In our study of the personal sense of destiny we are presently looking at the visible heroes of the OT. Last time we saw the personal sense of destiny of Joseph and Moses.
Joshua was another OT hero with a personal sense of destiny. At the end of his life in a crisis of apostasy in Israel he said in, Josh 24:14-15; "Now, therefore, respect the Lord and serve Him in integrity and doctrine; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.
v15 Furthermore if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."
Serving the Lord in doctrine is the means of deploying the personal sense of destiny on the perimeter of the soul.
Joshua learned from Moses that people could not be forced into a course of action when it comes to doctrine.
We see here that Joshua was not only the leader of Israel but of his family. Like Moses, Joshua had a personal sense of destiny and a life to match that personal sense of destiny.
A personal sense of destiny recognizes in grace that God does the work and we cannot help. A personal sense of destiny never loses sight of the fact that God does the work.
David is another example of a person with a personal sense of destiny. We see this in 1Sam 17:26; "Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, `What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should ridicule the armies of the living God?'"
David understood the meaning of Abraham's circumcision as a sign of a personal sense of destiny. David had already developed a personal sense of destiny that was demonstrated when he killed a lion and a bear to save his sheep. 1 Sam 17:36;" We see from this that David saw the solution, not the problem.
We see his response to Goliath's taunting in 1 Sam 17:45-47; "Then David said to the Philistine, `You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of the armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have ridiculed.
v46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will strike you down and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the vultures and the wild animals of the land, that all the land may know that there is a God is in Israel.
v47 Furthermore that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into my hands." David paraphrased Moses "the Lord will fight for you today.
A personal sense of destiny takes a stand against the consensus of human viewpoint. The consensus human viewpoint prevailed in the camp of Israel until David arrived and as a result the entire army was afraid. The solution to this fear was one believer who had developed a personal sense of destiny from metabolized Bible Doctrine.
Jeremiah is another example of a believer with a personal sense of destiny. He ministered for forty years, beginning with the thirteenth year of king Josiah in 626 B.C. and continued until 586 B.C. when Judah was taken out under the 5th cycle of discipline.
He taught the word of God to three generations that were negative to doctrine under the last five kings of Judah just as Moses had done. As was the case with Moses, only the young people responded to his teaching.
Jeremiah understood the true significance of circumcision as a ritual related to Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. He parlayed a personal sense of destiny into occupation with Christ because he understood the relationship between the reality of a personal sense of destiny and its meaning in the ritual of circumcision.
Jer 4:4; "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My wrath go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds."
Jeremiah challenged the people to be circumcised, something they understood very well. The challenge was to use the doctrine in their souls to develop a personal sense of destiny and become occupied with Christ.
The foreskins of their heart referred to the arrogance skills, scar tissue of the soul, and reversionism. It is never too late to recover as long as you are alive. But if you continue to reject doctrine, you will completely cover your stream of consciousness with scar tissue of the soul.
At that point you will be like Esau, who was circumcised but never believed in Christ. Therefore, his physical circumcision meant nothing because of the scar tissue of his soul.
Jeremiah was remembering Moses' message of Deut 30:6; "Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your progeny, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."
Circumcising the heart is developing a personal sense of destiny. Loving the Lord your God will all your heart is occupation with Christ.
Jer 6:10, "To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it."
The uncircumcised ear refers to negative volition to Bible doctrine at the point of hearing. People who enjoy doctrine are positive believers, even when they are rebuked. People who do not like doctrine never like to hear any message that contradicts their preconceived ideas.
When you reject doctrine you become a slave to something in your life. Your values change and you go back to being what you were before, but you are far worse than what you were before because you have scar tissue of the soul.
Once you have rejected Bible doctrine and become a slave to the humanistic values of life, you cannot listen to the word of God without reacting and despising doctrine. You can always tell if you are positive to doctrine, because you will enjoy the principles of the word of God even when they hit you right between the eyes.
Believers who are at first positive to doctrine and then become negative fade as losers. They find neither comfort nor delight in the word of God because their actions are condemned by it. People who leave Bible doctrine are subjective and they react when they hear Bible doctrine.
Jer 9:25, "`Behold, the days are coming,' decrees the Lord, `that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised" They have ritual without reality from Bible doctrine. They have no doctrine, no values, and no positive volition.
Jeremiah taught the same thing that Moses taught in Deut 10:16; "Therefore circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no more." When you have Bible doctrine circulating in the seven compartments of your stream of consciousness, then you have a circumcised heart.
Daniel is another visible hero of the OT who developed a personal sense of destiny. When Daniel and his friends were about to be killed, he said, Dan 2:20-21; "`Let the name of the Lord be blessed forever and ever; for wisdom and power belong to Him.
v21 For it is He who changes the times and the dispensations; He removes rulers and establishes rulers; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to the knowers of doctrine."
We see from these examples that Abraham's personal sense of destiny was related to the power of the faith-rest drill that he exploited to the maximum. He had a personal sense of destiny related to his circumcision and was also related to the hope of the resurrection.
In the fourth generation Joseph demonstrated that the principle of the personal sense of destiny that was related to the resurrection was still there.
Moses' personal sense of destiny saw the Divine solution while people of Israel could only see the problems. In testing a personal sense of destiny concentrates on the Divine solution. The Divine solution is the only solution.
Joshua demonstrated that a personal sense of destiny does not need consensus with others. Joshua had fellowship with God instead of consensus.
Consensus does not determine right or wrong, the word of God does. The thinking of the believer who has attained a personal sense of destiny is based on the word of God so the believer with a personal sense of destiny is always on the side of the absolute truth of Bible doctrine.
David demonstrated that a personal sense of destiny is constructed through testing. David had the preparation of killing a lion and a bear that had taken a lamb. The personal sense of destiny acknowledges that the only true hero for any crisis is our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, believes with a personal sense of destiny advance to occupation with Christ.
Daniel demonstrated that because of grace orientation a personal sense of destiny recognizes that God can handle every crisis in life, and that He has given to us the right mental attitude for the crisis.
Jeremiah kept teaching doctrine in spite of three generations rejecting his message. He watched the young men and women of his last Bible class go into slavery with a personal sense of destiny.
The four unconditional covenants that God gave to Israel should have given them a complete personal sense of destiny but they often rejected it because of their unbelief.
Stephen gave a summary of circumcision in his message to the men of Israel, among whom stood Saul of Tarsus. Acts 7:51; "You men who are stiff-necked [the application of the three arrogance skills in the status of scar tissue of the soul] and uncircumcised of heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your ancestors did."
Resisting the Holy Spirit is performing ritual without reality.
Acts 7:58; "And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul."
The attitude of Saul at Stephen's death is given in Acts 8:1a, "And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death."
After his salvation, Paul would teach that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the mandates of God, 1Cor 7:19.
The Church Age believer who uses the two power options on a daily basis to deploy problem solving devices on the defensive perimeter of the soul has the potential to be greater than all these Old Testament visible heroes. Heb 12:2;
Every Church Age believer has equal opportunity to attain a personal sense of destiny. God has provided every one their very own portfolio of invisible assets, so that every believer can have greater power, greater blessing, and greater impact from their relationship with God through TLJC under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
Only metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness can be applied to experience. The vehicle for application of doctrine to experience is the problem solving devices in the soul.
If there are no problem solving devices deployed, you do not have true solutions to the problems you face. And as a result you will make bad decisions from a position of weakness.
A personal sense of destiny is the advanced application of metabolized Bible doctrine to experience. Once a personal sense of destiny is developed the spiritual life begins to advance rapidly.
If there is no personal sense of destiny one's happiness in life is dependent on things that man provides such as the various forms of stimulation including wealth, success, sex, or promotion but none of these things can cope with the problems of life.