At this point, the Lord desires to show us one of the deepest and most dangerous deceptions with which believers are deceived. It greatly affects our beliefs, the course of our actions or inactions and all our earthly life. It also makes us unable to receive from Him what we need and what He desires to give us and prosper us in spirit, soul and body. Let us, therefore, SEE the following.
WHEN WE ARE DELIVERED FROM WHAT WE SEE AND BELIEVE TO BE OUR “BAD-EVIL-SINFUL FLESH”, WE ARE SATISFIED AND BELIEVE THAT WE ARE NOW “GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE TO THE LORD”. WHY? WE SEE NOTHING ELSE WRONG WITH US; NO MORE “BAD-EVIL-SINFUL FLESH”. BUT OUR SAVIOR AND LORD SAYS THAT OUR “GOOD FLESH”, GOOD VIRTUES OF OUR NATURAL SOUL ARE ALSO EVIL AND SINFUL AND WERE NOT SPARED ON HIS CROSS!
OUR NATURAL “GOOD” SOUL WAS NOT SPARED IN ITS NATURAL LIFE! HENCE, ALL – BAD & GOOD – MUST BE DESTROYED IN ITS ENTIRETY; OTHERWISE, WE CANNOT LIVE BY FAITH OR MINISTER IN SPIRIT WHILE WE LIVE IN OUR “GOOD, HUMANLY ACCEPTABLE FLESH”! THERE IS NOTHING THAT GOD HAD SAVED AND KEPT ALIVE FROM OUR OLD BEING.
WHEN YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN, YOU ARE RECONCILED TO GOD. BUT IF YOUR FLESH – SINFUL NATURE – IS NOT DESTROYED IN ITS ENTIRETY, YOU WILL KEEP SINNING AND RETAINING EVIL WITHIN YOURSELF FOR EVER WHILE BEING A SINCERE, HONEST, DILIGENT, FAITHFUL, DEVOUT, DEPENDABLE AND RESPONSIBLE BELIEVER! DO YOU SEE THIS TRUTH? IT SHOULD CHANGE YOUR FAITH AND YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Paul said: “I AM crucified with Christ…” which means: “I AM FINISHED…” not just my sins. But if “I AM crucified”, if I take up my cross and deny the life of my old natural soul, then it is no more I, my old self, that lives, but Christ lives His Eternal Life IN MY NEW SPIRITUAL SOUL and not only in my spirit!(Gal. 2:20) In such a case, I am a fully completed spiritual believer, matured son of God, ready to follow the Lord wheresoever He goes (Mt. 16:24, 25 // Rev. 14:4,5), ready to be taken to the Throne and meet My Lord and My Father. (Rev. 12:5)
The problem in recognizing a soulish believer from a spiritual one is far more complicated than just observing their outward acts and behavior as per the four examples given above. Our natural soul has its own DISPOSITION which may vary vastly from individual to individual. Our disposition may also be viewed as a “personal package” containing the type of thinking, personal talents, personal inclinations or leanings, desires, goals, good and bad virtues (mentioned before) and the “package” of spirits of darkness and evil. These spirits typically include some form of pride, some degree of jealousy, stubbornness, selfishness, self-righteousness, fears, hypocrisy, malevolency, foolishness, laziness, disobedience, possibly bitterness, hatred, etc.
Hence, each of the four examples of soulish believers on pages 48 and 49 is further affected by these “packages”. We may then have a soulish believer, who lives in his world of “reason” and may be either fearful or jealous or stubborn or naturally humble, proud, self-righteous, bitter or a hypocrite depending on his/her disposition. The same goes for the other three examples of soulish believers.
The most diligent, faithful, zealous and devout soulish believer may be either proud or humble or fearful or he may be a hypocrite, etc. The combinations within the disposition of each natural soul are almost endless. It is usually possible to discern the main features of a human soul and its overall temperament, but only after some time of having personal contact with the person. Many of its other features will remain well hidden. Only the Lord knows about them and He may expose them in His timing in order that they might be destroyed and the soul delivered.
These well hidden features harbored within the natural soul are its “bad virtues and bad spirits”. They may never be discovered by another natural soul and they may not be known even to the infected soulish believer himself.
So, what does the Lord do with our natural, carnal soul? How does He deal with it? How is He transforming our natural soul making it spiritual, perfect and thus fully acceptable to Himself and to Our Father? Well, He is doing it graciously, wisely, patiently and consistently whether our response to it is right or wrong, whether we like it or not, whether we understand it or not.
OUR LORD DOES HIS WORK BY HIS LIVING AND SHARP WORD, (HEB. 4:12// REV. 1:16) BY DISCIPLINE, CHASTISEMENT, REBUKE, (HEB. 12:5-8) BY GUIDANCE OF HIS SPIRIT, BY SHOWING US OUR SPIRITUAL NEED AND THE TRUTH ABOUT OURSELVES (HERE A LITTLE AND THERE A LITTLE – JN. 16:13// IS. 28:10). HE ALSO WORKS IN OUR SOUL SO THAT WE WOULD BE WILLING TO DO HIS WILL. (PHIL. 2:13) WHEN WE FOLLOW HIS GUIDANCE AND DO HIS WILL, HE DELIVERS US, MEETS OUR NEEDS AND ALSO COMFORTS US DURING THIS WHOLE PROCESS.
WE MUST DEFINITELY SEE AND UNDERSTAND THAT ALL OF THESE ABOVE STEPS ARE FIRSTLY DONE BY THE SPIRIT THROUGH A MAN, WHO IS NEVER AS PERFECT AS WE EXPECT, BUT WHO WAS SOVEREIGNLY CHOSEN BY GOD FOR US WHETHER WE LIKE HIM OR NOT. GOD DOES NOT WORK IN US DIRECTLY UNTIL WE ARE SUFFICIENTLY MATURE IN SPIRIT AND SOUL AND DO NOT NEED TUTORS ANY MORE. (Gal. 4:1,2)
His Spirit always knows the right timing for any spiritual work that is to be done in us, the manner in which it is to be done and the person(s) that He will use. He then leads the person to express his discernment, his observation, his faith about our spiritual need, our condition, our deeds, faults or errors as our fruit would clearly indicate. His discernment is always supported by the Word of God and, if necessary, by two or three other witnesses in whose mouth every word of that chosen person is established. (Mt. 18:16)
This process is never pleasant or joyful, that is why we are never eager to be treated like that without first being offended and pricked and defending ourselves, disregarding the truth and disbelieving such “shameful accusations“. When we finally, under the weight of the evidence, break down and repent, we always need the comforting of the Spirit. So, the Spirit is our Comforter not only because of what injustices and bruises and pain we can suffer from the world and hell, but also because of what war we have to wage within our own soul. (Jn. 14:26) Many times the Spirit may show us that instead of fighting and resisting the devil we have been fighting and resisting the Lord Himself!
We should not be surprised to learn that the Word of God is kind, compassionate, loving, intreating, full of grace, mercy and forgiveness. This may be more so during our Redemption and ensuing spiritual baby stage where the Lord requires from us nothing but that we would eat, sleep and play. But when our childish days are over and we are supposed to be “weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts“ of our tutors, our higher spiritual education and transformation should then begin. (Is. 28:9,10// Gal. 4:1,2)
YET, very few children are ever weaned from the milk (of the Word) and drawn from the breasts of their pastors, teachers or elders. Why? Well, we may not know how or even when to wean our spiritual children from the milk of the Word. We may fear to grant them freedom to broaden their faith and depth of spiritual knowledge, which freedom we may not have ourselves. And if we have not matured in spirit ourselves, then we have nothing else to offer, but milk. How then can we wean anyone else from milk?
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To be continued next week in chapter 3 – part 9
brother Hanola
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