The road to SSE begins with Salvation
by Grace and continues with subsequent decisions to follow the Lord in
the Spiritual life. The priority must become the Spiritual life over
personal interests and worldly counterattacks (Rom 12:2).
And stop being
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renovation of your thinking,
that you may prove by testing what the will of God is, the Good,
well-pleasing (to God), and complete (Spiritual Rapport).
(Romans 12:2)
Spiritual Self-Esteem is symbolized
by living in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, where every furnishing corresponds
to an aspect of the Spiritual life that must be mastered.
Grace Orientation
The Door of Grace Orientation must
be entered to get to Spiritual Self-Esteem. God's plan for advance
to SSE requires orientation to His Grace, which includes learning Bible
Doctrine under a qualified Pastor-Teacher (Eph 4:11-12). Every believer
has a Right Pastor, and that pastor can be found by the positive believer
just as a dog can find his feeding bowl or a donkey his feeding trough.
If the new Spiritual life is not learned and lived by Grace, it will fail.
Doctrinal
Orientation
In the Holy Place, the Table of Shewbread
symbolizes Doctrinal Orientation. The complete realm of Bible Doctrine
must be learned by the disciple (serious student). Bible Doctrine
must be metabolized, and
the believer must learn to eat the manna from Heaven (food provided in
Logistical Grace) (Matt 6:31-33). The believer who cannot find what
God provides for his dinner plate will not advance very far in the Christian
life. There must be a hunger for what God provides from physical
to Spiritual food.
Priesthood
Every Church Age Believer is a Royal
Priest. The function of a priest is symbolized by the Altar of Incense
with incense rising to Heaven corresponding to prayer. The believer
must learn to function as a royal priest to represent himself and others
before God (1 Pet 2:9). This includes orientation to divine authority
(Matt 11:29) and prayer (1 Thess 5:17). The Spiritual life is a Spiritual
relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest.
Light
The only light in the Holy Place was
provided by the Golden Lampstand, which symbolizes Christ, our Light.
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. The believer must
become enlightened by the true Light of the world and learn to walk in
the Light (1 Jn 1:7).
but if we walk
in the Light as He Himself (God the Father) is in the Light, we
have fellowship with one another, (with God) and the blood of Jesus
His Son purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
Only the believer in the Light can
have fellowship with God, who dwells in unapproachable Light. Satan
lives in darkness. The believer must choose Light over darkness.
Just as the olive oil lamps of the Golden Lampstand produced light, the
function of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age Believer produces Light and
divine Good. Those in the Light have Eternal Life, while those in
darkness have spiritual death.
Love
The Ark of the Covenant on the other side of the Veil symbolized
the relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mercy Seat.
The believer must also respond to divine Love. He can only Love God
with divine Love, which he receives first from God. Christianity
is not a religion with man trying to love God with human love. Christianity
is a Love relationship with God through Jesus Christ, where the Love is
divine Love - not human love (Rom 5:5).
and confidence does not
disappoint us, because the Love for God has been poured out in our
hearts through the personal agency of the Holy Spirit, who has been
given to us for our benefit. (Romans 5:5)
Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the Tables of the Law,
corresponding to impersonal Love for all mankind (Matt 19:19). Impersonal
Love is divine Love in the believer for others. Just as God Loves
the world, so the believer must Love his neighbor as himself, which indicates
Spiritual Self-Esteem. Loving self symbolizes human self-esteem.
Suffering
The divine operating assets of the Spiritual
life must be used to pass tests of suffering along the way to qualify for
Spiritual Maturity (1 Pet 4:12-19). The Spiritual life is not all
prosperity, sweetness, and light. It is also a life of punishment,
trial, and suffering. God's provision for suffering must be demonstrated
to be equivalent to His provision for prosperity. One of the true
signs of Spiritual Self-Esteem is when the believer trusts God in suffering
as Daniel did in the lion's den.
Spiritual Self-Esteem
Spiritual Self-Esteem requires alignment
of the X, Y, Z, and Time axes of the Spiritual life with God. The
believer who is on God's side will have confidence in God's Plan and His
protection.
Faith (X-axis)
Living the Spiritual life requires
walking in Faith. Bible Doctrine must be used to define and decode
the mysteries in every aspect of the Spiritual life (2 Cor 4:18; 5:7; Heb
11:6). The temporal life is not the Spiritual life. Spirituality
is a totally different realm. The events on the Stage of Life must
be understood by means of Bible Doctrine. The believer with Spiritual
Self-Esteem will understand the meaning of the events in his own Spiritual
life. Those who cannot think spiritually will not have a clue.
Hope (Z-axis)
Alignment of the Z-axis in relationship
to God requires obedience to divine authority and the function of the Priesthood
(Jn 14:23; 1 Jn 2:5; 1 Pet 2:5).
Jesus answered
and said to him, “If anyone Loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father
will Love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. (John
14:23)
Obedience to God requires obeying
the Word, which requires knowledge of Bible Doctrine and a willingness
to obey. Obedience to God leads to Spiritual fellowship with the
Father and the Son. The believer in sin cannot have fellowship with
God. Sanctification and the Filling of the Holy Spirit is required
of the believer-priest. This is accomplished through
Rebound
(1 Jn 1:9). Only the sanctified believer can maintain his relationship
with God as a priest.
Love (Y-axis)
Executing the Spiritual life requires
walking in Love (Eph 5:2). Response to divine Love must replace love
for the world and the things in the world (1 Jn 2:15).
Do not love
the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)
Divine Love in the soul of the believer
is not human love. Divine Love first comes from God. It cannot
be manufactured by a human being. The believer with divine Love will
be able to Love God as well as other people with that Love.
Maintaining divine Love in the soul
requires Spiritual integrity, which has been called the completion of the
Integrity Envelope or Edification Complex of the Soul.
Time (Time-axis)
Synchronization of the Time-axis with God requires waiting
expectantly for the Lord and not sleeping through the Spiritual life.
God's time is the right time. The believer must be willing to patiently
endure and persevere through the trials, tribulations, and tests of life
in order to receive the divine solution (2 Cor 4:6-7; Gal 6:9; 1 Pet 5:6).
Grace
Grace is the free gift of God.
The believer must live by Grace after Salvation. This includes orientation
to God's predetermined Plan to live the life that God created (Rom 6:4;
Gal 2:20; 6:8). Every believer has a divine calling. He was
created for a purpose, and he must be willing to live the life for which
God created him in order to glorify God in his life on Earth.
Spiritual Maturity
Spiritual Self-Esteem is the confidence
in living the Spiritual life that is exhibited in Spiritual Maturity.
The believer in Spiritual Maturity has stability from the Edification
Complex of the Soul. He can think spiritually and has Spiritual
understanding. He has Capacity for Life to exercise authority or
function under legitimate authority and to withstand the pressures of life,
and he doesn't fail due to worry, fear, and bitterness. He
has Capacity for Love to maintain the Love relationships with God and the
Lord Jesus Christ as well as impersonal love for all mankind. He is never
insecure in love and affection and never feels threatened by arrogance
or jealousy. He never feels threatened by inordinate competition for someone
else's love. And he has unconditional love for Right
Man or Right Woman.
The believer with Spiritual Self-Esteem
enjoys the fruit of the Spirit with divine Love, Happiness, Peace, endurance,
graciousness, Divine Good, faith, humility, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23).
He has Spiritual Freedom with cognitive independence (Rom 8:1-2; Gal 5:1).
And he has rest from his own works in that state of maturity (Heb 4:1,
3).
It
is symbolized by living in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle,
which includes Grace Orientation (G/O), Doctrinal Orientation (D/O), the
function of the Priesthood, and Light. SSE requires alignment of
the X, Y, Z, and Time axes of the Spiritual life with God.
It
is symbolized by living in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle,
which includes Grace Orientation (G/O), Doctrinal Orientation (D/O), the
function of the Priesthood, and Light. SSE requires alignment of
the X, Y, Z, and Time axes of the Spiritual life with God.