Am I spiritually stable? - Part 2

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, consider these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. - Philippians 4:8-9 (LSB)

I wish I could get this message across to this contemporary church culture.  The reason people have so many problems, which literally overpower them and spin them off to all of the books and counselors and psychologists and psychiatrists and methodologies, is because they haven’t properly assessed the fact that the inability to stand your ground and live a balanced, stable, Christian life is directly related to the absence of godly attitudes, godly thoughts, and godly practices.  You’re the only one who can fix those areas in the power of God.  You’re the one who must walk in the Spirit that He might produce in you peace, joy, humility, faith, and gratitude.  You’re the one who must go into the Word of God and find there thoughts of true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and good repute.  You’re the one who must discipline your life to do what is right.  You show me a person filled with the Spirit and, therefore, having godly attitudes, you show me a person in whom the Word dwells richly and so they have godly thoughts, you show me a person who lives an obedient Christian life, and I will show you a spiritually stable person. - John MacArthur

But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth].  For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror;  for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what he looked like.  But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience]. James 1:22-25 (Amplified Bible)

Have you ever seen something and said to yourself, “There ought to be a policeman here right now to take care of this”?  Well, that’s exactly the way it is in your spiritual experience.  If there’s no policeman to arrest your flesh, your flesh will violate the standards of God, your flesh will violate the law of God.  It starts with right attitudes produced by the Spirit of God, right thoughts produced by the Word of God, which police the flesh and lead to right practices.  That’s why the practices don’t come until verse 9.  You have to start with the attitudes and the thought patterns.  - John MacArthur

I defy you to read the life of any saint that has ever adorned the life of the church without seeing at once that the greatest characteristic in the life of that saint was discipline and order.  Invariably, it is the universal characteristic of all the outstanding men and women of God.  Read about Henry Martyn, David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, the brothers Wesley, and Whitfield – read their journals.  It does not matter what branch of the church they belong to, they have all disciplined their lives and have insisted upon the need for this; and obviously it is something that is thoroughly scriptural and absolutely essential,” - Martin Lloyd Jones

Brothers and sisters, together follow my example and observe those who live by the pattern we gave you.  For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, who live as enemies of the cross of Christ [rejecting and opposing His way of salvation], whose fate is destruction, whose god is their belly [their worldly appetite, their sensuality, their vanity], and whose glory is in their shame—who focus their mind on earthly and temporal things. But [we are different, because] our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly await [the coming of] the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;  who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will [not only] transform [but completely refashion] our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body. - Philippians 3:17-21 (Amplified Bible)

If you have godly attitudes and godly thoughts and godly deeds, you will be guarded by the peace of God and the God of peace. - John MacArthur

Be Encouraged to live with right attitudes produced by the Spirit of God, right thoughts produced by the Word of God, and right practices in obedience to God.



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