steps. Baptism is a chance in a lifetime to get on track and give your testimony in public in order to be welcomed with "the right hand of fellowship" per Gal. 2:9 (ESV).

There are many measures and standards of obedience, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes: "And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him" (Acts 5:32, ESV). Whether we pray regularly and walk in the Spirit, abide in the Word, witness and fellowship and worship through association with the body of Christ are also crucial factors to weigh and consider.

You cannot say that Baptists are the obedient believers because they are correct in this ordinance (i.e., baptism), while Lutherans are disobedient. There are way too many aspects of obedience to just label believers like that due to sectarian bias. As Paul says in Rom. 1:5 that he wants to "bring about the obedience of the faith," he is primarily concerned with the entirety of the person's walk--the whole package, net effect, or sum total and result.

The church needs to fulfill the Great Commission to be obedient as a body, though individuals can do it, it's usually a joint and cooperative effort to evangelize, preach, teach, baptize, and disciple. As Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required." But teachers are especially responsible for disseminating sound doctrine and being good examples to the flock. Soli Deo Gloria!

Investing In A Spiritual Legacy...

 We all want to be remembered for some kind of legacy: The issues are preferably to be a good influence and force in this life.  We are worth more than our bottom line or portfolio! We all have a purpose in life that God has called us to and like Paul, we must not be disobedient to the heavenly vision,. Actually, we all make investments in life, hopefully, more in people than in things.  That entails being an exemplar or even a father-figure or mentor to someone who looks up to us for leadership: a chance for one-on-one discipleship and investment where it counts for all eternity, not just in a temporal sense; we may find that the best methodology is one person at a time and realizing that the numbers game doesn't all that matter to God but He judges our motives and faithfulness and then He blesses us!

Paul would venture not to speak of but what Christ had accomplished through him! (cf. Romans 15:18).  He realizes that he didn't preach or even plant churches without God's blessing and direction: God gave the increase though he planted or watered the seeds.  All our fruit must come from Him and all we accomplish through the power of the Spirit; He gets all the glory as Mother Teresa would say, "God hasn't called us to success but to faithfulness!" We all are given certain opportunities in life and must seize the day and make the most of them as we are only stewards of God's blessings, gifts, and provisions. 

David was known as a man after God's own heart and proved this by doing and fulfilling all God's will and he did it for the right reasons, not just to gain the approbation of God or favor of men, for He was interested in God's praise, not man's. God has a plan for each of us and we must complete it but it's up to God to fulfill His purpose for us; our job is to be obedient to the heavenly calling. We are to be obedient to the faith and to willingly do God's will, not by compulsion. We must realize that  the Christian testimony is one of relinquishment and being subordinate to God's will as the motto of Jesus' life doubtless was:  "Thy will be done!"  

There is no such thing as a disobedient Christian because we receive Him as Lord and it's contradictory to say, "No, Lord!"  He gives His Spirit to those who obey Him (cf. Acts 2:39).  Our response must be the continuous "Yes!" and "Amen!"   But we cannot say "Yes" to Jesus before we say "No" to ourselves! Note that part of the Great Commission is to teach disciples to obey all Jesus taught. As disciples then we enroll in the school of Christ because a disciple is a learner. 

Now being called by God is not for some elite Christians but for them all. God will fulfill His purpose for you!  But we must be open to God when He opens or closes doors. We don't aim toward knowledge but changed lives, the whole point of conversion, knowing that availability is the key, not just ability. It's up to God to bless and the results are in His hands, not ours! Remember: Our life is but a staging area or tryout and audition for eternity and the chords we strike may vibrate for all time; we will be remembered in some sense but hopefully for goodwill toward our fellow man and faithfulness toward God.  

We must bear in mind that we will be judged for our works (cf. Romans 2:6) whether they are worthy of reward and not wood, hay, and stubble to be burned in the fire (cf 1 Cor. 3:15).  Our faith is not judged, for that is the gift of God, but what we do with it as our gift to God; in essence, God rewards us for what He accomplishes through us.  It's not about human achievement but a divine accomplishment that matters for eternity.   The point in life is not to leave a material legacy or even to be remembered, but to make a difference as far as Gods' will goes--to fulfill all His purpose for you and bring glory to His name. 

In sum, we must acknowledge that we are being used by God for His purposes as either a vessel of honor or dishonor, which shall not fail;  we must not boast as if we have done it of our own accord and independent of God's blessing on our task.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

He That Is Spiritual III

 Le

Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder and first chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary (the largest Protestant seminary on earth) wrote a book in 1918, He That Is Spiritual, to delineate the so-called carnal Christian as contrasted with the so-called spiritual ones. An unbeliever was called the natural man. This dichotomy of believers is unbiblical and misleading. Any Christian can become carnal by sin, and all he needs to do is to confess it per 1 John 1:9--carnality is no perpetual or permanent state. We all live in a state of perpetual and progressive confession and repentance--the unrepentant person is not saved. John says that a Christian doesn't continue in sin, and this means he makes it his way of life, though he may live a defeated life, there is some life to his faith or it is dead faith producing no works, which cannot save.

The whole purpose of faith is to produce the workmanship of God, foreordained by God, that we should walk in it (cf. Eph. 2:10). Spiritual believers are not those who go overboard or are fanatical or so-called Jesus freaks, but those who walk with God in the Spirit. They are realizing their potential of the fruit of the Spirit, and of knowing the Lord. The Christian life that is spiritual is one that enjoys fellowship with God and other believers. All believers are exhorted to read the Bible, witness, and pray; not just the clergy.


The spiritual man has relinquished ownership and the throne of his life to Christ, he has surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, and he lives the substituted or exchanged life with Christ living through him. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (cf. Gal. 2:20). This can only be accomplished by a believer in sync with God's will, and willing to follow Jesus wherever he may lead. The spiritual man has learned the secret of "inhabitation," as opposed to "imitation."

The obedient Christian does these things and the only test of faith is obedience. A. W. Tozer, in I Call it Heresy!, says: "The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command. He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe in a half-Christ. We take Him for what He is --the anointed Saviour and Lord...." We see our faith in action by our good works according to James. Paul would say we see our good works by our faith. They go hand in hand. In other words: As Lutheran martyr, preacher, and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient, only he who is obedient believes." (Note that it was by faith that Abraham obeyed, as written in Heb. 11:8.) The ultimate result is the fruit of a changed life, not an ascetic or mystic one that parades or charades as spiritual.


The spiritual man is appraised of no one, because of the wisdom of God and, if we have the Spirit, we are spiritual. The natural man cannot comprehend spiritual truth, for Satan has blinded his eyes. We need the eyes of our hearts opened to see spiritual truths. Some believers are more mature in the faith and know the Lord better, but all of them are spiritual. There's no class system or caste system in Christianity, we are all brethren and one in Christ. We should not idolize our fellow believers, even if they seem to be spiritual giants. We should never try to give the impression we are more "spiritual" than other believers or have a holier-than-thou attitude. By the same token, we shouldn't be intimidated by others and develop an inferiority complex. Christ's church has no spiritual elite or privileged class, for God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality (cf. Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11).

We all have different gifts and we don't have anything the Lord has not given us (cf. 1 Cor. 4:7). It is the Spirit that matters, not the gift that makes us spiritual. In exercising one's gift, what matters is the spirit that he uses it in. Believers have no excuse not to understand Scripture, pray, and witness and should enjoy the fruits of fellowship and worship in the body because they have the illuminating ministry of the Spirit.


We are all works in progress and improving from faith to faith (cf. Rom. 1:17); no one can claim to have "arrived" or to have met the goal and won the prize (cf. Phil. 3:13-14). We are in the process of maturing in Christ, but it is the direction we are going that counts and is the test, while perfection is the standard (cf. Matt. 5:48). We must bear fruit as proof of our faith, or it is bogus--no fruit means no faith, and ergo no salvation. (Jesus said we shall know them by their fruits in Matt. 7:16.) We can only find meaning, purpose, and fulfillment ultimately in Christ: "There is a God-shaped blank, and only God can fill it." (old axiom). Soli Deo Gloria!

He That Is Spiritual II

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God" (Rom. 8:14).



It has been said that a Christian has a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which He loves, a voice through which He speaks, and hands through which He helps--this is the epitome of spirituality--to know Christ and make Him known.


That was the title of the 1918 book by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, that made him a renowned and celebrated theologian. Who is? This is a vital and bona fide question: Like someone has said, "We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers!" When we are spiritual we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in a manifold manner. There is no certain manifestation, such as talking about Jesus or the Bible. Sometimes just touching base with someone in love and charity and meeting their needs is genuine fellowship and expression of being spiritual. There are telltale signs of spirituality: A famous saying goes thus: Where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is hope; where there is hope there is peace; where there is peace there is Jesus! I have learned this and have observed it: God meets us where we are and knows where we are! We don't always need someone to preach at us, but sometimes we need a listening and sympathetic ear.


Just think of all the possibilities of expressing the nine winsome graces given by the filling of the Holy Spirit. Wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there He is. The one who is spiritual simply walks in the Spirit and has continual fellowship with the Lord (keeping short accounts of his sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The spiritual one simply is in touch with God and meets people's needs and is not self-centered, but Christ-centered. He lives for Christ and not for himself. This does not necessarily refer to a level of maturity or of being mature per se, because sometimes a baby believer can be more spiritual than the seasoned.


No one can claim to be always spiritual or that they have "arrived" at such a point of perfection, of not being conscious of sin or shortcomings. Sometimes the wisest remarks can proceed out of the mouths of babes, as Jesus noticed: Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants..." I believe children can even be used by God: a child's voice convicted St. Augustine said: "Take and read, take and read."


He that is spiritual simply walks with the Lord as Enoch and Noah ("Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God")-and we have this privilege too! It is a "faith-walk" because "we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:17). There is no veneer to see through or guise of spirituality, such as hypocrisy (he has nothing to hide and is straightforward in speech), but a genuineness and authenticity in action. He is the real thing, an original! He's not out to outshine someone or be a rival. "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments' (1 Cor. 2:15). There is a certain natural ability to discern the Spirit, in other words. Whatever he does, he does to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)!


There is no inherent dichotomy or division of believers into classes of spiritual and non-spiritual, first-class and second-class, or what Chafer mistakenly believed to be carnal and spiritual Christians. Just like it is wrong to have a "holier than thou" attitude (cf. Isa. 65:5), it is wrong to deceive yourself into thinking you are more spiritual than your brethren--you either are spiritual or you're not--there are no degrees to graduate to.


Any believer can be carnal or spiritual at any given period of time, it is not a given (each day one must start all over in their walk: "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25). "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24), and he must "abide in Christ" or stay in fellowship with God in order to walk in step with Him. The most spiritually mature can indeed fall into sin like David did but he will ultimately recover and his carnality will not be a permanent or continuous state. The continuity of our status in Christ never changes; only our state of fellowship and relationship and/or sanctification.


This doctrine need not be problematic or an issue at all: "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). We are indeed free in Christ: not free to live according to the flesh and our old nature, but power to live in the new nature or spirit. The old nature knows no law, the new nature needs no law! In other words: Freedom to do what we ought, not what we want! We've never had the right to do what is right in our own eyes or to do what is scripturally wrong. In sum, "So we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step [pace] with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). Soli Deo Gloria!

He That Is Spiritual

 It has been said that a Christian has a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which He loves, a voice through which He speaks, and hands through which He helps--this is the epitome of spirituality--to know Christ and make Him known.

"O that they were wise, that they would understand this, that they would consider their latter end!" (Deut. 32:29, KJV).


That was the title of the 1918 book by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, that made him a renowned and celebrated theologian.  Who is?  This is a vital and bona fide question:  Like G. K. Chesterton has said, "We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers!"  When we are spiritual we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in a manifold manner.  There is no certain manifestation, such as talking about Jesus or the Bible.  Sometimes just touching base with someone in love and charity and meeting their needs is genuine fellowship and expression of being spiritual. There are telltale signs of spirituality:  A famous saying goes thus:  Where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is hope; where there is hope there is peace; where there is peace there is Jesus!  I have learned this and have observed it:  God meets us where we are and knows where we are!  We don't always need someone to preach at us, but sometimes we need a listening and sympathetic ear.


Just think of all the possibilities of expressing the nine winsome graces given by the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there He is.  The one who is spiritual simply walks in the Spirit and has continual fellowship with the Lord (keeping short accounts of his sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  The spiritual one simply is in touch with God and meets people's needs and is not self-centered, but Christ-centered.  He lives for Christ and not for himself.  This does not necessarily refer to a level of maturity or of being mature per se, because sometimes a baby believer can be more spiritual than the seasoned.


No one can claim to be always spiritual or that they have "arrived" at such a point of perfection, of not being conscious of sin or shortcomings.  Sometimes the wisest remarks can proceed out of the mouths of infants (cf. Matt. 21:16), as Jesus noticed:  Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants..."  I believe children can even be used by God: a child's voice convicted St. Augustine said:  "Take and read, take and read."  Proverbs 20:9, HCSB, says, "'Who can say ,"I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin?'"

He that is spiritual simply walks with the Lord as Enoch and Noah ("Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God," Gen. 6:9)--and we have this privilege too!  It is a "faith-walk" because "we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).  There is no veneer to see through or guise of spirituality, such as hypocrisy (he has nothing to hide and is straightforward in speech), but a genuineness and authenticity in action. He is the real thing, an original!  He's not out to outshine someone or be a rival.  "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments'  (1 Cor. 2:15).  There is a certain natural ability to discern the Spirit, in other words.  Whatever he does, he does to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)!


There is no inherent dichotomy or division of believers into classes of spiritual and non-spiritual, first-class and second-class, or what Chafer mistakenly believed to be carnal and spiritual Christians. Just like it is wrong to have a "holier than thou" attitude (cf. Isa. 65:5), it is wrong to deceive yourself into thinking you are more spiritual than your brethren--you either are spiritual or you're not--there are no degrees to graduate to.   Any believer can be carnal or spiritual at any given period of time, it is not a given (each day one must start all over in their walk:  "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25).  "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24), and he must "abide in Christ" or stay in fellowship with God in order to walk in step with Him.  The most spiritually mature can indeed fall into sin like David did but he will ultimately recover and his carnality will not be a permanent or continuous state. The continuity of our status in Christ never changes; only our state of fellowship and relationship and/or sanctification.

This doctrine need not be problematic or an issue at all:  "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh"  (Gal. 5:16). We are indeed free in Christ:  not free to live according to the flesh and our old nature, but power to live in the new nature or spirit.  The old nature knows no law, the new nature needs no law!  In other words:  Freedom to do what we ought, not what we want! We've never had the right to do what is right in our own eyes or to do what is scripturally wrong.  In sum,  "So we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step [pace] with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Renewed In The Spirit

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (cf. Prov.23:7).
"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life," (cf Prov. 4:23).  

We are not just spirits but souls, minds, wills, and emotive elements--we are complex creatures, not so easily analyzed!   We are musical, rational, contemplative, planning,  religious, and humorous creatures, unlike the animal kingdom.  We are complicated individuals that defy the principles of the animal kingdom because we are hard-wired to work, be creative, and worship--to have a purpose in life, fulfilled with meaning, and having a destiny in God.  Apart from God, we would have no meaning or dignity in life  Thus, our worth as humans is extrinsic and not intrinsic, not inherit but only because we are formed in God's image.

We are not animals who are merely seeking pleasure and avoiding pain while spending their purpose being in heat.  Have you ever observed an animal building a chapel? They are oblivious to the spiritual world and what really matters in life. We seek fulfillment that only God can make us complete in. We are incomplete apart from our destiny to know God.  But the downside of being in God's image is that we are capable of sin and moral behavior and accountability and have capitalized on that freedom by sinning and rebelling against God to show our autonomy and independent spirit. We don't naturally believe in God but are people of unbelief, skepticism, sarcasm, and doubt.  We don't want to even believe in God apart from an act of grace to soften and quicken our souls.

But note that we must come to a change of heart to be renewed in our spirits. This is by regeneration. If we could come to faith in God apart from it, it's not necessary and we don't need God--we just have a flesh wound in our nature, not a permanent defect from our Fall in Adam whereby we are in solidarity with Adam and cannot not sin; i.e, being incapable of not sinning.  Yes, that means all we can do naturally apart from grace is to sin!  Sin separates us from God and He will not even hear us apart from repentance and faith.  Not what must be pointed out is that we think with our hearts and with our minds--not to go by emotions alone apart from reasoning.  We alone are capable of spiritual thoughts and to think on the divine level, contemplating the Almighty and the eternal nature of God--God has put this eternity into our hearts, to wonder of the afterlife.

This means we can be renewed in our thinking or get our thinking straightened out both spiritually and intellectually.  We can become enlightened and informed; i.e.,, we can become illuminated with insight and educated.  Everything isn't a matter of proper facts and data, but of knowing God.  The goal is to know God and apply this knowledge.  To have this mind which was in Christ! What we fixate our thought life on makes all the difference and we have a volition that can decide this ourselves--we are all culpable to control our own thought life and not let it be controlled by our worst impulses or lower nature and instincts.

We must realize to focus our minds on Christ and dwell on spiritual things that are productive and positive influences for good. We must be responsible that the kind of input we give our brains influences our behavior and conduct.  Thoughts are the souls of the act!  And we must note that we reap what we sow,  we must guard our thoughts in Christ to get aligned with His will. We are all a lost opportunity away from throwing away our lives and wasting our brains, a terrible thing to exploit or misuse--no one has the right to live life without purpose or goals.  As they say in tech language, GIGO or garbage in equals garbage out. What we can expect is only as good as the exposure we get from the divine and the influences they have.

Ultimately, the end result depends upon cultivating the fruit of the Spirit, for we are incapable of cleaning up our act and self-reformation, of saving ourselves.  We are morally degenerate and this can be proved by experience.   We cannot deny our own reality. We all need an enabler to live a fruitful life in the Spirit and that Enabler is Christ, our Advocate, Comforter, and Counselor.  He is on our side and finds a way to come to our rescue as our Savior. We can only guard the spirit of our minds in Christ and say no to the flesh before we can say yes to Him.   We must not live in denial and stop thinking we alone can produce good works apart from God; our righteousness then is God's gift to us, not our gift to God.  It is a known fact that the nature we feed is the one that will predominate in our demeanor, behavior, and disposition. To sow to the flesh yields the fruits of the flesh!  That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Only walking in the Spirit is the way to defeat the powers and weaknesses of the flesh, to walk in the inclinations of the flesh is evil. Thus, we are responsible to feed our minds with that which is good and pure and of good report, anything virtuous that no one can deny being a positive influence or force for good.  But remember, our God is not just a force or influence, but a Person to know, not even a creed to believe--we must put this faith into practice and turn our creeds into deeds because the faith we have is the faith we show!  The reality of faith is not the profession of it and we all start by the shaping of our minds into Christ's image being converted to the Way of the Spirit or to be wholly devoted and focused on Christ, not self-absorbed.

We all can even become optimists and say that it's not all that bad, but the point is not that we are not bad as we can be but as bad off as can be and need supernatural intervention from God, a miracle to change our nature of degeneration.  Let us, therefore, have our thoughts fixated on Christ and renewed in His image, and this can only happen by an act of God, we have no power to just turn over a new leaf, make a New Year's resolution, or an AA pledge that is going to change our minds.  We must be changed from the inside out. This is the divine formula: worry about nothing, pray about anything, and thank about everything.  Nothing is too small nor too big for God's heart and attention--it's all small stuff to Him.

The key to spirituality is to feed our spiritual nature, to put off the flesh, the old man, with its natural desires that war against the Spirit, and get to know our God more clearly [which is the sign of the believer and the goal of our salvation], to be able to follow Him more closely and to love Him more dearly as Richard of Chichester put it. Yes, we all have an ethic worth living out and fulfilling--to follow Christ, its essence.  We must have faith not one we can live with, but one we will die for.  This is how we bring Christ to the world by our witness and life that is the salt and light for a troubled world.

As a result, we will become new people renewed after the image of Christ, but also with a new lease on life to share this new experience in Christ. Then we will be able to recite with Paul:  To live is Christ, to die is gain.  We know of the goodness of Christ because we have tasted of Him: "Taste and see that the LORD is good,"(cf. 1 Pet. 2:2; Psalm 34:8) and we can know the proof of the pudding is in the eating and no one can persuade us otherwise.  To love Christ, then is to be preoccupied with Him who has priority and ownership over our lives.  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Antidote To Anxiety

Anxiety is real and we don't want to rub it in when someone suffers it as if they're not doing something right or the solution is easy. But we must learn to avoid anxiety disorders or when we are consumed within and don't believe there is a cure. Whatever the illness there is a cure.   For every problem, Christ is the answer--He is the ultimate Answerer! Don't just evade the issue and claim or promise you'll pray for them!   We are only going to have confidence if we learn to trust God in these trying times we are facing.  Sometimes we are let down by our own high expectations and see the solution as simplistic and not real.  But never lose faith in God:  Expect great things from Him and attempt great things for Him, as William Carey said.

We all must come to the place of humbling ourselves before the feet of Jesus and realize we don't know it all.  We must stop trying to save ourselves.  That is to say, that truth is the proper antidote to all errors and the Holy Spirit will convict us of our error and help us to get off the vicious cycle of anxiety due to lack of a proper or spiritual mindset. There is a peace that is beyond our understanding and surpasses knowledge in Christ if we know Him.  But we must be oriented to reality and truth is what corresponds to reality and that ultimate reality is God and to know Him in truth, for He is the God of truth.  Ignorance is not bliss!  We can attribute most anxiety to willful ignorance and people not seeking the truth in Jesus.

The goal of the peace of God is to have peace with God first and that means to see life from His perspective and will, not in ours.  The whole church has the duty of seeing the light and teaching the truth to the flock and truth is the enemy of anxiety because we get properly oriented.  We have one offensive weapon against anxiety--the Word of God.  But God wants our prayers and wants us to seek His will. Sometimes that's all it takes, is to take it to the Lord in prayer and to make our requests known!  We are to worry about nothing, pray about anything, and thank God for everything!

Jesus said that the truth shall set us free and He meant that also from our own anxieties and hangups, especially free from the bondage of our own sins.  We are our own worst enemies and are enslaved by the power we choose to obey--by whatever defeats us!  We can live in the defeat of our own emotions or be set free from their power, for if we walk by the Spirit we are not under the power of the flesh! Joy is the ultimate panacea to anxiety (it's all a matter of our mindset and attitude which we can choose) and this is by the fruit of the Spirit and if we are walking with God we cannot not be joyful--it's automatic, a given!   But remember, gifts are given but fruits are grown; i.e., we must learn to cultivate joy and the fruit of the Spirit by obedience to the Lord--obedience is the only test of our walk by faith--not ecstasies or experiences.

Knowing the fundamentals of basic doctrine is vital to our victorious life in the Spirit because we need a right and peaceful mindset controlled by the Spirit--"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."  The mind of the flesh is at enmity against God and is easily led astray and becomes prey to divers false and strange teachings. Such as are those who have an itching ear to hear what they want to hear and false prophets preying on their curiosities and natural inclinations.  In other words, if you have your thinking straightened out, you are less likely to be fooled by Satan's schemes and deceptions, being led astray by his wiles and schemes.  We are exhorted to be "renewed in the spirit of our minds" and to "hold captive all our thoughts to the obedience of Christ."  This is where the body of Christ comes to our rescue to save us from the captivity to our own wrong and sinful thinking.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Quench Not The Spirit!

"Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature," (cf. Gal. 5:16).  

Paul exhorts us two things regarding the Spirit not to do:  quench not and grieve not. God feels our pains and when sin.  We are not to put out the Spirit's present fire nor to be a source of sadness to others or God, in that when we sin or go astray from the truth it hurts God more than us and He must chastise us to bring us back and get our attention (cf. Job 36:15).    We can quench the Spirit even in others by being argumentative, divisive, judgmental, or contentions.  Remember, the servant of the Lord must not quarrel (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24) and also that party politics can divide an otherwise healthy church--people have their personal and political loyalties too. 

It is wise to leave one's politics at home and be one in the Spirit at church, even loving those of the opposite persuasion.  It is a bad sign when you get bummed out going to church because of some offensive believer who chooses to parade or flaunt his freedom in Christ and take stands that are not harmonious or seeks validation for his personal agenda. Remember the axiom: bad news travels fast, especially gossip or useless information.

Some brethren can get a reputation for having an insider view or private heresy that he is nursing or even propagating.  One stipulation of the body is to have a basic agreement in foundational Christian doctrines (cf. Psa. 11:3) you would expect in any Christian church. The chief problem of division is that it encourages rogue leaders and failure to be submissive to the church program or discipline.  Members may not even know who to go to in times of need or who are the spiritual leaders.   

This is where lack of leadership, even hypocrisy come in and further erode the fellowship. A certain amount of self-discipline is expected and the church cannot be another playground to advance one's personal program but must get with the program. In sectarian spirit, the problem isn't lack of knowledge as if all believers need is enlightenment to get their thinking straightened out, but to learn how to show love, first to those in their own sphere of influence or circle of friends, within the church and then without.

We all must learn to walk in the Spirit not to give in to the desires of the flesh, which has a tendency to divide and conquer just like the devil's chief strategy (cf. 2 Cor. 2:4).  There may be feuds or even bad blood in the body to be reconciled, even in the most harmonious of churches.  Now, we may have trials, tribulations, adversities, afflictions, or tests of our faith and we must settle the lordship issue of giving ownership of our lives over to Christ.  The joy comes only when we own Him as Lord and the fellowship of His suffering.  We can defy our circumstances, live above them, and even praise God for our trials because they build character and patience.  The more we yield to God's sovereignty, or give Him lordship, the freer we are--slavery to Christ is the way to be set free as Christ said: "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed."

A key dictum of St. Augustine was "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."    We are never to find a case against one another that we hold a grudge. It's not that those who disagree with you need a lecture or to become informed as much as you need a lesson in loving those you disagree with and in your tolerance of them.  Once we learn to stay in fellowship by keeping short accounts with God, coming clean, and being sensitive to the Spirit, we can then be a blessing to others and contribute to the growth of the body and not just be one to get a blessing.  

This is where fellowship and family come in to play: we are one body in Christ, one in Spirit, and one body to work together for all as a community being sensitive to the needs of the body, submitting to one another in the spirit of love and cooperation   Some of us may need an awakening and to be encouraged in the Word or the fellowship of the body but the same Spirit dwells in each of us and we  are all partakers of it and made to drink of the same Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13)

We are exhorted to constantly seek His face and presence by drawing near to God (cf. Js. 4:8) as Brother Lawrence, the seventeenth-century Carmelite monk, wrote in his book, The Practice of the Presence of God. We can do as he was wont to do and always take it to the Lord in prayer but be supported by the giving or our burden to Him and admitting our needs--nothing too trivial nor big for God.  We can know that the Lord is near and experience His anointing too--when we become sensitive to the leading of the Spirit.  

What we must learn is to acknowledge and praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He's done--that's worship. then we will experience intimacy with God and find joy in the circumstance because we are in a win-win situation with God who is on our side (cf. Psa. 56:9) and we are more than conquerors through Him (cf. Rom. 8:37).  In sum, if we learn to walk in the Spirit not quenching it, we will have the fruit of the Spirit manifest in joy.        Soli Deo Gloria!

The Battle Is The Lord's

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, NIV).  

"The battle is the LORD's," (cf. 2 Chron. 20:15). 

HOW'S THE BATTLE?  We are engaged in great angelic conflict in which we have no chance of coming clean without God's help using the military armor of God.  We sin over and over again to be forgiven over and over again, sometimes for the same old sins (we certainly don't want new ones to worry about). Sin is like the smoking habit:  it enslaves us and alienates us from others.  People don't accept smokers as being "good" or polite company, especially when they light up without permission or even in your face.  Cigarettes can become a god or crutch just like our bellies!

"People are enslaved by whatever defeats them," (cf. 2 Peter 2:19, HCSB). [Smokes!]   Alcohol can be a god but people can become addicted for life as a crutch because they haven't learned to lean on God and trust in Him in times of need, knowing "the central neurosis of man is emptiness"--Carl Gustaf Jung. They need therapy!  NB:  "You belong to the power you choose to obey," (Rom. 6:16, HCSB).  We are bad, but not too bad to be saved!

That's why the first step in recovery is admitting slavery; that you cannot overcome it by yourself and need a "higher power," or a buddy.  It wants to destroy us but we must not let it (cf. Gen. 4:7).   Most men look for some outlet to let off steam, whether in escapism or in fantasies.  They won't admit they "cannot see clearly," or they are clueless.  Drugs seem to offer temporary solutions/fixes but the long-term effects aren't worth it and make one worse off.  We must realize how bad we are to be good, and we don't realize how bad we are till we've tried to be good (a catch-22).

We must realize that our lives our not our own and God has first dibs on our bodies because He owns them.   In God's economy, we must surrender daily; it's not a one-time event done at salvation, but a progressive one never to end.  We are to be continually filled with the Spirit (cf. Eph. 5:18) to live the Christian life, not just have the filling we all received upon salvation as evidence of our initiation into the body of Christ.

When we get saved, we engage in the mop-up effort to defeat Satan, who's already doomed because of Christ's victory at the cross. We cannot do this alone but need the body of Christ and must not become solitary saints thinking we can defeat the enemy on our own. This battle is a joint effort of the body of Christ where everyone has a ministry and mission to complete in God's plan for their lives.   That's where the ministry of the local church comes in to equip the saints.  Hezekiah felt overwhelmed by his enemies and was reassured that the battle is the Lord's (cf. 2 Chron. 20:15)!  God is on our side, He is fighting for us, and He is using us!

The good thing about our so-called slavery to sin is that where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more, as John Bunyan wrote, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, to describe his testimony and his self-estimation.   We must also realize God's grace is not only necessary for us for but we can do nothing without it, but that it's sufficient--we cannot merit it nor add to it nor subtract from it.  Grace means that you don't deserve it!

We don't believe in Jesus and try to be good!  We're a new creation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).   We don't try, we trust because it must be Christ who changes us, not us turning over a new leaf or making a New  Year's resolution, or an AA pledge. God's grace to us is infinite and we cannot exhaust it, He never gives up on us but we can give up on Him!  We are the ultimate works in progress that God isn't finished with yet (cf. Phil. 1:6).

We all have failed the Lord and must realize that we can come clean by confessing our known sins, keeping a short account with God (cf. 1 John 1:9).  Prov. 28:13 says that if we confess and forsake them we shall find mercy and if we hide them we will not prosper!  But if we have unconfessed sin our prayers are hindered and blocked due to us being out of fellowship and in need of restoration or reconciliation (cf. Psa. 66:18; Isa. 59:2). We are to examine ourselves periodically for the sake of fellowship with the body of Christ at least during the Lord's Supper celebration (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28) and we should always examine our hearts to see if it's really Christ living there (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).

We must be in awe of God's economy because the way to be filled is first to be emptied!  The more readily we confess, the easier filled.  As we get closer to God, the more we see our flaws and shortcomings, especially "laying aside every weight, and the sin which easily besets us" (cf. Heb. 12:1, KJV).  "Love covers a multitude of sins" (cf. 1 Pet. 4:8, HCSB).  NB:  But "the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation."  --Henry David Thoreau

All in all, we must give God some credit for delivering us from ourselves, for we are our own worst enemy.  It's not just you and I, that's the way it is and ought to be--to rely on God--we don't try, we trust!   In summation, the way to change our lives is by full surrender and to have a change of heart, (will, attitude, and understanding of our sins)--renouncing them and coming clean.  Soli Deo Gloria!

How Shall We Then Live?...

"And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2, KJV). 
Francis Schaeffer wrote a book by this title too, showing its importance.  The question we all must answer:  "How shall we live in light of eternity?"  Jesus didn't tell us to close shop and stop working to wait till He comes but Matthew Henry said that we should live each day as if it's our last!  Jesus told us to occupy till [He] comes and be ready!  But we are to be ready and watch for Christ's coming and live our life to have maximum impact on eternity. We aren't seeking to be remembered but to be obedient. 

We see eternal results in everything; all we do strikes a chord that will vibrate for eternity.  Everything will either be rewarded or not, and in time we can be disciplined for what we do if not in God's will.   Paul said that to him "to die is gain" not as a death wish but he meant that he saw eternity in a better light than imagined ("what no human mind has conceived"). He only said this because he had a clear concept of heaven with no misconceptions or delusions to live the good life.

Living in light of eternity inspires us to do good deeds and to have a good testimony to the world at large so they get saved as a result.  It helps us in our trials, seeing that they are only temporal and serve an eternal purpose.  In short, we become purpose-driven.  We prove and validate our faith by our deeds--the faith we have is the faith we show and authenticate.   The more we see Jesus coming soon, the more eager we will be to show our faith also because we will see the urgency of the Great Commission relative to our personal lives. We will want to pass it on and become contagious Christians.  We will be eager to make others ready and to stop living for the moment and the here and now.  What we look forward to affects our worldview and how we interpret life in general.  When the "Desire of all nations" (cf. Haggai 2:7) comes at His Parousia, we will be transformed to become like Him, but we can have a taste of the good things to come now:  "Taste and see that the LORD is good." But now we can see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living (cf. Psalm 27:13, KJV).

We are simply pilgrims, aliens, foreigners, and even strangers in this life and to the world, and passing through, not meant to make ourselves at home here--we don't belong here!  But God has a place for us in His plan. God has an eternal purpose for our lives that He will fulfill and not give up on us.  We are on a spiritual journey too, growing in our relationship with Christ--Reality 101.  We should not cling to our mundane lives but see that our spiritual lives take precedence; however, we do not live with our heads in the clouds nor on cloud nine.  What matters is how our relationship with Christ is growing.  It is wrong to think that we should live as if we go around once and should grab all the gusto we can.  We must have an eternal bucket list that involves our beatific vision of God in glory.

Having a true focus on Christ, keeping our eyes on Jesus orients our life and sets the priorities to have spiritual value.   However, we ought not to be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. We must not be known as mere secluded saints but actively involved in the real world.  We can enjoy this life, but without sin, and thank God for the blessings that it gives to all in common grace. We can enjoy life to the max as Jesus promised:  "I am come that they may have life, and have it to the full [more abundant life]" (John 10:10, NIV).  On the other hand, we ought not to "love the world nor the things of the world" because the more we do, the less room we'll have in our hearts to satisfy our spiritual appetites to enjoy all the good things He gives us richly as blessing for stewardship (cf 1 Tim. 6:17).

The good life has universally been defined as an ethical one: our duty to God and mankind.  We do this by loving God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves as exemplified in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  "Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you:  to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8, HCSB).  This is achieved by a true sense of "oughtness."  Knowing and believing right doctrine or having one's thinking straightened out is orthodoxy while living right and practicing what one believes and applying it is orthopraxy--both are necessary for the good life (which is not achieving the American dream!).

In the final analysis, when our lives are given their final audit and we go one-on-one with our Maker to face God in the Bema or Judgment Seat, we must ask ourselves whether we are faithful stewards to the blessings God has given us and whether we used them to have an impact. We all will pass on some legacy and people will tend to judge our lives, but what matters most is what Christ sees in us. He isn't going to ask us about our achievements but our obedience and we will realize that success doesn't matter to God because it belongs to Him anyway (cf. Deut. 8:18), but what matters is our call to faithfulness.   Praise the Lord, life is good!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Finding Meaning In Suffering...

PERTINENT VERSES FOR REFERENCE:  
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3, NIV).  
"In their affliction they will seek Me early" (cf. Hosea 5:15). 
"Come unto me all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28, KJV). 
 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18,  NKJV). 
 "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him" (Phil. 1:29, NIV).  
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word" (Psalm 119:67, NIV).  
 "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10, NIV). 
"But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer.  For he gets their attention through adversity" (Job 36:15, NLT.
"He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love" (Job 37:13, NLT).  

"It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God," (cf. Acts 14:22).

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all," (cf. Psalm 34:19). 

"For it is through much affliction that we enter the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22

As Christians, we believe God has a purpose for everything, even our suffering (cf. Prov. 16:4).  It can be used to get our attention (cf. Job 36:15 above) or to even discipline us when we won't learn any other way and are wayward and don't heed the Word.  C. S. Lewis said that God shouts at us in our pains, it's God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world.  Sometimes we turn a deaf ear to God and become hard-of-hearing spiritually and need this little special attention-getting device.

But we know that "many are the afflictions of the righteous," but God always delivers us (cf. Psalm 34:19).  And that God is a "very present help in trouble" (cf. Psalm 46:1).  It's an honor to suffer for the sake of the Name, to be worthy, for which we will be rewarded, remembering that experience is not what happens to us, but in us, according to psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl, himself a victim of Nazi atrocities. We're fulfilling the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col. 1:24).

Paul was joyful to suffer and he probably suffered more than any believer of his day that it was part of the fellowship of suffering (cf. Phil. 3:10) or a red badge of courage, or even a Medal of Honor, or Purple Heart to wear with dignity (cf. Phil. 3:10).  But all in all, only in Christ do we find meaning and purpose in our sufferings and trials and can grow by them. No religion has a complete explanation for suffering but we believe in the Suffering Servant who learned obedience by what He suffered on our behalf.  Christ didn't exempt Himself from any adversity and was honest enough to warn us to count the cost of following Him and to bear our cross--no cross, no crown.  Remember:  Jesus feels our pains and we couldn't believe in a God who couldn't. 

Christ doesn't ask us to do anything that He didn't do or expect of Himself and it all comes with the territory we signed up for a part of Reality 101, THE DIVINE CURRICULUM, as a believer, matriculated in Christ's school.  As believers, we enroll in a ministry of Suffering 101; rejoice in it as Paul did in prison:  "Rejoice in the Lord always."  "... [B]ut we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3, KJV).  Why?  Because they give the opportunity for good and to show the testimony of Jesus and our grit. God doesn't willingly afflict the children of men (cf. Lam. 3:33). 

Job was the example par excellence of suffering in the Bible where God gave him a crucible that tested his faith to the utmost, and he passed and didn't give up even his own integrity.  This story shows that not all suffering is due to sin or because we deserve it, but also that we shouldn't judge another who is experiencing a trial. For it's in adversity that our character grows, not in our good times; show me someone who's never had any troubles, and I'll show you a person without character. 

We don't pray for an easy life but a strong character.  God frowns on those "at ease in Zion," living the easy life or as idle rich.   But God knows our breaking point and we can trust Him to lead us through what He leads us to, just as we pass through the waters, He'll be with us (cf. Isa. 43:2).

In Eastern thought, suffering is due to bad karma and we shouldn't interfere with one's karma when they suffer.  There is no place for charity, relief organizations, and lending aid to those in need and less fortunate, "untouchables," or those "down on their luck." We must always realize that God gives us trials to strengthen us so that we may strengthen others in their trials: "Been there and done that!"  We comfort others with our comfort.

We are capable of enduring any trial as long as we have hope, and there is hope in Christ, but without hope, there's nothing but despair that overwhelms us.  Thus, the more purpose-driven we become in our suffering, the more we can endure and we can see God at work in our lives through it all, for we are assured He is with us all the way to the end for "... he will be our guide even unto death" (cf. Psalm 48:14, KJV).

In sum, we must accept these trials with the blessings of God and realize that no cross means no crown!  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but He delivereth him out of the all" (Psalm 34:19).   It is written in Acts 14:22 that "through many trials, we enter the kingdom of heaven."     Soli Deo Gloria!

How To Live The Good Life...

"If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like." --Plato

Most people have dreams and fantasies, maybe even a bucket list of things to do in life in order to feel fulfilled or complete.  How about a bucket list of doing God's will?  Achieving the American dream isn't the answer to life; you can have everything to live on and nothing to live for!  The problem has never been dreams or wishes but in how to achieve them; most people end their lives in frustration have never "found themselves" or what God's will was for them.  We must be purpose-driven to have an impact and focused on our goals with a chord that will vibrate for eternity.

Not just to be remembered, but to be a game-changer.  According to the Bible, God has an intricate purpose and individual tailor-made plan for each of us, and if we are in God's will, walking by faith, we will find it to be the safest and most blessed place to be found.  We are hard-wired to work in our calling and to worship God.  He is interested in our whole being (heart, mind, body, soul, spirit) and its holistic health, not an unbalanced life that isn't worthy of our walk and has no testimony. 

Even Christians can have a secular worldview and not think biblically.  The goal in life is not just to be a goody-goody or to seek pleasure (you only go around once, grab all the gusto you can!), because God isn't primarily concerned with our "happiness," (which depends on happenings), but with us glorifying and enjoying Him.  There are intrinsic rewards and incentives in finding wisdom, which is more precious than rubies (cf. Prov. 8:11).   The result of the moral life is one of confidence and a good reputation, which is more valuable than riches too.

We all ought to seek a life beyond reproach so that the infidel has nothing evil to say about us (cf. Eph. 4:1).  One blockage to good thinking is not to have a Christian worldview; we all need to get our thinking straightened out and learn to think clearly, which will result in sound discourse and dialogue.  When we do find fulfillment and joy in life we become contagious and it shows.  Many people claim inner joy but haven't told their faces!

Plato thought of three inputs to our will, which control our ways:  desire, emotion, and knowledge.  We must make sure that we seek truth and feed on knowledge, wisdom, and understanding and even have a thirst for the Word, and we must have worthy ambitions and desires in life, and also the fulfilled person has his emotions in check.  But most people just are about as lazy as they dare to be and take the path of least resistance--the easy way out!

We must not ever pray for an easy life, but for God to increase our faith and strength. Remember, all a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart (cf. Prov. 16:2).   The study of ethics is about living the good life and we find it by practicing our ethics (putting our creed into action) and believing in miracles from God.   What we do is expect great things from God, but we must attempt them too, as William Carey would say.  Aim high, then!

God is the moral center of the universe and we all must have a moral compass and show moral fiber, for character counts!   But there is a danger to reducing Christianity to a system of ethics, a rule book, a catalog of rules, or a list of dos and don'ts.   We must never lose focus but keep looking onto Jesus and cultivate that personal relationship with Him.  Our ethic shows our character and the faith we have is the faith we show: we demonstrate, validate, and authenticate our faith by turning it into deeds, otherwise it's suspect and spurious, even bogus and hypocritical. Turning our knowledge into action is faith, demonstrated in obedience.   But avoiding sin and immorality is not all there is to Christian ethics; its summation is to follow Christ in full renewing, ongoing surrender.  We must not only cease to do evil, but do good!

Upon following Christ, now we don't go by feelings, but when doing the will of God, we'll have a peace that passes all understanding.  The person who really knows Christ knows how to live and live in reality.  Knowing truth is a matter of repentance and of being oriented to reality--only God can set us free form delusion (cf 2 Tim. 2:25).   Life in Christ isn't always a religious high or on cloud nine, but varies with the task, for God always fills us and anoints us for His work.   We must know and learn the real formula for feeling good:  know right, think right, do right, and finally, to feel right.  Doing the right thing should make one feel right.

God is good, but being good without God is evil and a parody of the real thing.  Now, I must conclude with the standard Jesus set (the Golden Rule):  the highest ethic of all and the highest incentive to do it.  We will never be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect--that's the standard, but the direction we go is the test!  Remember, God has great expectations for us and wants us to attempt to move mountains with our mustard-seed faith!   We all have unrealized potential and should actualize the innate worth we possess, not to let it be dormant and thus waste our lives.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Peace Beyond Comprehension

"'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked'" (Isaiah 57:21, NIV).
"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you" (Isaiah 26:3, NIV).  

To say that knowing Jesus is knowing peace, and with no Jesus, you get no peace.  But the devil always has his counterfeit peace with just enough truth to lure them into his lies and deception, inoculating them from the real thing, for example, secularists are intellectually fulfilled by adhering to evolution to explain reality.  He offers the world faux peace through idolatry, crutches, the supernatural, drugs, and in many forms.  Putting anything where God should be in one's priorities is idolatry--a time-consuming habit, hobby, or pastime.  

Christians can only know peace when they give Christ first place in their lives.  He is called the Prince of Peace for a reason!  He paid the price to set us free from our guilt and confusion brought on by sin. And only by His truth can we be set free from the lies of the enemy.   He is still in the resurrection business and can transform our lives into something beautiful to His glory.  Ephesians 2:14 says He is our peace!

One of the Jehovah texts is Judges 6:24, which calls Jesus  "the LORD is our peace," or Yahweh Shalom in Hebrew.  God's peace is manifold and multi-dimensional in the spiritual realms transcending our comprehension.  We are given peace with God, with ourselves, and with each other, and the ability to bring peace to the land by humbling ourselves in repentance to Him, and even being set free from our bondage and slavery to sin.  

We are also given the ability to share, communicate, and bring peace to others as Christ's "peacemakers," and we are lights to the world of what real peace is.  We experience this peace in the Lord and want to pass it on!  But it must start with a decision to call upon the Lord as our peace!  We must look to God, not ourselves and we will be saved, keeping our eyes focused on Him and not the obstacles.  Without Jesus, in our lives, we head towards chaos not knowing where we are going, and cannot find God or any real lasting peace.

Everyone has a God or god and if not the real thing--Jesus--there is some idol in the life filling the void.   So-called faux Gods are only the substitute that the devil offers to lure us away from the real thing!  People mistakenly believe that if something works, it's true.  The test of an idea is not whether it's true, but whether it works just considering the consequences (this is pragmatism):  because it works is no guarantee it's true (e.g., TM, hypnotism, astrology, meditation, channeling, and yoga).

That's why it's so important to seek the truth and to seek the Lord, not peace per se.  Many are really looking for the benefits, not the Benefactor, and are content with the things the devil offers the world, which will diminish one's appetite for the spiritual things of God.    Soli Deo Gloria!

What Spirit Do You Have?

"We know that we are the children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19, NIV).  
"... And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ" (Rom. 8:9, NIV).  
"So the preaching about God flourished, the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7, HCSB).

The world is possessed with the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience (cf. Eph. 2:2) and the spirit of error.  They don't know the truth to set them free (cf. John 8:32), which God perchance may grant them (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25).  There is the spirit of the world that we possessed before salvation and followed according to the course of Satan and his minions and authorities. We are set free from his power and he cannot touch us (1 John 5:18), for we are more than conquerors.  Satan is a liar and the father of liars (cf. John 8:44), and all men are born liars (cf Psa. 116:11) and follow suit.  There is only one true God who cannot lie (cf. Titus 1:2).

Christians possess two natures:  the old man and the new man after Christ's image.  The one we feed the most assumes the most authority over our lives; there are no carnal believers by nature, but believers can become temporarily carnal and struggle in the flesh. The two spirits are not like the yin/yang of Eastern philosophy, but evil is only a perversion and deprivation of the good.  There is no such thing as pure evil because it is a parasite on the good and the deception is that it may contain an element of truth, just enough to inoculate one from the real thing and make him immune to the truth. We must always be vigilant to exercise the authority, being watchful in the same, that we have in Christ's name to tread on the enemy and claim our victory in Christ.  We need not live in defeat or even become defeatists.  "The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God..." (Rom. 8:7, NIV).

It is paramount that we periodically test the spirit within us to see whether Christ is present or not, especially during the Lord's Supper. "Everyone should examine themselves..." (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28, NIV).  We must always be on the watch for false teachers, a false gospel, a false Christ, and a false spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4) because Satan seeks whom he may devour (cf. 1 Pet. 5:7) and we must test the spirits and contend for the faith (cf. Jude v. 3), lest heresy creeps in and corrupt the fellowship. The caveat we ought to heed is that Satan uses our vocabulary, but his own dictionary!  He preaches another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit. But those who know their God shall be strong and resist him (cf. Dan. 11:32).

Even Christians can become taken in by or buy into the wrong worldview and the philosophies of the devil:  winner take all; God helps those who help themselves; look out for number one; each man for himself; survival of the fittest; the law of the jungle; tit for tat; do unto them as they do unto you; being good without God, and even being moral and religious without religion or God as the moral center of the universe.  There are many crutches the world resorts to atheism as an excuse for sin; cynicism such as getting even, not mad; escapism, such as tripping out on drugs, escaping reality, and getting high; supernaturalism, such as dabbling in the occult; and humanism, or believing in self-help, that man can solve his own problems, and pop psychology; or believing in man-made rules and theories that contradict God and dethrone Him while exalting man, and making a name for himself.

We must always put these pseudo-philosophies into perspective and realize that the Bible is the only crutch that is truly reliable and will not fail us. NB: The point should be made that everyone has a crutch, whether they admit it or not just like everyone worships something or someone because that is what we are hard-wired for (worship) and it's only natural.

True spirituality is the only answer to our problems and we must know the Answerer via the Scriptures and spiritual sanctification. We must start with God to solve our problems, not start with man and try to escape God or deny Him.  The Bible is the only true and final authority that we can rely on and believe in without contradicting God's nature and being true to human nature.  And the way to become cognizant of the forces of evil is to "gird up the loins of [our] mind", know the Word (Ignorance isn't bliss!), have a foundation in sound doctrine ("Knowledge is power!" according to Sir Francis Bacon cf. Prov. 25:4), and beware lest we fall into temptation, for Satan "seeks whom he may devour" (cf. 1 Pet. 5:7) like a roaring lion--no one is immune!

We can overcome the forces of darkness and transform the culture, turning the world upside down like the first believers did to Rome with the right Spirit indwelling us; however, we must become renewed in the spirit of our minds not conforming to the course of this world. For thinking right and doing right can be distinguished, but not separated--they must go hand in hand! Some people just need to get their thinking straightened out.  We must long to do the right thing, not the expedient thing or pragmatic alternative.  We are happy serving others!

Finally, there's a way to confirm our calling and election and that we possess Jesus ("He who has the Son has life," 1 John 5:12):  by the Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Spirit ("The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God," cf. Rom. 8:16).        Soli Deo Gloria!

But None Of These Things Move Me

"... God left him to himself [withdrew Himself], in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).  ["God left him to test him" in NIV].

"We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God," (cf. Acts 14:22).

"God left him, to try him, to know all that is in his heart," (cf. 2 Chron. 31:22). 

"He speaks to them in their affliction," (cf Job 36:15, NIV).  

"God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.  They are God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world."  --C. S. Lewis
"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed.  If you look within, you'll be depressed.  But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest!" --Corrie ten Boom
"Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways, He is the only way."  --A. W. Tozer

As the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:24, "None of these things move me," so we must learn to bear the cross Christ has given us for the sake of the Name.  Our cross is not the problems everyone commonly has, but what happens because we name the name of Christ and how that affects us; e.g., persecution.  But we can know the peace of God despite this cross.  God never promised us a bed of roses and Reality 101 is that we will be involved in the angelic conflict.  We are not meant to become stoics who think that the aim in life is to grin and bear it, but we are to show our attitude that we see purpose in all circumstance due to Providence and are assured of Christ's presence through the affliction--and many are the afflictions of the righteous (cf. Psa. 34:19). 

We rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) without getting a martyr's complex or thinking that the more we suffer, the holier we are.  It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God (cf. Acts 14:22).  All believers will experience tribulation, adversity, and affliction to produce character and Christlikeness:  "We know that these troubles produce patience.  And patience produces character" (Rom. 5:3, NCV).

Having read the novel by Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, I realize that the seasoned believer, the one who has matured through adversity and has had his faith tested and passed with flying colors, doesn't wear the faith as a badge of honor, for it's a gift--not something we conjure up of our own effort or doing (we don't achieve it, we receive it!).  We don't need self-esteem or self-confidence but we must cultivate God-esteem and God-confidence!  We go through these trials for our own good to strengthen and confirm our faith.  No believer is exempt, and Christ was honest enough to warn us.   He didn't exempt Himself and our crosses pale in comparison!  |

Job is the example of suffering par excellence in Scripture, whereby we cannot comprehend its full meaning since we are finite beings.  God doesn't owe us an explanation!  He never explains Himself to Job, but just reveals Himself.  Someone has said, "God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself!"  In the meantime, there is an angelic conflict going on behind the scenes.  We may ask, "Why?" but God says, "Who?"  We must learn to keep focused on Christ and not get tripped up by Satan.  It was John Milton who wrote, "Who best can suffer, best can do."  Our faith is more precious than silver or gold and we must know if it's genuine and can stand the test of time and affliction or adversity.  It's for our sake, not God's sake, that we must be tested--we must have confidence that we have faith! 

We must realize that the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay!  We either become bitter or better by tribulation!   We all have a crucible to carry and must realize that without a cross there's no crown!   We tend to wonder why bad things seem to happen to good people (as Harold Kushner's book ponders), but then again, there are no good people in God's estimation!  We should be asking why do good things happen to bad people?  Scripture says that we are privileged to suffer for Christ and this comes with the territory!  Job faithfully proclaimed:  "... When he has tried me, I will come out as gold" (Job 23:10, ESV).   A word of encouragement is that even Christ learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8).

Finally, when you've been through a trial with the Lord, you have a certain fellowship of suffering (of having been there and done that with the body of Christ per Phil. 3:10) and you can use it to help others in their time of testing and trial. The God of all comfort comforts us so that we can comfort others in their time of need--but we don't want to be like Job's comforters who judged him!  The best we can do is to be there for them and offer consolation and sympathy.  "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, ESV).          Soli Deo Gloria!

The Wonderful Spirit-energized Life

"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:17-18, ESV).
"[F]or we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7, ESV). 
"If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25, ESV).
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7, ESV).

"TRUE HOLINESS CONSISTS OF DOING THE WILL OF GOD WITH A SMILE."  --MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA, CANONIZED AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER 

All Christians have the power to walk in the Spirit with the Lord all the days of their lives, not just in church or among their friends and fellow believers--but even with the sinner!  "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God"  (cf. Gen. 6:9). That would look good on any resume!   Likewise, "Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him"--he was translated into heaven like being raptured!   To enjoy a continuing, ongoing, progressive fellowship with God the Father and God the Son through the resident Spirit is a blessing and privilege all believers share.  It is good that Jesus left us the legacy of the Spirit so we would learn to lean on Him and realize we are actually better off that way than if He were still residing on earth. He promised not to leave us "orphans" but to send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit!   Few believers avail themselves of the fullness of the Spirit and find their otherwise unrealized potential.

We all have an innate ability to walk with God and are commanded to continually be filled with the Spirit from Day One of our salvation. To do this we must keep short accounts with God and readily confess all known sin as we get convicted, not letting them get stacked up and having a backlog or spiritual "docket."  Martin Luther mentioned progressive repentance in his Ninety-Five Theses as his first objection!  In God's economy, emptying comes before filling and repentance before faith; they go hand in hand:  if one doesn't believe, repentance is to blame; if one can't repent, belief is the issue!  All in all, it's not always how big our faith but how thorough our repentance.  "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear" (cf. Psa. 66:18).  We must come clean and fully surrender!  We don't have permission to live in the flesh, but a new power and energy to live in the Spirit!

The genuine Spirit-filled believer isn't one who goes by feeling or walks about on Cloud Nine or on some perpetual, religious high, but must learn to lean on his faith in times of testing and trial, for his faith must be tested, being more precious than silver or gold.  Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote a book entitled He That is Spiritual in 1918 that was a bombshell in the doctrinal schools because he introduced the terminology of carnal believers as a separate class of believer (i.e., not spiritual).

There is no dichotomy in the body, for all believers are spiritual and all are subject to becoming carnal or getting out of fellowship or falling into temporary sin unless confessed.  A believer who thinks it's all right to live in a carnal lifestyle needs to repent and surrender to the lordship of Christ, not just call himself carnal.

But one thing is certain, Jesus left us the legacy of peace in turmoil and faith to move mountains as it were.  We are more than conquerors in the power of the Spirit as a fringe benefit of salvation.  The primary perk of salvation is inner peace with God and oneself.  It is a proven fact that one can face any trial if one has peace about it!

In other words, the fruit of the Spirit is the primary manifestation of the Spirit-filled Christian.  We are to become fruit inspectors of our fruit and we also are to know others by their fruits!  These two are different meanings of fruit since we judge others by their actions since we cannot see their thinking and heart's condition.  False teachers will be exposed by their fruit or deeds!

It is a known fact that those who know their God are able to do great exploits in His name and have great energy for God (cf. Dan. 11:32).  Having great thoughts of praise for God is another sign of filling (cf. Dan. 4:35).  Spirit-filled believers display boldness for God and are content in their relationship, as we stand up for the truth and fly our Christian colors and realize that God meets all our needs in Christ so that He will give us everything we need to do His will (cf. Phil. 4:19).

Athanasius is known as taking such a stand against Arianism that he said he'd be "Athanasius contra mundum" if the whole world embraced the heresy.  It is oh so very important to be vigilant of heresy creeping into the church!    Likewise, Ignatius and Polycarp, two disciples of John the Elder, gave up their lives as martyrs rather than do homage to the emperor Trajan.

When you hate your life without Christ and only live for the glory of God you are being filled.  With Christ at the helm, life is worth the risk and the venture.  Just like Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ..." (cf. Phil. 1:21).  That's the essence of spirituality:  to not think or dwell on ourselves, but to be overcome with thoughts of Christ and to be obsessed with divine thoughts from the Spirit, not selfishness--we don't think less of ourselves, but of ourselves less!  We live for the glory of God to be displayed in us as His vessels of honor!

In the power of the Spirit, we find that energy to do His will that cannot be done in the energy of the flesh!  We have the power of God at work within us both to do and to will of His good pleasure (cf. Phil. 2:13).  In fact, everything done solely in the flesh is in vain and cannot be rewarded!  Paul would boast of nothing but of what Christ accomplished through him (cf. Rom. 15:18).  The world may ask us, "Where do we get our strength?"  Our answer must be that we have a secret:  We can do all things through Him who strengthens us!  (Cf. Phil. 4:13).  The Christian life is not hard, it's been said, but impossible!  We must learn to seek His face and find God's strength to do His bidding.  That power resides inside us because we all possess the same Spirit, and it's not how much of the Spirit you have, but how much of you He has!  John 15:5 says that apart from Christ we can do nothing!

That's why the Spirit is called the Comforter and the Paraclete, or the One called alongside.  We must learn by experience how God speaks to us and to realize that the primary M.O. is the Word of God and our relationship to the Word is an indicator of how in tune we are to His will.  We are all anointed by the Spirit (cf. 1 John 2:20-21) and need no one to teach us these things if we only get into the Word God will illuminate it for us.  One telltale sign of the apostles was that when they were filled with the Spirit they spoke the Word of God with boldness.  The Spirit-filled believer has his antennae sensitized to the Word and realizes when God is speaking to him through it by conviction and enlightenment. He will open our eyes to wonderful things in the Word!

Only the power of the Spirit transforming their lives can explain the way the apostles turned the Roman world topsy-turvy!  That was the biggest miracle to witness--their conversions from cowards to bold witnesses for the resurrection.   Today we don't so much as witness the resurrection but we do see the miracles of transformed lives and what God can do.  We must realize that what He's done for others He can do for us! 

Our prayer ought to be:  Just a closer walk with Jesus!  Richard of Chichester prayed to help people "to know Jesus Christ more clearly, to love him more dearly, and to follow him more nearly."  Job was admonished:  "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee"  (cf. Job 22:21, KJV).  Brother Lawrence, a monk in a French Carmelite monastery in the seventeenth century, practiced the presence of God throughout the day no matter what he did, even washing dishes according to his book, The Practice of the Presence of God.  

We must realize the divine order of events:  fact, faith, feeling!  We must first get our thinking straightened out and know right to think right, then we are equipped to do the right thing, and finally, we will reap the benefits of feeling right!   A good litmus test is having peace as Christ's legacy (cf. John 14:27).  We must rejoice in the Lord always as Habakkuk said, "[Y]et I will rejoice in the LORD..."  (Hab. 3:18, ESV).   And Nehemiah said, "... [F]or the joy of the LORD is your strength"  (Neh. 8:10, ESV). 

NB:  THE ONLY HINDRANCE TO ENJOYING THE WONDERFUL SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE IS THE AMOUNT OF YOUR SURRENDER, AND IN HOW CLOSELY YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE PROMPTINGS OF THE SPIRIT TO DO GOD'S WILL.  TEST THE SPIRIT:  IS THERE A SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING AND OF PRAISE TO GOD?  WHEN WE GET OUR EYES OFF OURSELVES AND DWELL ON THE GLORY OF GOD IT HUMBLES US!   

CAVEAT: DON'T ASSOCIATE THE FILLING WITH FEELINGS PER SE, THEY MAY ACCOMPANY IT AND MAY NOT FOR GOD REQUIRES US TO WALK BY FAITH AND STEP OUT IN FAITH TRUSTING THAT HE'S WITH US TO EMPOWER US.  ("BY FAITH ABRAHAM OBEYED!")     Soli Deo Gloria!