Lesson for July 23, 2023
The Doctrine of a Personal Sense of Destiny
Lesson 4
A personal sense of destiny eliminates believers from becoming absorbed with their problems. Believers who develop a personal sense of destiny are able to see the divine solution, while believers without a personal sense of destiny just see the problem. The permanent solution to any problem is the use of the Problem-Solving Devices. The only other option for believers is human solutions, which are no permanent solution at all.
A personal sense of destiny enters a believer into a new and different lifestyle that is unknown to unbelievers or to believers who reject Bible doctrine. This life is the adult spiritual life of believers. Reaching spiritual adulthood can be achieved only by a consistent study life. Listening to a sermon or Bible lesson occasionally will not accomplish the goal.
The Christian life cannot be lived through any system of human power or ability.
Failure to utilize God’s power results in making the details of life becoming number one priority, either intentionally or by default. The consequences of not using God’s power system (the Divine Dynasphere) to live your life will be self-induced misery and divine discipline.
Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord.”
The Divine Dynasphere is a term used to describe God’s power system. Dynasphere comes from the Greek word “dumamis,” meaning power, and the Greek word “sphaia” meaning sphere. Sphere refers to a believer’s life. The Divine Dynasphere is an interlocking system, having stages that believers pass through if they desire to advance from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood. Therefore, the Divine Dynasphere is God’s plan for the spiritual life of believers.
The command to live within the Divine Dynasphere is designated by terms such as, “be filled with the Spirit,” “walk in the Spirit,” and “walk in the Light.” (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16; I John 1:5-7)
The Divine Dynasphere is a system of love. The divine attribute of love is an absolute, not dependent on any object. God’s love does not have to be sustained by emotion, physical love, or human love. Mankind was not created so that God would have someone to love. Mankind often distorts God’s love by superimposing their own standards on God. For example, in time of disaster, “How can a loving God do this to me?” This blasphemy often results from misunderstanding what love is. Since the fall of Adam, man’s contact with God is through God’s integrity (holiness). The integrity of God is the sum total of divine attributes in operation, but three are functional in relationship to believers and their spiritual lives: righteousness, justice, and love.
The grace of God is an extension of divine love. As an extension of divine love, grace is both a characteristic and a policy of divine love. Therefore, grace is a part of divine love. Grace was the pattern of Christ’s spiritual life, as it should be of ours. (Romans 5:15; I Corinthians 1:4, 15:10; II Corinthians 6:1, 8:1; Ephesians 3:2,7)
Grace has existed from eternity past. The integrity of God is part of the divine essence known as “holiness,” being composed of perfect righteousness, justice, and love. Perfect righteousness is the principle of God’s holiness, and justice is the function. Therefore, what the perfect righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes.
The imputation of divine perfect righteousness to believers at the moment of faith in Christ not only means justification, but it is the basis for God’s love toward man as something more than just an anthropopathism (assigning to God a human characteristic). God loves His own perfect righteousness in us. But He does everything for us because of His integrity, not His love. The source of every blessing we have in life is divine justice imputing that blessing to divine perfect righteousness. God’s integrity always takes precedence over His love.
Personal love is meaningless unless the one who loves has integrity. This precedence was established at the Cross, where God the Father loved God the Son eternally and infinitely. But God the Father’s integrity demanded that His justice impute our personal sins to Christ on the Cross and then judge His Son Who was bearing those sins. This demonstrated, once and for all, that divine integrity takes precedence over divine love in dealing with the human race. (II Corinthians 5:21)
We need to realize God designed a system whereby believers, with all of their failures, can still be sustained by God. How can God provide our basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and Bible doctrine when we live in Satan’s world system? He does it because of His integrity. God’s plan is a system of integrity. The Divine Dynasphere is a place where you can live your life with honor and glorify God, in spite of having a sin nature.
Having God’s righteousness demands that we have a system for our spiritual lives that is unique to the Church Age; one that is totally different from any system of spiritual life which has ever existed before. You have an opportunity that the greatest believers of the Old Testament did not have and would have loved to have.
The Church Age is much more intense in this stage of the Angelic Conflict than any other dispensation. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” (Luke 12:28) Since we’re not as good as God, He gave us His perfect righteousness. He did this in grace; we don’t earn or deserve it. We have a relationship with God because of God’s grace. When God gives us His perfect righteousness, then His personal love follows. (II Corinthians 5:21)
So, in the Divine Dynasphere, integrity must precede love. Divine love doesn’t depend on your personality, sweetness, or self-sacrifice. Because we possess the perfect righteousness of God, we are the objects of God’s personal love. However, God can never violate His own integrity just because of His love for us. What the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes. Therefore, there are times when God must discipline believers (and He never fails to do so).
Like all divine attributes, God’s love belongs to His essence. God is eternal, His love is eternal. God is love and always has been love. God’s love does not increase or diminish. God is perfect, His love is perfect. There never was a time when God did not love His own perfect righteousness. As of the moment of salvation, each believer possesses the perfect righteousness of God. Since God’s love is a part of His essence, His love needs no object to love.
Christ dying for our sins refers to God’s impersonal love for the entire human race. Divine personal love means God loves all His children (believers), regardless of their response to Bible doctrine. Divine personal love means the potential for receiving divine blessings. Divine personal love means all believers will receive a resurrection body. Divine personal love means there are special rewards for spiritually mature believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Since reaching spiritual adulthood is a process, there are no shortcuts to getting there and developing a personal sense of destiny.