In A Tailspin
Perhaps the most frightening scenario that an aviator can find himself or herself in, is to be caught up in a tailspin, rapidly descending toward the ground, spinning out of control.
Likewise, advancing disciples can have days, or even periods of time, when every area of their life seems to be spinning out of control. It’s just one thing after another, with no sign of relief on the horizon.
If it weren’t for fear of setting a poor example, he or she could cry out, “Where are you, Lord?” for all to hear.
In retrospect, after the Matthew 7: 24 storms of life pass, one can acknowledge that God had been in control all along, and the Phil. 4: 6 peace that surpasses passes all understanding becomes an experiential reality once again.
In the meantime, especially for the proud ones among us, there is a sense of embarrassment in that they failed, in an act of faith, to remain calm (1), and caved in under the pressure losing his or her patience, temper, peace, and confidence in the heat of the situation.
Perhaps it was the pride (2) that the Lord wanted to keep in check, or that He wanted to remind us that without Him, we can accomplish nothing (3) of spiritual significance.
What troubles a Christ-centered advancing disciple in such scenarios is the knowledge that such failures deny God the glory that He would have received, had we handled the situation better.
The advancing disciple has learned that the glorification of God in the midst of spiritual warfare (4) was the very purpose that God created the human race. As an individual believer he or she glorifies God by learning and applying accurate Bible Doctrine and applying it to all that he or she thinks, says, or does 24/7.
Anyone can walk the walk as well as he or she can talk the talk, as long as things are going his or her way. But the true level of our spiritual maturity is made evident by how well we respond to adversity.
Like Peter (5), when we take our focus of attention away from the Lord and place it on all the problems we are facing, we begin to sink in the sea of negativity. The more focused we are on the problems, the higher the waves seem to be.
“And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. “But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me (Matt. 14: 29-30 NASB)!"
No doubt, Peter was truly grateful to be immediately rescued by the Lord, but His words of chastisement (6) had to cut right down to the bone.
“Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matt. 14: 31 NASB).”
There are three basic reasons that God sends or allows His children to go through the storms of life.
One is to discipline us (7), as we reap the results of the negative seeds that we have sown (8).
The second is to test us to see where we are along the road to spiritual maturity. Note these tests are not for God to see where we are. God already knows that. These tests are for us to see where we are. As we mature, we better handle things that used to do easily beset us.
The third is to set the stage for the next assignment that God has in mind.
By obediently conducting 2Cor. 13: 5 self-examinations, one can determine if the adversity that he or she is facing is the result of being disciplined for ongoing, unconfessed sin, or for the testing or building up of our faith.
As we consider examining ourselves, own fallen nature (9), deceived human beings (10), and or spiritual agents (11) of the Kingdom of Darkness enter the picture and promote human rationalization and self-justification in place of 2Cor. 13: 5 examinations.
Where and when sin is involved, such rationalization and self-justification appeal to the fallen nature that is in all of us, shifting all culpability to someone or some thing else.
When we fail to learn our lessons from the storms of life, it sets the stage for future storms of the same nature that will be more frequent and more intense until the message that God wants to send gets through.
We can change relationships, our address, our job, etc., to get out of the storms, but until the reason that God sent it allowed the storms is addressed, there will be some one or some thing wherever we go to pick up where the last storm left off.
When ongoing or unconfessed sin is the cause, the first step to resolve the adversity is to confess (12) the sin. To confess a sin, means to agree with the Word of God in that what we did or failed to do amounts to sin.
The “confessional” that God designed is open 24/7, involving God, you, and no one (13) else. There is no penance due for a sin that has already been atoned and paid for in full by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Only God can and will (14) forgive sin. For God the Father not to grant forgiveness to a confessor, He would have to disregard the atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ that already paid in full, the price for the sin in view.
Going to Church and being a “good person” in OTHER areas of our life does not make up for the sin that God wants us to address. Furthermore, from divine viewpoint (15) there is no such thing as a good person, just varying degrees of evil!
“…as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3: 10 NASB).”
James 2:10 places ALL of us in the same stinking, sinking boat.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of (breaking them) all (James 2: 10 NASB parenthesis mine.”
One won’t be so upset with the amount of time that God, in His mercy, gives others to repent, when we consider how merciful God has been with ourselves.
Don’t be deceived by taking a “nothing has happened yet” attitude. Even if nothing really bad should happen during one’s entire time here on Earth, keep in mind that after death come judgement (16).
At the same time, the next time we rationalize away the sins we commit, consider what it took for Jesus to atone for them on the cross. From divine viewpoint (17), there are no “little” sins.
After confessing a known sin, the second step (when sin is the issue) is to forsake (18) the same sin moving forward.
Confessing, but not forsaking, sin will result in the believer spending much of his or her post (after) salvation life going around and around in a revolving doorway, going in and out of fellowship with God, but never moving forward in the plan of God.
Where there is no divine good being produced, God is denied the glory that He would have otherwise received, and the believer forfeits the reward that he or she would have otherwise received at the 1Cor. 3: 12 – 15 event that will take place in Heaven.
We don’t serve God in order to be rewarded, but such passages as 1Cor. 3: 12: 15 make it clear that God intends to reward in Heaven those who choose to live for Him while here on Earth.
All born-again believers are eternally saved (19), but there will be no motivation to produce rewardable divine good by a believer during the periods of time that he or she is out of fellowship with God.
Being out of fellowship with God is much like a husband and wife in the midst of a marital squabble. They are just as married as they ever were, but at the moment there is no desire to go out of one’s way to please the other until “whatever” caused the relatively trivial squabble is resolved.
In our relationship with God, the “whatever” is sin.
Our salvation remains intact but or fellowship with Him is compromised when sin is committed, and remains so until the sin is addressed (20). One is not likely to share the Gospel Message or an edifying principle of Scripture with someone else when one’s own walk with the Lord is not what it should be.
This underscores the danger and consequences of engaging in the type of mental attitude or overt sin that becomes a 24/7 lifestyle! When such believers cry out in their need asking where God is, I can hear God answering back, where are you in your relationship with Me (21)!
John 9: 31 is why all prayers should begin with a confession (with the intention of forsaking) all known sin. The more Biblical knowledge we obtain, the longer our list of known sins will be.
“We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him (John 9: 31 NASB).”
God will continue to send the storms of discipline with increased intensity and frequency until the ongoing and/or unconfessed sin is addressed.
When sin is not the issue, and it is our spiritual growth that is in view, the solution is to apply the doctrine(s) that we (should) have circulating in our Matt. 7: 24 – 27 soul structure.
Being without the Biblical answers to the challenges of life that beset us is the result of our own disobedience to 2Peter 3: 18 requiring us to continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
Having the Biblical answers, but not applying (22) them to the problem(s) at hand will not address the situation. As in the case of divine discipline, God will continue to send or allow the storms of life to continue repeat themselves until whatever it is that is impeding our forward progress is removed.
The third scenario, setting the stage for the next assignment, can be one of great blessing or great adversity.
For one advancing disciple, as a result of the plan that God has in mind, he or she may find oneself in the lap of luxury, where as a result of the plan that God has in mind for another disciple, one may find oneself in the worst possible circumstances that this world has to offer.
At different times, the same disciple can find oneself in the penthouse one day and in the doghouse the next, and vise versa. God sends His best soldiers on the most difficult and critical assignments.
Training and preparation for the next assignment that God has in mind can be brutal and relentless.
Until one addresses the issue(s) that God has in mind, the same types of problems are going to resurface, no matter where we go or what we do.
You can change addresses, relationships, jobs, places of worship, and social activities, but NONE of these changes, in of themselves, are going to make the issues that God wants addressed, go away.
The reason that so many rank-and-file Christian do not experience diabolically induced flack is because the devil already had them where he wants them to be. The devil knows that he can do nothing about their salvation. He is content to leave them alone, as long as they remain away from the realm of spiritual combat.
If such non-combatants spend their time cleaning up his world (23), all the better! He can use the help.
It is the advancing disciple that is the target of the devil’s anti-aircraft weaponry, as they fly over enemy held territory dropping bombs onto the devil’s strongholds (24).
Should we stray out of formation (God’s plan for us) and away from the protection of fighter escort, we greatly increase the likelihood of being hit by enemy fire and being put into a tailspin. Our mission, personal witness, or ministry could come to an end, or we may be taken captive (25), reducing or eliminating any future productivity (26).
(1: Psalms 46: 10) (2) Proverbs 16: 18 (3 John 15: 5) (4) Eph. 6: 12-17 (5) Matt. 14: 29- 30 (6) Matt. 14: 31 (7) Heb. 12: 6 (8) Gal. 6: 7) (9) Romans 7: 17 (10) John 8: 44 (11) Eph. 6: 12 (12) 1John 1:9 / 1Tim. 2: 5, 7 (13) 1Tim. 2: 5 (14) 1John 1: 9 (15) Rom. 3: 10 (16) Heb. 9: 27 (17) James 2:10 (18) John 8 : 11 (19) Rom. 8 : 1 (20) 1John 1: 9 /John 8: 11 (21) Gen. 3: 9 (22) James 1: 22 (23) Luke 4: 6 (24) Isa. 25: 12/2Cor.10: 4, 5 (25) Col. 2: 8 (26) Mark 4: 19
Perhaps the most frightening scenario that an aviator can find himself or herself in, is to be caught up in a tailspin, rapidly descending toward the ground, spinning out of control.
Likewise, advancing disciples can have days, or even periods of time, when every area of their life seems to be spinning out of control. It’s just one thing after another, with no sign of relief on the horizon.
If it weren’t for fear of setting a poor example, he or she could cry out, “Where are you, Lord?” for all to hear.
In retrospect, after the Matthew 7: 24 storms of life pass, one can acknowledge that God had been in control all along, and the Phil. 4: 6 peace that surpasses passes all understanding becomes an experiential reality once again.
In the meantime, especially for the proud ones among us, there is a sense of embarrassment in that they failed, in an act of faith, to remain calm (1), and caved in under the pressure losing his or her patience, temper, peace, and confidence in the heat of the situation.
Perhaps it was the pride (2) that the Lord wanted to keep in check, or that He wanted to remind us that without Him, we can accomplish nothing (3) of spiritual significance.
What troubles a Christ-centered advancing disciple in such scenarios is the knowledge that such failures deny God the glory that He would have received, had we handled the situation better.
The advancing disciple has learned that the glorification of God in the midst of spiritual warfare (4) was the very purpose that God created the human race. As an individual believer he or she glorifies God by learning and applying accurate Bible Doctrine and applying it to all that he or she thinks, says, or does 24/7.
Anyone can walk the walk as well as he or she can talk the talk, as long as things are going his or her way. But the true level of our spiritual maturity is made evident by how well we respond to adversity.
Like Peter (5), when we take our focus of attention away from the Lord and place it on all the problems we are facing, we begin to sink in the sea of negativity. The more focused we are on the problems, the higher the waves seem to be.
“And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. “But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me (Matt. 14: 29-30 NASB)!"
No doubt, Peter was truly grateful to be immediately rescued by the Lord, but His words of chastisement (6) had to cut right down to the bone.
“Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matt. 14: 31 NASB).”
There are three basic reasons that God sends or allows His children to go through the storms of life.
One is to discipline us (7), as we reap the results of the negative seeds that we have sown (8).
The second is to test us to see where we are along the road to spiritual maturity. Note these tests are not for God to see where we are. God already knows that. These tests are for us to see where we are. As we mature, we better handle things that used to do easily beset us.
The third is to set the stage for the next assignment that God has in mind.
By obediently conducting 2Cor. 13: 5 self-examinations, one can determine if the adversity that he or she is facing is the result of being disciplined for ongoing, unconfessed sin, or for the testing or building up of our faith.
As we consider examining ourselves, own fallen nature (9), deceived human beings (10), and or spiritual agents (11) of the Kingdom of Darkness enter the picture and promote human rationalization and self-justification in place of 2Cor. 13: 5 examinations.
Where and when sin is involved, such rationalization and self-justification appeal to the fallen nature that is in all of us, shifting all culpability to someone or some thing else.
When we fail to learn our lessons from the storms of life, it sets the stage for future storms of the same nature that will be more frequent and more intense until the message that God wants to send gets through.
We can change relationships, our address, our job, etc., to get out of the storms, but until the reason that God sent it allowed the storms is addressed, there will be some one or some thing wherever we go to pick up where the last storm left off.
When ongoing or unconfessed sin is the cause, the first step to resolve the adversity is to confess (12) the sin. To confess a sin, means to agree with the Word of God in that what we did or failed to do amounts to sin.
The “confessional” that God designed is open 24/7, involving God, you, and no one (13) else. There is no penance due for a sin that has already been atoned and paid for in full by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Only God can and will (14) forgive sin. For God the Father not to grant forgiveness to a confessor, He would have to disregard the atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ that already paid in full, the price for the sin in view.
Going to Church and being a “good person” in OTHER areas of our life does not make up for the sin that God wants us to address. Furthermore, from divine viewpoint (15) there is no such thing as a good person, just varying degrees of evil!
“…as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3: 10 NASB).”
James 2:10 places ALL of us in the same stinking, sinking boat.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of (breaking them) all (James 2: 10 NASB parenthesis mine.”
One won’t be so upset with the amount of time that God, in His mercy, gives others to repent, when we consider how merciful God has been with ourselves.
Don’t be deceived by taking a “nothing has happened yet” attitude. Even if nothing really bad should happen during one’s entire time here on Earth, keep in mind that after death come judgement (16).
At the same time, the next time we rationalize away the sins we commit, consider what it took for Jesus to atone for them on the cross. From divine viewpoint (17), there are no “little” sins.
After confessing a known sin, the second step (when sin is the issue) is to forsake (18) the same sin moving forward.
Confessing, but not forsaking, sin will result in the believer spending much of his or her post (after) salvation life going around and around in a revolving doorway, going in and out of fellowship with God, but never moving forward in the plan of God.
Where there is no divine good being produced, God is denied the glory that He would have otherwise received, and the believer forfeits the reward that he or she would have otherwise received at the 1Cor. 3: 12 – 15 event that will take place in Heaven.
We don’t serve God in order to be rewarded, but such passages as 1Cor. 3: 12: 15 make it clear that God intends to reward in Heaven those who choose to live for Him while here on Earth.
All born-again believers are eternally saved (19), but there will be no motivation to produce rewardable divine good by a believer during the periods of time that he or she is out of fellowship with God.
Being out of fellowship with God is much like a husband and wife in the midst of a marital squabble. They are just as married as they ever were, but at the moment there is no desire to go out of one’s way to please the other until “whatever” caused the relatively trivial squabble is resolved.
In our relationship with God, the “whatever” is sin.
Our salvation remains intact but or fellowship with Him is compromised when sin is committed, and remains so until the sin is addressed (20). One is not likely to share the Gospel Message or an edifying principle of Scripture with someone else when one’s own walk with the Lord is not what it should be.
This underscores the danger and consequences of engaging in the type of mental attitude or overt sin that becomes a 24/7 lifestyle! When such believers cry out in their need asking where God is, I can hear God answering back, where are you in your relationship with Me (21)!
John 9: 31 is why all prayers should begin with a confession (with the intention of forsaking) all known sin. The more Biblical knowledge we obtain, the longer our list of known sins will be.
“We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him (John 9: 31 NASB).”
God will continue to send the storms of discipline with increased intensity and frequency until the ongoing and/or unconfessed sin is addressed.
When sin is not the issue, and it is our spiritual growth that is in view, the solution is to apply the doctrine(s) that we (should) have circulating in our Matt. 7: 24 – 27 soul structure.
Being without the Biblical answers to the challenges of life that beset us is the result of our own disobedience to 2Peter 3: 18 requiring us to continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
Having the Biblical answers, but not applying (22) them to the problem(s) at hand will not address the situation. As in the case of divine discipline, God will continue to send or allow the storms of life to continue repeat themselves until whatever it is that is impeding our forward progress is removed.
The third scenario, setting the stage for the next assignment, can be one of great blessing or great adversity.
For one advancing disciple, as a result of the plan that God has in mind, he or she may find oneself in the lap of luxury, where as a result of the plan that God has in mind for another disciple, one may find oneself in the worst possible circumstances that this world has to offer.
At different times, the same disciple can find oneself in the penthouse one day and in the doghouse the next, and vise versa. God sends His best soldiers on the most difficult and critical assignments.
Training and preparation for the next assignment that God has in mind can be brutal and relentless.
Until one addresses the issue(s) that God has in mind, the same types of problems are going to resurface, no matter where we go or what we do.
You can change addresses, relationships, jobs, places of worship, and social activities, but NONE of these changes, in of themselves, are going to make the issues that God wants addressed, go away.
The reason that so many rank-and-file Christian do not experience diabolically induced flack is because the devil already had them where he wants them to be. The devil knows that he can do nothing about their salvation. He is content to leave them alone, as long as they remain away from the realm of spiritual combat.
If such non-combatants spend their time cleaning up his world (23), all the better! He can use the help.
It is the advancing disciple that is the target of the devil’s anti-aircraft weaponry, as they fly over enemy held territory dropping bombs onto the devil’s strongholds (24).
Should we stray out of formation (God’s plan for us) and away from the protection of fighter escort, we greatly increase the likelihood of being hit by enemy fire and being put into a tailspin. Our mission, personal witness, or ministry could come to an end, or we may be taken captive (25), reducing or eliminating any future productivity (26).
(1: Psalms 46: 10) (2) Proverbs 16: 18 (3 John 15: 5) (4) Eph. 6: 12-17 (5) Matt. 14: 29- 30 (6) Matt. 14: 31 (7) Heb. 12: 6 (8) Gal. 6: 7) (9) Romans 7: 17 (10) John 8: 44 (11) Eph. 6: 12 (12) 1John 1:9 / 1Tim. 2: 5, 7 (13) 1Tim. 2: 5 (14) 1John 1: 9 (15) Rom. 3: 10 (16) Heb. 9: 27 (17) James 2:10 (18) John 8 : 11 (19) Rom. 8 : 1 (20) 1John 1: 9 /John 8: 11 (21) Gen. 3: 9 (22) James 1: 22 (23) Luke 4: 6 (24) Isa. 25: 12/2Cor.10: 4, 5 (25) Col. 2: 8 (26) Mark 4: 19