WBS.169
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE
TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOUL – VI
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
IAUE does not require that we do His will as
an end in itself. IAUE wants us to do His
will also because it releases His power through us to those around us. It also changes us…and that is the point of this
series of studies.
Allow me to
reiterate a few points we have made so far in this series.
1. The spirits of all men return to the Father
who gave it, whether those spirits have been “dead” or “born again.” The souls of all men do not return to the
Father.
2. The new birth is the Father’s way of restoring
the capacity to man to have his soul transformed into His likeness, into the
nature and character of righteousness; which restores to man his obedience to
the will of IAUE, the very purpose of his design in creation.
3. The soul of man is NOT going to be transformed
unless it embraces the treasure that has been invested within the “new creature”
and yields to its expression in his body.
4. Through this process of yielding to the new
life within the spirit of man, the soul is transformed into the likeness of
IAUE; and the power of the Spirit of IAUE is released through the body to all those
around us.
For the past two
weeks, we have discussed ways in which we can do the will of IAUE without
having to “hear the voice of the Spirit” giving us specific direction as to
what is the will of IAUE for our life.
This process of learning to hear the voice of the Spirit, and thus to
know what the Father’s will is for our life can be jump-started by actually
choosing to do, now, what the already-revealed will of IAUE is for us.
Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto IAUE and
the Father in the name of our Master Yahushua Messiah;
1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of
IAUE in Messiah Yahushua concerning you.
We KNOW it is IAUE’s
will for us to give thanks in all things.
He has told us plainly in the Scriptures. We do not need another word from IAUE ever
again to know that He wants us to have a nature that constantly gives
thanks. We also have seen from the
Scriptures that one way in which He wants that thankfulness expressed is in
songs, hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to Him. It is difficult to be upset, disappointed,
discouraged, downhearted, etc., if we always have a song of thanks to IAUE
playing 24-7 in our heart. A thankful
heart produces a thankful soul, which in turn produces a thankful person in the
eyes of those around us. That “attitude
of gratitude” releases the power of the Holy Spirit and absolutely affects
those around us. If you don’t believe
it, start choosing to thank people for everything they do, for the service they
provide, for the work they do, for the acts of kindness they do; and let them
see in your eyes and face and body language that you really are thankful. The appreciation coming from you, will be
accompanied by the appreciation of IAUE for them; and that is how the Spirit of
IAUE is released to bless others through you.
We then looked at
the will of IAUE in the Scripture to do something similar to giving thanks.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
The joy that is part
of the nature of the Holy Spirit; and part of the nature of the New Man which
is our born-again spirit, is watered and cultivated by the renewing of our
mind; and by choosing to reject all opposition to its expression. This yields the fruit which is the rejoicing
of our lips giving glory to IAUE and to the Master Yahushua Messiah. It is similar to always being thankful; but
it goes beyond thanksgiving. It
recognizes the glory of what Messiah and His Father have done for us. It recognizes all the barriers and opposition
that Messiah demolished to bring us FORGIVENESS, REMISSION (freedom from the
power of sin) LIFE and POWER. Rejoicing recognizes
that Yahushua did not have to do what he did for us; but he did it anyway. Why did he do it?
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Yahushua the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim.
Being thankful comes
from understanding the goodness of IAUE that saturates absolutely everything He
does and how He is benefitting you in ALL THINGS in and around your life. He works ALL THINGS according to the counsel
of His will. Rejoicing is celebrating what He has done; and we should well understand
how deserving of celebration He is. Rejoicing also releases the power of the Holy
Spirit through our lives to those around us.
Thanksgiving and rejoicing are life changing activities that come from
our obedience to the will of IAUE.
Today, I want to
look at a third command of Scriptures which is the unmistakable will of IAUE,
such that we need not have a special word from the Holy Spirit to tell us this
is what IAUE wants us to do.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
This is a verse that
many a believer has wished they never saw in the Scriptures. Prayer is the one activity that the
overwhelming majority of believers are loath to do. They will spend countless hours in Bible
study or church-related activity just to prevent the necessity of five minutes
in prayer; and here we see prayer as a continual activity that should mark
every waking hour of the believer. This
is the will of IAUE for us. It is
revealed in the Word of IAUE. It cannot
be legitimately challenged that it is IAUE’s will for us.
Let’s examine this
declaration of our Father’s will. The
word used in the Greek manuscripts for “Pray”
is proseuchomai. This is the term generally
used throughout the New Testament when it speaks of prayer; but our failure to
delve into this word more thoroughly is one of the reasons why believers tend
to oppose its activity. This word has a very specific application. It is formed
of two words: pros and euchomai. Pros
is a highly directional word…it refers to an action that is taken UNTO an
objective. Euchomai
has reference to a wish or will. Prayer is not asking our Father for things that WE want. The Scripture
tells us that His divine power has already given us ALL THINGS that pertain
unto life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). There is precious little that we ever
need to pray for ourselves. Prayer is specifically seeking the will of IAUE. Since our function, our creative design is to
do the Father’s will; what could be a more natural expression of His will for
us than to continually be seeking His will. Consider the model prayer that
Messiah taught his disciples.
Matthew 6: 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father
which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily
bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as
we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Notice how the first
“request” made in this prayer is for the will of IAUE to be obeyed in this
world as it is being obeyed in heaven.
This is the way the Kingdom of IAUE is made manifest; by the
demonstration of men and women who are responsive to His reign, to His dominion
over them. We merely need today’s
sustenance (daily bread), and relief from our debts in proportion to our release
of the debts others owe us.
This concept of
indebtedness actually speaks of obligations or commitments we have made that
have the ability to interfere with the will of IAUE in our life. If I have obligated myself to do something
for another that prevents me from doing something IAUE wants me to do at the
same time; I have indebted myself into disobeying His will; and thus, I cannot
even be one who brings obedience to His will into this world as it is done in
Heaven.. You see, His will is
everything. It is what saturates this “model
prayer.” Even the request that He should
lead us not into temptation, is a request that He direct our lives away from
the things that still hold a place of affection in our hearts. James tells us that IAUE does not tempt
man. We are tempted when we are lead
away by our own desires; and that when we pursue those desires, we disobey the
will of IAUE and bring the effects of death to our lives rather than the
effects of the life of IAUE, which all obedience to His will does.
Paul instructs
Timothy about a second aspect of praying without ceasing.
1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that,
first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
I often refer to
this verse as instructions to turn on the “spigot” to let the water of the Holy
Spirit flow through our lives. Without
going into the various Greek words to support this illustration; allow me to
explain briefly the process Paul is describing.
Supplications are offered on the immediate and obvious
need of a circumstance or situation. It
does not require supernatural knowledge to know IAUE’s help is needed to bear
on matters that even the natural man can see needs His intervention; prayers,
however, takes supplication to the next step. Prayer is seeking the voice of the Spirit to know what the Father’s will is
in the matter. Prayer will reveal to us
specifically how to pray and what to pray in order to accomplish the Father’s
will in the matter. After we have His
will revealed, we enter intercession to entreat IAUE exactly in the manner that He has
revealed to us that we are to do. At
some point in intercession we will receive the acknowledgement from the Holy
Spirit that all has been accomplished.
That is when we enter giving of thanks; and through our
thanksgiving, we bring the answer provided in the spiritual world to
manifestation in the natural world. Thy
will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Get it? Prayer is what brings the
power of the Holy Spirit through us to those around us.
Giving thanks always for all things,
rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing--Think of these as
BRIDGES. They connect the life and power
of IAUE invested into our spirit across our heart and soul, to our body.
As our obedience to
the will of IAUE in these areas causes the current of the Spirit to run through
our soul, our soul is transformed into the likeness of the righteousness of
IAUE. All obedience to His will forms
such bridges. These three that we
have discussed over these past three weeks are activities we can do knowing with
confidence that they are the will of IAUE for our lives, and that they manifest the Kingdom of IAUE in the earth and bring
the power of the Kingdom of IAUE to bear in and through our lives to those
around us. (Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done.)
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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