The Christian Way of Living Part 1

The Christian Way of Living Part 1.
CWLiving.org
Cliff Spier

Turn to Hebrews 4:12


[^] Col R.B. Thieme Jr said on 15th of August 1979. “A pivot of mature believers - which is what we all should be - break no laws, sponsors no violence, including assassination, crime, terrorism, or revolution. Confiscates no one's property. And does not intrude on human privacy.
[^]
But turns the world upside down through the invisible force of Bible Doctrine, and the function of, the royal family honor code.”


As the believer advances to spiritual maturity, he or she more and more fully orient's the Gods absolute eternal essence (JR SOOO LIVE), who he is, and is rightly motivated to live the honor code, Rom.12:2, that is with renovated thinking.

[^] Rom 12:2 [CMD] And do not be [Stop being] conformed to this world [the cosmic system], but [CMD] be transformed by the renovating of your mind [thinking – Rebound, F/R Drill, GO & DO …], [so] that you may prove what the will of God is [1 Tim 2:4], that which is [1] [divine] good and [2] acceptable [living the spiritual life - CWLiving] and [3] perfect [mature spiritual life] which is pleasing to God, the mature status quo [execution of the spiritual life - CWLiving]


Rom 12:2 says so that you may prove what the will of God is…

Do you recall what God’s will is?

You should know and recall what one of the shortest verse in the bible is.

[^] 1 Tim 2:4 who [JC] desires [wills] [1] all men to be saved [unbeliever] and
[2] to come to the [epignosis] knowledge [through metabolized BD] of the truth [believer].

[^] God’s will = 1) salvation; 2) 2 peter 3:18 IOWs


So how do we get to this place Col Theime mentioned? A pivot of mature believers.
(on the board)


I assume you are saved and you are here to learn Gods word. To learn or mature in handling problems. No just your own problems from the decisions you make, but external problems. And boy are we getting allot of external problems today.

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< disobedience => disbelieving, apathy and lack of F.R Drill>>

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is [keeps on being] living [alive] and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of [1] soulish things [cosmic things] and [2] spiritual things [God and his word], of [3] both joints and marrow [body], and able to judge the thoughts and intentions [motivations] of the heart [rt lobe – where you think].


When I studied Heb 4:12, esp the first word, gar - translated 'for' it really opened my eyes to the ICE of the verse.

gar is used per HELPS Word-studies:
[^] "Strong's 1063 gár (a conjunction) – for. While "for" is usually the best translation of 1063 (gár), its sense is shaped by the preceding statement – the "A" statement which precedes the 1063 (gár) statement in the "A-B" unit."

What precedes Heb 4:12?

Heb 4:1-11 is talking about the Exodus Generation and for us to get out of revisionism,
v1 Therefore ... It goes on to talk about the Jews (they are always our example) and how they failed time and time again to use Faith Rest. The specific example is Sabbath Rest. It then goes on and talks about disobedience of the Jews [v6, v11] in 1) not Faith Resting [v1-2, v3-6, v9], 2: apathy toward their duties as a client nation (individually and collectively) [v1-2, v6], and 3) disbelieving [v3].

So, my Heb 4:12 starts out with

[^] Heb 4:12 For [the solution to v11 disobedience: disbelieving, apathy & no F/R] ...

and continues with

Heb 4:12b ... the word of God is [keeps on being] living [alive] and powerful [effectual - accomplishes its objective] and sharper than any two-edged sword, ...

So not only do we need to understand the seriousness of disobedience in our life, we are not to fall into the trap that the Exodus generation did which is disobedience: i.e. disbelieving, apathy & no F/R, because not recovering from Revisionism will lead to what happened to the Exodus Generation, the sin unto death and a loss of rewards.


So Three things Israel was disobedient at:
1 – disbelieving
2 – apathy
3 – no Faith Rest life

aka - The My Way Highway of life.

Disbelieving and apathy are volitional matters.
You have to check your own motivation to correct them.

I’d like to focus on Faith Rest and mix with it God’s Divine Essence
Then challenge you to strengthen both.


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Remember our CWLiving skills << Rebound when necessary and diligently use the F/R Drill.>>

What is the F/R Drill?
Faith in this case means ‘what you believe’.
What we believe as it relates to God is what the bible tells us. And in this case specifically promises that God gave us.
Rest means that we claim these promises and believe that God will honor the promise (trust)
and so we can relax.
Why do we believe that God will honor his promises? His Divine Essence. His character.

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Let me give you an example. We all have fears. Let’s say it raining hard and the roads are slick and you are afraid of driving but you must. So you are going to claim, by reciting to God, one of His ‘promises’ that He has make to you (don’t worry I’ll give you a promise to use in a second) and tell him your fear and let Him handle it. So we can be relaxed knowing, in this case, that God will give us the courage to use our driving skills to handle driving in the rain.

[^] The promise we will use (and I use this almost every day) is found in 1 Peter 5:7. It says: Give me all your concerns because I (God) care for you. I like what Pastor Rory [^] Clark says: Slamming all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

So we ‘give’ or ‘slam’ all our concerns, worries, fears upon Him, because He cares for you.
Again we do this so we don’t have to ‘worry’ about them. We leave them in Gods hands. So we can relax or the ‘Rest’ part of Faith/Rest. Claim a promise by faith (believing God) and then resting that He will handle the situation.

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Just a few short things to know about this before we use it.
- God is not a genie, we don’t get three wishes and He makes them come true. God does not fix problems, He ‘fixes’ us. (repeat)
- God, usually, does not make the problem go away. Rather He gives you the strength (courage) to handle them with the skills you have.

In the example above, God won’t stop the rain but He will make sure your driving skills handle any situations you come upon. Therefore, you can trust Him, relax and drive safely in the hazardous rain. That is how God works. That is how He helps you.

So take a moment and think about what bothers you, what are you worried about or afraid of?
(I keep a list, so I don’t forget, and I change the list frequently)


So in this example, when you drive safely under God protection inn the rain, what did you do?

The first thing you learn by this is: you’re starting to trust God

Notice Rebound and F/R Drill have to do with you. Not about other people.
They deal with your thinking and with circumstances in your life.
That is what God designed them to be.
It’s how you start out. Changing your thinking. Not doing anything….


Hold on to the F/R Drill because I will be coming back to it.

(shift gears)
Who and what is God?

The simple explanation is
God is the Supreme Being in the universe
God is all powerful, He’s smart, etc ... He is not flesh and blood
God is a spirit.

But these are inadequate, but true phrases and descriptions. But inadequate.

We have been taught about His Divine Essence, His character. And that is what we will explore along with the F/R Drill as the fundamentals of the CWLiving.

There are three primary things to know about God:

[^] 1 - He is what is called absolute righteousness,
meaning he can’t sin and the reason He can’t
tolerate or be near sin. And the reason He provided Rebound. God is
perfect and He can only act perfectly. Again that is called Righteousness

2 - God is also Just. He can only do the right thing a right way. Think of it in
a legal sense as a court room judge. He knows all the facts and can only
render a perfect verdict and judgment. So anything God does it is Just,
fair and he has no bias.

3 - And the third thing here is God is Love.

There are a lot of ideas about love. BUT, lets look at an example from God.

Before we believed in Jesus Christ for Salvation, we were not ‘saved’.
We do not have a relationship with God.
God wants to have a relationship with us; therefore He had to solve that
problem. He did what
[^] John 3:16 says, God soooo (my emphasis) loved the
world (you and me) that he gave us His uniquely born son, that whosoever
(me and you) believes in Him shall have everlasting life (aka we will go to
heaven).

Whether we realize it or not, when we believed in Jesus Christ for
Salvation, we claimed that promise of John 3:16 and we became saved.

Just for reference notice God did all the work.
All we have to do is believe.
It takes no ‘effort’ to believe. God did the work of Salvation.

It takes faith. Faith in someone higher than you.

Now that is Love.
God doing all the work and we get all the benefit.


But wait there is more to this ‘salvation’

Let’s look at it from the Divine perspective of God’s Essence.
Righteousness, Justice and Love

God in His Righteousness could not have a relationship with you and me
before salvation. Therefore His Love motivated Him to find a solution.
That was Jesus Christ

So God found a way. God’s Love motivated Him to find a way which
satisfied His Righteousness that allowed God’s Justice to establish a
relationship with you and me.

I hope that is not too confusing. But that is how God works.
He loves us and wants to do things for us,
because He loves us and when His Righteousness is satisfied
then His Justice is freed to do what God’s Love wants to do.

God can’t do anything He wants to do. He operates within His own integrity.
That integrity is His Righteousness and Justice. So He is motivated by His
Love yet His Righteousness has to be satisfied for His Justice to execute
what His Love wants.

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How God works (Thinks)
(God’s Righteousness, Justice and Love)

So the next logical question is How does God’s Righteousness get satisfied?

Great question.

It is when we follow His ‘instructions’.
Or better said when we follow what the bible tells us.

For example, you Rebounded at the beginning of class.
You followed God’s instructions (procedure found in 1 John 1:9)
and when you executed that procedure,
God’s Righteousness was satisfied and His Justice forgave you of your
sin(s).

So that is How God works. God loves you. He wants the best for you. And
He provides information on how we are to think, and when we think with God’s thoughts,
or think like God thinks, then
He is free to bless us and help us. That is why God in His love provided
the Bible, which is His complete information about Himself for us to
understand and follow, by thinking like God thinks. And when our
thinking changes then our actions follow.


You know God does not make the sp life hard.
Recall Jesus saying My yolk is easy my burden is light – and we said to ourselves sure, right!!!!

I am not going to tell you that reaction is right nor wrong.
Why? Because it is a matter of perspective. I can stand here and quote bible verses until I am blue in the face and that will not persuade you.
Or maybe you know its true (the bible says so) BUT you have not experienced that yourself. That has been true for me at times in my life.

Sooooo, let me tell you it is a matter of your perspective as to the validity of JC statement.

Let me explain.

Recall Adam and the Woman.
God has one only one prohibition in all the entire garden.
You can tend the tree (and everything in the garden) and take care of it but you cannot eat of its fruit. (some say the bible says you can go near the tree nor touch the tree. Absolutely false. Go read you bible. God said tend every everything in the garden. )

So Adam had to tend the tree but he and the woman could not eat of the fruit of the tree. Preciseness is important in Gods system. It is how Satan trips us up and did trip up the woman.

So one prohibition. Do not eat. (Now isn’t that easy – My yolk is easy my burden is light…)
Yet what did the woman do? Crunch…

Hey Adam, you tall dark handsome man, have a bit. Crunch.
One command, only one.
Now that was simple wasn’t it?
Yes.
Yet…..

So is it simple. Simple to rebound? … Yes
Is it simple to claim a promise (surmising you know at least one promise) … Yes
And when you do that, Gods +R is satisfied and His Justice executes what His Love wants for you.
Simple? Yes.


So what’s so hard…..
We are human….
We are arrogant.
We make things hard.

Now this is where an aspect of Grace kicks in.
We are to give ourselves Grace.
In my youth the expression was take a chill pill, give yourself a break.
We are only human… very funny if you really understood what it meant.

We are to relax and follow God procedures. Thus far tonight Rebound and F/R Drill allowing Gods Love to give us the things we need because His +R is satisfied, because we are using Gods procedures (Rebound and F/R Drill) and God’s J delivers what Gods Love wants.

So easy.


Let’s proceed.

The next thing to understand is to
Trust – Trusting God

[^]
Proverbs 3:5 [1] [CMD] Trust in the Lord with all your heart [rt lobe – where you think. PSD #3 F/R Drill],
And [2] [CMD] do not lean on your own [HVP] understanding [man’s opinion vs God’s].
Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways [3] [CMD] acknowledge Him,
[Promise] And He will make your paths straight. [1, 2, 3 - easy]
Proverbs 3:7 [conclusion v5-6] Do not be wise in your own eyes [conceited - arrogance];
[CMD] Fear [Trust] the Lord and [CMD] turn away from evil.

Straight forward.

First this verse is both a Command and also a promise.

A command to Trust in the Lord. How? That starts with knowing a little
about God and doing what He says.
That is why we Rebound and why I am starting with
the Faith Rest procedure. Knowing those two things and using them starts
the trust in God process. [In God We Trust]
God said x, I will do x and I trust God will do x.
Simple, but very important. Like 1 + 1 = 2.

Next it says with all your heart.
That is our goal – recall what Col Thieme said? Bel using BD turns the world upside down.

In the sp life, we can’t quite Trust God perfectly yet..
but you can start by using what you know right now (Rebound and F/R procedure).

So if that’s all you have in your ‘heart’ so far and if you
do them diligently, then you are fulfilling this part of the command.

The third part is interesting and should generate some questions. But first
let’s look at it plainly: “And do not lean on your own understanding”.

Leaning on your own human understanding is using human opinion, the
worlds thinking in solving problems vs God’s thinking in solving problems.
Lean on God and His thinking vs lean on what humanity tells us. If human
solutions do not line up with what God says then that thinking is faulty.
Where human wisdom lines up with God’s thinking or Divine Wisdom
then humanity is following the way God thinks.
Either way its Gods thinking that is correct, every time.


The interesting part here is there are at least two ways to think.
God’s way and humanity’s way.
Also called God’s Divine Viewpoint (DVP) and human viewpoint (HVP) thinking.

We know in fact there are multiple
views of humanity, many different forms of ‘philosophy’. But only God’s
‘philosophy’ matters and is the only one that produces results that are for
your best interest, happiness and prosperity in all situations and all the
time. This applies to you individually and us a group or humanity.


For right now, let’s keep it simple, God’s viewpoint of life is correct and
that is the one we are to learn and think.

So And do not lean on your own understanding. Means we are NOT
to use human thinking, HVP, but learn and use God’s thinking, DVP.

Next is verse 6, In all your ways acknowledge Him. So how do you
acknowledge God?
Does this mean witnessing, etc?

God wants your thinking to change, He wants your mind to be ‘renovated’
– out with the old thinking and in with the new thinking.
God knows if you think like Him and use His procedures and follow His commands then your actions and what you do will follow suit and be based upon His DVP.

So God is focused on thinking and not on acting or actions (since allot of
people ‘act’). So what this means for you is something I said on Trusting:
if what you have in your ‘heart’ is Rebound and F/R procedure
and you use them diligently, then you are
acknowledging Him in all your ways (two areas so far!).

So verse 6a just restates what verse 5b says

(a side note, I don’t know if you like poetry or not,
but the relationship between v5b and v6a is called a synonymous
parallel. These verses in Proverbs are all Hebrew poetry and they don’t
use rhyming as their style of poetry but parallelism.
God uses this restating technique to both reinforce its importance and to say the same
thing slightly differently so the reader understands more completely what
He is saying.)

So if you are using Rebound and F/R procedure then you are
acknowledging God in all your ways!

Now the last part of verse 6 - God’s promise to you: And He will make
your paths straight. A promise to make your paths straight. Make your
paths straight is a metaphor
(defn: A metaphor is a figure of speech that,
for rhetorical effect, directly referring to one thing by mentioning another.
It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two ideas.).

So to make your paths straight means to live your life in the way God wants
you to live your life for maximum happiness and blessing in life. Because
that is what God wants
(I am not giving you lots of bible verses to back up
what I say so as not to inundate you...
But you can rationalize it yourself, if God is God then He must have a plan and a
purpose for my life and He must have given us all the information we need
to live that life ... ).

God wants you to be happy and prosperous in your life.
God gives us His thinking that we need to learn, procedures to execute,
commands to follow so that when we do these things we can live our life,
solve the inevitable problems we face big and small, day to day, have
happiness and contentment in this life.


You might ask “How does God make our paths straight?”
In its most simplest form it is two things:

1 - you are learning and thinking what God has said,
in your case Rebound and F/R procedure. If you are being
diligent about using them,
then you are acknowledging God and you think
differently or you are more relaxed so that you can think and act
differently.

2 - with your relaxed thinking and decision making, God
opens and closes ‘doors’, He brings circumstances into your life which will
now guide your life in different directions.

[^]
Confused which way to go?
Then make the best decision you can and if God does not want you to go
in that direction, he will close the door. If you are receptive to closed doors,
then you see that for what it is and you go in another direction.

Don’t take this to the ridiculous as some do, “should I
eat Mexican or Italian tonight? I’ll wait on God’s will”.

In all cases you make the decisions in life as to what you think is best.
Remember, you will not be in fear or worry because you are using
the F/R procedure and as long as you do and are remaining calm about it
(really, not faking it) then any decision will either be guided by God and
an open door or the result of the decision will be a closed door. Then you
know to go in a different direction.

The key is [pause]: are you diligent in using the F/R procedure
and are you trusting God such that you are relaxed? If so,
then your trust in God is not in vain and He will come through for you (but
also remember it will be in His timing).

[^]
Trust is a process.

[^] You start out slowly, so to speak, claim a promise
and wait upon the Lord to handle that promise. If you put more and more
on his ‘plate’ and you trust Him to handle it then the more and more
relaxed you become. When you see this happening in your life, you realize
you have peace and tranquility that you did not have before. That is the
result of using Gods thinking and specifically the F/R procedure.


An other verse which is similar is Laminations 3:25.

[^]
Laminations 3:25 [Promise] The Lord is good to those who trust in Him [F/R
procedure] and to those who wait for Him [divine timing of God,
having patience],

One of the objectives you have eventually is to want to please God.
God is a person, He thinks and He has emotions (just perfect emotions vs our sometimes irrational emotions). He can be ‘pleased’. And doing what He wants for us to do in our lives is something worth aspiring to.

This verse tells us that God is good to those who trust Him.
That’s what you are doing by being diligent in using Rebound
and F/R procedure. Lamentations 3:25 says trust and wait upon God. The
waiting is also a test. God is testing you to let him handle the situation in
His time and for you to relax and wait. Patience.


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Let’s look at Fear -
One thing that can characterize what was going on during this COVID-19
crisis is fear. So I wanted to talk to you about fear.

There are several ‘fears’ in life, some are inherent (you acquired them early
in life, or acquired them through difficult circumstances in life) and some
come on suddenly (COVID-19 virus with all the conflicting information we
get).

So let’s discuss fear and look at it from God’s Divine viewpoint (DVP).

In the bigger sense, most people are afraid of death. Many don’t think
about it until they have an experience with it (friend, loved one, war, etc)
and other fears can develop as we age. But as a believer in Jesus Christ,
you should have no fear of death. You know what happens after death.
You go to heaven.
Now some in Christianity have said, and some religions say,
you can lose your salvation by being ‘bad’. BS! Why? Because the
bible NEVER, NEVER says that. It clearly says many times, you have what
is called Eternal Security.
Once saved always saved.
Period.

Unfortunately that is not how humans think (HVP). We want to feel sorry;
we want to make amends or penance. BUT recall what I told you. God
does not think like humans think. We have to learn how God thinks. And
this is very important. Probably the most important thing after mastering
Rebound and the Faith Rest procedure is to understand more and more
about God and how He thinks. So once saved always saved.

Proof –
John 3:15 [in order] that whoever believes may in Him [Jesus Christ]
have eternal life.
John 3:16 "For God sooooooo loved the world, [with the result] that He
gave His uniquely born Son [virgin birth], that whoever believes in
Him shall never perish [eternal security], but have everlasting life.”
John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to judge [punish]
the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged [Great White Throne
Judgment for unbelievers];
he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not
believed in the name of the uniquely Son of God.

Second Proof –
John 10:28 [Promise] and I [Jesus Christ speaking] give eternal life to
them, and they shall never perish [salvation cannot be undone]; and
no one shall snatch [pluck] them out of My hand. [eternal security]
John 10:29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all;
and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

Our first security is the eternal security. You cannot lose your salvation.
And you go to heaven at physical death.
So God handles the fear of death. No Fear!


Next -
Do you really understand why God loves you?
Yea, Jn 3:16…
But

Do you really understand you and all mankind are precious to God?
Think of that for a second in human terms.
I love dogs.
[^] [^]
I loved my first dog, Hans. He was a playmate, ‘friend’ and
companion. He was precious to me. And every dog since then has been
precious to me. What’s precious to you?

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Now, think how much more God thinks of you as precious?
He created you. Don’t you think that someone
who created you would not also think of you as something precious to
Him?

((Wait a second Cliff, my parents ‘created’ me? Not quite true. Your
parents ‘created’ you physically and give your certain DNA traits. Through
the reproduction process (that God invented), your parents DNA gave you
a body. ))

God gave you life and He gave you, you. I.e. your soul, your
personality, the real you. When you die your physical body goes back to
the earth. Your soul is still alive. And with salvation, you will live in
heaven forever (and God will also give you a ‘new’ body in which to house
your soul).

God created you and that makes you very precious to Him. That is an inkling
of how much God loves you.

My second favorite verse in the bible is Matthew 7:11 –

[^]
Matthew 7:11 [Promise] If you then [the context it is talking about
parents], being evil [compared to the character & integrity of God],
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

How much more! How much more does God our Father know how to give
‘good gifts’ to you! What are good gifts? The things in life that you desire
that are in accordance to His plan. So if we know how to give graciously to
others, how much more does God who is infinitely powerful, know how to
give to us gracious things in life that we desire to have which are in
accordance to His plan. He has a perfect plan for our lives. And He will
provide everything we need for our life.

I can imagine some questions. “I do not have what I want in this life (yet)”.
Are you in the Plan of God for your life?


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So thus far in the CWLiving we ----
You started at the beginning. Salvation. Then …
Rebound and the Faith Rest procedure. Master that. Next …
We start with getting to know a little about God.
As we get to know God and use His procedures then we trust God. That is the
beginning of being in the Plan of God for your life. Simple 1, 2, 3.

Proverbs 3:5 & 6. Go back and read it.

[^]
Rebound when necessary
Diligently using (mastering) the F/R Drill
Understanding God’s Essence, esp His Love -> +R –J
Then using your volition to execute what God says – CMDs, Promises, Instructions.

… and He will make your paths straight.

Very Key. Simple. Crunch….


My focus over these lessons is going to be just that. Giving you Promises and going over biblical narratives to focus your attention on the range of promises and commands we have and to see how God thinks using His divine Essence.

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In this country we are living in MORE difficult times than in the past.
We are going to be tested more than ever because of the decay, the rot of our nation.

(it humorous but NOT funny – what the socialists, the democrats are pushing for is to make our lives more and more difficult – a true reversal of ‘peace and prosperity’ we experience today)
God’s way – peace and prosperity – their way hardship and difficulty.


So mastering the F/R Drill and understanding How God thinks is paramount
for your sp life and living in this cosmic system.
If you can recall how God thinks vs cosmic system
And if you can recall more than one F/R Promise (one tailored to your ‘issue(s))
Then you have the solid foundation to advance and thrive in Satan’s Cosmic system.


<< Break ??? >>


So let’s proceed by reviewing God’s Divine Essence
then mixing in some narratives and promises of the bible to highlight them.

Before we do let’s review -
1 - Faith & Divine Essence

Faith in God. What is faith? I have said several times
you must trust God. Faith is putting your trust in something greater than
you and your problems. If someone says I trust God but can’t explain why,
then that is empty faith and it is not going to help you be relaxed or help
you psychologically.

Being relaxed or what the bible calls prosperity
(mental prosperity) is one of the great benefits of the Faith Rest procedure. RMA.

So, if you know or recite Gods promises and know that God backs them up
because He is an all-powerful God, then you are putting your faith in
someone stronger and mightier than you.

You see faith must have an object.
And in our case at GBC and what Pastor Bob has taught us, our faith is in
God, specifically His promises and Him as an all-powerful God.


Now when I say an all powerful God – what does that mean to you – Omnipotent.
Well not really.
It really is means that God acts IAW His character – Omnipotent God doing the right thing the right way. Not whatever He wants. That might sound sacrilegious but it is true and a key component to understanding God’s Essence.

God does the right thing the right way, every time – right thing – +R,
the right way - Justice, and the power to do it is Omnipotent.
So an all powerful God is a +R, J and Omnipotent. 3/10 attributes.

What are the attributes of God’s Divine Essence, His character?
Pastor Rory Clark gave us an acronym to remember this by: JR SOOO LIVE
(pronounced: junior soooooooo live)

•Justice – God renders a fair decision based upon all the facts. He
always does the right thing in the right way. He is a perfect (just) judge.
•Righteousness (+R) – this refers to God is perfect, He never has made
a mistake, never thought anything wrong, is perfect and without sin.
•Sovereignty – God is supreme authority of the universe. There is no
one more powerful or ‘above’ Him.
•Omniscience – God is all knowing, God knows everything including
what would have happened if different decisions were made. He
knows all the outcomes.
•Omnipresent – God is in all places at once. He is present everywhere.
•Omnipotent – God is all powerful. For example the bible describes
God’s creation of the universe as the work of His fingers. Your fingers
are the weakest part of your body, yet God created the whole universe
and all its great beauty with just His fingers. Now that is power. (and
no God does not have fingers – it is a metaphor)
•Love – God is Love. This is a huge concept but to keep it relatively
simple we have to use all of the following words to describe God’s love:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives several descriptions of God’s love: "Love is
patient, love is kind. God’s Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs (see note at end). Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God’s love never fails."
That is a lot to digest, but I think you can get a glimpse of what true
love is and God is Love.
•Immutable – God never changes. He never makes a decision that He
would change. He does the right thing the right way the first time.
•Veracity – God is truthful. Titus 1:2 "God, who does not lie." Also
that means the bible is inerrant, without error (in the original language
that is was written). God’s perfect thoughts given to mankind.
•Eternal Life – God always existed, He was in the past, present and
future forever and ever.

This is the One whom we put our faith or trust in.

This is the One whom we put our faith or trust in. So when God says in 1
Peter 5:7 Give me all your concerns because I (God) care for you. Or
Slamming all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

He means it.
Re-Read God’s attribute of Love over again. That is His attitude towards YOU.

And now you know why the bible is called God’s word. It is just not title.
It is God’s very words to you and to me. God’s veracity, His Omnipotence
make sure that you have His absolute thinking in the bible. That is why it
is the oldest book in the world, God has preserved the bible for 4000-5000
years. Who else could accomplish that? Only God because of His
attributes.

That is who we put our trust in.


I emphasized trust.
But trust is something you have to develop; it is a process. You have to learn to trust
God.
Learning about His Divine Essence is an academic endeavor.
You still have to learn to use [experience] each of His attributes
and see it working for you.

When you do you start and continue to trust God. It is a process.
It does not happen overnight. Many people, including myself spend years
exercising the Faith Rest procedure and trusting God. Sometimes I fail,
but I keep going. I make mistakes but I keep on going (this is something I
will talk about later, the concept of perseverance).


((RECAP???
Let me recap this last section on Faith in God, His Divine Essence and
its relationship to learning to trust God by using the Faith Rest procedure.
Faith has to have an object or it is just blind or useless faith. In
understanding (and memorizing) God’s Divine Essence, His attributes, we
can see that the One we put our Faith in is stronger, more powerful, perfect
(Veracity) and Loving. We must learn to trust Him and what He says. We
start to do that by Rebounding when necessary and using the Faith Rest
procedure. And as I have said, we must master this part of the CWLiving. ))


2 - God’s Promises
Learn more God’s promises.
So far - 1 Peter 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6 and Lamentations 3:25.
We are to use these promises to ‘slam’ all your cares, anxieties and
problems on God then relaxing about them knowing that in Lam 3:25 God
will provide solutions while you relax and wait on His timing. This should
also give you courage.

Tip --
Make a list, mine is on my phone, and cite them to God
in your Faith Rest procedure prayer to God.

You have to move forward every day,
you have to make decisions every day. Now you can do that,
even in difficult times or in pressure situations, with the courage God gives
you by using the F/R procedure and having confidence God will come
through for you.

So then trusting in God and using His procedures
(acknowledging Him) he will guide your life and that life will be one of
prosperity (mental prosperity or relaxed) and he will guide your life with
the result you will have maximum happiness and a life of fulfillment (Prov
3:5-6).


Problems come in two flavors;
1 - the ones we created by bad decisions (which have internal (pressure, anxiety) and
external (ramifications to others)) and
2 - problems others created and put on us (these can be circumstances of life or
overt decisions made by others
that cause you problems, including ‘natural disasters’ such as Mt Saint
Helen’s, floods, war, pandemics, etc.

Sooooo it matters not whether we or others created the problems,
God has a solution to them. His solution is
to use what you know from the bible to make decisions and to use the Faith
Rest procedure to remain calm, relaxed in spite of the pressure, and have
courage to move forward because God will fulfill His promise.


3 - Psalm 91 God’s Promise of Protection for the Believer

Third, lets study a passage to put most of the concepts together – God’s
Divine Essence, His promises and what He does for us in terms of
protection (anti-fear).


Psalm 91 is an example of God’s protection of you as a believer in Jesus
Christ (JC). God protects believers who trust (here is that word again) in
Him.
When you are executing the Plan of God then because God Loves
you, He wants the best for you. Based upon you executing His procedures,
His Love wants to bless you and He can because His Righteousness sees
that you are following His procedures and commands so then God’s
Justice provides you blessings.

Simple? Crunch


Psalm 91:1 He [the believer in JC] who dwells [via F/R procedure] in the
shelter of the Most High [a reference to God]
Will abide [reside] in the shadow of the Almighty [Omnipotence of
God].

The author of this Psalm is saying Believers in JC whose thinking and who
live their lives using God’s solutions (so far in our lesson today Rebound & F/R
procedure) will find shelter and reside under God’s protection.

God protects those whom He Loves. Protection from what? Versus 3, 5-7 give
us some examples (criminality, war, pestilence, natural disasters like
earthquakes, hurricanes, etc).
But let’s pick one from v6 that is applicable today – the corona virus.
God protects the Believer from the corona virus.

Psalm 91:6 Of the pestilence [corona virus, black plague] that stalks in
darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon [earthquake, volcano,
tsunami].

He shelters (protects) you and does it in at least one of 3 ways (which will
be true for any example).

1) God protects the Believer from catching the virus.
2) God allows the believer to catch the virus but heals the believer.
3) God allows the believer to catch the virus and allows the believer
to die and go to heaven.

What a minute! How is #3 protection?

God provides blessing to a dying believer:
- first you are relaxed even when you are dying (F/R procedure);
- second, in being relaxed while dying you might be a witness to others who
will be curious why you are so relaxed, it is an opportunity to witness to
someone; and
- third God’s Plan for you is to witness in dying.

His Plan for you is up and He is bringing you to heaven.
There cannot be a more greater protection that to spend eternity in heaven.
This might be hard for you to understand
but God has a Plan for you and will provide all the means for
you to be relaxed and fulfill His Plan. And that Plan just might be putting
you in a situation of death so that someone else can benefit from your
death.

How many soldiers died in WWII so that we can have the freedom
and prosperity in the USA today? See there is a bigger plan and purpose,
greater than just your own life. So yes, death can be part of God’s Plan for
a believer. And in that death, you can be relaxed and happy. That is not
how the world (cosmos) thinks. Again another example of God’s thinking
is opposite of the worlds thinking.


So back to the first 2 ways God protects the believer. Verse 1 says those
believers who use the Faith Rest procedure will find shelter and reside
under the protection of Omnipotent God. We might not know how God’s
Omnipotence might protect us in advance but we can trust (here is that
word again) in His promise, an Immutable promise and when we use that
promise, God will deliver.

Just in this verse we can see how to apply parts of God’s Divine Essence.
God is all powerful, Omnipotent, and can prevent you from catching the
virus or heal you if you catch the virus. God knows through His
Omniscience why He might want you to catch the virus or even die, so that
His Plan for you and others can be fulfilled. God’s promise is Immutable
it will never change and since you claimed the promise God’s
Righteousness is satisfied so that His Justice can execute the promise that
God in His Love proved for you. Thereby proving God’s Veracity.
So in this example you can ‘see’ how God thinks and how God works.

V2 goes on –

Psalm 91:2 I will say to the Lord, [your conclusion upon using the F/R
procedure] "[You are] My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I
trust!"

So the result of using the F/R procedure is coming to the conclusion that
God will fulfill the promise to you (that is, you are trusting God) so that
you can say (to yourself and others) God is my refuge and my fortress. Also
you thank God, in prayer or verbally to others, “My God delivered me
because I trust Him” (I trust His word – promises). So you are praising
God and thanking Him with your thinking because He will and does
protect you.

But, this is only for the believer who is using Rebound and the F/R
procedure. See when you follow God’s thinking and use His tools and
develop the spiritual skills to live your life then God blesses you and part
of the blessing is protection per Psalm 91.

Also look how personal v2 is. My refuge, My fortress, My God. As I said
God wants to have a personal relationship with you. This is you having a
personal relationship with God by using His tools (promises) to live your
life. And as I said you become grateful to Him for giving you these
promises to use in daily life.

I like v3 because it has been true in my life.

Psalm 91:3 For it is He [God] who delivers you from the snare of the
trapper [people and circumstances in life],

And from the deadly pestilence [deadly hazards like corona virus].

The snare of the trapper is an illustration of traps in life. Who would set
traps for you in life? Have you ever had people in your life who were out
for you and wanted to do you harm? I have. I have had bosses at work
that ‘hated’ me and wanted to destroy my career. I knew it and I did not
react to them. I treated them with kindness and respect and I did my job
to the best of my ability. And no matter what these bosses tried to do, in
the end, they had no effect on my career.
Now this sounds like I was
perfect in all of this. I was not. A few times I got depressed and worried
BUT when I did, I Rebounded and used the F/R procedure and went back
to a relaxed state so I could do my job. And that is what happens most if
not all the time. Sometimes we fail. We Rebound and go back to using the
F/R procedure.
So God protected me, I was allowed to do my job and very
successfully. Then later God’s solution was to give me a better job (a
promotion). So God did not make the person go way, instead, He
protected me so I could do my job and He ‘promoted’ me and the person
who ‘hated’ me, got to ‘stew in their own juices’ while watching me be
successful.

This is an example of God protecting me because I was using His solutions
to the problem.

Circumstances in life can also lay traps for you, but again the solution is
the same – Rebound when necessary and use the F/R procedure.

The second part of v3 I covered in the example of the pestilence above,
using the corona virus as an illustration.

Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with His pinions [feathers],
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark [a defensive wall – like a
castle wall].

Here is a picture of v4a that says it all.



Notice how the mother bird is holding on to her chicks.
Physically protecting them, giving them cover and warmth – that is total
protection.

Notice also that the chick could fly away if they wanted to. But they are
choosing to stay under her protection. Same with us and God. We can
remove ourselves from God’s protection by using human solutions to
problems instead of using God’s solutions. So it is our choice, use God’s
solutions or use human solutions.

Versus 5-7 are additional descriptive illustrations of terrors that can affect
Believers.

Psalm 91:5 ¶ [result from v2 of using F/R procedure] You will not be
afraid of the terror by night [criminality, etc],
Or of the arrow that flies by day [warfare];
Psalm 91:6 Of the pestilence [corona virus, black plague] that stalks in
darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon [earthquake, volcano,
tsunami].

Notice night and day, darkness and noon – this is a reference that God
protects the believer 24 hrs/day! God never sleeps. He is on the job 24
hrs/day, 7 days/week.

Psalm 91:7 A thousand may fall [die] at your side, And ten thousand at
your right hand;
But it [terrors and disasters] shall not approach you.


V7 is interesting. You might be in the midst of a great natural disaster or
the corona virus with thousands dying all around you but it, the disasters
and terrors, will not affect you. We are blessed (by God) in the USA and
we do not have many disasters like other parts of the world, but when we
do, God protects the believer who is executing His Plan for their lives.

Psalm 91:8 You will only look on with your eyes,
And see the recompense of the wicked [Justice of God in action].

V8 is interesting because it now introduces what happens to those who are
evil, from v3 and 5-7. Not only are you protected but the Justice of God
punishes those who are evil (anti-God, believers not using His Divine
Solutions in life and unbelievers). You will many times see that they get
Divine Justice from God for their deeds.

Versus 9 & 10 are a conclusion.

Psalm 91:9 For you [the Believer using the F/R procedure] have made the
Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
Psalm 91:10 No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent [where you live].

V9 is a restatement of v1-2 and the conclusion of all these terrors and
adversities is that you are protected wherever you are.

These 9 verses give you enough background to
understand what God is telling Believers who a executing His Plan for their
lives, the protection and comfort He provides 7 days a week and 24 hours
a day.

And, and the recompense for those bel who do not and for those unbel who are evil.

So this is a great example of God’s promise to believers who Rebound when
necessary and use the F/R procedure to handle problems, anxieties,
disasters, evil and adversities of life.
God protects the ones He Loves. And
since He is an all-powerful God, He has the means to provide protection
to His loved ones.

You can see His Divine Essence in action. His
Righteousness not tolerating evil and His Justice executing justice on evil
in this world, His Omniscience knowing what will happen in advance and
having a plan to protect the believer in these circumstances, His
Omnipotence shielding the believer from the consequences of evil and
disasters, even when those around you are affected. He does all this
because He Loves you and you responded to His Love by first believing in
Jesus Christ for salvation and then following His procedures, commands
and getting to know and appreciate Him and trusting Him for deliverance
from the problems of life.


God can only keep His promises and in them is true security. Once you
latch on to what Psalm 91 says, and once you understand the context of
Psalm 91 as a whole, and once you believe God’s promise, and trust God
for the fulfillment of Psalm 91, then you have security. You have security
in your salvation, you have security in your life, both physical and spiritual,
you have eternal security, you have everything that you need, every
resource to be secure in this life, no matter what.
Psalm 91 is a benefit in
the midst of adversity, it is a benefit in the midst of a corona virus plague.
Also as you are relaxed, you look around at others who are in panic and
fear and you can ‘see’ what a wonderful God you have, that Loves you and
protects you.


Last thoughts

Why is the F/R procedure so important? Why do I keep telling you to be
diligent in using Rebound and the F/R procedure? What does claiming
God’s promises on some specific ‘issue’ you are having do? First if you
trust God and believe His promise(s) then you can be relaxed. That is
called a Relaxed Mental Attitude (RMA). You can relax, you do not have
to dwell on your problems, you let God handle them. What else does a
RMA bring to you? Courage. Courage under adversity or better said
Courage under fire (as in a battle).


So what if - you momentarily think about your problem(s) that you asked
God to handle by using the F/R procedure? There is nothing wrong with
that. It happens. Give yourself grace. But if you dwell on them more than
momentarily, then you have in essence told God that you want to handle
them. So you need to Rebound (you told God that He was going to handle
them and you changed your mind, not trusting God) and then you must
use the F/R procedure again for that problem. See there is a solution for
that too.

Think about this for a moment. When a problem comes up, you are able
to claim a promise and calm down, by utilizing the Faith Rest procedure,
and have a Relaxed Mental Attitude (RMA), under adversity and that is
something that only the believer in Jesus Christ has at their disposal, only
the believer. You should be able to see what a great God we have. You
should be experiencing encouragement of both God’s presence and His
care for you. You will rest with the confidence that whatever happens in
life is with His knowledge and nothing happens outside of his knowledge
(Omniscient). Psalm 91.

And you know what? This is one of several problem solving procedures
God has provided for believers only.
You are well taught and know God provides 10 PSDs that you can use.

We just looked at two.
Rebound and F/R procedure. Now it is your job to use these two diligently!