"NOT Possible" ?? :)

9/3/2001

“While the soul possesses three primary functions, most soulish or carnal Christians belong to the emotional category. Hence nearly all practices of soulish[ness] originate with EMOTION. Emotion may be denominated the most formidable enemy to the life of a spiritual Christian. We know a child of God ought to walk by the spirit. To walk this way he needs to observe every direction given by his inner man. Consequentially, the TOTAL SILENCE of emotion is an indispensable condition to walking by the spirit. How often [the spirit’s] small and delicate motion is disturbed and overpowered by the roaring of one’s emotion, the mixing in of other voices that causes the Christian to miss the spirit’s voice.

“Many saints cannot distinguish [spiritual] inspiration from emotion, as it relates to what is attractive, what is humorous, or what is desirable. Actually these two can be defined readily. Emotion always enters from man’s outside, whereas inspiration originates with the Holy Spirit in man’s spirit. Inspiration may be imparted in the coldest and most tranquil environment; it does not require the encouragement of scenic wonder because inspiration comes from within.

“Emotion is just the opposite; it withers the moment outside help is removed. Most [Christians] continue to be propelled forward by their high emotion. In their excitement they do many things BEYOND PROPER BOUNDS, actions which during subsequent periods of calmness THEY THEMSELVES WOULD DERIDE and consider nonsense. Deeds done under excitement often induce pangs of regret and remorse in retrospect. Their spiritual sense raises its objection, but these individuals so lack spiritual power that they completely disregard its objection and heed their feeling instead. They do what they should not; and after having done it they repent for having so done. Second, even those that HAVE experienced the dividing of the soul and spirit and who recognize stirrings of emotion as being soulish, and instantly RESIST can nonetheless WALK after emotion. This is due to the success of the ‘spiritual’ counterfeit. Before anyone becomes spiritual he is overwhelmed by his powerful emotional feelings; but after he becomes spiritual, his emotion often pretends to be his spiritual sense. Outwardly these two are DIFFICULT to differentiate, because they appear to be nearly identical. For lack of knowledge, THE SAINTS can be deceived.

“We should remember that in walking after the spirit all our actions must be guided by PRINCIPLES, since the spirit has its own laws and principles. To walk according to the spirit is to walk according to its laws. With spiritual principles everything becomes sharply defined. There is a precise STANDARD of right and wrong. If it is ‘yes,’ it is ‘yes’ whether the day is clear or cloudy; if it is ‘no,’ then it is ‘no’ whether exciting or depressive. The Christian’s walk should follow a distinct standard. But if his emotion is not handed over to death, he cannot abide a permanent standard.

“What an enemy emotion can be to spiritual life! All who desire to be spiritual must conduct themselves daily according to principle. One quality which characterizes a spiritual person is the great calm he maintains under every circumstance. Whatever may happen around him or however much he may be provoked, he accepts it all calmly and exhibits an unmovable nature. He is the one who is able TO REGULATE his every feeling, because his emotion has been yielded to the cross, and his will and spirit are permeated by the power of the Holy Spirit. If God’s children permit the cross to operate deeply upon their emotion, they shall find afterwards that it no longer obstructs, but rather COOPERATES WITH their spirit.

“The cross has dealt with the natural life in the emotion, has RENEWED it, and has made it a channel for the spirit. A spiritual man we have said before is not a spirit, but neither is he a person devoid of emotion; on the contrary, the spiritual man will use his feeling to express the divine life in him. Before it is touched by God, emotion follows its whim. But once it is purified, it can serve as the means of the spirit’s expression. The inner man NEEDS emotion to express its life: it NEEDS emotion to declare its love and its sympathy towards man’s suffering: and it also needs emotion to make man sense the movement of intuition. Spiritual sensing is usually made known through the feeling of a quiet and pliable emotion. IF emotion is pliably subject to the spirit, the latter, through the emotion, will LOVE OR HATE EXACTLY AS GOD WISHES.

“In committing the soul to the cross we must remember that what is lost is the soul LIFE, NOT its FUNCTION. Were its function nailed to the cross, we then could no longer think, choose, or feel. The death of the cross DOES NOT connote ANNIHILATION; hence the emotion, mind, and will of the soul are not extinguished upon passing through the cross. They only relinquish their natural life in the death of the Lord, and are raised again in His resurrection life. In short, if anyone has trouble here, the trouble lies with his theory and not with his experience, for the latter will bear out the truth.

“The most tender, merciful, loving, and sympathetic of persons is a spiritual man. To be entirely spiritual by delivering his emotion to the cross does not denote that, henceforth, he is stripped of his feeling. We have observed numerous spiritual saints and have noticed that their love is greater than that of others, which demonstrates that a spiritual man is not without emotion, and additionally that differs from that of the ordinary man. God the Father demands absolute love from His children. He is unwilling to share our heart with anyone or anything else: EVEN IF HE SHOULD RECEIVE THE BIGGER SHARE, He is still not pleased. God demands all our love. Yet how many dearly beloved ones have their claim on the believer’s affections besides God! Perhaps an Isaac, a Jonathan, or a Rachel. Wherefore God insists we lay our beloved ones on the altar. And shortly after the sacrifice is laid upon the altar—nay after the LAST sacrifice is duly placed thereon—FIRE WILL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. Without the altar, there can be no heavenly fire.

“Brethren, neither our mental understanding of the cross nor our endless talk about it will give us the power of the Holy Spirit; only our laying everything on the altar will. What then? Does [only loving God] indicate we need not love man? The Bible repeatedly charges us to love the brethren and even to love our enemies. Accordingly, we know it is not God’s will we should not love man, but [God] does desire to MANAGE our affection towards all men. God does not want us to love others for our sake, but to love for His sake and in Him. Our natural likes and dislikes do not have part here; natural affection must loose its power. God wants us, for love’s sake, to accept His control. When He wishes us to love someone, we instantly are able to; should He also desire us to terminate our relationship with someone, we can do that too. If we have undergone death we will not be ATTACHED to anyone, but will be guided solely by the command of God. Our soul life, as it experiences death, loses its power and becomes as much as dead in the matter of affection. God will THEN direct us in Him to renew our love for men. God wants us to create in Him a new relationship with those we formerly loved. Every natural relationship has been terminated. New relationships are established through death and resurrection. In order to substantiate, for the believers’ own profit, his consecration to God, God often ‘strips’ him of what he holds dear. God either endeavors to secure our love towards Him or to strip us of our love. When He employs the second way, He will either cause our loved ones to change their hearts toward us or make it impossible for us to love them by setting up obstacles. Any error in our affection is judged by God to be as wrong as an error in our hatred. Love AND hate, when from ourselves, are equally defiled in the sight of God. Once the believer has passed through the purifying process, he will observe how unalloyed his affection towards men NOW is... now he is able to share the sorrow and joy of others, to bear their burdens, and to serve them with affection.

“We have learned that in walking after the Spirit we need to keep our emotion calm and quiet; otherwise we cannot hear the voice of intuition. A believer should always notice in his spirit what person or thing easily activates his affection. Should satan be impotent to overcome a believer in any other respect, he will tempt him through this particular point involving affection. Innumerable Christians have failed on just this issue, but you need not. We are not ignorant of satan’s devices.”