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 feednig 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 is 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 he 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 was 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).
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.