Christian Living

Living by spiritual of worldly perceptions

by phil larussa
09/06/16
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After seventy seven years of living on this plant, I have been in a constant search for my identity and purpose on why I have existed. I have come to learn through trial and errors that, I need a greater power then my own to obtain an inner peace and quality of life.  Therefore, all life started with God and ends with God.

Since I have endeavored to search the scriptures and use it as cook book of life, it has been my source of wisdom in discovering what God intended for me and his creation.  I had a supernatural born again spiritual birth some fifty years ago. This thrust me into entering a spiritual world that I never knew existed.At that time I was a devout Catholic as was my whole family.  We were all heavily indoctrinated and involved in practicing how to live under their rules to serve God.  I said heavily involved not heavenly involved.  After I had my born again experience, my whole family as I and my wife became born again believers as we witnessed to them.

Not knowing who is reading this commentary, I will assume that it was no accident that you have come to read it.  I have personally found God by learning how to surrender to his loving authority.

This is by me allowing him to be my heavenly Father as, he is in hot pursuit with a jealous love after his creation. His deep intent is to save them from the thickets and crevices of life as, we have a tendency to become our worst enemy.

Unless a person has become born again through the miracle working power of the Holy Ghost, by them accepting Christ Jesus sacrifice of dying on the cross and being raised from the dead, they will never be able to learn how the invisible world of God and the devil’s spiritual kingdoms operate. 

Have you accepted that sacrifice and had an inner spiritual quickening that you are now the temple that God lives in?  John 3:16 and Romans 10:9-10 defines how to do that.

After our born again experience, we must allow the Holy Ghost to inform us how God really thinks as, he has become our spiritual Father the day we became a member of the family. He then wants to become a personal friend of ours however, this only happens if, we willingly submit to his persuasion methods as we mature in our Christian growth.

God can only come and cause us to have a desire to fellowship with him if, we have an inner hunger to sit and discuss on a constant basis our life issues openly and honestly. There must be no secrets between God and our self.

We must have a sure inner conviction that, the Holy Spirit is our Spiritual Professor of life.  He is the one that trains us how to define God’s invisible spiritual kingdom vs. the devil’s spiritual kingdom. 

We must allow him to not only give us the passion needed to seek and participate in God’s kingdom but also, the power to mature in his kingdom.  When we learn to let this happen, it relieves us of second guessing our decision making and any idea that, we have to measure to get his approval. He will be as real to you as you acknowledge his inner voice to your spirit man. This is stated in Phil. 2:13.

Any born again Christian who has a desire to find their true identity and purpose on why they were put on this planet, must be trained to recognize the difference between the Holy Spirit’s leadings versus the devil’s spiritual lying deceptive ways.

Our faith walk that God intended, is a spiritual warfare. Unless we are trained to use the gifting’s and inheritance we were given by God when we became born again, our searching for purpose and meaning of life will end up, us chasing frivolous pursuits.  A person who is maturing has Jesus as, the FIRST love of their life.

Our spiritual growth is only motivated by experiencing God’s grace and loving forgiving kindness.  God can only reveal and be a true spiritual heavenly Father if, we understand his grace spirit which is defined as, “We have his favor at all times that, we do not have to earn.”

Simply, we must be God faced focused in transparency and truly know that, he loves and accepts us even when, we mess our diaper in our growing pains of life.

As we mature, we all have oppressive faults that we have to deal with.  These are weak areas of our soul = (our, mind will and emotions.) We must allow the Holy Spirit to stand in the gap for us as we learn how to overcome these spiritual attacks. 

These faults represent, unreasonable burdensome or severe dominating spirits of demonic oppression that wants to keep us in a computer loop of, forever learning and trying to be good however, it is a ploy for us to be religious rather than spiritual. Religion is a deceptive spirit that comes to steal, kill and destroy God’s creation with many scheming ways of obligated works.

Religious spirits are the opposite of God’s forgiving spirit.  They are at the opposite ends of the spectrum of life. Religion is man making God into his own image.  It might look good to the outward appearance. However, this is a demonic influence being motivated by ignorance. God’s children might have a love for the Lord however, it boils down to them having an expectation of a visitation from God on the wrong information.

This is the same deception the Jewish people had to deal with in the Old Testament from the Pharisees who put condemning laws on them with no mercy. Nothing has changed over the years and this spirit is running ramped on the earth to deceive God’s elect.

JESUS CAME TO DELIVER US FROM THIS TYPE OF REASONING.

A born again believer must understand that, they have become the righteousness of Christ himself.  When God looks at his children, he sees them as blameless, free from evil and separated from the world unto himself.  They are without spot or wrinkle in his sight.  Do you see yourself the same way?

Any other understanding of this precept operating in our reasoning prayer life with God, causes us to be having a spirit of shame operating in our thought life.  In turn, it bruises our soul. Any spirit of shame operating in us causes a person to try to find peace by living in denial. 

This stops us from being transparent when the Holy Spirit comes as our aid to deliver us from any oppressive faults. We must be learning to love the person we see in the mirror morning by morning as God does. We must allow the Holy Spirit to equip us to recognize what is of God and, what is not.  This is defined in scripture as we fighting the good fight of faith. 

God’s spiritual world that we entered into must become more real than the physical world we live in.  Our whole goal for maturity happens as we allow Christ to live through us as he did in Jesus as he walked the earth. 

Now for this to happen, we must be able to guard our spiritual heart where the Holy Spirit wants to sit as the supreme authority. A person who doesn’t understand or has tasted God’s true righteous favor, will have no clue of what to allow to come through his eye or ear gate of life.

The scriptures define this as a person being deceived with a swine spirit.  As you know a swine will eat anything even things that are not good for him.  These can be God’s loving children searching for the love of God and doing all they can however, it is in their own strength where, God does not get the glory.

Let us remind ourselves that, God put in motion his laws from the beginning of time.  This was for our protection. Scripture tells us that, “what a person’s sows into his life experiences, that’s what they will reap.” Also, “as a man thinks in his own heart, that is what he will become.”

Before I go on let me say, evil spirits are ever present too hinder God’s people and his creation from taking back what the devil is trying to kill and destroy.  We who are his spiritual children were called to be a light and salt proclaiming the coming of the Lord, which is just around the corner.

We must be educated by knowing how to deal with what Eph. 6:12 states. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, (physical opponents) but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

A born again believer who is not being trained for spiritual warfare, will be a slave to having childish feelings governing their decision making.  This is caused by them trying to mature through self-righteous endeavors motivated by prideful desires. 

Instead of God’s grace spirit motivating their growth, they function in a spirit of strife with their physical emotions.  This hinders them from having God’s inner peace operating in their life.

Scripture defines it as, when the spirit of strife is motivating their desires, every evil spirit is at work in these type environments.  Thus, there is no spirit of liberty in our maturing process. All of our perceptions must be motivated by experiencing God’s unmerited favor and his holding power of love.

Now the way we learn to know the difference between our carnal childish reasoning vs. the Holy Spirit’s righteous reasoning is, by us going through a learning process of having our mind renewed by the Holy Spirit, moment by moment.  Scripture tells us that, those that have a spiritual ear will have the ability to hear at all times what, the Holy Spirit is telling them.

Have you been able to recognize his voice over all the other spiritual voices that are trying to get you to live as a pauper in God’s kingdom?

We are to meditate on the word of God day and night. Day meaning when things are going smooth and night meaning, when we are going through some trial of life and the devil is trying to destroy  our peace.

In the Greek and Hebrew the for word meditate is hagah: and meletao: It means to ponder over and have a prime interest of resolving things on matters that are of mutual interest and concern between God and our self.

This type reasoning with the Holy Spirit, causes us to do creative acts and use our human capabilities being motivated and empowered by Holy Spirit anointing that permanently lives in us.  

This spiritual training produces concepts and mental images that are new and original day by day.  These concepts cause us to experience pleasure and anger. Also, at times we will complain and feel or express grief and sorrow in our attempt in seeking our fulfillment in life.

There must come a dying of self as, the Holy Spirit’s job is to make us over into the image of Christ Jesus. It must be Christ working through us as he did in Jesus when he walked the earth.

This understanding makes us know that, this is not something we can do by educating our selves in the word of God through witty skillful words (rhetoric.) There is a coming away and being separated as unto the Lord in our inner prayer closets of life.  In turn, this allows the Holy Spirit’s power to make us into a new created being in Christ Jesus.

Are you in an assembly where you are being taught your Godly inheritance with the gifts you were given the day, you made Jesus the Savor of your life.  Also do you have a sure inner conviction that, he is truly becoming the Lord over your life?

Let me give you a quick testimony and an experience I encountered some fifty years ago in the Pentecostal Church I began to attend after my born again experience.

Coming from a quite Catholic back ground, I had some reservations attending a Pentecostal church as, they were people who worshiped God out laud and they had the gift of tongues and interpretation operating in the assembly. This was all new to me however, you could feel God’s presence in their meetings.

One Sunday morning a message came forth in an unknown tongue and it was interpreted so we could understand what God was trying to tells us.  God said. “My people you have grown over the years however, it is been by your own interpretation of scripture.  This has caused me to lovely admonish you.

Now if you are willing and will raise your arms in surrender, I will take the baby clothes off you and put on you a white robe of righteousness.  When these clothes come off it will hurt for a while because, they have grown into your reasoning processes.” 

Since I was a new born again believer I thought, if there was any baby clothes on me, I told God to take them off as soon as Monday morning.

However, I have learned over these years that, this is the process that God the Father uses to get us to stop leaning on our own understanding as he persuades us to, acknowledge him at all times. The body of Christ at this time is going through a restoration process by God the Father to mature them to do the anointed work that is necessary to fulfill the call that we all have on our lives.

The longer the body of Christ stays on the milk of God’s word and are not maturing with God’s wisdom as he intended, the more it will hurt when he comes as a loving Father and tries to put our white robe of righteous armor on us as, he prepares and empowers us to fight the good fight of faith. Again, we must learn to recognize the leadings of God versus the devil’s lying spirit.

Let me define from scripture what the good fight of faith represents. Faith has substance however, it cannot be seen with the visible eye. It is a living entity that we can communicate with at all times. Its desire and ability materializes our daily emotions and physical needs as, we cooperate with it through speaking and claiming out of our mouth what we are hearing in our inner man. In turn, it causes us to mature and heal us from any bruising’s and hurts of life.

Scripture tells us that, we have to believe IN Christ Jesus in order to be saved. However, in order to mature, we have to live by the faith OF Christ himself.

Paul tells us in Gal. 2:20-2.  “I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if my righteousness comes by me trying to obey God’s law then, Christ is dead in vain.”

Christ stepped out of his heavenly realm and came to live in Jesus. He took on the frailties of mankind to do his Father’s bidding. He went to the cross to die willingly for God’s creation.  It was Christ who lived in Jesus that did the miracles and wonders as he walked the planet through Jesus the first God man.

This substance of faith is, us being able to identify the voice of the Holy Spirit telling us how to live and function as a king and priest in Godly service.  This relationship of surrendering to letting Christ live again through us confirms with in us our purposes and desires as, we become meek and humble in God’s leadings. This is how Jesus functioned as he walked the earth. 

Jesus is the first God man and we are his brothers and sisters if, we have Christ living in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. He always said, “I do nothing of myself but, always what my Heavenly Father tells me.”

You will find at times if you haven’t already that, the maturing process when it is being planned by the Holy Spirit, it makes no sense to your natural reasoning. We are to know how to not lean toward our own understanding.  We do this by acknowledging God at all times. With this attitude, the admonishing and chastisements of God the Father truly comforts us as, we learn to recognize how he disciplines his children.

Again as a reminder, in this commentary my hope is that, we will be better equipped to recognize the Holy Spirit’s leadings versus our fleshly prideful undisciplined will reasoning.

When we in our own efforts and self-analyzing wisdom try to direct our lives, it causes us to frustrate God’s grace (his unearned favor.)  That happens because, we are justifying our existence and searching for peace through an obligated burden of trying to obey God’s law through our own strength.

Jesus tells us, “If a person really loves me, he will keep my commandments.” However; blind obedience without love will maintain order, but does nothing to enhance a loving relationship.

Blind obedience without recognizing its value is destined for failure.  Love gives the reason to obey and gives us value and worth. The hungering heart will seek with Passion the kingdom of God. The complacent heart will grow restless in their walk with God.

Learning to function by trying to obey laws is the beginning of recognizing, that we were disobeying God. He created the law to make us frustrated by us recognizing that; we could not keep them in our own strength and that, we needed a higher power working in us to keep them.

It was also created to provide direction and structure for our life. However, prolonged preoccupation with “do’s and don’ts” distracts us from God’s intended goals. Therefore; we must allow God‘s unconditional love motivations to make us mature so we can love ourselves and then be able to love one another.

Without our soul being sensitized by the Holy Spirit, our mind drifts into a thinking mentality of faultfinding about our self and others. Jesus did not come to earth to impose the law or to rule over us as a dictator with a dominating attitude.

He came to empower us to be able to keep His principles by His love and the Spirit of grace (his unearned favor) working on the inside of us. He came to bridge the gap between His creative orders by giving us an awareness of His devoted love. God’s love can only be described as His “FORGIVING GRACE.”

God is aware that while we are learning and maturing spiritually, we will at times stumble and fall short and violate His perfect will. As I have already defined, “we all have to learn to deal with our own oppressive faults.

However, like the loving Father that He is, His grace intercedes and covers our oppressive faults. This is what gives us the power to maintain our loving relationship with Him. A child of God must know how to recognize and swim in this spirit of God at all times.

In the Garden of Eden, in the Hebrew interpretation of how God had fellowship with Adam and Eve it states, He would flow his breath or the wind of his spirit through them as they came and reasoned together having fellowship daily.  The Hebrew word for that is the word Ruwalk.

I am not undermining our responsibility to walk in obedience, but emphasizing that, the course that leads to peace and harmony with God should not be interrupted by our shortcomings and our feelings of disappointment as we are going through God’s maturing process.

We have all at times through our frailties felt like, we had to measure up to be accepted by God or man. God’s ultimate goal in sharing the universe with humanity should not be delayed because man’s behavior is imperfect at times as he is growing to maturity.

God offered His love without any conditions attached to it. He created man perfect in His image and only through Christ Jesus accepts man FLAWLESSLY. 

By us experiencing God‘s grace, loving kindness and forgiveness, man will feel true peace and be able to have his joy working with in us when, we encounter any type of trials of life. Our give and take freedom relationship with the Holy Spirit will keep us free from the torment of guilt, shame and the feelings of falling short.

The Holy Spirit is “The Comforter.” He gives us God’s wisdom without criticism. We need to focus our attention on seeking the face and personality of God by increasing our awareness of His life presence rather than, just seeking the knowledge about Him. The struggle of law and grace is interwoven throughout the New Testament. This again is how we identify what the good fight of faith represents.

In 11Peter 3:18 Peter reminds us how we must grow. “We are to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.” With a continual diet of interpreting scripture through God’s grace influences versus us trying to do good works by following laws, we will be able to invite more of the presence of God in our life by having the true knowledge of his heart. If we put things in their rightful perspective, our spiritual walk is not in us seeking perfection but us seeking, a loving and fulfilling relationship with Christ Jesus.