1. Pride. Selfish pride is the mother/root of all sin. This is the sin that got satan and his gang into inescapable trouble. 1 Pride may well be a permanent fixture in human hearts. If so, the object may not be to exorcise pride, but to replace pride in selfish accomplishments with pride only in God's Grace accomplishments through us. Jeremiah 9:23-24 carefully outline what humans should and should not be proud (boast) about. Hence, I am retraining myself to avoid the phrase, ‘I am proud of _____.’ Imagine what that phrase must sound like to God, who hates selfish pride. Rather, I prefer to say, ‘I am pleased and grateful for ______’. Don't ever think you will be useful in the Kingdom of Christ with active selfish pride in your life.
Here’s a great tip to apply whenever the spirit of pride raises its ugly head in your affairs. Be on the look-out for opportunities to apply it: Turn the tables on pride by shifting the focus away from ‘me, myself, my, mine’ to the other person(s) – the listeners, readers or otherwise ‘would have been recipients’ of your own pride. It is truly interesting and humbling to converse with another person who has learned well and knows tactfully how to apply this tip!
2. Spirit-led. We are all raised, trained and educated to be so carnally minded to the point that it is largely impossible to be led by The Spirit of God as He moves within our spirit. As a result, we have 'eyes that can't see, ears that can't hear, and a heart that is dull and not oriented to God.2 To increase your usefulness in God's Kingdom, be on the look-out for tests and lessons that teach you how to have a heart that is submissive and open to God, as the condition of your heart determines the openness of your spiritual eyes and ears to be led by Him, rather than by your flesh and carnal things of the world.
3. Results/Feedback. We are instinctively trained to be 'customer service oriented', relying heavily, if not primarily on notable results and feedback. This is being led by external factors rather than by the internal, promised Peace of God. Be on the look-out for tests and lessons that teach you how to be internally led, seeing/hearing, but largely ignoring external results and feedback that conflict with what you have heard from God inside your spirit. All externalities are easily manipulated by the enemy of your soul.
4. Renewal. When tired and exhausted, we instinctively want to 'veg out' and not be mentally taxed. Whew! We are typically drawn to so-called mindless activity, such as TV ('the boob tube', a 1960s expression for stupid TV programming), movies, games, social palaver, gossip, etc. A tired mind and body are wide open doors that leave us exposed to subtle and not so subtle attacks, manipulations and seed planting by the enemy of our soul (i.e., our mind, imagination, intellect, will and emotions). A day or so after such exposure, my faith is often weaker, leaving me to wonder, ‘What happened?!’ Be on the look-out for tests and lessons that teach more wholesome ways to relax and renew depleted mental and physical resources.
5. Joy. Joy to our spirit is like good quality fuel to a vehicle. It generates spiritual strength, ensuring our ability to attract, recognize and utilize God's Grace to us. Joy has a symbiotic relationship with gratitude/gratefulness and praise, as it both feeds and is fed by gratitude and praise. Joy also is a great antidote for temptations to enter into offense and strife, which work together to open the door to 'every possible evil'. 3 These are satan’s favorite bait. Consider the Spirit of Joy and the Spirit of Gratitude as ‘spiritual cousins, much like the Spirits of Grace and Peace. Be on the look-out for tests and lessons that teach you how to keep your joy leveled, rather than tightly attached to the roller coaster of emotions and externalities, both of which are easily manipulated by the enemy of your soul.
6. Relationships. Generally, we are instinctively social. Since the majority of us are raised, trained and educated to be carnally-minded (minding more the things of our carnal world, un-tuned with the spiritual nature of life), most of our relationships are with people whom The Bible calls spiritually dead to God, and possibly a very few people who are spiritually alive (i.e., born again) to God, yet who may have chosen to remain what The Bible cites as 'spiritual babes' in Christ. Be on the look-out for tests and lessons that teach you how to recognize and to be timely in assessing, and if necessary, severing ineffectual relationships with people in both groups.
7. Worship. This is an area worth considerable pondering. Worship typically has little or nothing to do with our so-called church worship services. Look for tests and lessons that teach how worship as a lifestyle, is a powerful spiritual weapon. A worship lifestyle is the best antidote to carnal-mindedness, as it permanently places the presence of Jesus in the center of our mental landscape. Worship has a symbiotic relationship with praise and patience.
The thread that knits these 7 fitness test areas together is Love, fueled by the forgiveness we receive from Christ when we don't deserve it, and in obedience, pass along to others when they may not deserve it. Some follow-up actions you may be prompted to take from lessons drawn from tests in these areas may ‘not look like love’ to onlookers. In such cases, revisit area #3 above, and continue to follow the inner Peace of God.
I suspect the lessons from tests in these areas are best drawn out and revealed in the so-called 'wilderness experiences' of our lives. These are times when The Lord pulls us aside, away from the hustle and bustle of our carnal lives (to quiet unfruitful voices), and prompts us to tune into His still, quiet, inner peace. Lessons are rarely drawn out in the midst of trying tests, right?
As you continue your Bible reading, study and meditation, I invite and encourage you to:
(a) Reflect on where and how these lessons are reiterated in the lives of the good, bad and ugly characters of Bible stories. You will see this clearly if you look for it. Consider the opposite results people received who learned these lessons, compared to those who refused to learn and be instructed by their tests.
Have you noticed that every written promise from The Lord, is backed-up with very teachable 'good and bad' examples in which those promises were embraced by faith, versus shunned by disbelief or fear? Look for it, and you will learn to correlate The Lord's promises, with these good and bad teachable examples! Insightful??
(b) No matter where you may be in learning these life lessons, SHARE them with somebody often in your own words. The ‘art’ of sharing in this manner not only triggers you to regurgitate, review, reorganize and rehearse these lessons, but it also helps you to keep them close to the center of your own mental landscape, and to be attentive to God’s tests set-ups to facilitate these lessons.
(c) Check yourself, as I do, to see if, how, where some of these test areas have been highlighted in your life, too. Then honestly assess your responses and results to see how fit you are becoming in your walk, and in your own usefulness to The Kingdom of God on earth.
I think you already may know…
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1 Isaiah 14:13-14, Lucifer’s 5 great “I will” professions.
2 Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 6:10, 32:3, 44:18; Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2; Matthew 13:15-16; Mark 8:18; Acts 28:27; and Romans 11:8. NB: Whenever The Lord wants to accentuate a key topic, He allows it to be established iteratively, ‘in the mouths of two or three witnesses’. Count the number of references to unseeing spiritual eyes and unhearing spiritual ears!
3 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. (James 3:16)
