Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

True happiness in only possible with the filling of the Holy Spirit and the recall of Bible Doctrine

In our study of the unique spiritual life of the Church when we stopped last time we were discussing the results of the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

We saw that His ministry included the imitation of the humanity of Christ, the glorification of Christ in the body, and Christ being magnified in the inner life.

The filling of the Holy Spirit also results in:

Guidance and assurance regarding the protocol plan of God, Rom 8:14-16;

The true function of worship in the Church that is the Body of Christ, John 4:24; Phil 3:3;

The production of divine good, 1Cor 3:12-14; including effective witnessing, Acts 1:8; and effective prayer, Eph 6:18;

Without the filling of the Holy Spirit, there can be no contentment, no personal sense of destiny, and no occupation with Christ, and therefore, no peace or tranquility in life. John 14:27;

Under the law of volitional responsibility, grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit is guaranteed to result in self-induced misery and the unhappiness that results from failure to be filled with the Spirit.

If you are not content with what you have now, you will never be content with what you obtain in the future because contentment is a spiritual skill that is learned from the recall of doctrine under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit. Phil 4:11;

Contentment is not based on human prosperity, wealth, or success it is based on capacity for life that comes from Bible doctrine and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Phil 4:12;

Left unchecked, discontentment metastases into malcontentment. If every wish, dream, and desire of your soul were given to you without the filling of the Spirit and Bible doctrine, you would still be a discontented and miserable malcontent.

The only true happiness in life comes from capacity for life.

Capacity for life and happiness depends on the filling of the Holy Spirit and cognition of Bible doctrine because the production of the Spirit is joy or happiness." Gal 5:22; and the metabolization of Bible Doctrine is happiness. Jer 15:16; Net note 38 Luke 11:28; The word translated "blessed" is the Greek word "makarios" that also means "happy"

God provides capacity for life and happiness at each stage of spiritual advance and growth through the filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine in your soul.

Progress in the protocol plan of God means that the filling of the Holy Spirit balances the capacity for what you have with the enjoyment of what you have.

Your capacity for life improves with spiritual growth. Capacity for life combines the filling of the Spirit with metabolized doctrine in our thinking.

We make free will choices regarding the alternatives of life and death and our choices determine our capacity for happiness or discontentment Deut 30:19;

We make the choice to believe in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation John 3:16; or not to believe and spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. John 3:18, 36.

We make the choice to make Bible doctrine our number one priority in life or to live life in ignorance of doctrine. Ignorance of doctrine is the biggest problem that believers have.

We make the choice to get under the ministry of a pastor who teaches Bible doctrine and acquire the spiritual skills including the filling of the Spirit, cognition of doctrine, execution of the protocol plan of God or we choose to live a life of confusion and discontentment that results in failure to glorify God. Eph 4:11-16;

We make the choice to learn and use the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God or to live a life of misery and unhappiness because we have no capacity for life.

We make the choice to die under dying grace or to die under dying discipline and the sin unto death.

If we are to function in the spiritual life we must recognize the distinction between the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit are not the same. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit functions inside the human body and is permanent. The filling of the Spirit functions inside the human spirit and is temporary.

The purpose of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide a temple in our bodies for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the "Shekinah" glory or the presence of God that creates the Temple for the Church Age. John 4:23-24;

In this dispensation there is no physical temple because Church Age believer's bodies are the temple. The indwelling of the Spirit as it is related to the believer's body and taught in 1Cor 3:16; 1Cor 6:19-20; and 2Cor 6:16;

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on 3/21/2012