In our study of Mark we are in Mark 11:22-25; where Jesus explains to His disciples the principles for the function of faith-rest and based on this we have taken up a study of faith-rest.
When we stopped last time we were noting that claiming the promises of God by faith rest replaces stress in the soul with the mind of Christ and His contentment and tranquility. John 14:27;
No believer can deal with stress and adversity when he comes short of the temporal rest of contentment and tranquility provided by God through the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan for the church.
The alternative to dealing with pressure and catastrophe in life is the total breakdown of the believer through self-fragmentation and OSN control of the soul.
The OSN control causes involvement in the cosmic system and Christian moral and immoral degeneracy such that the believer cannot be distinguished from the unbeliever in their mental attitude, sin nature function, and conduct of life.
Heb 4:2; "For we have also been evangelized (had good news preached to us), even as they (Israel); but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not mixed together with faith by those who heard."
They did not believe the word (the good news) they heard. This passage shows us that faith-rest has been operational in all previous dispensations ("they") and is still operational at the present time ("we").
We see from this that believing in Jesus Christ for salvation is just the beginning. The comparison of the Church Age believer with the believers of the Exodus generation indicates that the issue in the being discussed is not salvation but the recall of God's word through faith-rest. It is referring to the spiritual life of the believer.
Faith-rest coordinates and correlates by claiming the promises of God and applying the doctrinal rationales with God's happiness.
When pressure and adversity attack, you have to have an established base of contentment and tranquility from which you deploy the faith-rest under the power of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in grace orientation, doctrinal orientation and authority orientation.
Even though they were saved and eternally secure in their salvation the believers of the Exodus generation were not able to use the faith-rest because they were negative to the Word of God that Moses taught so they operated in unbelief.
The Exodus generation therefore had no faith perception, no metabolization, and no application of the word (doctrine) they heard. It was truth so it was the source of freedom but it was therefore useless to them because they did not believe it.
We see from this that it is possible to attend Bible class and not be benefited, because the information that is communicated is not mixed together with faith. In other words you hear it but you don't believe it so God 's word never makes the transition from knosis to epignosis to sophia so it is not useful to you.
Heb 4:3; "For we (Church Age believers) who have believed (Bible doctrine as it is communicated enter into the place of rest, just as He said (Psa 95:11;), `As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My place of rest,' although His (Jesus Christ) works were finished from before the foundation of the world." Rev 22:13;
The place of rest was the place of blessing. It is the place where you depend on the promises of God and doctrinal rationales to handle stress, problems, and adversity in life.
The first generation of Israel did not enter into their promised land (Canaan), the place that God had provided for them, because they rejected God's Word and did not use the faith-rest during their time in the desert.
Since they refused to claim the promises of God that Moses taught in his Bible classes, God gave them the promise that they would never enter into the place of blessing but instead would die the sin unto death in the desert (wrath)) and all of them did except Caleb and Joshua.
In eternity past, through His grace policy God provided everything the believer needs to handle every adversity they would ever face during their lifetime on the earth in the devil's world.
Faith-rest has been provided for every generation in human history so doctrine is always available to meet any situation in life. Heb 4:9; So there remains a rest for the people of God. The question for us is we use it or not. That is our choice. That is where volition becomes the issue.
Mixing the promises of God with faith is designed to stabilize the mentality of the believer under pressure, confusion, adversity, uncertainty, and disaster. Claiming promises and faith rest is the way new believers and young believers apply God's word to their situation.
In time of stress, the believer begins by claiming promises of God and believing those promises. As the believer grows in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, his faith (his belief and understanding of the efficacy of God's Word) increases and he can then begin to apply rationales from understanding and believing in God's person, principles and policies that are revealed in His Word.
Stage one of faith-rest is the recall and claiming of God's promises and waiting on God to come through in his timing. This recall and rest enables the believer to prevent the outside pressures of life from penetrating into the soul and causing stress.
Faith claims the promises of God; faith applies the promises of God; faith takes control of the situation and faith waits patiently on God to fulfill his promise. The increase of the faith- rest in your life means the increase of control over your thinking and your spiritual life.
Abraham eventually learned how to use this first stage of faith rest. Rom 4:20-21; "Yet, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to execute."
When stage one of the faith-rest is operational in the believer's thinking, the believer fulfills 2Cor 5:7; "We walk by faith (faith is divine viewpoint from God's Word) and not by sight (human viewpoint from empiricism and rationalism)."
The second stage of the faith-rest mechanics creates a much stronger faith but it requires a greater understanding of God's word so the believer can develop and apply doctrinal rationales to their situation.
In this second stage the perception and metabolization of God's Word develops a stronger faith that is established on the basis of greater understanding of God's personal integrity, His purpose, His plan and His policy.
With this advanced understanding of doctrine, faith becomes strong enough to do more than just claim God's promises it creates doctrinal synergies that are derived from doctrinal rationales from God's Word.
The function of faith rest stage two requires consistent perception of Bible doctrine that renovates the thinking and removes human viewpoint and causes metabolized doctrine to circulate without restriction in the stream of consciousness.
This circulation of God's Word establishes divine viewpoint in the believer's thinking.
For this to function the whole range of doctrine needs to be understood and believed. This gives the faith-rest the option to meet the stress and pressures of life with maximum flexibility and fulfills the concept of professionalism and integrity in the believer's function in God's protocol plan of God for the Church.
Learning God's Word results in the development of a stronger faith. Rom 10:17; "Faith comes by hearing (positive volition) and hearing by the word of Christ." It also provides freedom John 8:32; and happiness. Luke 11:28;
The word of God is the thinking of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1Cor 2:16;. Your faith has to become strong and be developed.
The believer who learns God's Word automatically develops the doctrinal rationales. Understanding God's person plan and policy creates a stronger faith that can claim doctrinal rationales once they are circulating in the stream of consciousness.
God does not permit these difficult situations in life to come along until you have had the opportunity to learn the information that is necessary to make good decisions from the application of God's Word. 1Cor 10:13;
In the function of a faith rest stage two: Faith applies a doctrinal rationale; faith reaches doctrinal conclusions, and faith takes control of the situation.
This advanced function of the faith-rest requires an understanding of the following five areas of doctrine from God's world:
The essence of God rationale;
The plan of God rationale;
The policy of God rationale (grace orientation);
The a fortiori rationale;
and the ten problem solving devices.
Doctrinal rationales begin to circulate in the stream of consciousness as a result of spiritual development. Lifting the shield of faith with the doctrinal rationales provide tranquility, contentment and happiness regardless of the pressure in life.
When the believer's cognitive development from doctrine reaches the cognitive self-confidence that correlates to spiritual self-esteem the believer has the doctrinal capacity to use the second stage of faith rest.
The cognitive self-confidence of spiritual self-esteem has humility so it emphasizes who and what God is rather than who and what the believer is. This capacity for accurate thinking is derived from the essence of God rationale.