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Service: Interrupted… by Devilish Design
For some time now, we have been engaged in a workout program designed to help us become stronger and more effective followers of Jesus Christ. Through this four-level series of increasingly difficult exercises, we are being challenged to grow in our knowledge and understanding of… Salvation; Sanctification; Service; and, Spiritual Warfare. Such knowledge is vital to our spiritual growth, for it is… Through the study of Salvation and Sanctification that we learn who God wants us to be; and, Through the study of Service and Spiritual Warfare that we learn what God wants us to do. As for who God wants us to be, to put it…
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Service: Continuing the Work of Christ in the World
Now that we’re about halfway through our Workout Program, let’s pause briefly to review the progress we have made thus far. We started out this regimen with four exercises in Salvation—exercises through which we learned that… Salvation is obtained through the one-time spiritual event known as the New Birth; an act taking us from sin-enslaved and hell-bound sinners to forgiven and heaven-bound sons and daughters of God; While everyone has been Predestined, or pre-designed, by God to become one of His children, only those who elect to receive His offer of Salvation will do so; and, Once that decision is made and our spiritual adoption is finalized, our Salvation is forever…
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Sanctification: Restoring the Soul through Worship
So far, through our exercises in Sanctification, we have learned that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to restore our emotions through Prayer and our minds through the study and application of the Word of God—a ministry bringing our hearts into alignment with that of the Father and transforming our minds into ones more like Christ’s. But this only encompasses the restoration of two of the components of our souls—leaving the third one, our all-important and powerful wills, for the Spirit to deal with. And deal with them, He must; because unlike our emotions which are simply expressions of how we feel, and our minds which merely reveal…
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Sanctification: Restoring the Soul through the Word of God
We really stretched our spiritual muscles in our last exercise—Sanctification: Restoring the Soul through Prayer—as we learned how the Holy Spirit teaches us to talk to our Heavenly Father through prayer, and how He uses those prayers to… Make us One with the Father in His Person; and, Make us One with the Father in His Purpose. Additionally, through these prayers He opens up an emotional “love-line” between God and us; creating a place where we are free to express our deepest feelings and concerns without censure; and where, as our spirits and hearts become united with God’s over time, we are able to absorb and share in the…
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Sanctification: Restoring the Soul through Prayer
During our previous exercise in Sanctification, we learned that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to… Birth us as the spiritual children of God; then, Mature us into sons and daughters of God who are committed to carrying on the work of Christ in the world. While the birthing part of the Spirit’s work is accomplished at the time of our Regeneration, the maturing part is something which takes place over time, as the Spirit works relentlessly yet lovingly within us to restore our souls to their original function as mediators between our spirits and bodies—or, as the conduits through which the knowledge of God’s will is transferred from…
