God's Game Plan # 8

THE COMPLETED STATE OF HAPPINESS

      The believer who passes the momentum tests accelerates his growth and enters the winner’s gate. Many blessings belong to gate eight, all of which con­tribute to the completed state of happiness in which the believer shares the Happiness of God. This gate is the culmination and intensification of all the other gates. The inner strength of stabilized Spiritual maturity is the ultimate objective of God’s game plan for the royal family!

     Throughout the First Advent, Jesus Christ resided in fellowship. (Heb 4:15) In His Gethsemane discourse, the night before He was betrayed, Christ spoke concerning the Spiritual life that He would soon turn over to His royal family. He stated that happiness is the ultimate goal of the Christian way of life!

     Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. [Spiritual life] If you keep [Think with] My Commandments, [Thoughts] (Rom 6:17-18) you will abide in My love; [Spiritual life] just as I have kept My Father's Commandments and abide in His love. These things [Thoughts] I have spoken to you so that My joy [Sharing the happiness of God] may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. [At Spiritual maturity] (John 15:9-11)  

     The Apostle John identifies Truth as the source of the believer’s happiness. 

     In fact, we write these things [Thoughts] in order that our state of happiness [Spiritual life] might be completed!  (1Jn 1:4)

     In time before death we are to complete the Spiritual life! 

     The state of happiness is the Spiritual life; but there are degrees of happi­ness, from minimum for the immature believer who occasionally resides in the system, to maximum for the faithful believer who per­severes in his intake of Truth to Spiritual maturity and beyond. Each gate contributes to the happiness of the one functioning in the system. There is no happiness for anyone outside God’s system! All true happiness is based on Truth in our soul; the temporal happiness of the Spiritually mature believer who functions in all the gates is Amazing! (Psa 84:10) God designed us; He created us. He “knows our frame” from eternity past. (Psa 103:8-14) He Knows a great deal more than we do! About everything! And what makes us happy! The completed Spiritual life is the envi­ronment for complete happiness! The tragedy is that people assume they can find happiness through their own devices; outside God’s system. And people can and will find happiness in everything under the sun, (Eccles 1:8-9) so will a dog that has a good bone, a tree, a blanket, a dish, wags his tail, runs and jumps! Meaningless! (Prov 1:32; Eccles 11:9) This attitude is the common ingredient of all people without Truth. Satan, who is utterly unhappy and frustrated in the angelic conflict, observed Jesus in the prototype Spiritual life. Our Lord’s constant inner happiness, stability, poise and courage, which under varying circumstances had an entire spectrum of expressions but was never broken. Even at the decline of His nation; (Luk 13:34) and the anticipation of His suffering on the Cross! (Matt 26:39) Which brought out expressions of Christ’s tremendous capacity for life, which included His constant, stabilized happiness in the plan of God. Christ’s happiness was stabilized by His Divine Thinking. He understood the Doctrine of Divine decrees: The decree of God is His eternal, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be, in their causes, conditions, successions and relationships, and determining their certain future. Which explains how all things fit into God’s overall Viewpoint of time and eternity! But Satan rejects all Truth. Totally arrogant and desperate, Satan tried to destroy our Lord’s happiness. But no antagonism, opposition, injustice and or violence could destroy the power of Christ’s “completed state of happiness.” (John 14:27) Failing in his attack against Christ, the devil now concentrates his genius against the believer and unbeliever by counterfeiting the happiness that only the Spiritual life can produce. (Luk 12:19-21) 

FALSE HAPPINESS IN RELIGION 

     Satan has no happiness to share. He therefore creates a worldly temporary fleshy-happiness to lure people away from God’s plan. As the ruler of the world, Satan has the power to provide emotional and external-prosperity. (Matt 4:8-9) He presents the attractiveness of wealth, fame, sex and power as if they were happiness in themselves, but Satan’s most subtle and effective deception is religion. The ritual of going to church, giving money, “helping out” (Eccles 5:1; Matt 23:25-28) and not knowing the only way for Reality is, (1Jn 1:9; John 4:23) The Spiritual life!  Christians have the impression that they will be happy if they are performing certain “Spiritual” functions, avoiding certain “worldly” activities, or receiv­ing the approbation of others in the congregation or community. Because pastors and other religious leaders often encourage this fallacy as a way of life for happi­ness, believers are tempted to fake happiness in order to vindicate their religious beliefs. The New Covenant Spiritual life is not a ritual; it is the ONLY TRUE REALITY! The Christian life is residence in the whole Spiritual life. And making God's Thoughts and Plan more important than our own! (2Co 5:15) Until this happens the Christian will never understand true happiness! (Matt 16:23-26)

     God The Son laid down his life as perfect God; (Php 2:5-8) this is His WAY! If Christ is being formed in us mentally and in Virtue we will Think the same way, One Mind — One accord. (1Co 1:10; Rom 15:6) Religion is Satan’s ace trump. The worldly-happiness of Christians out of fellowship is just as short-lived and ultimately destructive as the high from a drug. Spirituality, however, is residence and function inside the Spiritual life. Spirituality emphasizes not emotion but Spiritual Thought, Thinking Truth. Emotion without true Divine Thinking is involvement in Satan’s system! Many cults promote an aggressive, unrestrained “joy” as a means of enslaving and controlling their members. Emotion is used as a tool for breaking down the common sense of new converts. Often, joy is integrated with illegitimate forms of ecstatics connected with “speaking in tongues.” and  is a satanic substitute for the genuine inner happiness of the Spiritually mature believer. This is not to condemn legitimate expressions of emotion, nor to advocate a stern, facade of strict inflexibility. We are exploring a word found in the Bible, and in order to discover the accurate meaning we must scrape away the barnacles of religion. Gate eight of the Spiritual life is not devoid of emo­tion, but emotion is in response to an entire frame of reference of God's Thoughts. Genuine happiness depends on the Word of Truth. (Jer 15:16; Neh 8:9-10; Jer 23:9) 

HAPPINESS AS A BY-PRODUCT OF TRUTH 

     Although happiness is the ultimate objective of God’s game plan, happiness is strictly a by-product. God’s plan calls for us to pursue Truth in gate four of the Spiritual life. There is no shortcut to gate eight. The shortcut to happiness is the long road to misery! 

     For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, [Human provisions] but righteousness [Staying in fellowship] and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. [Spiritual Maturity] For he who in this way serves Christ [By staying in fellowship] is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things [Divine Thoughts] which make for peace [Spiritual Maturity] and the building up of one another. (Rom 14:17-19) 

     “Edification — building up” refers to erecting a structure in the soul, the believer’s inner strength which is completed upon reaching gate eight. All believers share the common objective of Spiritual maturity and under the royal family honor code are bound to avoid what would distract another believer from reaching the goal. (Rom 14:13) Happiness comes to those who keep faithfully learning and Thinking with Truth.

     But seek first His kingdom [Divine Thoughts] and His righteousness, [Staying in fellowship] and all these things [Human provisions] will be added to you. (Matt 6:33)

     How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways [Thoughts] to Zion! [The kingdom of God] (Psa 84:5)

     In contrast, those who seek happiness itself, whether in wealth, power, religion or any other system of old sin nature happiness; finds only frustration, disappointment and misery. A frantic search for happiness merely intensifies the unhappiness that motivated the search in the first place, as illustrated by addic­tion to drugs.

     The Greek verb in, (1Jn 1:4) which the King James Version renders “may be full,” is the perfect passive subjunctive form of pleröo. Pleröo has a number of related meanings: to fill up a deficiency, to fully possess, to fully influence, to fill up with a certain quality. The Concept of pleröo is comple­tion: “that our state of happiness might be completed.” The perfect tense of the verb indicates completed results from past action. Prolonged residence and function inside the Spiritual life brings about the completed state of happiness! Every gate of the system works at maximum capacity for the mature believer.

     The passive voice of pleröo indicates that such happiness receives the action of the verb rather than produces the action. John makes it clear that Truth brings us to this completed state of happiness. Supported by the first three gates, gate four provides the Spiritual momentum that result in gate eight. Truth pre­cedes happiness. If we seek happiness apart from God’s plan, we will always be unhappy. God’s game plan calls for us to seek Truth, since happiness comes as a natural consequence of learning and Thinking with the Mind of Christ. (1Co 2:16) The subjunctive mood of pleröo means that the completion of our happiness is a potential, the fulfill­ment of which depends on our Decisions over a long period of time to keep residing and functioning in God’s power system.

     John reiterates the importance of Bible teaching in the second Epistle, in which he repeats the same form of pleröo. 

     Although having many [Divine Thoughts] to write to you, I do not wish to do so with paper and ink, but I anticipate coming to you and teaching face to face, that our [Everyone's] state of happiness might be completed! (2Jn 1:12)

COMPONENTS OF COMPLETED HAPPINESS  

     The mature believer’s “completed state of happiness” in gate eight of the Spiritual life includes sharing God’s happiness, becoming Spiritually self-sustaining, completing the edification complex of the soul, receiving super-grace blessings, and being appointed to the highest order of royal family knighthood. Sharing God’s happiness has nothing to do with circumstances or the details of life. (Money, sex, job, position, family, friends, wealth, etc.) Sharing the happiness of God is a result of knowing God! And being  “brainwashed” with His Thinking! (Eph 5:26-27) God always has perfect happiness; when the believer shares the Thinking of God, as revealed in the Word, he shares God’s happiness. 

     You will make known to me the path [Divine Thinking] of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psa 16:11) [Reward for reaching Spiritual maturity] (Rev 3:21)  

     Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. [Spiritually mature believers] (Psa 32:11)

     Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, [Learn Truth] for blessed are they who keep my ways. [Think with Truth] Heed instruction [Obey ] and be wise, [Grow to Spiritual maturity] And do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting [Positive volition] at my doorposts. (Rev 3:16) For he who finds me [God's Thoughts] finds life And obtains favor from the LORD!” But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death. (Prov 8:32-36)

      As the believer resides and functions inside the Divine system, he is strengthening his soul. He is making himself Spiritually self-sustaining so that he can Think, Decide, and act with Divine-Viewpoint without seeking advice or approval from others! The more we know about God, the more we love Him, and understand His Commands and His plan for our lives! Divine guidance becomes easy to obey, because, finally we trust Him with our lives! (Eph 3:20)

     Divine guidance is why we are here, (John 12:26) this is God's plan; He does not leave it to us to live His plan! We need guidance, (Jas 1:5-8) and He gives it! You must obey it!  There are eight ways God directs us, in, (Acts 11:5-16) we have the pattern.

     I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me, and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it [Thinking Truth] I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, [The Word Taught] Get up, Peter; kill and eat. But I said, By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But a voice from heaven answered a second time, What God has cleansed, no longer Consider unholy. This happened three times, [God Repeats] and everything was drawn back up into the sky. And behold, at that moment [Coincidence; no such thing for believers!] three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit told me [Inside impelling] to go with them without Misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man's house. And he reported to us [Comparison of events and information] how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak Words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning.  And I Remembered the Word of the Lord, [Remembering Verses, Principles, Promises, Doctrines, etc.] how He used to say, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 11:5-16)

     Praying, Thinking Truth, The Word, Confirmation, Providential coincidence, The Holy Spirit Impelling us, Comparison of events and information, Remembering! God Is The One bringing these Thoughts to our mind! (John 14:26)

     For we walk by faith, not by sight-- (2Co 5:7)

This is walking by faith.

All Divine guidance excludes sin, and temptation! If the guidance does not line up with The Word then it is not God's guidance! This takes practice; (Heb 5:14) and God will not guide us beyond our capacity. (1Co 10:13) We discover that we can make good Decisions from our own inventory of Truth. The more of the Word we Think with; the more Personal dependence on God! and His Personal Guidance, (Exo 33:16) this is found in subordination to God’s system. The Spiritual life is our position of strength. The better we understand how God deals with us through a system, the more stabilized is our happiness and the more meaningful our lives become. God is perfect; He never disappoints; He has never let anyone down. As you learn about Him, you realize how wise He is, how faithful, how entirely wonder­ful. You come to depend on Him! (Psa 25:3-5) And in doing so you gain a better perspective of people. With your Confidence grounded in Personal love for God, you can successfully handle any human relationship. No one can disturb, upset, or depress you; this is the strength of Impersonal love for all mankind. (John 14:21) The combined power of these two gates con­tributes to your strength in gate eight, and that is the strength of Spiritual maturity; that any believer can have in this life. (Rom 4:20-21) Such strength has nothing to do with physical muscle; it has everything to do with thoughts! Divine Thoughts — BELIEVED AND THOUGHT WITH!

     I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest, [Spiritual maturity] declares the Lord GOD! (Eze 34:15)

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE EDIFICATION COMPLEX  

     The Bible depicts this strengthening of the soul in terms of erecting a struc­ture or constructing a building in the soul. This process is called edification. An edifice is a building, and the Greek verb oikodomeo, “to edify,” is a compound from oikia, “house,” and domeo, “to build.” The believer attains Spiritual maturity when he completes the construction of the edification complex in his soul and grows the completed state of happiness. In the Old Testament the Tabernacle and the Temple building were illustrations of the edification complex for Israel, the building on the inside (Zec 6:12-13) and the feasts, (Lev 23:5-34) are the progressive stages of the Spiritual life. The gates of the system that Christ fulfilled! In the New Covenant we have the completed version! (Gal 4:19) Christ and His Spiritual life (1Co 3:11-16) are formed in us!  

     To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col 1:27)

     Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the Promise [The New Covenant royal priesthood] in Christ Jesus through the Gospel, [The full realm of Scripture] (Eph 3:5-6)

     So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers [Demon rulers] and the authorities [Demon officers and the angelic trial proceedings] in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Eph 3:10-11)

     The mystery is Christ in us, and that all people are priests at the moment of Salvation! (Gal 3:28) In Israel only the priest could work in the Tabernacle and had to be born in the tribe of Levi, (Num 1:51; Heb 7:11-16) we are born again priests; a new Spiritual species, this is the New Covenant, (Jer 31:33-34; (1Co 11:25; (2Co 3:3-6; Heb 8:6-7; Heb 10:14-20; Heb 13:20)

     These are illustrations that only the priests could perform! And they show Who Christ Is and what He would do! and He did It! Now there is a new completed Spiritual life, that all Spiritually mature priests are to perform, all we have to do is learn how! This was passage of Scripture is just illustrating the basic Doctrines. We have the same and more Doctrines now in writing.

     Now even the first Covenant had regulations of Divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, [Representing the Humanity of Christ] in which were the lampstand [The God man as the light of the world] and the table and the sacred bread; [Perfect with no sin nature, imputed sin, personal sin or human thinking; the unleavened, Bread of life] this is called the holy place. [Fellowship with God] Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, [Face to face with God at Spiritual maturity, now Thought to Thought] having a golden altar of incense [Prayer] and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, [Deity of Christ] in which was a golden jar holding the manna, [God's provision, Truth, and the Spiritual life] and Aaron's rod which budded, [Human authority for teaching] and the tables of The Covenant; [The laws of Divine establishment and the condemnation of man] and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; [Righteousness and Justice of God] but of these things we cannot now speak in detail! Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the Divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, [Representing Christ's judgement for our sin's] which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. [Group Rebound] The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. [Until Christ was judged] Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food [Who Christ Is] and drink [What Christ would do] and various washings, Rebound, ordination regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation! [The New Covenant] But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation. [God The Father's realm] (Heb 9:1-11)

     The Old Testament is the ritual for what would happen, we read! The Reality of what did happen, and Think with it! This is a supernatural life and we use supernatural Information that changes us from the inside out, (Matt 23:26) and makes us into Spiritually mature priests, (2Co 3:18) ministers of the New Covenant! (2Co 3:9) The main job being to lead people to Salvation, and then to Spiritual maturity! (1Ti 2:4) To glorify Christ by letting His Thoughts and Virtues to shine (1Pe 2:9) through us! (Php 1:20-21) So He can reward us now (Heb 11:6) in Satan's kingdom, and rule with Him in Eternity! (Rev 5:10) No more No less!

THE EDIFICATION COMPLEX RELATED TO THE GATES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

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The system, which is the Spiritual life, and the edifica­tion complex — Christ used eight gates, we need ten; which is the inner result of obeying God’s Commands; they both merge at the ultimate objective. [Spiritual maturity] From the foundation to the penthouse, the floors of the edifi­cation complex correspond to the building of the Temple in the Old Testament; the very same building is the completed Reality Plan of God! The foundation of the inner structure of the soul! The unseen Temple supported by the filling of God the Holy Spirit. (Eph 2:21) All Christian dynamics, strength, and growth are based on the power of the Energizer! The first floor of the structure corresponds to gate four of the progressive stages of the Spiritual life. Spiritual momentum in the system equals the construction of the edification complex.

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     This is happening in our life as we go through the gates of the system! Two things are happening! Spiritual Growth to be free from slavery to the old sin nature.

     But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. [Spiritual maturity] (Rom 6:17-18)

And growth out of Satan's world system!

     Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. (1Jn 2:15-16) (Isa 42:7; Luk 4:18;

     To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. [Full Spiritual maturity] (Col 1:27-28)

     And on this mountain [At Spiritual maturity] He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, [Sin nature control] Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. [Cosmic system control] (Isa 25:7)

     For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. (Col 1:13)

     ...I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. (Acts 26:17-18)

     That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, [Virtue love] and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, [Spiritual maturity] resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col 2:2-3)

     For I say, through the grace which has been given to me, to everyone who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think, but Think in terms of sanity for the pur­pose of being rational without delusion, as God has assigned to each one a Standard of Thinking to Think with [The Mind of Christ] (Rom 12:3)

     For even if I should boast somewhat freely about our authority, [The authority of the pastor in teaching Truth] which the Lord gave for edification [Building up of the Spiritual life in the believer through Truth] and not for destroying you I will not be ashamed of it. (2Co 10:8)

     The happiness of the mature believer with a completed edification complex is the beginning of super-grace. The immature believer has limited capacity, which becomes maximum capacity when his Spiritual momentum has carried him to Spiritual maturity. Each gate of the Spiritual life contributes to the believer’s happiness — happiness exists in varying degrees until completed happiness is stabilized in gate eight. Consistently sharing the happiness of God belongs to the first category of super-grace — Spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings are the pre­requisite for the other five categories of super-grace blessings: temporal bless­ings, blessings by association, and historical impact, and special blessings connected with undeserved suffering, and dying grace. His state of happiness does not hinge on money, success, promotion, mar­riage or the approbation of others. Whether people appreciate him or not is inconsequential to his happiness. (Heb 12:2)

     I have come to know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [Thinking by God's Reality] of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do [Endure] all things through Him who strengthens me. [Empowers us as we stay in fellowship] (Php 4:12-13)

     Since the believer who enjoys a mature relationship with God does not need any other special blessings, God can give such blessings to him! God can prosper the happy believer precisely because he will not base his happiness on the pros­perity that God gives him. The details of life will not distract the mature believer from his first priority — his Personal love for God through the intake and applica­tion of the Mind of Christ. The details of life will not distract us if we continue in the Spiritual life.

     But I hold this against you: you have abandoned [Forsaken, deserted] your most important love. [The Lord Jesus Christ] (Rev 2:4)

     Worldly human-prosperity is the most difficult test for anyone to pass. In contrast to adver­sity, which forces a person to draw upon his inner resources of Truth in order to weather the storm, prosperity tends to deceive the believer into letting down his guard. The prosperous believer may struggle to secure the blessings he has; he loses his momentum by emphasizing security instead of freedom. (John 8:32) He takes his eyes off the source of his prosperity. God in His perfect justice gives the bless­ings of super-grace only to the Spiritually mature believer who has already attained maxi­mum happiness without reference to circumstances! Anyone who prospers without capacity, whether through the laws of establishment in the business world or by some satanic system of overt or emotional-prosperity, is no happier because of his achievement. That is why the Psalmist says, “Do not be envious of evil men...” (Psa 37:1)

THE SUPREME HONOR: FRIEND OF GOD

     Every New Covenant believer is a member of the royal family of God, but even among royalty there is no equality, now or in eternity. (Rev 2:26) Volition makes the difference. By our own decisions we advance Spiritually and attain super-grace and the other blessings of gate eight of the Spiritual life, or we retrogress into reversionism. (Moral and immoral degeneracy)

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     The in­equalities among the Spiritual nobility of the Church Age will be most dramatic at the Judgment Seat of Christ. There, the mature believer will be rewarded with tremendous eternal blessings. (2Ti 4:7-8; Jas 1:12; Rev 2:7) The superiority of the Spiritually mature believer is not restricted to eternity future. On earth the believer who reaches gate ten of the Spiritual life; Occupation with Christ and perpetu­ates his Spiritual momentum is invested into the most exclusive order of royal family knighthood. He is called the friend of God. The mature believer’s investiture into the royal order of the friend of God is the ultimate honor in this life. Few believers have ever attained this order of knighthood. (Heb 11:1-40; John 15:15) Now, inside the Spiritual life, every member of the royal family has an unprecedented opportunity to attain this supreme honor from our Lord. Even the believer who seems to you most unlikely to succeed has a far greater oppor­tunity to become the friend of God than did Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel or any other outstanding believer of past dispensations. The friend of God ceases to be merely the object of Divine Impersonal love; he now becomes the object of God’s complete Personal love. At Salvation all believers receive God’s righteousness, which not only completes their Salvation but also gives them potential for all the special Divine blessings of time and eternity. In our study of Divine Personal and Impersonal love, we noted that God can love Personally only what His righteousness approves. When Salvation is the issue, God loves us with Personal love the moment we receive His absolute righteousness. But when the issue is the Spiritual life, God cannot love us with Personal Esprit de corps love until we learn Truth and reach Spiritual maturity. Every believer receives logistical grace as the constant demonstration of God’s faithfulness and Virtue love, but very few believers in any dispensa­tion fully exploit logistical grace. Few even begin to fulfill the tremendous potential of imputed righteousness. As members of the royal family, we possess the same Divine righteousness that Abraham and Moses received, but our logisti­cal grace is far superior to theirs. We have the complete Spiritual life to sustain our Spiritual advance. We may have many reasons, but there is no excuse for failing to attain the maximum blessings of Spiritual maturity!

This, then, is the goal of the Spiritual life — not only that we be Occupied with the Person of Christ and enjoy maximum social life with God but that He can love us with maximum Personal love and accept us into the exclusive circle of His friends! The super-grace advantages of being the friend of God are phenomenal. This is our purpose in life, our Spiritual destiny!

THE TEST OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

     We have now developed the Spiritual life. In sum­mary, God the Father gave a sphere of power to the incarnate Christ to sustain His humanity in the devil’s world. This was the prototype Spiritual life; Christ was the test pilot. For thirty-three years our Lord functioned inside God’s system, and despite continual temptations, beyond any we will ever know, (Heb 4:15) Christ resisted every satanic attack and perfectly fulfilled the plan of God! After accomplishing His mission in the First Advent, Christ turned over His power system to us. He ran the Spiritual life through a complete checkout and then gave the entire system to us so that we, too, can fulfill the plan of God for our lives. As the royal family of God, we have a power system greater than has existed in any previous dispensation. When our Lord was about to be betrayed, He gave us a Command: “Reside in My love.” (John 15:9) This is tantamount to a test pilot saying, “Fly it.” Christ had wrung out the system completely and reported “All systems go. The design Was and IS perfect. For us to obey that simple Divine Command, we must know and obey many other Divine Commands.

     When a pilot receives orders to fly a mission, that one order incorporates many other instructions. He is implicitly ordered to check his instruments, to taxi to the end of the proper runway, to set his flaps for takeoff, to handle the throttle in a certain way, to follow a prearranged flight plan. There are literally thousands of functions implied in the command to fly a particular aircraft, all of which the pilot learned step by step. The same analogy applies to the Spiritual life!

     The Divine order to “reside in My love” is a single Command that involves many other Commands, but all of them interlock into one complete sys­tem. The New Testament frequently refers to love and Divine power, but we cannot possibly obey our Instructions if we fail to understand that love is a sys­tem. Christian love is not a nebulous emotion encouraged by a collection of unrelated Bible Verses; Christian love is a cohesive system of power. The Spiritual life in which we must conduct our Christian lives is comprehensive; we obey the order to “fly it” by properly operating in all of its gates.

     Many believers try to live the Christian way of life in only one or two gates. Some make an entire modus operandi out of gate one, distorting the ministry of God the Holy Spirit by “speaking in tongues.” Other believers seek to apply human personal love to all mankind without understanding the Doctrine of Impersonal love; they sen­tence themselves to a life of frustration.

     Likewise, some believers take witnessing, giving, church attendance and prayer out of the overall system. When properly motivated, these are legitimate Christian responsibilities of the royal ambassador. They fit into the Spiritual life as applications of Truth in gate four. However, when believers emphasize these legitimate activities in isolation from the system, then witness­ing or prayer become illegitimate programs of legalism. Such believers go through the motions of serving God in order to impress other Christians or to im­press God and earn His blessings. No one can earn or deserve God’s blessings and anything less than the entire Virtue love complex distorts God’s plan and incurs His discipline. God designed the entire system. The system as a whole is far superior to any of its parts. Each gate is legitimate in itself, but all the gates must function together as the Christian way of life. Only the believer who resides and functions in the love complex as a complete balanced system, obeys our Lord’s Command to “reside in My love.” Stay in Fellowship!

     What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, [Carnality] we lie and do not practice [Think with] the Truth; but if we walk in the Light [In the Spiritual life] as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1Jn 1:3-7)

THE TEST OF TRUTH

     The eight gates of the Spiritual life work together in the believer without fanaticism, without exaggerating, misapplying, or overlooking isolated Divine Thoughts. All the pieces fit. This categorical Doctrine gives you a balanced approach to your Christian life, enabling you to execute the plan of God as one consistent, orthodox system of protocol. You know when you are in God’s system; you know when you are out. You understand the requirements of gaining and main­taining Spiritual momentum. Foremost in your priorities is “the author and perfecter of our faith,” (Heb 12:2) Jesus Christ, who tested the prototype of the system. We become Occupied with Him as we obey the very Commands He obeyed, molding your life with positive Decisions similar to His steadfast Deci­sions. The Spiritual life enables us to fulfill God’s purpose for keeping us alive, and this categorization of the Christian way of life also answers the longstanding question: after SALVATION WHAT?

     NOW WE JUST HAVE TO THINK IT AND DO IT!

End