BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES TO GROW INTO CHRIST-LIKE-NESS AND TO TEACH OTHERS HOW

 

GOD IS ABLE—It’s about Him!
Romans 8:31–32 …If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Jeremiah 18:6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

Our Thinking and Believing

“We dull our lives by the way we conceive then…By accepting the idea that I am the effect of…hereditary and social forces, I reduce myself to a result. The more my life is accounted for by what already occurred in my chromosomes, by what my parents did or didn’t do, and by my early years now long past, the more my biography is the story of a victim. I am living a plot written by my genetic code, ancestral heredity, traumatic occasions, parental unconsciousness, societal accidents.” (James Hillman, The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling, Random House, 6)

What we believe about Christ affects what we believe about ourselves and others. (Mission)

RESTORING HOPE: The Knowledge of God: Sailboat Analogy

ACCEPTING OUR LIABILITIES OR WEAKNESSES 2 Cor. 12:9-10 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


GOD LOVES TO REVERSE HOPELESS SITUATIONS.

Romans 4:18  [Abraham] contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."




1.    INFERIORITY & INSECURITY--GIDEON:
Judges 6:15 So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

Judges 7:2 (30,000) And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.”

2.    FAILURE AND DEPRESSION--MOSES
Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

Exodus 4:10-11 Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." 11So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?

God used Moses’ 40 years of humble desert pie to make him the humblest of men (Num. 12:3).

Self-Acceptance vs. Self-Esteem

WE NEED TO FACE THE TRUTH ABOUT OURSELVES: Psalm 51:6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

WE NEED TO REMIND OURSELVES THAT GOD LOVES US:
•    “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you.” (Isaiah 43:1, 4-5)

•    “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8-10)

•    “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, (Ephesians 3:19-20)

•    2 Corinthians 12:7–10 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

•    Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

DISTRUST OURSELVES TO TRUST IN GOD: 2 Corinthians 1:8–10 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

By REPENTANCE: Luke 13:2–5 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

•    Matthew 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

1.    HE EXALTS US:
•    Psalm 91:14–16 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

•    Galatians 2:20  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.

•    1 Cor. 6:19-20  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Normalization

NEEDINESS: 1 Corinthians 10:12–13 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.


GOD’S CHOSEN VESSELS HAVE ALWAYS EATEN THE PROVISIONS OF  “THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH”.

EVEN IN THE MIDST OF SERVING HIS GOD, JEREMIAH SUFFERED: Jeremiah 8:18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.

DAVID WAS A ‘MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART, YET HE SUFFERED: Psalm 13:1-2 O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? 2How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? (vs. “Who sinned? This man or his parents?”)

PAUL: Acts 9:15–16 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”


1.    SOMETIMES IT’S SUFFERING RESULTING FROM SIN: Psalm 38:17-18 I am on the verge of collapse, facing constant pain. 18But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
 

2.    BUT OFTEN SUFFERING DOESN’T RESULT FROM SIN OR FAILURE: Matthew 26:37-38 He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons, James and John, and he began to be filled with anguish and deep distress. 38He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."  


3.    EVEN GOD’S ANGELIC BLESSINGS MIGHT NOT TERMINATE THE PAIN: Luke 22:43-44 Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. 44He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.


4.    NEED FOR SELF-EXM: 1 Corinthians 11:29–32 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.


5.    IT WAS PART OF GOD’S PLAN THAT PAUL WOULD HAVE TO SUFFER:

•    Acts 9:15-16 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake."

•    1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

•    Hebrews 12:5–7 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Beyond Normalization: Brokenness is Beautiful

GOD IS DRAWN TO BROKENNESS:
•    Isaiah 57:15 "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

•    Isaiah 66:1-2 "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist," says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.                  

•    Psalm 34:17-18 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

    Story: Father rescues son through storm.

•    Psalm 138:6 For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.

 
“Why is brokenness so precious to the Lord?”

WHY IS BROKENESS IS BEAUTIFUL:
•    Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

•    BUT WHY? 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

THE OPPOSITE IS DETESTABLE! Luke 16:13-15 No servant can serve two masters…14Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. 15And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 7:47–48 (NLT) “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Matthew 18:2-4 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.


TRUST
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

•    Psalm 33:20–21 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

•    Isaiah 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

•    JUST NEED SMALLEST MEASURE OF FAITH/TRUST: Luke 17:5–6 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

•    FIRST HAVE TO LEARN TO DISTRUST OURSELVES: 2 Corinthians 1:8–10 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.


What is Christian Growth and from where does it Come?

THE SPIRIT THROUGH THE WORD:

•    For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:17-18, 24)

•    THROUGH THE SPIRIT: And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us [through the Word], written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

•    Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [from the blinding veil]. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord [through the Word], are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

•    WITHOUT THE SPIRIT, THE WORD IS FOLLISHNESS: 1 Corinthians 2:14–15 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

•    And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

•    THE WORD GIVES GROWTH: And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

•    JESUS: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

•    Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (Luke 24:44–45)

•    “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)


THE SPIRIT STILL DOES THIS THROUGH THE WORD:

•    Hebrews 10:15–16 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” (Jeremiah 31:31)


•    Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

•    John 15:1-2 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

•    Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

•    Mystery: Mark 4:26-29 (NKJV)  And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, [27] and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. [28] For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. [29] But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

•    Ephes. 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

•    Colossians 2:19: [Jesus] the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

•    WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO KNOW THIS: 1 Peter 5:5-6 All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." [6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.   

•    Psalm 113:7–9 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!

•    Daniel 4:17 “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’


SECULAR GROWTH

•    PAUL’S PRAYER: Ephesians 3:19–20 to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualizations, ALIENATION FROM THE INNER SELF:     “When we consistently suppress and distrust our intuitive knowingness, looking instead for external authority, validation, and the approval of others, we give our personal power away…Every time you don’t trust yourself and don’t follow your inner truth, you decreased your aliveness and your body will reflect this with a loss of vitality, numbness, pain, and eventually physical disease.”

•    WE DO HAVE THE TRUTH WITHIN: Romans 2:14-15 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

•    BUT WE REJECT THAT TRUTH: John 3:19-20  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

PSYCHOLOGIST HAROLD SACHEIM: “Through distortion, I may enhance my self-image, not because at heart I am insecure about my worth but because no matter how much I am convinced of my value, believing that I am better is pleasurable. Such self-deceptions may prove to be efficient in constructing or consolidating a solid and perhaps even ‘healthy’ identity.”

•    TRUTH: Psalm 51:6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

PSYCHOLOGIST SHELLEY E. TAYLOR, POSITIVE ILLUSIONS: “Those with an exaggerated sense of their own mastery tend to have inflated views of their self-worth and likelihood of future success. It is unusual to find a person who is so overly optimistic about the future but lacking in self-esteem or mastery, beliefs that would seem to be essential to the implementation of a rewarding future.” (234)

•    1 Peter 5:6–7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

BLINDNESS—Self-Trust—IS NOT A BIBLICAL GOAL:

Matthew 23:26  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

John 4:23-24  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

PSYCHOLOGIST ROY BAUMEISTER: “For three decades, I and many other psychologists viewed self-esteem as our profession’s Holy Grail: a psychological trait that would soothe most of individuals’ and society’s woes. We thought that high self-esteem would impart not only success, health, happiness, and prosperity to the people who possessed it, but also stronger marriages, higher employment, and greater educational attainment in the communities that supported it.”

THE WAY UP IS THE WAY DOWN: JAMES 4:8-10 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

NOT AN INFLATED, DISTORTED IDENTITY BUT A NEW IDENTITY: Galatians 2:20: 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.

BECOMING CHRISTLIKE: Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

HOW?  Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

•    Matthew 10:37–38 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

•    How should this influence counseling?    

BIBLICAL WISDOM: Proverbs 3:13–14 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.
 
What is our Role in Christian Growth?

YET WE ARE SPIRITUAL FAILURES:
•    GOD IS FAITHFUL: Now return the man's wife, for he is a PROPHET, and HE WILL PRAY for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die." (Genesis 20:7)

•    A LIFESTYLE OF COWARDICE AND UNFAITHFULNESS: “And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' " (Genesis 20:13)


WE MUST ACT IN CONCERT WITH GOD:

•    1 Corinthians 15:10: But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me.

•    2 Corinthians 3:2-5: You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. It is clear that you are Christ’s letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ. ⌊It is⌋ not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God.


GROWTH COMES THROUGH SCRIPTURE:

1 Peter 2:2:  Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it for ⌊your⌋ salvation. (also Rom. 12:1; Acts 20:32; 2 Peter 1:2-3; Psalm 1)

MATURITY DEPENDS UPON ALL JESUS’ TEACHINGS: Matthew 28:18-20:   Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

SO GOD PROVIDES TEACHERS AND PASTORS: Ephes. 4:11-15:  It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, [12] to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  [14] Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. [15] Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
    
Buried Memories?
Analysis of Past Formative Influences?
COUNSELING  2 Corinthians 1:3–5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

Growth Comes as it Does for the Sunflower – As We Look Towards the Truths of the Son

ENTAILS THE ENTIRETY OF SCRIPTURE: Acts 20:26-27  Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. [27] For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will (“COUNSEL”) of God.

MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY UNDERSTANDING: 1 Cor. 14:6  Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?

BEHOLDING THE SON: 2 Cor. 3:17-18  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect (“behold” in other versions) the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “BEHOLD THE LORD’S GLORY: 2 Cor. 4:4-6  The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God… [6] For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

WELCOME SUFFERING 2 Cor. 4:10-18  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. [11] For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body…
[16] Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. [17] For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. [18] So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

FIRST-SALVATION; SCRIPTURE THEN IS OUR GROWTH-FOOD:
•    Joshua 1:8  Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

•    Psalm 1:1-3  Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. [2] But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.[3] He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

•    2 Peter 1:2-3 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. [3] His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

•    1 Peter 2:2  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

•    Romans 12:2  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

•    Acts 20:32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

•    John 17:25-26 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. [26] I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

•    SETS US FREE: John 8:31-32  To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. [32] Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

•    USE IT OR LOSE IT: Hebrews 5:12-14  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! [13] Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. [14] But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

  AS SHEPHERDS, OUR ROLE IS TO PROMOTE THE WORD – AND CHRIST LIES AT THE CENTER - IN ANY WAY WE CAN:

•    1 Cor. 3:10-14 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. [11] For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. [12] If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, [13] his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. [14] If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

SELF-CONFIDENCE?

“For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” (Psalm 138:6-8)

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. (1 Corinthians 9:24-26)
Jeremiah 17:5–8 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”


GRACE —> SOWING —> REAPING
“Therefore, my beloved...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13; John 15:4-5)

THEREFORE—> Self-Confidence:

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

PRIASE AND REJOICING

•    “…steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Psalm 32:10-11; Matthew 5:11-12)

•    “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

•    Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

•    LIMITED UNDERSTANDING: If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2) (Praise with memory cards)


 

The Pharisee had sought to enhance himself through his various practices and therefore left the Temple alienated from God. Meanwhile, the man who knew and confessed that he was a rank sinner in need of mercy was “exalted.”

Life must start with dying; the way up is the road down. Humility must precede any real spiritual transformation:

•    Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7; James 4:6)
 
How does humility work? By humbling ourselves, we confess our sins; we clothe ourselves in prayer because we’ve come to realize that we can’t trust in ourselves; we devote ourselves to His Word because we have come to see that our own thinking and judgment has so failed us; we obey Him because our own pursuits have led us into the killing fields. And so humility is the soil from which grows those vines – trust, prayer, Bible-meditation, and obedience - that connect us to the roots.




WE MUST WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE WORD AND SPIRIT


•    You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Cor. 3:3)

•    Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:17-18)

•    2 Corinthians 4:4–6 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

•    "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32)

Similarly, the Bible teaches that we are nourished by the truth (1 Tim. 4:6; Rom. 12:2) – it’s our growth food (1 Peter 2:2; Heb 5:12-14). It is Scripture that keeps us anchored, confident and secure (Eph. 4:14).
    
•    WHY WE DON’T RECEIVE: You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

We also need to obey, to be faithful with what we have already received:

•    In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

Understanding the Necessity for Trials and Suffering

2 Cor. 4:10-11  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. [11] For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

WHAT DOES SUFFERING AND SELF-DESPAIR ACCOMPLISH?  2 Cor. 1:8-9  We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. [9] Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

WHEN WE DESPAIR OF SELF, WE LEARN TO TRUST IN HIS WORD: Deut. 8:2-4 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know [or REVEAL] what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. [3] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

WHAT WE LEARN FROM TRIALS: Romans 3:19-22  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. [20] Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.  But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,

THIS KNOWLEDGE OF OUR DESTITUTION IS PRECIOUS:   Matthew 5:3-9     "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [4] Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. [5] Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. [6] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
    
THIS KNOWLEDGE CAUSES US TO CRY OUT TO GOD AND FIND DELIVERANCE:
•    SOLOMON’S PRAYER: 2 Chron. 6:24-27 "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and confess your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, [25] then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their fathers. [26]   "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, [27] then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

•    Psalm 34:17-19  The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. [18] The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. [19] A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;

BUT WE MUST BE REPENTANT: 1 Peter 3:11-12 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. [12] For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (Luke 13:1-5)
 
BUT IF THINGS GO TOO WELL FOR US, WE BECOME ARROGANT AND SELF-RIGHTEOUS. THIS WAS EVEN TRUE FOR JOB:  Job 42:3-8  You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know... [6] Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
 
    Faith and Assurance

Through faith [they] conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. (Hebrews 11:33-36)

FROM WHERE DOES SUCH FAITH AND ASSURANCE COME FROM? FROM KNOWING THE ONE FROM WHOM THESE GUARANTEES COME!

•    1 John 1:9-10  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

•    Ephes. 3:16-20  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. [20] Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

THIS ASSURANCE ALSO COMES FROM KNOWING OURSELVES:

•    Luke 17:5-10  The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"   [6] He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.   [7] "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? [8] Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? [9] Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? [10] So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "

•    Luke 18:9-14   To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: [10] "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'     [13] "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'     [14] "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

THE BLESSINGS OF HUMILITY:   Proverbs 16:18-20   Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better to be lowly in spirit (humble) and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. 20 Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

HUMILITY IS THE DOORWAY TO GREAT TRUST AND ASSURANCE IN GOD:   Matthew 8:8-10  The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. (Humility x Denial) (Matthew 15)

•    Philip. 3:7-9   But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. [8] What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

ASSURANCE:   (C.S. LEWIS) “I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun. Not simply because I can see the sun, but by the sun, I can see everything else.” (rough quote)

Unbiblical Expectations vs. Contentment

THE BLESSEDNESS OF CONTENTMENT: 1 Tim. 6:6-9   But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  

IT’S ALL IN THE LORD’S HANDS: James 4:13-17   Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
    
Confession and Repentance

RATIONALIZATIONS ARE NATURAL:

“I’m right” – Self-Esteem Society   enables abuse and conflict: Proverbs 13:10  Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

    Proverbs 16:2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.

    Proverbs 21:2 All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.

    Proverbs 20:6 Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?

    Proverbs 30:12 Those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth;

Sin (Alarm)    Confession or Rationalizations/Denial

    CONSEQUENTLY, JESUS WARNED AGAINST JUDGING: Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Counseling: TYING IT TOGETHER

•    INCARNATIONAL—THE NATURE OF LOVE: 1 Corinthians 9:22–23 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

•    EMPATHY: Romans 12:15–16 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly… DON’T LOOK DOWN ON THE LOWLY

•    LISTENING COMES FIRST—UNDERSTANDING—PRESCRIPTION: James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

•    HOW TO TELL YOUR BRETHREN THEY NEED TO CHANGE: 2 Timothy 2:24–26  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

•    OUR LORD WANTS TRUTH: Psalm 51:6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

•    Ephesians 4:15–16 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

BLESSINGS WITH CONFESSION:

•    FOR HEALING:   James 5:16   Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

•    CONFESSION ALLOWS WORD TO SPREAD WITH POWER:   Acts 19:18-20 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

•    WHEN WE CONFESS, WE HUMBLE OURSELVES:   James 4:6  But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

•    WHEN WE DON’T CONFESS:   Proverbs 28:13  He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

•    1 John 1:8-9  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  
Understanding the Gospel: The Strictness and Compassion of God

WE ARE ALL SPIRITUAL FAILURES:
•    Now return the man's wife, for he is a PROPHET, and HE WILL PRAY for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die." (Genesis 20:7)

•    “And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' " (Genesis 20:13)

•    PETER WAS A SPIRITUAL FAILURE: "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

•    PAUL: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. (1 Tim. 1:15-16)


•    But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!  For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Rom. 5:8-10)


THE GOSPEL AND JOHN BUNYAN – Pilgrim’s Progress
•    Soon Bunyan also began to read the Bible. He then came under such powerful conviction of sin that he scarcely knew what to do. “Sin and corruption,” he wrote, “would as naturally bubble out of my heart, as water would bubble out of a fountain. . . I thought none but the devil himself could equalize me for inward wickedness and pollution of mind.” Bunyan was plunged into a state of despair over the greatness of his sin which, he tell us, “continued a long while, even for some years together.”

•    Eventually, after years of spiritual and emotional agony, Bunyan described “what seemed to be the decisive moment.” He was heading into the field one day when suddenly this sentence broke in upon his mind: “Thy righteousness is in heaven.” At this, he says, “I . . . saw . . . that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse: for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Heb. 13:8).” “Now,” he said, “did my chains fall off my legs indeed . . . my temptations also fled away . . . now went I . . . home rejoicing, for the grace and love of God.” http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147519795#.T4XOXycjqpA.email
   
Unbiblical Spiritualities
Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster) (Spiritual Formation,Contemplative Prayer, Christian Meditation)

MEDITATION: “In learning to meditate, one good place to begin is with our dreams…’Every major Father of the early Church, from Justin Martyr to Ireneaus, from Clement to Tertullian to Origen and Cyprian, believed that dreams were a means of revelation’…If we are convinced that dreams can be a key to unlocking the door to the inner world, we can do three practical things. First, we can specifically pray, inviting God to inform us through our dreams…Second, we should begin to record our dreams. (23-24)

GOD IS ABLE TO GUIDE US WITHOUT DREAM ANALYSIS: Philip. 3:15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

 WE SHOULDN’T PURSUE SPIRITUAL PRACTICES THAT THE BIBLE DOESN’T AUTHORIZE:  1 Cor. 4:6-7  Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. [7] For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Hebrews 1:1-2 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

This will help you to get in touch with your body and indicate to you the level of tension within. Inhale deeply, slowly tilting your head back as far as it will go…”Lord, I exhale my fear over my geometry exam, I inhale your peace.” (25)

Philip. 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

THE USE OF IMAGINATION IN MEDITATION:  Hence, you can actually encounter the living Christ in the event, be addressed by His voice and be touched by His healing power. It can be more than an exercise of the imagination; it can be a genuine confrontation. Jesus Christ will actually come to you.

“for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

“And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:”(Jeremiah 9:13-14)

“Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.”(Jeremiah 11:8)

…when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” (Romans 1:21-22)

Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

A fourth form of meditation has as its objective to bring you into a deep inner communion with the Father where you look at Him and He looks at you. In your imagination, picture yourself walking along a lovely forest path.

PRESUMPTUOUS: James 4:13-16 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

SCRIPTURE’S WAY TO RECEIVE FULLNESS: Ephes. 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


PRAYER:

“Often we assume we are in contact when we are not…Often people will pray and pray with all the faith in the world, but nothing happens. Naturally, they are not contacting the channel. We begin praying for others by first centering down and listening to the quiet thunder of the Lord of hosts. Attuning ourselves to divine breathings is spiritual work, but without it our praying is vain repetition. Listening to the Lord is the first thing…(34)

James 4:2-3 You ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

“Imagination opens the door to faith. If we can ‘see’ in our mind’s eye a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it is only a short step to believing that it will be so. (36)

IMAGINATION SEEMS ALWAYS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH EVIL: Jeremiah 23:16-17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

Ezekiel 13:2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

Luke 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. KJV

“Imagine the light of Christ flowing through your hands and healing every emotional trauma and hurt feeling your child experienced that day. Fill him or her with the peace and joy of the Lord. In sleep the child is very receptive to prayer since the conscious mind, which tends to erect barriers to God’s gentle influence, is relaxed. (39)

GOD IS NOT ABOUT TECHNIQUES:
Jeremiah 17:5-7 "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD…7"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

Romans 8:31-32 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Rev. 3:7-8 "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

HOW DOES FOSTER BIBLICALLY JUSTIFY HIS TEACHINGS? Scripture tells us that John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” when he received his apocalyptic vision (Rev. 1:10). Could it be that John was trained in a way of listening and seeing that we have forgotten? (14)

1 Cor. 3:10-13 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.

HENRY NOUWEN: “The quiet repetition of a single word can help us to descend with the mind into the heart…This way of simple prayer…opens us to God’s active presence.”

Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Brennan Manning (The Signature of Jesus): “The first step in faith is to stop thinking about God in prayer…” “Contemplative spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness…we must come to see reality differently.” “Choosing a single, sacred word…repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly, and often.” “Enter into the great silence of God. Alone in that silence, the noise within will subside and the Voice of Love will be heard.” (Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing, 83).

•    Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…2But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

•    John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

•    Rev. 3:19-20 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

•    Numbers 22:31 Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.


Revival: The Work of God

I am not a Methodist, but I must confess that John Wesley’s life and work in the Spirit had transformed society. Charles White, professor of Christian Thought and History at Spring Arbor University, writes:

•    The Methodists made such an impact on their nation that in 1962 historian Elie Halevy theorized that the Wesleyan revival created England’s middle class and saved England from the kind of bloody revolution that crippled France. Other historians, building on his work, go further to suggest that God used Methodism to show all the oppressed peoples of the world that feeding their souls on the heavenly bread of the lordship of Christ is the path to providing the daily bread their bodies also need. (Mission Frontiers, Sept-Oct 2011, 6)

•    Coming to Christ through the Methodist movement changed the loves of a million people in Britain and North American in the eighteenth century….most of these people and their children moved from the desperation of hand-to mouth poverty to the security of middle-class life as they made Christ their Lord and experienced the impact of His power on their economic lives. As these people moved up the social ladder, they began to influence the political life of their nation. They helped to transform Britain from as eighteenth-century kleptocracy – where the powerful fueled their lives of indulgence by exploiting the poor into a nineteenth century democracy – which abolished slavery and used its empire o enrich the lives of every subject of the crown. (9)

Before this glorious movement of the Spirit, England had been in turmoil. White explains:

•    The police were also overwhelmed by the fighting and killing of the mob. The law executed people for 169 capital crimes, but the regular march to the gallows did nothing to make the streets safe at night. Sexual immorality was common at all levels of society, and the nation was overwhelmed with illegitimate children. (7)

What about this revival made the difference? Wesley formed people into small groups where they would confess their sins and pledge to follow Christ in everything! Are we ready to take up our cross? Instead, it seems that we are more interested in congregating to learn various feel-good, mystical-contemplative techniques in order to experience or hear from God. Meanwhile, it seems that our God is far more interested in a broken and contrite spirit:

•    Isaiah 57:15 "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

•    Isaiah 66:2 "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

•    Psalm 34:17-18 “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.”

True revival is always accompanied by confession and repentance. Here’s how one person described the impact of the revival in Wales (1904):

•    Judges were presented with white gloves: they had no cases to try. No rapes, no robberies, no murders, no burglaries, no embezzlements, nothing. The District Consuls held emergency meetings to discuss what to do with the police, now that they were unemployed. Drunkenness was cut in half. The illegitimate birth rate dropped 44 percent in two counties within a year of the beginning of the revival. (The Rebirth of America, The Arthur S, DeMoss Foundation, 64)

Well, what has happened to Methodism? Decker and Whiteman identify two institutional factors. In the latter part of the 19th century,

•    It was officially decided that membership in a small group would no longer be required for church membership…Secondly, an emphasis on formal seminary education supplanted the previous grass-roots process by which leadership was largely developed…[This] fomented a greater professionalization of the clergy.

This has been tragic. I’ve been told that all of the Methodist seminaries, with the exception of Asbury, have gone apostate. It therefore became almost impossible for the church to remain spiritually alive when its head was spiritually dead.

What does this mean for the church today? We must cry out to our Savior for revival, confessing our sins and looking to Him as our only hope!


Integrationism and Biblical Counseling

We believe that truth can be found in both of God’s “books” – Scripture and creation. There are many things that we can learn from the study of the earth and the study of the skies (Psalm 19). God’s imprint is on everything. Creation is pregnant with His knowledge, as the clouds are pregnant with water. Accordingly, Christian counselors Stanton L. Jones and Richard E. Butman write:

•    “Just as the rain falls on the just and the unjust, so too does truth, by the process that theologians call God’s common grace. Romans 1 speaks of God even revealing central truths about his nature to unbelievers…. If we understand God’s counsel to be truth, we will be committed to pursuing truth wherever we find it. And we sometimes find it in the careful and insightful writings of unbelievers.” http://thecripplegate.com/is-psychiatry-general-revelation/

This is the doctrine of “general revelation.” All manner of Christians believe that God speaks to us through nature as well as through Scripture – “special revelation.” However, should this insight make us “integrationists?” This is the idea that we can and should integrate our knowledge from the Scriptures with our knowledge from nature/science?

In some ways we must. It is hard to derive a meaningful and robust understanding of Scripture without general revelation, which we derive through our feelings, perceptions, and experiences. It’s hard to understand the Scripture’s teachings on sin and forgiveness without experiencing these for myself. The fact that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) would have been meaningless to me had I not experienced tsunamis of self-condemnation.

This, however, brings us to an area of strong contention. Can we integrate the insights of secular counseling with our understanding of Biblical counseling? Writer and counselor Larry Crabb answers affirmatively:

•    “All truth is certainly God’s truth. The doctrine of general revelation provides warrant for going beyond the propositional revelation of Scripture into the secular world of scientific study expecting to find true and useable concepts.”

“All truth is certainly God’s truth,” but are the revelations of secular counseling truth and can these truths be used productively? Christian Counselor Bruce Narramore claims that they can be:

•    “The evangelical church has a great opportunity to combine the special revelation of God’s Word with the general revelation studied by the psychological sciences and professions. The end result of this integration can be a broader (and deeper) view of human life.”

While it is obvious that the study of the brain has revealed new insights about behavior and the correlation between physical and mental states, it is unclear how these insights might impact Christian counseling. Eric L. Johnson argues that, if we can use the insights of the science of psychology, we can also use their insights in the area of counseling:

•    “Non-Christian bias has influenced the content and practice of modern psychology, but it is also the case that God has revealed so much about the brain, learning, human development, motivation, social influences, forms of abnormality, and even helpful counseling practices through the labors of secular psychologists.”

However, the study of physical psychology is worlds apart from secular counseling practices. Although the two might seem inseparable, I think that we have to carefully distinguish them. While a newspaper might be inseparable from the ink of its news-print, our efforts to understand a particular editorial would be misplaced if we tried to understand its message by investigating the ink patterning.

While the physical study of the brain is relatively free from the values of the researcher, the counseling enterprise is imbued through-and-through with secular values and assumptions, so-much-so that Martin L. Gross has written:

•    For many, the [Psychological] Society has all the earmarks of a potent new religion. When educated man lost faith in formal religion, he required a substitute belief that would be as reputable in the last half of the twentieth century as Christianity was in the first. Psychology and psychiatry have now assumed that special role. They offer mass belief, a promise of a better future, opportunity for confession, unseen mystical workings and a trained priesthood of helping professionals devoted to servicing the paying-by-the-hour communicants. (The Psychological Society, 9)

One example might be illuminating in this regard. Numerous Christian counselors have borrowed extensively from secular behavioral therapy, using the technique of “systematic desensitization.” If someone has a fear of flying, the counselor/therapist will slowly confront their client with images of flying, encouraging them, all along the way, that they can handle these fearful stimuli. This finally culminates with the client actually boarding a plane.

However, the success of this operation depends upon the client growing in the faith that s/he can do it. While helping the client grow in self-confidence and self-esteem is central to secular counseling, it is antithetical to Christian counseling. Instead of growing in self-confidence, the Apostle Paul understood that he had to diminish in self-confidence so that he could grow in God-confidence:

•    We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Cor. 1:8-9)

Biblical counsel takes us in an opposite direction from the secular. On its most basic level, the secular attempts to build confidence and self-esteem while the Biblical goal is humility and self-acceptance based on God’s acceptance of us through Jesus Christ. The secular foundation is diametrically opposed to the Biblical. While we are to die to self and to look towards God, the secular emphasis is upon growing the self.

Some Christians believe that they can merely “Christianize” the secular. As they lead their client through “systematic desensitization” to show them that they can tolerate the fearful plane ride, they are careful to say, “You see, God is able to give you courage to take this flight.”

However, the process might have little to do with God, even though it might have been baptized in prayer. Was the greater freedom-from-fear they experienced, when imagining themselves boarding a plane, the result of God’s intervention or a very human suggestive process? Was their diminished anxiety the result of their relationship with God, or a natural process that anyone could experience?

Of course, we know that the answer is the latter one in both cases. Anyone can “benefit” from this form of “therapy,” at least temporarily. However, the perceptive Christian counselee will conclude, “I was able to do it. It had nothing to do with my prayer, since anyone can benefit from these methods.”

This, of course, is the wrong conclusion, but one that will be embraced if we start out with wrong methods. The method becomes the message!

Consequently, I am very skeptical of integrating secular methods and secular counseling insights. I am also assured that our Lord has given us everything that we need, in this regard, to come to spiritual maturity – the goal of all true Biblical counseling. In these matters, Paul assures us that, through the Scriptures, we have everything we need:

•    All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Sadly, we – Christian counselors and Christian lay people – fail to understand how well-endowed are. We are rich beyond belief. When we fail to realize this, we compromise and “integrate.”

•    See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (Col. 2:8-10)

Much of the church has been taken “captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy.” This is because we fail to understand our riches in Christ and how they are jeopardized by alien philosophies. Consequently, the Apostle Paul prayed this way:

•    I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephes. 3:16-19)

Without this “knowing” and “grasping,” we are left thinking that we are missing out. Integrationism is a symptom of this thinking. We think that we are missing out – that the Biblical revelation, regarding this spiritual matter, is not sufficient enough. It doesn’t stand on its own, so we have to draw from other sources.
    
UNDERSTANDING FOR A BROKEN SPIRIT

I had been hoping that once I’d reach my 70s, my fleshly nature would mellow in a grandfatherly manner. However, the curmudgeon in me – irritations, annoyances, anger, and impatience – are making their unwelcome reemergence. I find this so troubling. They mock any hope that I might be becoming a more spiritual or worthy person and leave me with the awareness that I am not adequate to handle even the simplest tasks. However, this awareness has led me back to the Word:

•    So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away [“perishing,” NKJV], our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)

I know that my focus has to be upon the things that are “unseen,” God and His promises, but what exactly must we perceive in this process? For me, it began with the question, “What does it means that our “outer self” is “wasting away” or “perishing?” Is it a matter of physical dying or is it a spiritual dying to the nature that had once held us captive through our blindness and Satan’s deceptions (Romans 7:11)? Paul seemed to associate our “dying” with the painful trials, which expose our sin and enable us to confess it:

•    [We are] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:10-11)

This is not a “death” that brings us to the grave but a “death” that perfects us into the image of our Savior. How does this work? This “death” reveals our utter need for Jesus and His gift of righteousness by showing us how inadequate we are (John 15:4-5; 2 Corinthians 3:5):

•    But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)

We have been given this treasure of the Spirit and new life in very fallible and vulnerable human bodies. Why? So that we can see that it’s all about God and not about our goodness or spirituality. Affliction and persecution make this truth very apparent as part of my “daily bread,” and I need to experience these afflictions and persecutions lest I drift away from my dependence upon Jesus.

I think that Peter has shed light on this process:

•    In this [afflictions] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. (1 Peter 1:6-8)

What is accomplished by the testing of our faith? God already knows how we will respond. Instead, this testing is for us. It purifies our faith as fire purifies gold. How? Gold ore is loaded into a cauldron where it is melted down. This enables to the impurities to come to the surface so that they can be separated from the gold. To make fine gold, this process must be repeated, perhaps many times so that the gold will be purified.

This is also true for our faith. When we go through the fiery trials, our impurities come to the surface so that we can see them, grieve, and confess them, acknowledging that our hope is in God alone. This too must happen continually, because pride and self-righteousness so quickly sets in, without the fire of trials.

The most righteous man in all the earth, Job, also had to endure the fire, lest pride would separate him from his Savior. The fire brought out the decay which had been hidden from sight. Job began to bring self-righteous charges against God (Job 9:21-24; 10:2-3; 27:2-6; 16:12-17; 33:8-12; 34:5-6). However, after God confronted him with his self-righteousness and arrogance, Job sincerely confessed (Job 40:4-5; 42:3-6) and was restored. He had learned a lesson he would never forget and was enabled to receive an abundance of blessings without them corrupting him.

Paul had admonished us to not “lose heart” ( 2 Corinthians 4:16) over our vulnerability and inadequacies as earthen vessels (4:7). It is these teachings, which wean us away from self-trust and pride unto a dependence upon the Lord:

•    For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

It is this understanding that has enabled me to continue to trust in my Savior in view of my many and persistent failures. However, this understanding has also enabled me to love Him as my only Hope, the Hope for the utterly undeserving. By this Hope, He has also given me the courage to acknowledge my unworthiness despite my many self-imposed barriers against His Light.

MUST WE LEARN TO LOVE OURSELVES BEFORE WE CAN LOVE OTHERS?


•    “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.  For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.  The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.  He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.” (Psalm 36:1-4)

•    “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.  Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7)

THE FEAR OF THE LORD - JUST A FEELING OF AWE? Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

When we experience anxiety, depression, and other related afflictions, our first tendency is to regard them as negative things, which we have to quickly overcome.  However, this response often proves counter-productive.  Instead, God is trying to show us that we cannot overcome without Him.  Rather, He wants us to realize that He is the One who is in control and we have to rely upon Him:

•    Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  (Psalm 46:10)

As Jesus taught, we can do nothing of any spiritual value:

•    Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  (John 15:4-5)

This means we have to trust in the Lord:

•    The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.  (Psalm 34:18-19)

However, we want to be in control.  Paul had to learn that he couldn’t trust in himself:

•    For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.  For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.  But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.  On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.  (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

Our Lord teaches us through our afflictions that we cannot trust in ourselves but in Him alone (Psalm 62).  Suffering is a necessary part of our life in Christ (1 Peter4:17):

•    Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  (2 Corinthians 4:10-11, 16-18)

How do we look at the unseen?

•    Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.  (Philippians 4:8-9)

Meanwhile, Our Lord is working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28) as we look towards Him.

No pain, no gain.  It’s going to hurt:

•    Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

The fact that we suffer various afflictions doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us, but that He does! He is preparing us for service and for heaven:

•    Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.  (1 Peter 4:12-13)

As we place our trust in the Lord, we might still experience anxiety and depression, but we need not be ruled by them.  God can turn our weaknesses into strengths:

•    So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Meanwhile, our infirmities should drive us to prayer:

•    Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6-7)

  REJOICE IN SUFFERING: Romans 5:2–5 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Assurance of Salvation

WE NEED IT: Hebrews 10:19–22  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full   assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

IT WAS BECAUSE OF THIS CONCERN THAT JOHN WROTE HIS EPISTLE: 1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.  

HOW CAN WE BE ASSURED THAT WE ARE REALLY SAVED?

•    John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

•    Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

•    Romans 8:38–39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (8:28)

EXAMPLES OF LOT AND ISRAEL: Hebrews 11:29  By faith the people [of Israel] crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

•    1 Tim.  1:15-16 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.   But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

•    John 3:19-20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

•    1 Cor.  2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

•    IT’S A PROCESS THROUGH WHICH WE MUST REASSURE OURSELVES: 1 John 3:19-23 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.  21Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  23This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.  

OUR FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE IS FAITH AND CONFESSION:

•    1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  

•    1 John 5:1-2 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.  2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.  

•    A CHANGED LIFE IS THE FRUIT OF THE GIFT OF FAITH: 1 John 2:3-6 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.  By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.  

•    ASSURANCE GIVES US CONFIDENCE: 1 John 4:16-18…God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.  18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.  

W/O GOD’S GUARANTEE OF ETERNAL LIFE:

1.    JIHAD/SELF-SACIFICE

2.    SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS/VIRTUE SIGNALLING: Luke 18:9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.

3.    SUICIDE/SELF-HARM