Spir Dynamics 664-669, 99-105 7/30/95; Eph 1360ff, 1381ff; Prophecy-Middle East 19 2/7/91

DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH-REST DRILL

A. Introduction.

1. The faith-rest drill is one of the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God for the Church. The ten problem solving devices include: the rebound technique, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the faith- rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, a personal sense of destiny, personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, sharing the perfect happiness of God, and occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

a. The two power options in the Christian life are the filling of the Holy Spirit and doctrinal orientation.

b. The filling of the Holy Spirit plus the six human thinking skills (or human I.Q.) equals spiritual I.Q. plus Operation Z equals eight problem solving devices on the defensive line of the soul and the execution of the protocol plan of God.

c. As spiritual babies we learn the grace principle of salvation and rebound; this is our grace orientation. When we have this grace orientation, we realize there are things we have to believe, and when do, we make those things a part of our soul. This is the function of the faith- rest drill. We are now moving into spiritual childhood. When we get to the point of having a personal sense of destiny, we enter spiritual adolescence.

2. The beginning of the faith-rest drill is to believe God when He makes promises to us, such as Prov 3:5-6; Ps 37:4-5; 1 Pet 5:7. In spiritual childhood, we reach out with our faith and claim these promises. But the faith-rest drill has far greater implications than just mixing the promises of God with our faith.

a. Ps 4:8, "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep; for You Lord only make me to dwell in safety."

b. Ps 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of all of them."

c. Prov 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." d. Ps 55:22, "Cast all your burdens upon the Lord and He shall sustain you; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

e. Ps 56:11, "In God I put my trust. I will not be afraid of what man can do to me."

f. Deut 31:8, "And the Lord, He it is who goes before you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Fear not, neither be confused."

g. 1 Pet 5:7, "Casting all your anxieties on Him; for He cares for you."

3. The faith-rest drill is that problem solving device used by believers in all dispensations for carrying and using the shield of faith.

4. The faith-rest drill holds all the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. (FLOT is a military acronym for the Forward Line Of Troops on a defensive battle front.) Without the faith-rest drill, we cannot have ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. The function of the faith-rest drill provides cohesion and coordination of all the problem solving devices.

5. The ten problem solving devices are a part of your very own portfolio of invisible assets, but their cohesion and coordination and their ability to provide support and direction come from the faith-rest drill.

6. The problem solving devices are designed by God for every believer to deal with every adversity, every problem of suffering in this life, but to do so from your own soul, not from someone else's human viewpoint counseling, not from the great attacks of legalism among believers.

7. Believers have choices every time any adversity, any prosperity, or any situation which might be detrimental occurs. It is not a matter of your status quo in life, but a matter of having all the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of your soul.

8. There are three spheres of operation involved in the function of the faith-rest drill: faith mechanics, faith functions, and faith execution.

a. The first sphere of the faith-rest drill is faith mechanics. Faith mechanics has two stages.

(1) Stage one of faith mechanics is mixing the promises of God with your faith.

(2) Stage two of faith mechanics is the application of the doctrinal rationales to your experience. The doctrinal rationales include: the essence of God rationale, the plan of God rationale, the policy of God rationale, the a fortiori rationale.

b. The second sphere of the faith-rest drill is faith function. There are three categories of faith function.

(1) The first category of faith function is faith perception. This is the function of the second power option in the protocol plan of God--the reality of Bible doctrine circulating in your very own stream of consciousness.

(2) The second category of faith function is the plaintiff function before the supreme court of heaven as a victim of injustice, real or imagined. We can never react to unfairness or injustice in our life without becoming spiritual losers.

(3) The third category of faith function is faith correlation with other problem solving devices. This is the key to why the faith-rest drill is a must on the FLOT line of your soul.

c. The third sphere of the faith-rest drill is faith execution.

(1) Faith execution demands true humility and the avoidance of self-absorption.

(2) Faith execution demands professionalism--accurate comprehension and use of the problem solving devices.

(3) Faith execution demands integrity--the spiritual strength to make the right choices, the good decisions from a position of strength in the application of the faith-rest drill.

9. God is perfect. Perfect God can only create a perfect plan. The faith-rest drill is a perfect problem solving device, but you must use the whole drill. This perfect plan is designed for imperfect believers.

B. There are two stages to faith mechanics.

1. Stage one of faith mechanics is mixing the promises of God with faith, Heb 4:1-3.

a. Heb 4:1, "Therefore, let us fear, lest a promise being unclaimed of entering into His rest any of you should seem to come short of it."

(1) "Fear" is used in the good sense of obligation to execute the mechanics of the faith-rest drill. We are never commanded to be afraid, but we should be afraid of failing in this matter.

(2) "His rest" is sharing the happiness of God--the tranquility and tremendous contentment which comes from understanding God's plan in the midst of the greatest confusion and stress in life. For the Christian, God's rest is entering into His happiness. Your happiness depends entirely upon what thoughts are circulating in your stream of consciousness. You are capable of facing any problem in life and handling it in your stream of consciousness and you are capable of making the right choices in resolving the problem. The true rest is what you have in your soul.

(3) This is the utilization of divine promises in the Bible. The blessing that comes from claiming God's promises and utilizing Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness is the basis of entering into this rest. This is a rest of great tranquility of soul in the midst of the greatest adversities in life. This is also a rest of being able to deal with stress from Bible doctrine resident in your own stream of consciousness.

(4) The believer comes short of God's rest through scar tissue in the stream of consciousness, garbage in the subconsciousness, the arrogance and emotional complex of sins, the control of the soul by the lust pattern. Failure to claim the promises of God through your own faith results in building up stress in your soul. Stress in your soul cannot be cured by any system of counseling. Stress in the soul knocks out the filling of the Spirit, doctrinal orientation, and the coordination of the faith-rest drill among the problem solving devices.

(a) Psychological principles of stress.

i. There is a definite relationship between stress and cognition.

ii. Stress makes you forgetful and impairs your memory.

iii. Stress impairs your ability to learn.

iv. Stress affects your perception of reality.

v. When stress is removed, cognitive ability can be restored.

vi. If a person remains in stress too long, all of his cognitive ability is destroyed and he enters into a psychotic state.

(b) Doctrinal principles of stress and adversity. These principles also apply to prosperity which creates great stress in the soul.

i. Adversity is an outside pressure; stress is an inside pressure of life.

ii. Stress is what you do to yourself; adversity is what circumstances do to you.

iii. Adversity is inevitable; stress is optional.

iv. Stress in the soul contradicts the protocol plan of God for the Church and destroys the spiritual life of the believer.

v. The conversion of gnosis doctrine to epignosis doctrine through faith perception prevents the conversion of the outside pressures of adversity into the inside pressures of stress in the soul, which is tantamount to sin nature control of the soul.

vi. Extrapolation from epignosis doctrine circulating in the soul's stream of consciousness produces ten problem solving devices by which you, in the privacy of your priesthood, can resolve your own problems and make good decisions from a position of strength. With ten problem solving devices on the defensive line of your soul, you defensively prevent adversity from being converted into stress in the soul. Offensively you remove stress from the soul. vii. Metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness produces cohesion of soul--a soul that is healthy and normal under the concepts of the word of God.

(5) Claiming the promises of God by faith substitutes contentment and tranquility for stress in the soul. No believer can deal with stress and adversity when he comes short of the temporal rest of contentment and tranquility provided through the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God. The alternative to dealing with pressure and catastrophe in life is the total carnal breakdown of the believer, also known as self-fragmentation. Self-fragmentation results in both Christian moral and immoral degeneracy and involvement in the cosmic system so that the believer cannot be distinguished from his unbeliever counterpart in mental attitude, sin nature function, and the modus operandi of life.

(6) The faith-rest drill coordinates and correlates by claiming the promises of God and applying the doctrinal rationales with God's happiness. When pressure and adversity attacks, you have to have a base of contentment and tranquility from which you use the faith-rest drill under the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit, grace orientation, and doctrinal orientation.

b. Heb 4:2, "For we also have been evangelized, even as they; but the doctrine of hearing [the word of teaching] did not profit them, because it was not mixed together with faith by those who heard."

(1) The faith-rest drill was operational in all previous dispensations ("they") and is operational today ("we"). Entering into the rest of God is not a matter of evangelization. Comparison of the Church Age believer with the believers of the Exodus generation indicates that the issue is not salvation by faith but the function of the faith-rest drill.

(2) After salvation, the believers of the Exodus generation were not able to use the faith-rest drill because they were negative to Bible doctrine taught by Moses. The Exodus generation had no faith perception, no metabolization of doctrine. It is possible to sit in Bible class and not be profited, because the doctrine is not mixed together with faith.

c. Heb 4:3, "For we [Church Age believers] who have believed [Bible doctrine as it is taught] enter into the place of rest [+H], just as He said [Ps 95:11], `As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My place of rest,' although His works were finished from before the foundation of the world."

(1) The place of rest was the place of blessing--the place where you depend on the promises of God and doctrinal rationales to handle stress, problems, and adversity in life. They did not enter into Canaan, the place that God had provided for them, because they did not use the faith-rest drill during their time in the desert. Since they did not claim the promises of God as taught in Bible class, God gave them the promise that they would never enter into the place of blessing but would die the sin unto death in the desert.

(2) God provides for believers in eternity past. In eternity past, God provided in grace everything the believer needs in human history to handle every adversity. The faith-rest drill has been provided for every generation in human history. Doctrine is always available to meet any stressful situation in life.

d. Mixing the promises of God with faith is designed to stabilize the mentality of the believer under pressure, confusion, adversity, stress, and disaster. Claiming promises is the way new believers and young believers who have not yet grown up spiritually can function under the faith-rest drill. In time of stress, the believer begins by claiming promises of God and mixing those promises with a weak faith. As the believer grows spiritually, his faith increases.

e. As a result of stage one of the faith-rest mechanics, the believer begins to prevent the outside pressures of life from penetrating into the soul. Faith claims the promises of God; faith applies the promises of God; faith takes control of the situation. The increase of the faith- rest drill in your life means the increase of control over your soul and your spiritual life.

f. Abraham used the first stage mechanics, Rom 4:20-21, "Yet, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to execute."

g. When stage one of the faith-rest mechanics is fully operational, the believer fulfills 2 Cor 5:7, "We walk by faith [the faith- rest drill] and not by sight [human viewpoint]."

2. The second stage of the faith-rest mechanics requires a much stronger faith and a greater understanding of the word of God. A strong faith now applies doctrinal rationales to experience. In the second stage, we have the development of a stronger faith through the perception of doctrine. With this perception of doctrine, the faith becomes strong enough to do more than just claim a promise from God. In the second stage, we begin to claim doctrinal rationales. Two things are needed for stage two.

a. You need a stronger faith from consistent perception of Bible doctrine (post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation) which means metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness.

b. You need cognition of the whole range of doctrine, which gives the faith-rest drill an option to meet the stress and pressures of life. This fulfills the concept of professionalism and integrity in the modus operandi of the protocol plan of God. Cognition of doctrine has two results related to the faith-rest drill.

(1) Cognition of doctrine results in the development of a stronger faith. Rom 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing [positive volition] and hearing by the word of Christ." The word of God is the thinking of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Cor 2:16. Your faith has to become strong and be developed.

(2) Cognition of doctrine results in the development of the doctrinal rationales. The stronger faith claims doctrinal rationales once they are circulating in the stream of consciousness. God does not permit these difficult situations in life to come along until you have at least had a chance to learn doctrine.

c. The faith-rest mechanics of stage two are as follows.

(1) Faith applies a doctrinal rationale.

(2) Faith reaches doctrinal conclusions.

(3) Faith takes control of the situation.

d. The second stage of the faith-rest mechanics demands an understanding of five areas of doctrine found in the Scripture: the essence of God rationale, the plan of God rationale, the policy of God rationale which is grace orientation, the a fortiori rationale, and the ten problem solving devices. Doctrinal rationales begin to circulate in the stream of consciousness as a result of reaching spiritual adulthood. Lifting the shield of faith with the doctrinal rationales provides both the tranquility and contentment of soul in great pressure.

(1) The essence of God rationale. (See the Doctrine of Divine Essence.)

(a) By learning about who and what God is, you develop a stronger faith. To mix your faith with the doctrine of divine essence gives you an advance in the faith-rest drill which is absolutely necessary for your spiritual advance.

(b) Spiritual self-esteem is that status of the Christian life where the believer grows up spiritually so that he can advance into the second stage of the faith-rest mechanics. Spiritual self- esteem does not emphasize who and what we are as believers but who and what God is. Hence, the importance of the essence of God rationale. Therefore, spiritual self-esteem understands and executes the protocol plan of God by use of the essence of God rationale. The advance from spiritual self-esteem to spiritual autonomy is rapid when the believer consistently functions under both the essence of God rationale and the plan of God rationale. The believer in spiritual self-esteem is not easily subverted into arrogance or emotional complexes of sins because he is motivated by who and what God is from the essence of God rationale.

(c) Part of the faith-rest drill is the application of the essence of God rationale to stress circumstances, especially those that involve injustice and unfairness to you personally. The mixing of the essence of God rationale with a strong faith is the basis of handling these circumstances. For example, you are the victim of the public lie, the victim of slander, maligning, gossip, or some unfairness from people. By using the application of the essence of God rationale as part of the faith- rest drill you become a plaintiff before the supreme court of heaven. As a part of the essence of God rationale, faith-rest mechanics leave all personal injustices, all vilification, all unfairness in the hands of Jesus Christ as a supreme court justice in heaven. Ps 55:2, "Cast your burden upon the Lord; for He will sustain you. He will never suffer [permit] the righteous one to be shaken." 1 Pet 5:7, "Casting all your cares [anxieties, stresses] on Him because He cares for you."

i. The case of the plaintiff.

aa. Our Lord as supreme court judge hears every case brought to Him under the mechanics of stage of faith-rest mechanics.

bb. However, the believer who makes his appeal as a plaintiff must understand that he or she may be more at fault in the matter, and may suddenly become a defendant in the case instead of a plaintiff. You can very easily malfunction in stage two of the faith-rest mechanics. Do not try to appeal to the supreme court if you are at fault, if you have already made the problem public to others. Do not be shocked if the justice you seek at the supreme court of heaven suddenly comes to you in the form of divine discipline.

cc. The plaintiff is judged rather than the defendant for the Lord knows all the facts in the case.

dd. Self-righteous arrogance is blind arrogance and all too often fragmented. Therefore, the believer's appeal to the supreme court of heaven for justice results in that believer receiving justice as the guilty party. You have to know your ground and keep your mouth shut. ee. As a victim of injustice, believers often become vindictive, implacable, bitter, and seek revenge through vilification rather than going to the supreme court of heaven immediately. They ought to be rebounding instead of going to the supreme court of heaven.

ff. In the case where the plaintiff is the guilty party and is judged by God for sins related to the arrogance or emotional complex, the lust pattern, garbage in the subconscious, or confusion from a fragmented life, do not piously, arrogantly, or self- righteously approach the bench. You have just moved from warning discipline to intensive discipline.

gg. The victim of injustice has two options: the function of the faith-rest drill as a plaintiff to the supreme court of heaven or the reaction of mental attitude and verbal sins and succumbing to the temptation of revenge.

ii. What should you do when wronged?

aa. Before you react to injustice, unfairness, slander, misrepresentation, maltreatment, vilification, character assassination, or some other form of the public lie, remember that there is a supreme court in heaven. You may think you are plaintiff but in reality are the defendant, and guilty.

bb. Through the faith-rest mechanics of stage two, the believer can apply the essence of God rationale to the stress circumstances just mentioned by taking your case directly to the supreme court of heaven. You put the matter in the hands of the Lord and remain in a state of tranquility without complaint.

cc. Once you are the plaintiff and have used the second stage of faith-rest mechanics to put the situation in the Lord's hands, you must leave your case before the supreme court of heaven. To leave it there, you have to avoid taking matters into your own hands. Here is the virtue of patience. Any reaction on your part cancels your case in heaven and results in divine discipline and punitive action from God toward you.

dd. You cannot be a legitimate plaintiff in the supreme court of heaven if you react from scar tissue in the stream of consciousness, garbage in the subconscious, the arrogance complex of sins, the emotional and irrational self-fragmentation, or the lust pattern of the sin nature.

ee. Therefore, to fulfill stage two of faith- rest mechanics, the believer must have enough spiritual growth to understand the essence of God rationale and enough humility, patience, and objectivity to be sure that he himself has not caused an alleged injustice or unfairness directed toward those he thinks have been unfair to him.

ff. If you have complained to others, do not complain to God.

(2) The plan of God rationale. This includes a thorough understanding of the plan of God and making such applications as: a wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong, a right thing done in a wrong way is wrong, a wrong thing done in a right way is wrong, and a right thing must always be done in a right way.

(3) The policy of God rationale. The policy of God is grace. The rationale is that God always deals with us in grace.

(4) The a fortiori rationale. Rom 8:31-32, "Therefore, with reference to these things, to what conclusion are we forced? If God is for us, who shall be against us? The God [God the Father] who did not even spare His own Son but delivered Him over to judgment as a substitute for all of us, how shall He not also graciously give to us the all things."

(a) A fortiori is a Latin prepositional phrase which means "with stronger reason." A fortiori is a system of logic related to inference and comparison. A fortiori is a comparison of a greater with a lesser difficulty. A fortiori is a system of debate which takes an accepted fact and by comparison produces an inescapable fact.

(b) If God did the most for us at salvation, it follows with stronger reason that He will not withhold the less. The accepted fact is that Jesus Christ was judged by God the Father on the Cross as a substitute for us. The inescapable fact is that God graciously gives to us all things. These all things which are lesser difficulty for God to give us are our portfolio of invisible assets and ten problem solving devices so you can solve every problem you will ever have. The format of this a fortiori takes a fact of Bible doctrine (the greater difficulty of the Cross) and compares it with the lesser difficulty (graciously giving us all things). (c) This results in an inescapable conclusion--that if God accomplished the greater at the Cross, it is obvious that He can accomplish the lesser in the provision for the believer both in time and in eternity. If the greater benefit (the judgment of the Son) has been given at salvation, God will not withhold the lesser benefit of grace to the believer. If the most difficult was accomplished at the Cross, then it follows with stronger reason that the least difficult can be accomplished for each believer after salvation.

e. The doctrinal rationales result in not only sharing the perfect happiness of God, a personal sense of destiny, and occupation with the person of Christ, but also magnificent spiritual strength to survive any adversity.

f. Doctrinal rationales begin to circulate in the stream of consciousness as a result of the believer being positive and consistent in the intake of doctrine, which results in spiritual adulthood. The metabolization and application of doctrine requires a true scale of values in which Bible doctrine has number one priority in your life. The three stages of spiritual adulthood are related to the doctrinal rationales.

(1) Spiritual self-esteem is the function of cognitive self- confidence in using doctrinal rationales.

(2) Spiritual autonomy is the function of cognitive independence in using doctrinal rationales.

(3) Spiritual maturity is the function of cognitive invincibility in using doctrinal rationales.

g. Certain verses describe claiming the doctrinal rationales by faith or having a strong enough faith to apply doctrine to your experience.

(1) Rom 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ."

(2) 1 Cor 2:16, "We have the thinking of Christ."

(3) 2 Cor 5:7, "Therefore, we walk by faith and not be sight."

(4) 1 Cor 2:5, "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God."

3. Conclusion.

a. There is no system of counseling in this world that can replace the function of the faith-rest drill in your life--the utilization of doctrinal rationales.

b. The faith-rest drill executes divine mandates such as forgetting those things which are behind (such as child abuse, injustices in life) and moving on with your own spiritual life.

c. This means that the faith-rest drill has the power to avoid reaction to every injustice, every act of unfairness, every wrong that has ever been committed against you. It has the power to avoid reaction to all injustices in life by putting them through faith in the hands of the supreme court of heaven.

4. Faith perception leads to faith function.

C. The Faith Functions of the Faith-Rest Drill.

1. The function of faith perception in the metabolization of doctrine. Faith perception is an advanced function of the faith-rest drill. Faith perception is a part of the faith-rest drill.

a. The function of faith perception is never effective unless the believer assigns number one priority to Bible doctrine, which means you are consistent in perception, cognition, inculcation, and metabolization of doctrine. The word of God, communicated by the spiritual gift of pastor- teacher, must have first place in your scale of values if you are ever going to grow up spiritually.

b. Faith perception begins by emphasizing two power options.

(1) The first power option is the filling of the Spirit plus human I.Q. (which is made up of six thinking skills). The filling of the Spirit parlays human I.Q. into spiritual I.Q. plus Operation Z equals the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church.

(2) The first power option is the filling of the Holy Spirit, resulting in the understanding of the Bible as it is communicated from the pastor. This requires a consistent use of the rebound technique. This results in the Holy Spirit teaching doctrine as prophesied by our Lord Jesus Christ in Jn 14:26; 16:12-14.

c. Faith perception begins at the point of hearing. At the point of hearing you are either positive or negative. You have the choice of listening or not listening. God the Holy Spirit teaches positive volition under the filling of the Spirit. Positive volition is the development of your rate of learning and, at the same time, of your ability to concentrate.

(1) The Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit, making doctrine understandable. Then God the Holy Spirit sends the doctrine into the left lobe of the soul. Here the doctrine is understood academically but still has no spiritual benefit.

(2) Now the believer must exercise positive volition toward the doctrine which has been taught. If you believe the doctrine which has been taught, then it is grace metabolization. Once you believe doctrine, it is transferred by God the Holy Spirit to the right lobe of the soul. Here it is circulated by the Holy Spirit in the stream of consciousness and has spiritual value for the first time. Doctrine is circulated through your frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary storage, categorical storage, conscience, momentum department, wisdom department, and removes the garbage from your subconscious.

d. When metabolized doctrine is circulating in the soul, then faith perception takes another giant step. Faith perception establishes all reality in life on the content of Bible doctrine. If the Bible doctrine in your soul is a greater reality than the potential of the area of suffering, then you have taken the second giant step under faith perception. What is the greater reality to you--the outside pressures of adversity or the Bible doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness under the filling of the Holy Spirit.

(1) The faith-rest drill works in two directions. It recognizes the reality of the suffering. But it also recognizes something far greater--the reality of what God provided in eternity past in order to deal with these problems.

(2) Otherwise, the greater reality becomes the adversity, which enters your soul and becomes stress in the soul. At that point the sin nature controls your soul and you begin to fall apart.

(3) When there is any contradiction between what the Scripture says or our empirical knowledge, faith perception dominates, so that reality comes from Bible doctrine as divine viewpoint over the attractiveness or misery of human viewpoint.

(4) Certain spiritual functions, like prayer, become effective, problem solving devices become operational, and good decisions are made from a position of strength. Believers who never grow up spiritually always want God to make it immediately stop hurting, when adversity comes along. Their reality is not doctrine but the adversity. Therefore, they misuse certain spiritual functions like prayer. They want to use prayer to manipulate God or manipulate people.

e. The function of faith perception results in the rate of learning exceeding the rate of forgetting. You avoid blackout of the soul, scar tissue of the soul, reversionism, and degeneracy. The function of the faith-rest drill is a major factor in preventing the outside pressures of adversity from becoming the inside pressures of stress in the soul.

2. The second function of the faith-rest drill in faith perception is the plaintiff function before the supreme court of heaven.

a. There are many injustices in life in which the believer must use this category of the faith-rest drill to put his problems with people and circumstances into the Lord's hands. This means appealing to the supreme court of heaven and avoiding any reaction: complaining, vilification, denial, projection, self-justification, blaspheming, gossip, slander, maligning, judging of others, malice.

b. When you take something to the supreme court of heaven through the function of the faith-rest drill, you must leave it there and not take it back for your own revenge. Self-righteous people are inevitably going to be troubled in their soul by wanting to protect their self-righteousness. Their self-righteousness is more precious to them than the reality or facts of the case. The greatest avoidance of denial of reality among Christians is protecting and guarding your own self-righteousness. Believers will do anything to protect their self-righteousness. This is one of the great manifestations of scar tissue in the soul.

c. The great mistake is taking your case to the supreme court of heaven and simultaneously to take the case out of the hands of God and try to do something about it yourself. You become liable for triple compound discipline. You are judged by the supreme court of heaven. If you malign others and then appeal to the supreme court of heaven, the other person's discipline is placed on you. Judging belongs to the supreme court of heaven, not to you. If the things about which you slander or judge the other party are true, then the supreme court cancels their discipline. If these things are not true, then they receive blessing and you receive the discipline for every sin you name.

3. The third function of faith-rest drill in faith perception is faith correlation and coordination with other problem solving devices such as sharing the happiness of God and occupation with Christ.

a. When you depend on the circumstances of life for your happiness, it is inevitable that spiritually you will fail miserably and become a loser. People who can make you happy temporarily can also make you unhappy. If circumstances make you happy, then adverse circumstances will make you unhappy. If you succeed in competing with others, then you have a false happiness which is very quickly lost. All the forms of pseudo happiness in this life will never be satisfying to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, God has provided a happiness in the soul which is far greater than the pseudo happinesses of life.

b. Sharing the happiness of God is not only a problem solving devices but it is God's grace provision for a true and sustaining happiness on earth in the midst of the greatest adversity or prosperity. God's perfect happiness includes: tranquility of soul, contentment of soul, capacity for life, stimulation (which includes exhilaration, enthusiasm, and the invigoration of occupation with the person of Jesus Christ), and the ability to meet changing circumstances with problem solving devices. If you are in reversionism, nothing will make you happy; you are in a frantic search for happiness.

(1) Once a person has tranquility and contentment of soul, he will cease from all crusader arrogance, from trying to interfere with the lives of others, from Christian activism.

(2) Happiness is not a matter of race, gender, class distinction, being rich or poor, or evaluation of others. Our relationships with those whom we love is not the secret to our happiness. People can stimulate you and make you happy for a short time, but they can also make you unhappy unless you have entered into the second stage of the faith-rest drill. Human power can make you happy but it can make you unhappy, if you have power beyond your capacity to use it.

c. Perfect happiness is acquired through consistent cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine. From metabolized doctrine perfect happiness is developed in the soul and stationed on the FLOT line of the soul to defend against stress in the soul and to deal with all the problems of the soul.

d. God is perfect and eternal righteousness; therefore, His happiness is related to His perfect and eternal virtue and integrity. This explains why true happiness in mankind cannot be separated from virtue. God's happiness is not built upon making His creatures unhappy. Your happiness cannot be built on making others unhappy. In His grace policy, God has found a way to share with believers His very own happiness. A happiness which is not dependent on others but on the thinking or the mind of Christ, which is Bible doctrine. A happiness which prevents the conversion of adversity into stress in the soul. Therefore, a happiness which does not change with circumstances. In His wisdom, God does not give this happiness, until there is the capacity to enjoy it. The capacity comes from maximum Bible doctrine metabolized in the soul.

e. Scripture.

(1) Eph 6:16 says, "With all these [items of military equipment], pick up and carry the shield of faith by which you are able to intercept all the flaming missiles of the evil one." God can make you truly happy in using the shield of faith. There is a relationship between the function of the shield of faith and your own happiness. The faith-rest drill, like the happiness of God, is a problem solving device. The former is the actual mechanics of using the shield of faith, the latter is the mental attitude as you do so. Happiness is the state of the your soul.

(2) Ps 16:11, "You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of happiness; At Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

(3) Prov 3:13, "Happiness to the believer who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding."

(4) Jn 15:11, "I have taught you these things, in order that My happiness may be in you, and that your happiness may be fulfilled." Your happiness will never be fulfilled apart from maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the right lobe of your soul. This is the heritage of the one who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

(5) 1 Thes 1:6, "You also have become imitators of us and our Lord, having received the word in much adversity [outside pressure] with happiness from the Holy Spirit." God's perfect happiness is the spiritual power from contentment and tranquility to resist the conversion of the outside pressures of adversity in life into the inside pressures of stress in the soul. This tranquility and contentment of soul resists temptation from the sin nature.

(6) Phil 4:11, "Not that I speak with reference to need; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am."

(7) 1 Tim 6:6-8, "But your spiritual life is a means of great profit, when accompanied by contentment. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is obvious that we can take nothing out. However, if we have food and shelter, with these we shall be content."

(8) Ps 146:5, "Happiness belongs to the one whose confidence is in the Lord."

(9) Ps 128:1, "How happy is everyone who is occupied with the Lord, who walks in His ways."

(10) Heb 13:5-6, "Let your lifestyle be free from love for money, and be content with what you have; for He Himself has said, `I will never leave you, I will never forsake you,' so that we may say with confidence, `The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid of what man can do to me?'"

(11) Phil 4:6-7, "Stop worrying about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the tranquility of God, which transcends all understanding, will mount guard in your hearts and minds because of Christ Jesus."

(12) Neh 8:10, "The happiness of the Lord is your strength."

(13) 1 Pet 1:3-9, "Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who on the basis of His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living confidence through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, resulting in an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, unfading, having been guarded in heaven for you, who are being constantly guarded by the power of God through faith [faith-rest drill] resulting in deliverance ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you greatly rejoice [sharing the happiness of God], even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been under stress by various pressures, that the testing of your faith [faith-rest drill], being more valuable than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire, may be found to result in commendation, glory, and honor at the revelation of Christ, Whom having not seen you love, and though you do not see Him now but believe, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and having received glory, receiving back with interest the ultimate destiny of faith--the deliverance of your souls."

D. Faith Execution.

1. Faith execution includes three principles.

a. The faith-rest drill as a coordinator.

b. The faith-rest drill as a source of humility.

c. The faith-rest drill related to promotion in the plan of God.

2. The faith-rest drill as a coordinator.

a. The faith-rest drill is a coordinator of the ten problem solving devices on the defensive line of the soul. All the problem solving devices have in common in the function of faith execution. Therefore, the faith-rest drill in its advanced functions of execution provides harmony and coordination among these problem solving devices.

b. The faith-rest drill coordinates the functions of the two power options--the filling of the Holy Spirit and the metabolization of doctrine. As a part of your spiritual life you have to believe 1 Jn 1:9 to be restored to fellowship with God when in a state of carnality and to recover in the filling of the Holy Spirit. In the function of Operation Z (the metabolization of doctrine) you have to believe Bible doctrine as it is communicated in order to metabolize that doctrine.

c. One of the highest functions of the faith-rest drill is the challenge to utilize faith execution to establish a harmonious relationship in the interactions of the problem solving devices and thereby to prevent to outside pressures of adversity from becoming the inside pressures of stress in the soul.

d. Coordination is defined as the harmonious combination and the interaction of the functions on the defense line of the soul. This coordination and interaction of problem solving devices is directly related to faith execution. The function of the faith-rest drill in the application of the essence of God rationale coordinates personal love for God and occupation with Christ on the defense line of the soul. Doctrinal orientation, a personal sense of destiny, and impersonal love for all mankind demand the function of the faith-rest drill in the application of the plan of God rationale. The grace of God in dealing with mankind demands the function of the faith-rest drill in the application and interaction of this problem solving device with grace orientation. The faith-rest drill coordinates personal love for God with sharing the perfect happiness of God.

3. The necessity for humility is a part of the function of the faith- rest drill.

a. Humility is authority orientation, grace orientation, objectivity, and teachability. Humility is the antithesis of arrogance, the attitude produced by maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness of your soul. You must have a foundation of humility.

(1) Humility transfers reality from self-centeredness and self-absorption to grace orientation and doctrinal orientation. Jam 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5; Num 12:3.

(2) Humility is the quality or status of being humble--a modest sense of one's importance in life. It is the antithesis of the function of the arrogance complex of sins. It is a dignity and poise related to doctrinal orientation--metabolized doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness. Humility is related to the virtue produced by maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness.

(3) The humility of the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union establishes precedence for humility and grace orientation in our spiritual lives during the Church Age. Phil 2:8, "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."

b. Humility is the normal condition of the spiritual life where maximum metabolized doctrine is circulating in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness and where the garbage accumulated in the soul (in the subconscious and the stream of consciousness) has been removed, replaced by metabolized doctrine.

(1) Rom 12:2-3, "Stop being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renovation of your thinking, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is the divine good production and the well pleasing to God and the mature status quo. For I say through the grace which has been given to me to every one who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think; but think in terms of sanity, as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine."

(2) Jam 4:10, "Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will promote you." God does not promote arrogance and self-absorption. Promotion from God cannot be divorced from humility, humility cannot be divorced from grace orientation, and none of these things become a reality apart from the function of the faith-rest drill.

(3) Ps 25:9, "He guides the humble into what is right; therefore, He teaches the humble His ways."

(4) Prov 11:2, "When arrogance comes, then comes dishonor; but with the humble is wisdom."

(5) Prov 29:23, "A person's arrogance will bring him low, but a spirit of humility will attain honor." If God does not promote you, you are not promoted. Believing that is an important part of the coordinating function of the faith-rest drill. If you do believe it, then Bible doctrine has to become the number one priority in your life. Recovery from reversionism, degeneracy, and garbage in the soul depends on the function of the faith-rest drill as a coordinator.

(6) Lk 14:11, "For everyone who promotes himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be promoted." We are humbled through the law of volitional responsibility and the three categories of divine discipline. We humble ourselves through objectivity, teachability, authority orientation, cognition, inculcation, perception, and metabolization of Bible doctrine.

c. With humility comes doctrinal orientation, execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church. And with this doctrinal orientation comes promotion. With promotion comes conveyance of your escrow blessings for time.

(1) Prov 16:18 warns us that the greatest distraction to our spiritual lives and thereby promotion is the arrogance complex of sins. "Arrogance precedes destruction, and before a fall there is a lifestyle of arrogance."

(2) Prov 11:2, "A person's arrogance will bring him low, but with the humble is wisdom."

(3) 2 Cor 10:18, "For not he who promotes himself is approved, but whom the Lord promotes." God only promotes prepared believers. Believers who have the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul and use them effectively to prevent outside pressures of adversity becoming inside pressures of stress in the soul and using them effectively to clean the trash out of the soul. You never clean out garbage by remembering childhood adversities; you clean out garbage by forgetting those things which are behind.

d. No believer can pick up and carry the shield of faith--the function of the faith-rest drill Eph 6--without maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. Three things are necessary for the believer to utilize the shield of faith: humility as the foundation, professional, and integrity--the power of the spiritual life causing the faith-rest drill to function. This not only applies to the faith-rest drill but to all the problem solving devices. Humility is the foundation for synchronizing professionalism and integrity so that cognition and execution of the protocol plan of God glorifies God. Because of humility, professionalism and integrity function on that foundation. On the foundation of humility, there must be professionalism.

(1) Professionalism is the academic understanding and mechanics of the protocol plan of God. It is cognition of the spiritual skills and how they combine to provide spiritual power and production of divine good. Professionalism means learning and accepting the whole realm of doctrine. Professionalism is the understanding of mechanics without the power to execute those mechanics.

(2) On the foundation of humility, there must also be integrity. Integrity is the spiritual strength to execute the mechanics of the protocol plan of God. It is the use of spiritual power from metabolized doctrine to execute God's will for our lives. This spiritual power and energy is derived only from metabolized doctrine only as it circulates through the stream of consciousness under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

(3) All spiritual growth and greatness is found in the spiritual strength to execute the mechanics of the faith-rest drill. You get your spiritual strength from the repetitive inculcation of the whole realm of doctrine. It is possible to know the mechanics and not have the spiritual strength to execute it.

(4) While professionalism develops the ability to conceptualize Bible doctrine, integrity or spiritual strength from doctrine executes these things in glorifying God.

(5) Professionalism without integrity is arrogance. Integrity without professionalism is emotionalism. The application of metabolized doctrine to stress conditions demands the coordination of professionalism and integrity on the foundation of humility.

e. The distractions to the execution of the faith-rest drill are:

(1) Self-absorption from the function of the arrogance complex of sins.

(2) The command post of the heart overrun and put out of action from lack of the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul to act as an instant reaction force to prevent the outside pressures of adversity becoming the inside pressures of stress in your soul.

(3) The dominance of the soul by the emotional complex of sins.

(4) The activation of the demand syndrome, in which we expect our wishes (often our lust pattern of the sin nature) to be met and gratified.

(5) Failure to take the responsibility for your own decisions. Therefore, assigning the blame for your bad decisions from a position of weakness to other people or other circumstances.

(6) Loss of reality through denial and taking your own flaws and projecting on other people and then blaming them for your problems.

(7) Lack of niche orientation related to the protocol plan of God resulting in no capacity for prosperity related to divine blessing.

(8) Rejection of authority and control and constant lust for change. The purpose of the protocol plan of God is divine control of your life, not change. The purpose of the protocol plan of God is divine will in your life understood, then your response has to be from your own volition, not change in your personality. The lust for change through human ability rejects both the grace provision and the grace policy of God and ignores the two power options of the protocol plan of God (the filling of the Spirit and cognition of Bible doctrine). Such believers become losers who function under three spheres of human viewpoint: they feel entitled to do what they want to do or what some legalist has said they ought to do, they feel exempt from the rules of God which contradict their legalism, they expect others to rescue them and solve all their problems. Losers seek to change their personalities; winners seek to change their character and integrity. Winners change their character through following the protocol plan of God to its logical and spiritual conclusion. Winners make these changes from metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. God is not looking for self-improvement, but integrity and character, transformation through the two power options on the FLOT line of the soul.

f. 1 Pet 5:5-9, "You younger ones [young in faith], likewise, be subordinate to the authority of your elders [pastors]; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward each another, because God makes war against the arrogant, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the powerful hand of God, that He may promote you at the proper time, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Attain spiritual self-esteem, be on the alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, stand firm in doctrine, because you know our fellow Christians throughout the world are experiencing the same categories of suffering."

4. The faith-rest drill is related to promotion in the plan of God. No one is ever promoted in the protocol plan of God apart from the function of the faith-rest drill. The faith-rest drill is a harmonious combination of powers in which one or more may predominate but none are in opposition.

E. Old Testament faith-rest was the spiritual life of believers, Jam 2:21- 24.

1. Jam 2:21-22, "Was not Abraham, our ancestor, justified [vindicated, validated, pronounced righteous] by accomplishments when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? Yes, of course he was. You see that faith [the faith- rest drill] kept on working together with his accomplishments, and from these accomplishments his faith [faith-rest drill] was carried through to completion."

a. Abraham's justification by faith is found in Gen 15:6, "But Abraham believed in the Lord and He imputed it to him for righteousness." Abraham's justification by accomplishments after salvation is found in Jam 2:21-24 and is an extension of justification by faith. Accomplishments are the actions and deeds of the function of the faith-rest drill, the result of believing the promises of God.

b. The offering of Isaac was one of the unique functions of the faith-rest drill. It was the peak of Abraham's spiritual life. It is recorded in Gen 22:1-19; Jam 2:21-24; Heb 11:17-19, "He assumed that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up from the dead from which he received him back in an analogy." God had no intention of Abraham offering human sacrifice, but it was an evidence test: is God more important to you than the most important thing in your life?

(1) Abraham's justification by accomplishments is not the same as his justification by faith at salvation. The postsalvation fulfillment of the faith-rest drill is justification by works or deeds or accomplishments. Abraham was the friend of God because he executed the spiritual life of the Old Testament. He took the function of the faith-rest drill to the ultimate. When Abraham offered Isaac, he was vindicated, validated, pronounced righteous or virtuous.

(2) Justification by faith is imputed righteousness and occurs at the moment of faith in Christ at salvation. Justification by accomplishments is the Old Testament spiritual life, pronounced or acquired righteousness--the virtue and values which comes from the spiritual life. These accomplishments or deeds are the function of the faith-rest drill, the function of thinking in the soul.

c. The stronger your faith-rest drill, the greater your accomplishments. From Abraham's accomplishments because of the faith-rest thinking his faith was carried through to completion, brought up to its full measure of competence, reached maximum competence. We have the faith-rest drill just the Old Testament believers did, but we go way beyond their faith-rest drill with our unique spiritual life.

d. The faith-rest drill is the modus operandi of your soul, accomplishments of the soul. It is the thinking of the spiritual life. Abraham's accomplishments were to hear the promises of God, believe those promises, and act upon them. The spiritual life is what you think, believing the promises of God. You have reached the peak of validation, vindication by accomplishments when you reach the point of occupation with Christ. The great accomplishment of the spiritual life is thinking doctrine.

e. The thinking of the soul will reflect itself in overt activity which is related to virtue and values and in motivation to fulfill our responsibility in witnessing and other factors related to it. People and values must be in harmony with your spiritual life.

f. Abraham exploited his spiritual freedom to the maximum.

2. Jam 2:23-24, "And the Scripture [Gen 15:6] which says, `And Abraham had believed in the God [God the Son] and it was imputed to him for righteousness' was brought to completion [attained its objective]. In fact, he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by accomplishments, and not by faith alone."

a. Abraham had already become a believer before he left the third dynasty of Ur and came into the land of Canaan, Gen 12. In Gen 15:6-7, he was already a believer. He received justification by faith or validation or vindication by faith prior to Gen 12. Salvation in the Old Testament is exactly the same as salvation in the New Testament epistles--faith in Jesus Christ. Abraham was not a believer because of what transpired in the first five verses of Gen 15.

b. The little, shaky faith in the Lord at salvation has now expanded into the faith-rest drill, and that faith was brought to completion. That is how James is trying to encourage Jewish believers scattered throughout the world in 45 A.D. Abraham failed, but eventually he used his faith-rest drill and expanded it to the point where he was able to use it in the offering of Isaac. James was making a point to the Jews that he could only send comfort to those who were believers. James says that you cannot solve your problems unless you are first a believer like our mutual ancestor Abraham.

c. Justification by faith precedes vindication by accomplishments. At the moment he believed in Christ, divine righteousness was imputed to Abraham for justification by faith. As a result of eternal salvation, Abraham's postsalvation spiritual life was brought to completion with the faith-rest drill in the offering of Isaac. His spiritual life was an extension of his salvation faith in the sense that now instead of believing in Christ for salvation, he believed in the promises of God.

d. In the Old Testament, postsalvation spiritual life followed the same pattern with a different category of objects. The object of faith in salvation was always the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of faith in the spiritual life was a series of promises and doctrines which God provided for Abraham to believe. You believe in the Person for salvation. You believe in what the Person provides for spiritual life. When Abraham believed these promises, he was justified, validated, vindicated, pronounced virtuous by the accomplishments, actions, deeds of the faith-rest drill. The postsalvation spiritual life--the faith-rest drill--was an extension from justification by faith. The faith of justification by faith validates eternal life. The faith of justification by accomplishments validates the function of the spiritual life. There is the pronouncement of righteousness because of the execution of the spiritual life.

e. Abraham was called the friend of God when he offered Isaac. This indicates that Abraham had reached spiritual maturity. 2 Chr 20:7, "O, our God, did You not drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham, Your friend forever?" "Friend of God" is the highest accolade given to an Old Testament believer; for it indicates the fulfillment of the spiritual life of the Old Testament through the maximum use of the faith-rest drill.

f. Jam 2:26, "For just as the body without breath in dead, even so faith [the faith-rest drill] without works [the accomplishments of the faith-rest drill] is dead." The believer living on the earth without a spiritual life is a loser. This verse is the analogy to the believer in carnal death. Carnal death is described in Eph 5:14; Rom 7:24. This verse does not refer to faith in Christ, but failure to execute the postsalvation spiritual life.

3. Principles.

a. Fear sees the problem; faith sees the solution. You do not solve problems with a problem. Believers occupied with the problem inevitably end up trying to solve a problem with a problem. Believers who go to problem solving devices end up solving the problem. You solve problems with a divine solution.

b. Divine solutions are the only solution; human solutions are no solutions.

c. The decisions we make today determine our future tomorrow. Making decisions in arrogance is reaction.

d. No victory won in arrogance is a victory won. The supreme court of heaven never sleeps. We do not need to be right; we need to be right with the supreme court of heaven. God makes war against the arrogant believer. Arrogant believers have to be humbled by God. Humble believers have to be blessed by God.

e. Human I.Q. is an unequal genetic product beyond human control, but spiritual I.Q. is equal opportunity under the divine control of the two power options of the spiritual life. God is infinitely greater than His creatures. Therefore, God's knowledge is infinitely greater than human knowledge. This fact escapes those who are preoccupied with self

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(c) 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.

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