Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 102 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Overcoming the power and influence of Satan; Eph 6:10-18.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 102 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Overcoming the power and influence of Satan; EPH 6:10-18.

 

Announcementsopening prayer: 2CO 6:1

 

 

I want you to picture all of these as fully operational in your life, and putting them all together, the whole armor of God, see in your mind's eye the type of person that would be - Christ.

 

When you can imagine what type of person would be wearing the whole armor of God all the time then you can set about being that person by means of the Spirit. Waiting or delaying that thirst and hunger to be conformed into the image of Christ causes great complications to the spiritual life as sin nature control stymies the divine flow of power and wisdom.

 

HEB 3:7-8

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

"Today if you hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

 

JAM 4:17

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.

 

2CO 6:1 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain — 

 

2CO 6:2 for He says,

"At the acceptable time I listened to you,

And on the day of salvation [deliverance] I helped you";

behold, now is "the acceptable time," behold, now is "the day of salvation [deliverance]" — 

 

2CO 6:3 giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited,

 

2CO 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God

 

1TH 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;

 

1TH 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness [by birthright];

 

1TH 5:6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

 

1TH 5:7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night [no cognizance of what is going on around them].

 

1TH 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope [confidence - protection of soul, heart, spirit, and mind] of salvation.

 

1TH 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

1TH 5:10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

 

1TH 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

 

Put on Christ now by means of faith and faith in the Holy Spirit to accomplish it. If it seems like pretence then pretend, but not in the disingenuous way of faking it, but in actual desire to imitate Him. Practice these things. Train with the armor of God today and every day from now on.

 

As we have studied in comparing the law and grace, this is following a person more than it is obeying a set of rules. Instead of  checking off a list or rules, it is more like painting a portrait.

 

But since you don't know what He physically looked like, your brush and paint have to create something that is what you do know, His mind, His way, His truth, His life. The odd thing here is that being like a person is much harder than following a list of rules, and in another way, it is far easier.

 

This is much harder and at the same time far easier.

 

We can get about a list of rules and control ourselves long enough so as to get them all done, and then release the control so that we can get back to what we really want to do. But Christianity is not this. Christianity is the whole person and the whole life.

 

In one way this is far harder:

 

Following a list means only having to control our impulses for the short time until the list is complete. Being transformed into Christ's image takes the whole person and the whole life.

 

While the Christian is striving to become more and more like Christ, Christ is in Him and the Holy Spirit is in Him working to make this a reality. Christ has made him a new creature and the Spirit is constantly witnessing to his spirit what sort of creature he really is and what this life that was given to him really is. This is harder and far more time consuming than the list of rules.

 

In another way it is far easier:

 

Easier: However, once the process gets under way, following the commands becomes much easier since what is within the man is pure, making what comes out of the man pure.

 

In following the list, he is a whitewashed tomb, in transforming into the image of Christ, he is pure within.

 

The Father planned this process by bringing into your life all the things that you will see and face and learn. The Son and the Spirit within you are doing the changing. We do not transform ourselves, but herein lies the necessity of not quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit. If what I truly honor is of the flesh or the world, no matter how much I disguise who I really am, no matter how much I whitewash the outside of the tomb, God cannot make the changes needed. He will not override our self-determination. If He did, all Christians would have a full knowledge of the truth.

 

1TI 2:3-4

God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

If our course or journey is on another path then He will not enable us on that path. If we truly do not want to be transformed and be clean within, He will not force us to. He will discipline in a million different ways in order to awaken us from the slumber we have fallen into, but He will not violate our choice. It is when we choose to walk with Him in faith that He is able to transform us without violating His perfect character.

 

We often recall sins that occurred because the provocation or temptation was so sudden and unexpected. We didn't operate in love, but rather sulked, snapped, sneered, snubbed, or stormed. We find the excuse, "It came upon me so suddenly. I wasn't prepared for him or her or for this or that. I was caught off guard. I didn't have time to collect myself."

 

MAT 23:23

"You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

 

Naturally, we should conclude that it would probably be a worse conviction of your character if they were premeditated. In other words, you planned all day to snub him or her and couldn't wait until you could snap at them. On the other hand, what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. What pops out before a man has time to put on a disguise is the truth of the man. If your kitchen is full of cockroaches you will never see one unless you startle them. If you make all sorts of noise before you come into the kitchen and turn on the light, they will all be hiding. If you turn on the light suddenly, you will see them all. In the same way, it wasn't the suddenness of the provocation that makes me an ill-tempered man, it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I really am. The cockroaches are always there until pest control takes them out.

 

2CO 7:1

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 

So as you can see, when Christ and the Spirit affect their work upon you and transform the mind and soul so that you are pure from within, the spontaneity of a provocation will only show what a man of virtue love you are.

 

In suddenness you will operate in love just as you would in premeditation because what is within you is good. Hence, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

 

This is why it is so important not to sit around on your hands and wait for your faith to work on you in some way that overrules your self-determination. We have faith and we have a will. We are to set about the work in faith. This is living faith, the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. Faith is obedience and obedience is faith. Again, if I say I have faith to climb a large mountain, but I never set off to attempt the ascent, then my faith is just empty words.

 

This is grace. It is putting into practice all that God has freely given to me.