-
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…
-
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…
-
Sanctification: Regeneration Perfected
In our first set of exercises, we began stretching our spiritual muscles as we learned some of the basic principles of Salvation, such as… What it is and why we need it; How to obtain it through the New Birth; That it’s God’s destiny for everyone but that only those who “elect” to have it will receive it; and, Once it is received, it can never be lost or stolen. We also learned that Salvation is the process by which God redeems lost sinners—those who have been in bondage to the world, the flesh, and the devil since their births; buying their freedom for them through the substitutionary death of…
-
More Blessing, Cursing, and Big Time Rebellion!
Now that we have had some time to digest the things that were covered in part one of Blessing, Cursing, and Big Time Rebellion, it’s time for us to get back to our analysis of Vignette #9 of Act 1, Scene 1 of God’s One Big Story. As a little reminder, just before our break, we were introduced to the idea that Noah, in his cursing of Ham and blessing of Japheth and Shem, was prophetically assigning them (and their descendants) to their respective roles as the corporate Body, Soul, and Spirit of humanity—roles naturally bringing with them some specific responsibilities. In this part of our critique, we will take a…
-
The Way We Are Isn’t The Way We Were…
While it is true that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and while it may seem that we have been wandering off the beaten path during some of our recent visits together, I feel certain that if we take a moment to do a brief recap of our journey together so far, we will find that we have been traveling along a remarkably straight road. In fact, we should be able to see an orderly, even progressive, pattern starting to develop—almost as if someone had planned it that way! I wish I could take credit for it but, in spite of the fact that I…
