Salted With Fire
A Gift for the Body of Christ
The Ecclesia of Over comers
By
John Van Tuyl
Salted with fire
Jesus said in:
Mar 9:49 For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt.And then we have this testimony from John the Baptist:
Mat 3:11-12 I indeed baptize you in water to repentance; but He who is coming after me is stronger than me, of whom I am not able to lift the sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose fan is in His hand, and He will cleanse His floor and will gather His wheat into the storehouse. But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.Now when this is read with our traditional religious mindset we easily slip into an us vs. them mentality, but for the purpose of this study we will confine our attention to the dealings of the Father with the wheat and the chaff within the intricacies of our own souls. Please note that in the preceding verse the word unquenchable is not the same as eternal and denotes the nature of the fire as being beyond your ability to extinguish it. The fire shall burn until it has accomplished the purpose for which it was sent, namely the total consumption, the complete destruction of every unregenerate aspect of the first creation, that the new creation might be revealed in all the ineffable Glory of the Father, as it shines forth in the Son - the body of many members.
Rev 2:11 Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. He who overcomes shall be in no way hurt by the Second Death.
Ok, so just what relationship does the lake of fire (second death) have with the Overcomer? For I do not view Rev. 2:11 as a superfluous statement.
Rev 20:12-15 And I saw the dead, the small and the great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and hell gave up the dead in them. And they were each judged according to their works. And death and hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.
It is my belief that the reason the Lake of Fire has no effect upon the Overcomer is because he has become so at one with the fire. He will not be thrown in, he will of his own volition walk right through. He has had the purifying effect of the fire completely worked through every aspect of his being and has entered into the 100-fold realm of the fullness of atonement. I and the Father are become one in purpose and authority: SONSHIP. Ponder the real implications of John 17. Our God is a consuming fire.
Psa 104:4 He makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire.
In the culture of the first century, when the scroll The Revelation of Jesus Christ was penned by the apostle John, both fire and brimstone (sulphur) were known as agents of purification. And so the Phrase Lake burning with Fire and Brimstone would be readily interpreted as a Lake of Purification, with any idea of eternal torment being completely foreign to their understanding. This spurious understanding would come later after Emperor Constantine marched his pagan armies under the sign of the cross and christianized them en mass, bringing with them their concepts of the underworld into Christianity (i.e. Orcus, Erebus, Tartarus, and Infernus or Inferna, whence our expression infernal regions). This blurring of lines of demarcation between pagan and Christian would continue under an atmosphere of tolerance for ideas in an attempt to unify the Roman Empire. The ecumenical ploy worked, the Holy Roman Empire was born, and the downward slide into the Dark Ages had begun. These subjects are worthy of a study in themselves. However, our purpose is to see just how the Fire of God (the Glory of His Presence) is consuming all that offends in the soulish realm of our makeup.
Jesus said in:
Mark 8:34-37 And calling near the crowd with His disciples, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take his cross, and let him follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life, he shall lose it. But whoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel, that one shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul?The soul of man is a precious commodity in the sight of God. He paid an awesome price for the full redemption of man's spirit, soul and body. The Lord Jesus Christ now holds the title deed for the land of our Body, the heavens of our Soul, and the Life of our Spirit. Our redemption by the grace of God was an act that took place on a cross at Calvary 2000 years ago. But the right to walk in it wasn't appropriated by our spirit until the moment we perceived and accepted what was already done for us. The moment we came into agreement with what was finished on our behalf, our spirit was born from above, born into an incorruptible realm of perfection. Oh the joy of that moment!!! We were seated in Christ in heavenly places. And He was seated in our spirit as Lord of Lords, the rightful Governor of our life, for we were bought with a price and we are not our own.
Now comes conflict, for the ordered arrangement has changed. What was body - soul - spirit has now become Spirit - soul - body. Whereas before the soul followed happily the sensual dictates of the body, and the spirit, being dead in trespasses and sins, had no objection whatsoever, we now have the soul in a crisis. For in our regenerated Spirit dwells His Spirit of Life, and he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit. And His Holy Spirit shall convict our little world of the soul of sin and righteousness. Hallelujah!
The conversion of the soul is a process, as Christ is formed in you. At times it seems less than joyful, and at other times there is great satisfaction in our awareness of cooperating with the mind of His Spirit. But whether the road we walk is smooth or rough, the Captain of our Salvation is having His way with us and in us, for He is the author and the finisher of our faith. By the way, I should also add that the road is only as rough as we have decided to make it. It is hard to kick against the goads. One way a person learns to make good decisions is by making bad ones. Not the only way to go, but it is one that we all seem to walk, to one degree or another. It is my earnest conviction that one of the reasons we struggle in our growth and strive with our maker to the extent that we do, is because we do not truly understand our own makeup. I have listened to countless sermons that have attempted to convey the concept of man having a triune nature, spirit soul and body. Sadly, I have found most lacking the depth of understanding truly needed to set people FREE.
And now I pray the Father that He would use me to bring forth something fresh and alive that will minister to our need and unveil our understanding. And Father I thank you for it in Jesus Name.
BODY SPIRIT SOUL
If we, in wisdom, are ever to cooperate with the plan of God for our lives, and intelligently lose our life (submit to the fire) that we might find it restored and in proper order, then of necessity, we are going to have to know something of the mechanics of just what makes us what we are. I will expound on these in the order that I believe is from the simple and obvious to the more complex and subtle.
Body
We have been given a most intricately fascinating and wonderfully beautiful universe to explore and enjoy. We have also been given the perfect vehicle whereby we may, through experience, take in all the wonders of the world. The human body is our interface with the world around us, through which we are affected, and which we effect changes in the world. We have been given five senses that indiscriminately soak up and take in what ever they happen to be exposed to. For example, my eyes sometimes see things that I would rather they not see. At other times, quite unexpectedly, my breath is taken from me by, say, the beauty of a sunset. Our body is also the instrument whereby we may express ourselves be it in speech or in action, such as work or possibly dance or even this writing. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Spirit
Now we will make a leap from the tangible to the intangible, from the corporeal aspects of our makeup to the incorporeal. There is, I believe, much misunderstanding if not outright confusion concerning the difference between the spirit and the soul of man. That being said, there are a few simple and direct statements that I am going to make in regard to the spirit that I believe are based in Truth and not opinion, and as such will stand up under the scrutiny of self-exploration. In other words, when you look into yourself you will find these things to be so. The first is that your spirit is the essence of who you are, it is the seat of your identity, it is who you actually are. (Not necessarily whom you have come to accept yourself as.) The second is, that your spirit is the knower not the thinker. It is that part of you that knows things and it knows that it knows that it knows! And the third is, your spirit witnesses everything you go through. It is the watcher, the observer. It is that aspect of your makeup that literally has the capacity to stand beside yourself, and, like an audience of one, take in the drama of this life, even while your mind, will and emotions are animating your body in the drama. It is that part of yourself to which Jesus gave the injunction watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. It is that part of ourselves that enables us to walk circumspectly with not only an awareness of our self, but also of how our bearing is affecting those around us. This is our Spirit Man, and irrespective of physical gender, this part of our triune makeup is masculine. And conversely our Soul is feminine, and once again, it is so irrespective of physical gender.
To all of these characteristic aspects of the makeup of our spirit, we need to add this understanding. To all whom this writing is addressed, Satan (Adversary) was seated as a dictatorial authority in our DEGENERATE SPIRIT (Adam). And he twisted these aspects of our makeup to serve his own ends (The subjection of the soul to futility).
Rom 6:6 .knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, so that we no longer serve sin.
Rom 6:11 So also you count yourselves to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To all of these characteristic aspects of the makeup of our spirit, we also need to add this understanding. To all whom this writing is addressed, the Lord of Glory is now seated on the throne as the ruling authority in our REGENERATED SPIRIT (Christ). And He has recreated these aspects of our makeup to serve His purposes in bringing many sons to Glory (The Shechinah fire of God).
Jesus used the concept of marriage to instruct on many occasions, and with good reason, for in the concept of marriage we have the reintegration of what was once separated. This is the unification of man's Mind, Will and Emotions with God's Spirit. The SOUL is espoused to be wedded to the SPIRIT once again, now that her first husband is dead (Adam). This perfect union, of the regenerated Spirit and the transformed Soul, will bring about the conception of the Manchild (Son) within the fertile womb of the Soul (mind), who when brought to birth, shall mean the Redemption of the Body (The new Humanity), a fully integrated Whole New Creation.
(And to he who says in his heart: Why I just can't conceive of such a thing Just miscarried that Holy thing which was being formed in himself.)
Isa 66:7-9 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a male child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Now, as the Soul yields to the Spirit in this Love affair, the Spirit Man progresses outward in a greater and greater manifestation (Walking in the Spirit). As the submissive Soul yields to the mind of the Spirit, she is transformed in the spirit of her mind (renewed), which is a process of moving toward a truer reflection of the mind of God.
Jam 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
Soul Mind Will Emotions
I couldn't begin to count the times I have heard the soul described as the mind, the will and the emotions, and yes, it is so. Yet to put such a simplistic label on a subject of such import without exploring the implications of just what this means, I find to be morally negligent and one dimensional. By doing this, the most intricately complex and beautiful part of our humanity is reduced to a clichE9. OK! I'm off my soapbox. All that being said, in all fairness, this is a most difficult subject to write about, because these three parts of the soul are so closely integrated and interrelated that there is not much division between them. I would ask the reader to keep these interrelationships in mind as we explore this aspect of our humanity.
The Mind of the Soul
What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. My, my, my, what a tangled mess I found my mind in, when shortly after an encounter with the King of Glory I began to look within. I've heard it said Man wants inward understanding, and yet will not look within. I think I would have run away myself, never to look back, were it not for the gentle and persistent urgings of my Savior, saying, It'll be alright, and it will be worth it. Fear not, I-Am with you, my child, I will help you. And He faithfully has as each new twist and turn of my thoughts and memory were exposed to His light and I was unbound from various entanglements of emotion and illusionary belief systems. Self-deception is a mean one, for he who is deceived is the last one to know it.
Rom 12:2 And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.
Our mind is like soft clay for it retains impressions that have been pressed upon it. Things like our experiences and the associated emotions of, and/or with each experience. And herein lies the rub. Our mind, will and emotion, under the dictates of our domineering first husband, Adam, has taken a set. A mind set if you will. In fact many mind sets about many (all) things that it has been exposed to in its infinite experience. The mind takes a set when it accepts something as being real or normative. (Whether it is or not is of no consequence.) Memories pressed between the pages of my mind. Our experiences and the memory of how we have related to them, with all of their attendant emotional attachments (Baggage), are part of what we have come to identify with, as being who we are. May the Lord deliver us from our identification with our history. There is great freedom to be found when we come to the place where we can say in all humility: of my own self I can know nothing (as in not qualified), and have become comfortable with that knowledge.
Lord, I allow you to show me who I am. In your great mercy show me how to think about and deal with who I have erroneously come to believe myself to be.
The renewed mind is a powerful and disciplined tool.
The unrenewed mind is as a run-amuck self-absorbed fool.
All of us, and I do mean all of us, are in a process of renewal, and while some areas of our thinking have been set in order, others are yet to be addressed. And the beauty of all this is, it is not our job to fix ourselves. Our Redeemer has a plan and purpose and an agenda, custom tailored to deal with every individual. He is in full control of our circumstances at all times, even when they look like they are out of control. It is in trying times like these that I have found the Lord showing me some previously hidden shortcoming in my thinking, or some skewed value judgment, or something that the circumstances brought to the forefront of my awareness, there to be dealt with in the light of His Glory. A man can only turn from (repent of) that which he can see in himself. Whenever a man, whose heart has been captured by the lover of his soul, sees something amiss in his person-ality, that man will turn from it immediately!
Levels of Awareness
Now I will take the concept of man's triune nature in a different direction. There are three distinct levels of awareness within the mind of man: the conscious awareness, the preconscious awareness, and the subconscious awareness. The conscious awareness is that faculty which enables us to focus our attention on whatever task is at hand, and bring our will to bear on the issue. Part of what enables us to accomplish this is our preconscious awareness. The best way to convey the nature of your preconscious awareness is in a demonstration. As you are reading this, you are aware of many things that you do not know that you are aware of. For instance, you are aware of the temperature in the room and whether or not you are comfortable. You are aware of whether the light level is adequate for reading. You are aware of whether there are noises in the room or perhaps filtering in from outside. If there are others in the room, you may be aware of what they are doing, and possibly even the mood they are doing it in. Now, as I have in turn, brought your attention to each of these things they were raised from the preconscious to conscious awareness as the focus of your attention was placed there. Much of our mind runs on autopilot, and it is a blessing for it frees us to concentrate. The third area of our awareness is the subconscious, and it is both a blessing and a curse (amoral).
Pro 4:20-25 My son, pay attention to my words; stretch your ear to what I say; let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the center of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and healing to all his flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Turn away from you the crooked mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids look straight before you.
Pay attention to my words. keep them in the center of your heart. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.
A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
When the Bible speaks about the heart it is not talking about the blood pump in your chest. It is being descriptive, as in nature, the heart-wood of a tree is the core of the tree. And the heart of man is the core of his mind, the subconscious.
The subconscious mind is like a black hole, things go in but they don't come out. Well, at least not in ways that we are aware of, until after the fact. And hence this part of the mind is seemingly shrouded in a certain amount of mystery. We always shroud things in mystery that our conscious rational, reasoning mind can't quite quantify, and then fit into a finite space. The subconscious mind can be looked at like a vast library: a giant, colossal depository, larger and more complex by far than you are able to even begin to imagine. Contained in it is every experience you have ever had: every emotion you have ever felt, every word you've ever spoken, every sight your eyes have ever taken in, every thought, every imagination you've ever had - a memory of all the sights, smells and sounds of our day-to-day interactions with our culture. Contained there is a complete record of every nuance of our lives: all attitudes, resentments, fears, faiths and the real roots of our belief systems.
Now before I give the impression that the subconscious mind is merely a sack into which all things are dumped, there are some aspects of this part of our makeup that need to be brought out. Ever notice you can go to sleep at night with some problem or unresolved issue, only to awaken in the morning with the solution? The subconscious part of our mind never sleeps. While our conscious and preconscious awareness shuts down for the night, the subconscious, utilizing its vast resources, continues to work on solutions to whatever issues are paramount. By far, the greatest part of our mental activity takes place in the subconscious. Whereas the conscious mind reasons inductively (that is it gathers facts and then reasons upward toward a conclusion based upon those facts), the subconscious mind reasons deductively. It begins with the conclusion, and like Sherlock Holmes, continues to fill in the pieces until the entire picture is apprehended. It is this capacity that enables the subconscious mind to operate in PERFECT FAITH, for it finishes its understanding and then begins it. For instance, when the Truth of the implications of God's word concerning the incorruptibility of His seed, which was planted in me, got down into my heart (subconscious mind), it obliterated all doubt and fear about not being preserved blameless at His appearing. For an incorruptible seed must, of necessity by nature, bring forth a perfect crop unto harvest. This same capacity of our subconscious can be, and has been, turned inside out, and the results are highly irrational FEARS based largely in imaginings. The subconscious does not have the capacity to differentiate between what is real and what is imaginary, but rather accepts both without question as being equally valid. Much like a small child accepts without question the reality of Santa Claus. Perfect faith brings forth perfect trust, and we enter in.
Mat 18:2-5 And having called forward a little child, Jesus set him in their midst. And He said, Truly I say to you, Unless you convert and become as the little children, not at all can you enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Then whoever will humble himself as this little child, this one is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven. And whoever will receive one such little child in My name receives Me.
GIGO
Programmers in the software industry have come up with this little gem, (GIGO) which stands for garbage in - garbage out. The thought being, whatever errors or mistakes a programmer makes in writing code will later show up as glitches, bugs, or errata of one form or another. The subconscious mind has much in common with this principle, and we should be aware that we are to a large extent being force-fed much garbage by our culture through advertising, the movie industry, video games, and such like. Not to mention how we ourselves participate in things like gossip and backbiting which influences how we perceive one another, and poisons our minds and relationships. So what are we to do about all of this? Contained within the word of God are instructions, which constitute an antidote for the toxic nature of our age.
And we would do well to meditate on the implications of each word of this passage.
Phi 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever wins respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovable, whatever is of good repute--if there is any virtue or anything deemed worthy of praise--cherish the thought of these things.
As we, by an act of our will, choose to manifest love in this manner, because we see that it is the only wise WAY to walk, our eye will become singularly fixed on things above. And as our mind comes into tune, we will begin to resonate with the heart and mind of God. Complete victory is possible in this life, over the World, the Flesh and the Devil. The Lord shall have a people that will, to the praise of His Glory, walk in total victory. And it shall be to the utter consternation of the scoffers and nay-sayers in the 60-fold and 30-fold realms of the Spirit, as they gnash their teeth in the realization of what they could have had.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the Word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul even until death.
And they did not love their soul even until death. If any man will come after me let him take up his cross and follow me. Ever notice that the place that Jesus was crucified, Golgotha, means the place of the skull. This is all about the mind friends.
The Secular and the Sacred
I have often felt that the psychologists have had a field day toying with trying to see who could get a handle on just what exactly is man's problem. And they've made some remarkable observations. But yet, they are without a hint of a clue, as to what the answer is. And on the other hand, the religionists have toyed with seeing who could get the best grip on the answer, JESUS. And yet, they have remained largely ignorant of the nature of man's problem. (I can't see the forest. There seems to be all these trees in the way.)
Two Minds Two Trees
Sometimes to better understand where we are, it is helpful to revisit where we have been. And with a few simple keystrokes we find ourselves standing in the midst of the Garden of Eden. To the right of us is the Tree of Life and to our immediate left is the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Oh the choices, choices, choices. To partake of either tree is to draw your sustenance from that source.
When I eat from the tree of Life, I find Life effortlessly springing forth from my being. I have peace like a river flowing forth to me, and out from me to the world. My life simply unfolds before me without taking any more thought than breathing. I am free and at home in the quiet dignity of my being. I am at one with my maker. I am continually aware of His mind and will in all things. I live in a world of super abounding, endless supply, for my Daddy owns it all, and He is become my all in all.
Before going on, allow me to interject this: the promises to the Overcomer are not only some pie in the sky, but are present realities. We need these Divine enablements and ennoblements now in this life, while the battle rages. The question is - do we dare to believe?
Now back to our trees. When I eat from the all-too-familiar tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil (Death on a stick), immediately my rational reasoning mind springs into action for it has been put to task, figuring out just what is good and what is evil. And beside all of that, just how evil and how good, and is there something better? Endlessly weighing, and then assigning value, so I can label and categorize and put all my ducks in a row. All of this is needful to make informed decisions. These things are terribly important, oh don't you know? How else is a body to live, than by his wit and wile? And by the way, I'm better at it then you are Bucko! Y'er not gittin' up on me!
The Will of the Soul
The carnal mind is enmity with God. On its bestest day, on its goodest behavior, put it in it's Sunday go to meetin' best, and it is still 100% antichrist. Organized religion for two thousand years has been trying to overcome evil with a carnal understanding of what is good, only to find out in the final analysis, that they both come from the same tree. The word antichrist does not simply mean something opposite, but rather in this case it means instead of, as in counterfeit.
When we were born again we were born into a Kingdom, and the literal meaning of the word Kingdom is: the dominion of the King. It is the realm over which a King sovereignly rules by right and authority.
Luke 6:46-49 And why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Everyone coming to Me and hearing My Words, and doing them, I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug and deepened, and laid a foundation on the rock. And a flood having occurred, the stream burst against that house and could not shake it, for it had been founded on the rock. But he who heard and did not perform, he is like a man having built his house on the earth without a foundation, on which the stream burst, and it immediately fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
The reason we do not do what He says is because someone is still usurping His rightful authority as King, and is sitting upon the throne within our being (in the Temple of the soul. ) This is antichrist. You may be better acquainted with him under the title of Self, independently owned and operated Self. Traveling to the beat of a different drummer, all up to the time where he shall be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. The Glory of the Lord shall in one stroke of time destroy all notion of an identity that operates independently of His will. Praise God!
Please note that independent identity and individual identity are two separate things. The fire of God will consume only the character trait that offends. What is actually being destroyed here is the notion of independence, an idea which has lodged itself in the alienated consciousness of man. This is a clean up operation: as in the refining process you have the purging of the dross. Nothing of VALUE shall be lost, but we shall rather be made in every way whole and pure, a fully sanctified body of people. Praise ye the Lord!
Mal 3:1-3 Behold, I am sending My messenger, and He will clear the way before Me. And the Lord whom you are seeking shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He comes, says Jehovah of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold and like silver, that they may be presenters of a grain offering in righteousness to Jehovah.
And we shall then present the wheat of our souls, fully winnowed of the chaff of rebellion, and in absolute joy shall our will be unified with the will of the Lord. Amen
The proper use of the will
Human nature, being what it is, seems to make us vulnerable to being continually off balance. We have a tendency, to rather than compensate, to overcompensate whenever some imbalance is perceived. The net result being is that we are still out of balance, looking at the world from the opposite pole. And this is true in regard to this matter of the will. For instance, my wife realized that the effort that she was expending in trying to conform to some external code of conduct was a willful abstraction of the self. She then overcompensated and essentially threw her hands up in an attitude of if you want me to change you are going to have to do it Lord. Not realizing that this is in itself just as willful, albeit subtle.
Jesus said in:
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.So we can see from this that the onus for the doing of His will is still upon the believer. The problem comes from our own blindness of not recognizing the difference between doing our will in Jesus name and doing the will of the Father. Nothing is ever done by anyone at anytime outside of an exercise of his own will. The Holy Spirit is the paraclete (the helper) not the doer. The proper use of our will is in setting ourselves in agreement with the light that we have. When we set ourselves in agreement with whatever level of truth that has been revealed to us, it places us in relationship to it. Now being in relationship to the TRUTH enables us to then walk it out in the WAY, establishing it in our LIFE as a present reality. Voila! We have GROWTH...
The Emotions of the Soul
Oh the highs, oh the lows, oh the thrills and frightful chills, first this way, then that way, over and around, upside-down now, as we fly through the triple loop. Everyone loves a roller coaster. Well, most everyone. It certainly isn't boring. One might even say it is exhilarating, as it brings up out of the well of our emotions things like apprehension, anticipation, anxiety, joyous rapture in some, sheer terror in others, in a word FUN. There is a multi-billion dollar industry out there which exists solely to cater to the needs of emotional junkies. You know, like me and you.
Vanity, vanity, says the preacher.
Actually, a roller coaster serves as a good analogy for our emotional life in the quote real world including the addictive nature of man. For whether it exhibits its behavior in fast cars, fast women, alcohol, drugs, music, sports, work, gambling, violence, sex, ad-infinitum, what you will find that drives each of these addictions, when you dig deep enough, is some emotionally-backed demand that dictates their lives. People do these things because of how it makes them feel for a short time. Our prisons are full of people that committed crimes simply because they felt like it. Charting one's life by one's feelings makes for a very poor compass indeed. In spite of what our culture would enjoin on you, with If it feels good do it.
The emotional nature of our soul is an absolutely wonderful part of our being, it's the frosting on the cake. The ability to feel emotion has the capacity to make man vulnerable, or as strong as a lion, depending upon the man and/or the circumstances. Our emotional makeup is probably the most uniquely individual aspect of our personhood for it flavors how we perceive the world about us, and influences our personality. Every person has a unique emotional fingerprint composed of various strengths and weaknesses, sensitivities to one thing or another. Our God is a God of variety, and if you doubt this for an instant, take a good long look into the ocean. When I see some of these creatures, I am forced to exclaim in wonder: What were you thinking Lord!?
Our Achilles Heel
Have you ever noticed that you don't seem to be too well equipped to experience or cope with some of the emotions which you find flooding through your soul? It is because you were not designed to handle them. They were added so that you could experience the futility of your separated independent identity.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.
It was with great purpose that God the Father subjected the world to futility. And it shall not have been in vain. When in the restoration of all things, God, to the praise of His Glory, has a people who are infinitely wiser. The former things will not come to mind, but they will never be forgotten, any more than Jesus, the pattern Son, will forget the things He suffered.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.
1Pet 4:19 Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as to a faithful Creator.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
1Pet 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
Healing Balm
I don't think that there is another aspect of my Humanity that I have so enjoyed having the healing touch of the Savior upon, as my emotional makeup. The pains, hurts, abrasions, and scars of this life have taken a toll upon all of us. Resentment for a world, who has so taken advantage, used and abused, and generally failed to appreciate or acknowledge us, to one degree or another, has poisoned our soul. The word resentment is compound in nature and comes from two Latin roots, re: to do again and sentos: to feel, and so the word literally means to feel again and feel again and again and again and again. and each time our Soul gets a fresh dose of poison. It's not very conducive to spiritual growth, and hence we need to have the balm of Gilead applied by the great physician. Thank you Lord.
Resentment is a covert form of contempt. Overt contempt of someone or something is a conscious act that we are fully aware of. This causes us much pain as we work through whatever issues we have found ourselves feeling so intensely over. Many times, even after processing these feelings, and resolving to make, and even making a conscious effort to forgive, there are sometimes lingering secret resentments. The act of someone carelessly stomping on my toe might be forgiven outwardly. Yet unbeknownst to me I may harbor some feeling based in a value judgment about this individual, which influences my behavior toward them, and others in general. And so, the question of the hour becomes: do we have our emotions, or do they have us? It is my earnest desire to become a more loving person, and yet I find myself living in a world that seems to conspire against that desire.
Victory in Jesus
Oh yeah, I almost forgot I'm not alone. I have one who strengthens me. Whenever I acknowledge my weakness, and then rely upon His grace, I find that I am empowered to overlook offences. I'm freed to respond in love according to wisdom, and not react blindly according to the dictates of my emotional programming. The more we practice, practice, practice LOVE, the more balanced our emotional makeup will become. Perfect Peace, Perfect Poise, Perfect Power manifest to a hurting world, desperate to see the genuine article in God's children.
Amen and Amen.The Conclusion of the Matter
He is coming to His Temple, and He, even now, is making preparations to fully cleanse His courts. This time it will not be with whips and overturned tables wherewith He drives out the worldly way of man. But it shall rather be with the all-consuming Fire of His Glory. The Gift of the Holy Spirit has been a rich blessing to man throughout the Church Age, and with all of our heart we thank the Father for Him. But it is in the Gift of the Fire through righteous judgment whereby we shall be made pure and wholly undefiled without spot or wrinkle. And no longer shall we stand in an imputed righteousness but will have completely exchanged this legal arrangement for a righteousness that is actual and enduring, for the fullness of Christ will have been formed in us in fulfillment of Eph 4:13.
Eph 4:13 .until we all may come to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Our Lord said in:
Luke 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled?And our beloved brother Paul has instructed us in:
1Co 3:10-14 According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth upon it. But let every man take heed how he buildeth upon it. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man buildeth upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work will be made manifest: for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abideth which he hath built upon it, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he will suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.And we have this witness from our favorite impetuous fisherman.
2Pet 3:8-14 But let not this one thing be hidden from you, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Psa. 90:4 The Lord of the promise is not slow, as some deem slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not having purposed any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with rushing sound, and having burned the elements will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be burned up. Then all these being about to be dissolved, of what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God, through which the heavens having been set afire will be dissolved; and burning, the elements will melt? But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Isa. 65:17 Because of this, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent, spotless, and without blemish, to be found in peace by Him.
Even so, COME Lord Jesus.
It is my earnest prayer that you have found something in this writing to be of benefit for the edification of the body. For in a love for both the TRUTH and His Brethren, have I written to you. Go in peace and may the Lord richly bless you.
By John Van Tuyl
