Christian Discernment

      Am I moved by the spirit of the lie ?       Am I moved by the spirit of fallen flesh ?       Am I moved by the spirit of humanism? or  Am I moved by the Spirit of Jesus Christ ?       Jesus knows. He has been with us all day.       His attitudes are quite clear. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the mercyful for they will be shown mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.                             ...

Reading;- The movements to which people belong and the literature associated with them are indicative of their controlling spirit ! What do you read...what do other people read? We need more than our own thoughts on the matter; So if we pray about it...and let God assess what we have been reading we may learn something of His attitude. Yahweh, You examine me and know me. Psalm 139 verse 1 NJB Each of us comes to live principally within one or other of the four dynamics. We grow slowly into our leading dynamic maturing into it all our lives. Shop lifting teenagers become shoplifting pensioners without some intervention. You can see how a person would slowly let the Holy Spirit lead him into  Christlife,  patiently growing in perspective and ways of seeing life in desires and habits.. You can see how deadly sin works.  A man chooses one step at a time to live more and more fully in the dynamic of sarx and then in the dynamic of darkness, untill he lives t...

Romans Ch 12 v 9--21   NIV 9  Love must be sincere. Hate what is wrong ; cling to what is good. 10  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.       Honour one another above yourselves. 11  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour  serving the LORD 11 Amplified Bible        Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavour, be aglow       and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord. Paul is exhorting believers who live in this Spirit to be;-       aglow...burning....on fire ...for the Lord 12 (NIV)  Be joyful in hope,   faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need,  practice hospitality. 14  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn 16  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but       willing to make real friends wi...

  The Spirit  of Christ is made manifest in each of us living in the dynamic of Christlife. Paul says he lives with the life of Christ who lives in him. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain  ( Philippians 1:21 ) Galatians ch5 v16-25...NIV So I say, live by the Spirit,  and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit,  and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the sinful nature are devious, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred , discord, jealousy,  fits of rage,  selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy,   drunkenness, orgies,  and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But...

the spirit of humanism the spirit of sarx the spirit of the dark Humanism Those who live this dynamic generally choose orderly lives and dedicate themselves to some cause, The notable among them are greatly honoured, Humanism's spirit is marked by nobility, idealism, learning, honesty, candor, loyalty, and fidelity.  Humanists may believe in a god.but have no relationship with the living God nor do they put their trust in Him.  A humanist might be a dedicated teacher, or a health visitor to a poor area. They serve others, do not condone injustice; they are upright decent people. Sarx.......    fallen human nature. Those who give themselves to this dynamic in its less harmful moments are great conformers, conforming to the latest fad, they are the target of advertising;- have it all,  have it now, get more, indulge yourself, have the best, top of the range, be one up. Their less lovely side manifests  lust,  envy,  jealousy, ...

CHRISTLIFE We do not choose the epoch of The Church's life that we grow into. nor its political climate, nor its leadership. The perspective of Christlife originates in Scripture. Our perspective rises against the backdrop of current theology and popular spiritual doctrine,  and recent intelectual and social movements e.g. Vatican 2  and   Pro-Life . Our faith and hope compose a way of human knowing which is really different   from people without faith and hope. We see ourselves as genuinely humble people in whom God can do great things; Our value of things and persons, our totality of marriage commitment, our value of prayer and petition, are different. We come to love God and seek His self revelation.... We have a desire to pray and to pray more deeply..... We desire to bring the Good News to others....                  to help the helpless,....to live in peace and harmony. Christlife's  decisions...

If different "desirings"   characterize the four dynamics, so do our choices. Therese of Lisieux decided during her dying from tuberculosis, not to despair, a decision that could hardly have come from any dynamic but the Christlife of her beloved Jesus. Gandhi chose not to accept Jesus Christ. His nobility and the depth of his life for others grew from his humanism Adolph Hitler ended his descent into the dark by a suicide which seems a consequence of the chain of choices he made for evil.. Habits of thinking and doing. Habits are sometimes peculiar to one dynamic, for we do not change our minds daily or weekly or even annually; we adopt a perspective and a way of perceiving and grow accustomed to wanting this or that,,,,,,and stay with it ! A habit of prayer does not arise out of the dark. The habit of easy living could arise out of sarx connected as it is to convenience and immaturity. The habit of vicious lying seems to belong to the dynamic of the...

Christlife,     humanism,     sarx       and     the dark cover the whole of human life. A person who lives wholeheartedly within one of these dynamics, embraces a mind set and a number of externals of life style ; he or she perceives, thinks, desires, chooses, and acts habitually  in characteristic ways. We can look at what a dynamic includes if we look at the whole life in terms of its characteristic context, perspective, perception, desires choices and habits. Jesus' perspective emerges very plain in the Beatitudes. The sixties saying  "If it feels good , do it"  expresses the self centered "sarx" perspective. The adopted context and perspective result in a whole way of perceiving the world.   This is why Paul could exhort the Colossians to  "Put on the mind of the Lord Jesus"   to see the world, history,  and self as Jesus sees them all. Some people have given themselves to...

Those who choose to live Christlife choose to keep away from the dynamic of the dark. Serious disciples struggle free from the dynamic of sarx. Christian believers would also prefer to do good, in love, for Christ's sake rather than for reasons of natural humanism. The four dynamics compromise four "spirits" In personal ,one to one prayer, we seek Divine guidance to figure out which of the four dynamics a given desire , action or habit rises out of , or which spirit a given desire, action or habit functions within. "Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus sin has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned"                                          Romans ch5v12. Jesus himself taught that it is the human heart  (the seat of comprehension and desire) that gives rise to virtue and vice, and not the objects of our ...

The four dynamics we choose to live An introduction to Christian Discernment There are four dynamics that people actually live....... Four distinctive ways of human living. There are four distinctive sets of awareness, perceptions, emotions, desires, energies, commitments, affects, actions and habits;- Christian,     humanist,     worldly    and     evil. CHRISTLIFE           HUMANISM         FALLEN HUMAN NATURE      and    EVIL                                                                     (sin prone flesh)                              (the darkness) The person who lives dynamically their life for God,   ...