The following is a discussion adapted from a series of tapes by a theologian of the previous generation regarding the spiritual techniques that have been given to us by God’s gracious provision to prevent outside adversity and pressure from creating inward stress and robbing us from the peace and confidence that is our inheritance in Christ.
Genuine contentment and being in contact with reality in the midst of the problems and hardships of life are offered to us in Christ. God wants our lives to reflect the incredible inner peace that our Lord experienced under the extreme pressures of the Incarnation. He overcame every slander, persecution, stress, and test that the world and the devil launched at Him. He pioneered a spiritual life now available to us as Church Age believers. We glorify God by learning and utilizing His plan for us.
I know this is probably an unnecessary exhortation but sometimes reminders help - it does no good to learn these truths and not apply them to our circumstances. We learn doctrine to use doctrine. Through spiritual growth we progress from the simplest faith decisions to the ultimate motivation and meaning for our existence—occupation with the Person of Jesus Christ; as Paul put it, For me to live is Christ. (Philippians 1:21).
In spiritual childhood we learn complete dependence on the infallible promises of God and the irrefutable rationales of Bible doctrine. In spiritual maturity we sustain an intense love for the Lord, express unconditional love for all mankind, and share the complete contentment that marked the unique spiritual life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Recovery
Spirituality is the status of being in fellowship with God having the Holy Spirit in control of our lives. It is not dependent on pious living, penance, remorse, guilt, or confession to others. It is a system of privacy and freedom that depends solely on God’s grace. You can learn in a matter of minutes the uncomplicated procedure for gaining and maintaining spirituality and use it to pursue a lifetime of meaning, purpose, and definition.
When we sin we break fellowship with God. When we turn to Him and confess our sin, fellowship is restored. 1 John 1:3, 9 says,
That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, so you may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. . . If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
As John points out, the issue in confession is the recovery of fellowship or communion with God, without barriers, without controversy, without the Spirit being grieved by our sin (Ephesians 4:30) or quenched by our resistance (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We want to live under an open heaven walking with God.
Sin cannot destroy our relationship with the Lord. God’s love never changes and He will under no circumstances cast us out (John 6:37), but our fellowship with Him can be broken by sin. If there was something we needed to do to restore this fellowship (i.e. penance, feel guilty, beg for forgiveness, etc.) then the spiritual life would depend on works, not grace. But confession of sin, as commanded in 1 John 1:9, is simply agreeing with God regarding the sin (“confess” is “homologeo” – “To speak the same thing; to agree”).
This restoration of our fellowship with God is based on the same grace that saved us – an appeal to the blood of Christ. It’s His merit, not ours, that forms the basis of both our salvation and our fellowship with the Father.
Guilt has no place in the Christian life. When we confess our sin God not only removes the fellowship barrier but also cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9b) thereby removing any barriers we may not be aware of. When we are young Christians many of the sins we commit are not seen as sin to us, it takes some degree of maturity to be sensitive to all the Lord would have us avoid and He will not leave us, no matter what our spiritual age, in a place of broken fellowship through ignorance. He knows our hearts. If we agree with Him concerning what He reveals to us as sin our hearts are right before Him and the blood of Jesus Christ fully restores our fellowship with the Lord (1 John 1:7).
To put this in 21st. century terms, confession is simply telling God in the privacy of your heart that you agree with Him, You’re right, Lord, what I did (or thought) was wrong. You don’t have to feel guilty about it, or plead for forgiveness, or promise to never do it again (you will do it again, or something similar – 1 John 1:8). You simply confess it (1 John 1:9), forget it (Micah 7:19; Philippians 3:13b), and move on (Luke 9:62).
The Filling of the Holy Spirit
The Biblical mandate to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) is not an order to undergo emotional ecstatics or to raise your consciousness to mystically commune with God. When you compare Ephesians 5:18-21 with Colossians 3:16-17 you can see that being filled with the Holy Spirit has exactly the same results as being “filled” with the Word of God. The Scriptures are, after all, “God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16) and when our minds are occupied with the Word, the Spirit is directing our lives. Through confession of sin (recovery) every Church Age believer has the privilege and opportunity of being controlled by God the Holy Spirit instead of by the flesh. The Spirit empowers us to reject the sin nature’s control of our life, learn the Scriptures, and grow in the unique spiritual life He’s given to each of us. All of us, whether newborn or mature (1 Peter 2:2) grow by prayerful study of the Word. The truths of Scripture must become our thinking in every circumstance. This is the true Spirit-filled life. To be filled with the Spirit simply means to be controlled and led by the Holy Spirit through the thinking of Christ as revealed in His Word instead of by the world, the flesh or the devil.
Faith-Rest
As a growing but still immature believer, what do you do when difficulty strikes? Do you seek counsel from others, lean on your Christian friends, or just deny the existence of the problem? When we learn to cling to God’s promises until they become more real than our emotions, our experience, our circumstances, or our problems we have learned the secret of resting in Christ. As our Lord offers in Matthew 11:28-30,
Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest . . . learn of Me . . and you shall find rest unto your souls.
There is no promise in Scripture for “rest” in terms of circumstances. This world is, and will remain, a battle ground for the growing believer. But our souls can be at rest in the midst of the fiercest of battles if we give our troubles to the Lord and leave them there. We must let Him decide what we need, and what we do not need, in our lives to shape us into His image. We can trust Him fully with all things and with the outcome of our lives. There is rest and inward peace available to those who will cast their cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). He has provided this rest for us (Hebrews 4:9-10) and we glorify Him when we trust Him.
Grace Orientation
Pride creates problems; humility solves problems. When you grasp God’s grace and how little you deserve the inconceivable bounty He provides, your soul is humbled within. If we learn humility, the attitude for teachability, we can build a life in Grace. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), we grown in grace (1 Peter 3:18) and grace will take us home.
The old covenant (Law) versus the new covenant (Grace) is the difference between Christ without and Christ within. God has always, from Adam on, desired and demanded obedience. Under law, men are left to their own resources to obey. Under grace, Christ in us through the indwelling Spirit, becomes the Divine enablement of obedience. Under the new covenant the Lord indwells His people and if you go deep enough into the soul of the Christian, you will find the Savior.
Faith pleases God simply because faith rests all it’s hope on Another, on the One Who is willing and able live a holy life through us. Faith is trusting Someone else to do for us what we know we cannot do for ourselves. Faith and grace work together to live the spiritual life and glorify God. Every command, every leading of the Spirit becomes a challenge, not to our ability, but to His; our challenge is faith.
The foundation of spiritual life is grace; the fruit is love. Love is an issuing of Life, not a compliance with legal obligations. The greatest act of love in history, the cross, was it mere duty to the Father’s will that took Jesus to the cross or was love (both for the Father and for us) motivating the sacrifice? Who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20b). And the Father - did He feel obligated, duty-bound to provide us so great a salvation? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16). Which is most likely to win your heart, an act of duty done against personal desire or an act motivated by personal, intimate love?
As we are growing in God’s grace, much of what we do is out of duty. Our love is small and undeveloped. It is better to act out of duty than to not act at all, but actions born of law are far from the ideal and eventually those we serve in this way will sense the fact that obligation, not compassion, has been the motivation of our service. At some point in everything we do, the burden of duty must give way to the freedom of love; and that transition, that freedom, is the fruit of moving from law to grace: The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The One Who emptied Himself of all but love demonstrated the life of grace. Under Law people are anxious, restless, busy, and self-condemned; under grace they are free to love.
The freedom to love, the obedience of faith, springs from our understanding of God’s grace, and grace is something that must be learned experientially as well as theologically.
Scarcely a day passes when I am not reminded of the need for emphasizing the full extent of grace, giving people permission to be free, absolutely free in Christ. Why? Because so few are. Bound and shackled by legalist’s lists of do’s and don’ts, intimidated and immobilized by others’ demands and expectations, far too many in God’s family merely exist in the tight radius of bondage, dictated by those who have appointed themselves our judge and jury. Long enough have we lived like frightened deer in a restrictive thicket of negative regulations. Long enough have we submitted to the do’s and don’ts of religious kings of the mountain. Long enough have we been asleep while all around us the grace killers do their sinister nighttime work. No longer! It is time to awaken. . . Too many folks are being turned off by a twisted concept of the Christian life. Instead of offering a winsome and contagious, sensible and achievable invitation of hope and cheer through the sheer power of Christ, more people than ever are projecting a grim-faced caricature of religion-on-demand. I find it tragic that religious kill-joys have almost succeeded in taking the freedom and fun out of faith. People need to know that there is more to the Christian life than deep frowns, pointing fingers and unrealistic expectations. Harassment has had the floor long enough. Let grace awaken! Charles Swindoll, The Grace Awakening,
Doctrinal Orientation
How can we concentrate on our obligations and enjoy a relaxed mental attitude when problems intrude on every aspect of our lives? We must learn to think with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16b) and apply that thinking to our circumstances. When we are inculcated with doctrinal norms and standards, we rely on the Lord, make good decisions from a position of strength, and move to spiritual maturity.
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7). We are what we think. Ultimately, it will come down to this. The battle is for the mind. This is why the scriptures must be the number one priority in our lives. God has even “magnified” His Word above His Name in the sense that in relation to our survival in this cosmos His Word is where we must live (Psalm 138:2).
Unless our rate of learning exceeds our rate of forgetting, we will stagnate or regress. This is why our study must be daily;
Blessed is the man whose . . . delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season; its leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1:1-2)
Happy is the man that finds wisdom . . . she is more precious than rubies;and all the things you could desire are not to be compared to her. (Proverbs 3:13-14).
Nothing is more important that growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If anything else is more important to you than the daily study of God’s Word, building precepts upon precepts and principles upon principles, systematically, faithfully learning the full counsel of God, then though you may survive you will never overcome.
Personal Sense of Destiny
Do you recognize your personal potential in the plan of God? Do you have a sense of your spiritual destiny? With confidence born from a ripening spiritual maturity you can learn to live in the light of an eternally secure future. Adversity fades in proximity to the spiritual self-esteem generated from a limitless relationship with the Lord. We are safe, loved, secure and involved in the greatest plan in the history of humankind (Romans 8:28-39). For each of us who presses on in confidence to spiritual maturity, God is glorified in ways we cannot imagine in realms we cannot see. Christlikeness for the believer is the ultimate achievement of the spiritual life and is assured to those whose priorities match God’s priorities.
Personal Love for God the Father
When you understand God’s perfect essence and orient to His grace and His Word, you become motivated by an attitude of admiration and reverence toward Him. You learn to conform to His precedent of virtue and integrity. This motivational virtue based on absolute confidence in the divine ability to care for you supports and sustains momentum for problem solving and courage in the face of adversity.
We love Him because He first loved us. As we study and pray, as we grow in our understanding of His love, we find our love for Him growing proportionately. To doubt Him is to misunderstand Him. A.W. Tozer once said that every problem, every emotional or spiritual suffering that we experience, can be traced to false thoughts of God. Since the truth sets us free, all inner bondage, anxiety, fear, and worry is based on an incomplete or false interpretation of the truth (John 8:32). Freedom in Christ, once experienced in fullness, greatly enhances our personal love for our Father.
Unconditional Love for All Mankind
People are often the most severe test in life. As we grow we learn to exhibit love born of personal virtue and integrity, even toward those who are obnoxious or evil. As you grow in grace, you can repay insults with patience and humility, antagonism with compassion and kindness, and reserve the tranquility in your own soul.
What is virtue-love? It’s the love that comes from within us by the power of the Spirit. Its love that does not depend on the object of our love but instead depends upon our own virtue – again, the likeness of Christ in His people. We love others because love is a fruit of the Spirit in us; love is a characteristic of our forming personality. No matter what others do or don’t do to us, this love is unshaken because it is part of who and what we are.
Sharing the Happiness of God
Does your happiness depend upon people, circumstances, or the details of life – health, success, relationships? When we know the Lord and His plan, we learn to have an attitude of optimism, confidence, animation, and joy in the face of adversity, stress, and pressure. When your spiritual life takes precedence over circumstances, you carry God’s happiness with you as a constant companion.
Jesus offered us His peace (John 14:27), His happiness (John 15:11). The disciples must have wondered how this would be possible, but the offer was real and legitimate regardless of their skepticism. When our knowledge of Christ as Who He is becomes more complete, happiness (joy) is the response. It’s a fruit of the inworking of the Spirit as He molds us into the image of Christ (Galatians 5:22). We begin to see life as Christ sees life. When that happens we understand His happiness and joy; we understand why He could rejoice in unbearable circumstances. It makes sense to us. Happiness is no longer something we can only accept by faith, we can find our own strength in His joy because we are seeing through the grid of the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:9-16; Nehemiah 8:10b).
Occupation with Christ
During the Incarnation, our Lord displayed impeccable spirituality, faith-rest, grace and doctrinal orientation, fulfillment of His destiny, personal and virtue love, and sharing the happiness of God. Now, your mental attitude can reflect the ultimate problem-solving perspective through occupation with Him.
When Paul said, For me to live is Christ. (Philippians 1:21) he was not simply being poetic. Christ was his life; his obsession. This is the final stage of spiritual development, when one’s life is defined simply by “Christ” (Galatians 2:20). At this point in the Christian’s life, nothing else matters as much as the glory of God. God has no competition for our hearts. We have no controversy with Him. We are one even as the Father and Son are one, and we live for no other purpose than to enjoy and accomplish His plan.
This is the ultimate goal (final stage) of all spiritual advance. Occupation with Christ, leaving our own agenda in the dust, and complete dependence upon Him, is the highest form of Christian service. Most believers never move into this final stage. The true spiritual life is composed of thinking with the mind of Christ. Spiritual life for many is emotional experience, or religion or programs, or activities, but the mind is never wholly renewed. Life is not viewed from “Divine Viewpoint” but from “Human Viewpoint” (religious or otherwise).
Summation
Glance back over these truths. Can you see the implication of these principles of grace? Can you imagine the inner strength of the man or woman of God who surrounds their souls with these truths; who lives in the good of these principles? Everything they see, everything they do, everything they become is being shaped by the Truth. As John said, I have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth (3 John 4). Is that also your greatest joy, for yourself and for those you love?
Imagine what your soul would be like if it was protected by doctrinal principles. Can you see what a perfect plan God has established in this dispensation? This is the spiritual life He’s given to His children in this age. Each of us has our own unique spiritual life. We are the only ones who can live that life; no one else can live it for us. For those who enter and pursue it, that life will be beyond anything they could have asked or imagined – and it’s all grace!
And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him who able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen (Ephesians 3:19-21)
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