Sunday, February 23, 2014

Spiritual Exercise

Those who earnestly seek God through faith would be rewarded with the things they ask for in prayers (Hebrews 11:6). We will practice this spiritual principle to find if it works in the real world, and by extension find evidence that God truly exists.

To earnestly seek God, you should have faith, and faith comes by hearing and reading the message of the gospel, which is summarized in Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

The practical application of these commandments is to treat your neighbors as you want to be treated. Since you cannot see God who is spirit, the only way you can demonstrate your love for God is to treat your neighbors as you want to be treated. This cannot be achieved without dedicated efforts, because you would be veciously attacked by the spiritual forces of evil to force you to go the other way.

When you resist the attacks of the Evil One, and continue treating your neighbors as you want to be treated, this would put you in the path of God's grace, and by his mercy give you faith to prepare your soul to receive the Holy Spirit. Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, which would be an actual spiritual event in your life, you would become three persons in one: body, soul and the Holy Spirit, as God is three persons in one: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, thus sharing the same spirit with God, and connecting directly with him in spirit.

Meantime, the spiritual forces of evil would continue putting temptation and problems in your life to discourage you from treating your neighbors as you want to be treated, for the purpose of weakening your faith and turning you away from God.

If your faith in God begins to shake and crack, it would seem to you that you are gaining nothing by treating your neighbors as you want to be treated. But if you stay the course, strengthened by the truth that it's not you who is acting, but the Holy Spirit who live in you, you would prevail over the spiritual forces of evil, as Job and Jesus prevailed over the Evil One.

Having prevailed over the spiritual forces of evil, and still connected with God in spirit, you can now put the spiritual principles of the gospel into practice to confront and defeat the demons in your life.

We've all encountered the demons of fear, lethargy and depression. These demons stop us in our tracks, and discourage us from taking action to rise from where we are to where we want to be. They come at us in such subtle ways that we are unable to see that we are being manipulated by something outside ourselves. 

If your life is being ruined by fear, lethargy or depression, as they are designed by the spiritual forces of evil to do, the first thing you should do is go see your doctor. Explain your problem to him or her. Where needed your doctor would recommend treatment for your problem. In addition to the medical treatment, I would recommend you undergo a spiritual treatment, so that you would cure your problem both in its physical and spiritual dimensions.

Relating to fear, lethargy and depression, your spiritual treatment begins with believing that the Holy Spirit lives in you, and it's not you who act, but the Holy Spirit who lives in you. With this in mind, you are not depending on your own strength to do the things you need to do to, but on the power of the Holy Spirit who strengthens you. Believng this to be true, whenever you are discouraged from taking action by fear, lethargy or depression, remind yourselve that it's not you who is acting, but the Holy Spirit who lives in you, then move foreward and act, and continue acting until your task is done.

Once you begin to act, and decide not to stop until your task is done, the Holy Spirit would strengthen you to do so. But remember the Holy Spirit would support you only when the things you do are legal, realistic and do no intentional harm to your neighbors. When you diligently perform this spiritual exercise you would get the desired result, if you don't, say so in your comment to me, so that I would assist in getting you the result you seek. Meantime, strengthen your faith at: www.squidoo.com/meaning-and-application-of-faith

Saturday, February 15, 2014

What Must I Do To Receive Faith

This blog got its name from John 4:24 which reads, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." Worshiping God in spirit presupposes you believe you are two persons in one: body and  soul, and you are seeking a union with the Holy Spirit to transform you into three persons in one, as God is three persons in one.

But first these questions. What must I do to invite the Holy Spirit to live in me? The second question is, how do I know the Holy Spirit is living in me?

You can invite the Holy Spirit to live in you by doing the will of God, as summarized by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Laws and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

On the second question. You would know the Holy Spirit is living in you when, regardless of all the spiritual and physical obstacles put in your path by the Evil One you succeed in demonstrating your love for God by treating your neighbors as you want to be treated. By this single act you have fulfilled the two greatest commandments which are: loving God and loving your neighbors.

Although the Holy Spirit connects you directly with God, you need faith to remain connected. By faith you would receive God's wisdom to see through the lies of the Evil One. You would also receive God's power to stand firm against the temptation of the Evil One, in order to continue treating your neighbors as you want to be treated. In other words, when you stop treating your neighbors as you want to be treated, you give the Evil One access to infiltrate and control your mind toward evil.

You may ask, if everything depends on faith what must I do to receive faith? In Romans 10:17 we read, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing and [reading] the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." What is the message of Christ that summarizes the entire gospel? It is this: "To love God and love your neighbors". 

When you live by Christ's divine message, you would receive faith. The Holy Spirit will come and live in you. You would be connected directly with God and receive His wisdom and power. You would not be alone when the Evil One comes knocking at your door with temptations. And you would be empowered to continue treating your neighbors as you want to be treated, and as a result guarantee your happiness here on earth and your salvation in the after life. 

Explore Your Spirituality

The purpose of this article is not to persuade you to believe in God. It is to shed light on the difference between Religion and Spiritualit...