Basic HTML Version
Personal from...
(Continued from page 1)
supernaturally puts within you His
Holy Spirit. This impregnates you
with His life- begets you as His
child, actually yet unborn. Actually,
what many professing Christians
call "being boro again" should be
termed "being begotten."
Technically, to be "boro of God"
means to be changed in composi tion
from flesh and blood matter to
spirit- no longer mortal , no Ionger
human. But it does put within you a
NEW NATURE. "Therefore ifany man
be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold,
a ll things are become new" (11 Cor.
5: 17). You a re, as Scripture says,
given "exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature"
(11 Peter 1:4).
This, then, becomes your very
Iife!
You can only succeed if your goal
is kept constantly-continua lly- be–
fore your eyes. When you drive a
car, if you take your eyes and atten–
tion off what is in front of you (and
sometimes coming from the side or
behind) even for two or three sec–
onds, you may find yourself "com–
ing to" in a hospital, dying, and
saying, " It a ll happened so sud–
denly!" Driving carefully means
being a lert- being diligent every
second- keeping your eye and your
mind and attention on the matter of
driving- not on conversation or
other things.
In the same manner, if you Jet
other interests, material pursui ts,
steal first place in your mind and
heart, even for a few days, you a re
inviting a spiritual smashup that
will Jet you wake up being plunged
into the lake of tire, which will mean
eterna! death.
Tha t's why God doesn' t want you
to have these other gods befóre
Him. For your own sake- in your
own interest-you must keep Him
enthroned and enshrined constantly
ABOYE ALL. You must study His
Word in order to be instructed by
Him.
lnstructed in what? Instructed in
tru e knowledge-knowledge of
God's purpose for you, knowledge
40
of and about God, a nd knowledge
of how to live. Jesus Christ said you
must actually live by the words of
the Bible. It is your GUIDE TO
uv–
ING-your INSTRUCTION BOOK the
Maker sent a long to instruct you
how to operate this mechanism that
is you.
More, you must study His Word–
your Bible-to find what you now
believe that is wrong, and what you
are now doing that is wrong and to
be corrected and reproved by it.
True spiritual
mindedness is not
sticky sentimentalism.
It is not the use of a
certain religious
phraseology, saying
constantly,
"Praise the Lord " or
'
'
"Glory, hallelujah! "
1 have known many
people whose talk is so
very "spiritual"- but
whose hearts were
as far from God as the
prophet Isaiah described.
You must study it to let it instruct
you in the ways of God's righteous–
ness- His way of life. And then you
must devote yourselfto living it!
Still, without regular and constant
prayer, you cannot maintain contact
with God. And when that contact is
broken. you a re cut off from Him–
and His spi ritual life, !ove, and very
na ture cease flowing into you. For,
understand, these divine attributes
of His Spirit do flow! They a re in
motion. They do not stagnate. You
e ither grow spiritua lly- in knowl–
edge, in grace, in God's character–
or you deteriorate back toward be–
coming a mere physical animal, to
die in eterna! punishment
in
the
lake of tire!
But if God, and the things of
God- His revealed knowledge, His
law, His !ove, His way for you to
live- a re constantly foremost in your
mind, your thoughts, your interest,
then you are PRAYING ALWAYS- tha t
is, in a constant spirit of prayer, a
constant mental attitude of prayer.
The contact with God must be per–
petua! !
This kind of Christian life- the
only kind that truly is Christian–
requires, as the Bible emphasizes re–
peatedly, zealous DILIGENCE. You
must concentrate on it. You must be
dedicated to it. It requires utter con–
secration.
It
requires total earnest–
ness.
Yes, it requires the application of
the other six laws of success- educa–
tion, in which the Bible is the main
tex tbook; good phys ical health ;
drive, or concentrated diligence and
effort; resourcefulness; persever–
ance- endurance; and continua] con–
tact with, and the guidance, help,
and power of God.
True spiritual mindedness is not
sticky sentimentalism.
It
is not a cer–
tain emotional mood.
It
is not the
use of a certain religious phraseol–
ogy, saying constantly, "Praise the
Lord," or, "Glory, haUelujah! " 1
have known many people whose
talk is so very "spiritual" - bu t
whose hearts were as far from God
as the prophet Isaiah described (see
lsaiah 29: 13).
Jesus Christ was a perfectly spiri–
tual man, but He did not go about
using such mushy language. He was
not an effeminate , sentimental or
emo tio na l weakling. He was a
strong, viri le, masterful, yet kind
and gent le man. He possessed lead–
.ership, strength, purpose, supreme
strong will- and yet these masculine
qualities of strength and power were
perfectly blended with wisdom,
judgment, knowledge, understand–
ing, justice, and also patience, com–
passion and merey. He was filled
with peace, love, fai th. And His will,
strong as it was, was totally yielded
and obedient to God. AU this was
the character ofGod.
He is our pattern. We must imi–
ta te Him- copy Him.
Look at the men of God in the
Old Testament- Abraham, Noah,
Joseph, David, Daniel. Elijah. They
were a ll different from Christ in one
respect- in which you and 1 a re also
different: They had human weak–
nesses, and a ll did sin . Yet these
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1978