perhaps you are doing the right thing.

Many Christians are afraid to speak up because they will be nagged about their beliefs. You aren't alone. You've(hopefully) got Christ by your side, guiding you every step of the way.

Do you perhaps not relate to any / many people at the church you attend? Are your family fellow followers? Close friends? School buddies? Lots of people can, at times, feel very much alone in their life's walk - be it christian or otherwise. They may be shy and withdrawn, doing a lot of thinking, assuming no-one understands 'what they're going through' at the time, running with a crowd that do not share some fundamental attitudes or beliefs. Whatever the cause, it is not a feeling that lasts forever, never fear! It is also something that will return to you, from time to time, throughout your whole life. Learn to enjoy the times when you are NOT feeling alone!

You will feel a sense of companionship as you participate with others of like beliefs. This is the purpose of "fellowship."

Because you're walking down the wrong path.

Perhaps you should try a different church. Jump arpund a little until you find one you are most comfortable with. Some churches are more welcoming than others, I've come to find out.

I understand your concern completely. It is very difficult for a person living in our society to walk the path of Christ because everything that we are exposed to contradicts what Christ taught. Society teaches us that me must go out and accumulate things to be successful. It teaches young women that they must be sexy, sultry creatures in order to be happy. It teaches us that we are judged by how we look, what we wear, what we drive, where we live and on and on. Remember that you are not along in your journey. Christ is with you every step of the way, and he is guiding you. We only have to open our hearts to hear him. I don't know what faith you practice, but talk to your pastor or priest about your feelings and they will be able to guide you through this difficult journey. It will not be easy, for me must die everyday unto ourselves to receive God's grace and mercy. My thoughts and prayers will be with you. Peace to all.

Possibly because God's People have never been more than a 'remnant' among men. Study Scripture, and compare what you read to the church you attend. If they don't match up, move on. I know people who attend several churches during the week. I myself am split between two, both good, but the one much farther away has a long history with me. Sad that the price of gas could end up choosing my church family for me, but the choice really is difficult.

If I were U I should give EXTRA Praise to God for Ur "Feeling" as it shows the H.S. is working in Ur life Guiding U! U see, many "Religions" are NOT CHRISTIAN, only hiding behind the "NAME" as ANOTHER MAN MADE FEEL GOOD ORGANIZATION of & for itself!!! So, get a BIG Drink, little snack & Enjoy this Doctrine. John DOCTRINE OF A PERSONAL SENSE OF DESTINY A. Introduction. 1. The sixth problem solving device for the Church Age believer is a personal sense of destiny. 2. The personal sense of destiny is related to the omnipotence of God, Eph 3:20, "Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we keep asking for ourselves or think, on the basis of the power which keeps on working for us." a. God can do all He wills to do, but He may not will to do all He can do. (1) This is one of the first principles that a personal sense of destiny discovers. The conditions under which He wills these things is the foundation for deploying on the FLOT line of your soul a personal sense of destiny. God is able to do whatever He wills to do in the way in which He wills it. (2) God does not do anything contrary to His essence. Therefore God cannot deny Himself. Because God cannot deny Himself, He cannot deny the fantastic eternal blessings above and beyond the resurrection body to the winner believer who used his volition in time to glorify God. (3) Divine omnipotence is always compatible with a right thing done in a right way. God's infinite and eternal power is limitless; it functions under the control of His perfect righteousness, justice, and wisdom of God. In the function of His divine power, God is able to do anything which is compatible with His perfect divine essence. God never used His omnipotence to make a right wrong or a wrong right. God never uses His power to cause the end to justify the means. (4) God does not choose to do everything by the immediate agency of His own omnipotence, but He has delegated His power to intermediate agents. The intermediate agent of the Church Age is every believer. Although God determines some things to come to pass unconditionally, most events of human history are actually planned conditionally through the obedience of mankind or the permitted disobedience of mankind to the divine mandates. Such mandates include three categories: the laws of divine establishment, eternal salvation, and the execution of the protocol plan of God. In each category God provides blessing for positive volition and judgment for negative volition. God's eternal purpose for human history is never frustrated by the negative volition of mankind. (5) The protocol plan of God for the Church is the greatest demonstration in all of history of the function of the volition of the believer in relationship to God's available power. One of the great principles of having a personal sense of destiny is that you finally learn to take the responsibility for your own decisions, the good ones and the bad ones. The protocol plan of God for the Church demands the utilization of antecedent grace in eternity past to become effective in and through the utilization of this divine power. (6) God's eternal purpose for human history is never frustrated by negative volition to the laws of divine establishment, negative volition to the gospel, or negative volition to the protocol plan. God's eternal purpose for human history is never frustrated because God has permitted of disobedience of mankind in order to resolve the prehistoric angelic conflict. He has also ordained consequences of positive volition. (7) For the believer a personal sense of destiny is related to cognition of the plan and power of God. (8) Principles. (a) A personal sense of destiny requires cognition of Bible doctrine pertinent to the protocol plan of God for the Church. (b) A personal sense of destiny demands the function of the three spiritual skills as the means of utilizing the power of God resulting in the glory of God. (c) A personal sense of destiny focuses on becoming a winner believer through offensive action of the spiritual life. (d) A personal sense of destiny assigns number one priority to Bible doctrine which results in learning and using the power of God, i.e., the three spiritual skills. (e) A personal sense of destiny lives by the power and provision of God rather than the foibles and failures of the arrogance skills which include a lust for power and the motivations of the sin nature. (f) The issue in life is not environment or circumstances but your volition, which lines up with the sovereignty and omnipotence of God, resulting in a life beyond gnosis which is parlayed into the life beyond expectation. (g) The function of the arrogance skills in the life of the believer result in the miserable circumstances of unrealistic expectation, which is sowing to the wind and reaping the whirlwind. (h) Unrealistic expectation is the futile function of arrogance. The life beyond expectation is the awareness of the power and grace of God combined with the spiritual skills to form that personal sense of destiny. The personal sense of destiny only comes through the function of the problem solving devices FLOT line of the soul applied to experience. Otherwise for the believer, life is unrealistic expectation. (i) A personal sense of destiny depends on the grace provision of divine power rather than the cultivation of human dynamics motivated by human success standards created by unrealistic expectation and great frustration; for the only success that counts for the believer is the execution of the protocol plan of God and the conveyance of your escrow blessings for time. (j) The frustration of unrealistic expectation is fortified by the arrogance skills, by human viewpoint, and by negative volition toward Bible doctrine. We cannot glorify God by the function of human power. God's glory demands the utilization of divine power. Therefore, the importance of being filled with all the fullness of God. (k) The strategic victory of the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union establishes precedence for the use of divine power in the execution of the protocol plan of God and the greatest sense of a personal sense of destiny in all of human history. Without understanding this concept there is no personal sense of destiny. The humanity of Christ gave up the independent exercise of His own divine attributes in order to establish precedence for the function of the spiritual skills in the Church Age. i. The humanity of Christ relied on the same power options which have been given to you as a believer. He did not use His own divine power. Isa 11:2, 42:1; Mt 12:18; Jn 3:34; Lk 4:1, 14; Heb 9:14. ii. The humanity of Christ used the same three spiritual skills which have been given to us as a part of our portfolio of invisible assets. In hypostatic union He possessed eternal, unchangeable glory in His deity and He acquired eternal, unchangeable glory in His humanity through the function of the same three spiritual skills which now reside in our portfolio of invisible assets and are available to us. The availability of the spiritual skills in our portfolio provides unlimited options for glorifying God under the same pattern of precedence established by the humanity of Christ. Our Lord demonstrated that the three spiritual skills could handle greater problems than we would ever face in life. More pressure was put on the humanity of Christ than was ever before or ever again will be put on any member of the human race. iii. Our Lord had a personal sense of destiny from the function of the three spiritual skills. From that personal sense of destiny came His personal love for God the Father in His humanity. Our Lord's personal sense of destiny was manifest in all He endured prior to going to the Cross and while hanging on the Cross. He never reacted because He had a personal sense of destiny. Heb 12:2, "Be concentrating on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our doctrine, who because of His exhibited happiness He endured the Cross and disregarded the shame, then He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Our Lord did not react to the shame of being judged for us because He functioned under the same three spiritual skills that are available to you. iv. With this divine power all Church Age believers have the option of either executing the protocol plan of God for the Church and being filled with all the fullness from God or becoming a loser, who will find happiness no matter what he has or does in this life. v. The result of using this divine power and executing the protocol plan of God is the life beyond gnosis, which is described in Eph 3:19 as being filled with all the fullness from God and God being able to do infinitely more than all we ask for or think on the basis of the power that keeps on working for us, Eph 3:20. (l) If you have not established Bible doctrine as your highest priority, then you do not have a personal sense of destiny. Every time you succeed in any acquisition of any lust in the soul related to any success standard or form of stimulation, it is going to increase your unhappiness. To miss occupation with Christ is to miss the greatest blessing this life has to offer. (9) Having a personal sense of destiny is the beginning of spiritual adulthood. From the personal sense of destiny comes the greatest problem solving devices: personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, sharing the happiness of God, and occupation with Christ. b. You have a far greater power and spiritual life than ever existed before or will ever exist after the Church Age. You have something far greater than miracles. You have equal privilege and opportunity to use the greatest availability of divine power ever made in history. Realizing this power is available to you and acting upon it in your thinking is part of your personal sense of destiny. The ordinary believer has power available to change the course of history through invisible heroship. c. This verse describes the life beyond expectation. (1) The life beyond expectation is described in two ways. (a) Over and beyond anything for which we could ask for. (b) Over and beyond anything we could anticipate in thinking or in imagination. (2) The life beyond expectation is the offensive action through the function of the three spiritual skills, Eph 4:23-24. (3) The life beyond expectation emphasizes the importance of the function of the two power options in the life of every believer. (4) This is your spiritual life: the life beyond gnosis, Eph 3:19, and the life beyond expectation, Eph 3:20. (5) Epignosis is the life beyond gnosis. (6) Epignosis is the result of making Bible doctrine number one priority in you life. (7) On each side of epignosis is the key to your spiritual life. On one side you have the filling of the Spirit, on the other side you have the problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul: the filling of the Spirit plus operation Z (epignosis) plus problem solving devices equals execution of the protocol plan of God and glorification of God. 3. Eph 3:21, "to Him [God the Father] the glory by agency of the church and by agency of Christ Jesus with reference to all generations of this unique age of the ages. I believe it." a. The fulfillment of your spiritual life is the means of glorifying God. God is glorified by means of the Church in the life beyond gnosis and the life beyond expectation. The ultimate objective is to glorify God and the awareness of this objective reaches its peak at the point of having a personal sense of destiny. b. The victory of the humanity of Christ fulfilled two great doctrinal concepts: historical victory--precedence for the modus operandi of the Christian way of life utilized by the humanity of Christ, eschatological victory--for the humanity of Christ as the son of David will return at the second Advent to fulfill the unconditional Davidic covenant. The strategic victory of Christ paves the way for the Church Age believer to enter into the tactical victory of your own spiritual life. c. The issue in every generation of the Church Age is volition related to desire to known the will, plan, and purpose for your life, and having learned these things to use the spiritual skills to glorify God to resolve the prehistorical angelic conflict. The motivation to learn and execute the protocol plan of God must come from you. d. As you learn doctrine problem solving devices are developed in your soul. The problem solving devices become the basis for great blessing in your life. They prevent the outside pressures of adversity from becoming the inside pressures of stress in the soul, give you accurate and objective application of doctrine, provide motivation and soul environment for the attainment of spiritual capacity righteousness, develop increasing motivation from right priorities and true spiritual values. The problem solving devices win the battles of the soul: stress, sin, false doctrine, wrong solutions, etc. e. In every generation of Church history certain positive believers make Bible doctrine number one priority in their lives. They establish spiritual values through the application of metabolized doctrine to experience. The FLOT line of their soul becomes the staging area for offensive action of the spiritual skills and the basis for the most fantastic life God has ever given to anyone. B. A personal sense of destiny is related to a fortiori and the elative conclusion. 1. A personal sense of destiny demands cognition of five great biblical principles. a. A fortiori related to the elative conclusion. b. The uniqueness of the Church Age. c. Aposiopesis (breaking off what is being said, with sudden silence) in Rom 9:22-24. d. Our portfolio of invisible assets which are a part of the divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past. Part of our portfolio includes: unique precedence of the spiritual life for the Church Age, the unique protocol plan of God, the equality and spiritual freedom factor, the unique power availability under two power options, the unique three spiritual skills which make up the spiritual life, the unique problem solving devices, unique commissions such as royal priesthood and ambassadorship, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of every member of the Trinity, the dispensation of invisible heroes, full time Christian service, a dispensation of no prophecy. e. The spiritual life of the believer is the only offensive action from the FLOT line of the soul. We are always on the defensive with regard to demons and Satan, Jam 4, 1 Pet 5, and depends on the function of the three spiritual skills. We are on the offensive with our spiritual life. 2. The A Fortiori of a Personal Sense of Destiny. (1) The humanity of Christ died spiritually as a substitute for us, Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 11:24; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13. (2) The a fortiori of a personal sense of destiny is introduced in 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? He [God the Father] who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over to judgment as a substitute for all of us without exception, how shall He not with Him also graciously give to us the all things?" (a) A fortiori is a latin prepositional phrase (meaning "with stronger reason") used as a system of ancient logic in which a greater is compared with a lesser and by comparison an inference is formed. A fortiori is a comparison of greater and lesser difficulty. A fortiori was used as a system of debate, which takes an accepted fact as a premise and by comparison produces an inescapable fact. (b) The greater difficulty is Christ being judged on the Cross for our sins. The lesser difficulty is what Christ has provided for us in this dispensation only. (c) The accepted fact is that God the Father imputed our sins to Christ on the Cross and judged every one of them. The inescapable fact is that God graciously gives to the believer the all things. This begins at the moment of salvation with forty things, continues at the point of spiritual maturity with escrow blessings for time, and concludes at the judgment seat of Christ with escrow blessings for eternity. (d) If the most difficult was accomplished at the Cross, it follows a fortiori that the least difficult can be accomplished for each Church Age believer regarding his postsalvation experience. This a fortiori takes the greater difficulty of providing eternal salvation at the Cross and compares it to the lesser difficulty of divine provision for the spiritual life resulting in an inescapable conclusion--if God accomplished the greater at the Cross, it is obvious that He can accomplish the lesser in divine provision of the most fantastic spiritual life for after our salvation. 3. The Elative Conclusion Related to a Personal Sense of Destiny. a. Elative is a grammatical nomenclature for a grammatical system from fifth century B.C. Greek, a combination of a superlative adverb used with a comparative adverb to denote superiority through inclusion and exclusion. The superlative adverb denotes inclusion and superiority and the comparative adverb indicates the choice for what is the superior factor. The superlative adverb is used in an absolute sense to denote superiority of the absolute and inferiority of the relative concept found in the comparative adverb. The divine solution is the absolute and the only solution. The comparative adverb says the superlative is true and therefore eliminates human solutions. b. The elative conclusion is found in 2 Cor 12:9 where Paul had the thorn in the flesh and prayed three times that it be taken away. But the thorn in the flesh demanded divine solution not human solution. (1) The divine solution is "My grace has been and still is sufficient for you." You have the three spiritual skills with the ten problem solving devices and do not need any human solution. (2) "Most gladly therefore I would rather boast about my weakness that the power of Christ may reside in me." Paul recognized that a part of a personal sense of destiny is that the divine solution is the only solution and human solution is no solution to certain problems in life. (3) The divine initiative of grace permits the thorn in the flesh suffering for blessing and provides the divine solution, the grace solution in the problem solving devices. (a) The elative conclusion emphasizes the absolutes of the spiritual life and excludes manmade relative solutions. Therefore the divine solution is the only solution. (b) The grace solution glorifies God and therefore the elative conclusion perceives the absolutes of the divine solution as the grace solution related to the problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. (c) Since grace solutions are divine solutions, they exclude human solutions and human viewpoint--such as the misuse of prayer, psychology, philosophy, arrogance skills and defense mechanisms, legalism instead of grace, ignorance instead of cognition, gimmicks instead of doctrine. c. The elative conclusion emphasizes the fact that the deployment of problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul provide the only accurate application of Bible doctrine to postsalvation experience. This application of Bible doctrine to experience through problem solving devices results in a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny as a problem solving device is founded on the absolutes of metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. When the believer begins with God's grace, he ends up with God's power--the two power options. d. Illustration--Birds. (1) A personal sense of destiny is based on fellowship with God. (a) Ps 84:1-3, "How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of the armies! My soul longs and even yearns for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even Your altars, O Lord of the armies, My King and my God." Your fellowship with God is based on your attitude toward doctrine. (b) If birds have a destiny, it follows a fortiori that believers have a destiny. If God provides for birds, it follows a fortiori that God can provide for the Church Age believer. (2) Mt 6:26-27, "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by worrying can add eighteen inches to his height?" (3) Because of the grace of God, even birds have a destiny, Mt 10:29-31, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. As a matter of fact the very hairs of your head are numbered. Therefore stop being afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows." (4) A personal sense of destiny eliminates fear from your soul. Fear is failure of the believer to use the spiritual skills and no personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny plus the faith-rest drill is the function of the application of metabolized doctrine which drives fear out of the soul. Fear adds disaster and stress to your life. (a) The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear. (b) The extent to which you surrender to fear, the greater your capacity for fear. (c) The greater your capacity for fear, the more you increase the power of fear in your life. (d) The more you increase the power of fear in your life, the greater your failure to use the spiritual skills. (e) Therefore fear eliminates the spiritual skills and manufactures the loser believer. (f) This is how the believer sows to the wind and reaps the whirlwind. (5) The application of the problem solving devices eliminates fear from the soul. For example: the faith-rest drill, Ps 56:3; the personal sense of destiny, Ps 23:4; virtue-love, 1 Jn 4:8; 2 Tim 1:7. C. A personal sense of destiny is related to the protocol plan of God. 1. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny unless you understand the plan of God. No one ever had a personal sense of destiny without a plan. a. A personal sense of destiny is the predetermined course of events related to the protocol plan of God for the Church and related to the agency and power that determines the course of those events. A personal sense of destiny belongs to the believer who is consistent in the function of the power options and spiritual skills. A personal sense of destiny assigns number one priority to Bible doctrine from which we get both the source and mechanics of our spiritual life. b. Never before in history has God provided so much for the ordinary believer. God is perfect and His plan is perfect. We are helpless to fulfill God's plan without God's perfect power and provision. The perfect plan of God is based on the divine policy of grace and functions only on divine power. The omnipotence of God provides everything necessary for the execution of the protocol plan for the Church in our portfolio of invisible assets. The power for the execution of the plan is the filling of the Holy Spirit. c. Protocol is a rigid, long-established code and procedure, prescribing complete deference to superior rank and authority, followed by strict adherence to due order and precedence, coupled with precisely correct procedure. (1) Protocol is a rigid, long-established code and procedure. (a) The long-established code is God's system of equality for the Church Age to make a winner out of every believer as a member of the royal family of God. (b) This means every believer has equal privilege and equal opportunity for the fulfillment of this plan. There is no such thing as inequality in the plan of God. We have equality in election and predestination. Election is the expression of the sovereignty of God for every Church Age believer. Predestination is the provision of the sovereignty of God for every Church Age believer. Under election we all have equal privilege as members of the royal priesthood and equal opportunity under logistical grace because of the imputation of the perfect righteousness of God which demands blessing. Under predestination we all have equal privilege because we are in union with Christ and equal opportunity because we have all been provided the same portfolio of invisible assets at the moment of salvation. (c) God's plan calls for God's power, and God's power is virtue. Virtue is the long-established procedure of God. (d) The code defines the divine mandates to the Church Age believer, while the procedure describes how these mandates are executed. The issue is the volition of the believer. The code is the modus vivendi of the believer, while the procedure is the modus operandi of the believer. (e) The rigidity of the code is based on the fact that God has only one way of doing a thing: a right thing must be done in a right way to be right. All Christian activism is outside of the plan of God. Under the protocol plan for the Church the end does not justify the means. Therefore, cause and effect, antecedent and procedure, means and end must comply with the divine standard mandated by the word of God. This means that while God is able to do whatever He wills to do in the way that He wills it, divine power functions under the perfect, eternal virtue of His holiness and in compatibility with His sovereignty plus the wisdom of His omniscience. Both the right thing and the right way are clearly defined in the infallible word of God. (2) Protocol prescribes complete deference to superior rank and authority. (a) The protocol plan of God has a system of authority which must be followed for the fulfillment of this plan. The system of authority begins in heaven in eternity past and extends into history under two categories: the laws of divine establishment and your very own spiritual life. (b) The believer with an authority problem cannot fulfill the protocol plan of God because of the greatest of all distractions that attends lack of authority orientation--the arrogance skills. (c) Under the laws of divine establishment we have authority in the husband over the wife, the parents over the children, government over the citizen, the teacher over the student, the coach over the team, management over labor, officer over enlisted, the judicial system over the criminal. (d) In the spiritual life the word of God has authority over the believer, the mandates of the Bible have authority over the believer, the pastor has authority over the congregation, and the function of the spiritual life of the royal priest over his own soul, i.e., his volition. (3) Protocol is strict adherence to due order and precedence. (a) Due order and precedence is the basis for establishing right priorities in life, which means a true scale of values based on Bible doctrine. (b) Through the function of the power options and resultant spiritual skills due order and precedence identifies and establishes six priorities related to the protocol plan of God. i. In God's plan, Bible doctrine is first. ii. In God's authority, divine commands are first. iii. In God's policy, grace is first. iv. In God's objective, momentum is first. v. In God's system, virtue is first. vi. In God's purpose, occupation with Christ is first. (c) Due order and precedence also emphasizes the source of the spiritual life in the protocol plan of God. All precedence for the Christian way of life comes from the function of the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union or the first Advent. (d) Due order and precedence stands as a wall between the believer and the Mosaic Law as far as the spiritual life is concerned. The humanity of Christ used the three spiritual skills in the fulfillment of the Father's plan for the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Therefore the humanity of Christ pioneered the power options (filling of the Spirit and metabolization of doctrine) and spiritual skills during the Incarnation. (e) Protocol is strict adherence to due order and precedence. The function of the two power options and three spiritual skills results in a personal sense of destiny. (4) Protocol is precisely correct procedure. (a) Precisely correct procedure combines the function of the two power options to deploy the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. (b) Precisely correct procedure is persistent in the use of the three spiritual skills to execute the protocol plan of God. 2. A personal sense of destiny is related to cognition of the plan and power of God. a. A personal sense of destiny recognizes that God is able, that God can do all that He wills to do, but that He may not will to do all He can do. A personal sense of destiny never makes unrealistic demands on God. b. God does not do anything contrary to His divine essence. Therefore God can never deny Himself. Anything that God promises the Church Age believer God will fulfill. This is the foundation of a personal sense of destiny. c. God does not choose to do everything by the immediate agency of His own divine power (that would eliminate volition), but He delegates His divine power to intermediate agents, and every believer of the Church Age is a potential intermediate agent. d. Here is where the functions of regenerate mankind enter into the picture historically under two concepts. (1) The function of human volition. (2) The function of a personal sense of destiny. e. You are a potential intermediate agent of the Church Age. (1) At the moment of salvation the believer receives his very own portfolio of invisible assets prepared for him by God the Father in eternity past. (2) The portfolio includes the availability of the omnipotence of God for the execution of the protocol plan of God. (3) The protocol plan of God is the greatest demonstration in history of the function of the Church Age believer in relationship to and utilization of divine power. (4) The protocol plan of God provides each believer with two power options: the filling of the Holy Spirit and the power of doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. (5) By combing the two power options the problem solving devices are deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. (6) In this way the power of God brings three spiritual skills into the life of every believer. (7) Cognition of these facts of doctrine plus consistent use of the spiritual skills results in a personal sense of destiny. f. There are seven key words in understanding a personal sense of destiny. (1) Grace. A personal sense of destiny depends on the grace provision of divine power in eternity past and the grace utilization of that divine power in time. (2) Cognition. A personal sense of destiny requires cognition of pertinent Bible doctrine related to the dispensation of the Church. (3) Priority. A personal sense of destiny assigns number one priority in life to Bible doctrine; its perception, its metabolization, its application. We are nothing without Bible doctrine. (4) Volition. The issue in life is not environment or circumstances but volition, and volition lines up with the sovereignty and omnipotence of God related to the protocol plan. The sooner you learn to take the responsibility for your own decisions, the sooner you grow up. (5) Function. A personal sense of destiny demands the function of the three spiritual skills on a consistent basis as the only means of executing the protocol plan of God, becoming a winner believer, and glorifying God as an invisible hero. (6) Power. A personal sense of destiny lives by the power and grace provision of God rather than the insertion of human dynamics, arrogance skills, lust power, and motivation of the sin nature. (7) Focus. A personal sense of destiny focuses on becoming a winner believer through unique offensive action of the spiritual life that belongs to the dispensation of the Church. A personal sense of destiny never looks back. A personal sense of destiny moves forward and looks forward. You have to look forward to see where you are going. To the extent to which you look back you are a failure. g. A personal sense of destiny includes: (1) The function of the two power options plus the three spiritual skills. It is the only way you can move forward in God's plan. (2) Contentment and tranquility of soul regardless of circumstances. (3) Stability of mentality, which leads to stability of emotions. Stability of mentality comes from metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. (4) Composure and poise in adversity marked by self- assurance. You do not always have to understand why the adversity comes. Under a personal sense of destiny it does not make any difference why it comes; the point is to use that personal sense of destiny and advance through it. (5) Grace orientation to life and doctrinal orientation to reality. (6) Good decisions from a position of strength exceeding bad decisions from a position of weakness. (7) Doctrinal inculcation in which the rate of learning exceeds the rate of forgetting; hence, divine viewpoint supersedes human viewpoint. (8) Momentum accelerated in deployment of the last four problem solving devices (personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, sharing the happiness of God, and occupation with Christ) on the FLOT line of the soul. (9) Following the colors and taking the high ground of the life beyond expectation. h. The results of a personal sense of destiny include: (1) Glorification of God. (2) Becoming a winner believer. (3) The dynamic impact of the invisible hero. D. Definition and Description. 1. The English noun destiny has a triple connotation. a. Destiny is a predetermined course of events. b. Destiny is the power that determines the course of events. c. Destiny is the agency that determines the course of events. 2. The predetermined course of events refers to the Church Age and the divine initiative of antecedent and eschatological grace. 3. There are two agencies which determine the course of events: the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. The sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist in the course of events of the Church Age. The power that determines the course of events in a personal sense of destiny are the two power options of the protocol plan and the consistent function of the three spiritual skills. 4. Definition. a. A personal sense of destiny is self-orientation to the protocol plan of God for the Church. b. A personal sense of destiny is absolute confidence in the absolutes of divine truth located in the infallible word of God. c. A personal sense of destiny is cognition and application of Church Age doctrine in its metabolized form resulting in its continued application to postsalvation experience. The advanced problem solving devices deployed give you a maximum use of a personal sense of destiny and the most fantastic life. d. A personal sense of destiny is the dividing line between spiritual childhood and spiritual adulthood. e. A personal sense of destiny is self-orientation to both living and dying grace. No one ever enters into a personal sense of destiny without grace orientation and doctrinal orientation. 5. Where does a personal sense of destiny begin? Rom 8:28, "Now we know that to those who love God He causes all things to work together for good, to those who are called on the basis of a predetermined plan." a. A personal sense of destiny begins when can fulfill the first three words "Now we know." This verse applies to only those who have reached a personal sense of destiny and no one else. b. God only causes all things to work together for good for those who have reached a personal sense of destiny and no one else. All things are not working together for good for you if you have not reached that point. 6. Description. a. Believers accept human self-esteem as a substitute for a personal sense of destiny. b. Circumstances make no difference to a personal sense of destiny. Dying is the ultimate blessing in life for the believer who has everything from a personal sense of destiny to occupation with Christ. c. A personal sense of destiny includes spiritual capacity righteousness. Spiritual capacity righteousness is in the process of being built by the first five problem solving devices. When you reach a personal sense of destiny you have spiritual capacity righteousness, which you need for the following four problem solving devices. d. A personal sense of destiny with spiritual capacity righteousness has a longing, a desire for greater things from God. e. A personal destiny includes self-motivation from the function of the spiritual skills as they are deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. The positive believer wants to know more about God, and this desire keeps on growing. As you deploy the problem solving devices and succeed in using them your capacity and your motivation keep up with each other. No one has to motivate you to come to Bible class; it is built in with a personal sense of destiny. f. A personal sense of destiny establishes greater and greater values through the focus of the eternal future. The believer begins to deploy the adult problem solving devices. This is what truly changes the life experientially. You have the self-determination to move on in your life and fulfill God's plan. The advanced problem solving devices are defined in terms of self-orientation resident in a personal sense of destiny. g. A personal sense of destiny avoids the arrogance skills and functions in the sphere of true humility from the spiritual skills. h. A personal sense of destiny is based on the doctrines of the uniqueness of the Church Age. E. The Vocabulary for a Personal Sense of Destiny. 1. There are two words used for the concept of a personal sense of destiny. a. PROSDOKAO, the verb, means to expect, to look for something, to look forward in a hopeful sense with confidence. b. PROSDOKIA, the noun, means expectation. 2. The verb is found in 2 Pet 3:13-14 and has the connotation of the expectation of a personal sense of destiny. "But according to His promise we are looking forward with confidence to a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness lives. Therefore, beloved, since you are looking forward with confidence to these things, be self-motivated to be found by Him in a state of prosperity, spotless and blameless." F. A personal sense of destiny in action is illustrated from visible heroes of the Old Testament. 1. Abraham. a. Abraham is the pattern for salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, Rom 4:9-10, "Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we contend, `Faith was credited to Abraham resulting in righteousness.' Therefore, how was it imputed? When he was in the status of circumcision, or in the status of uncircumcision? Not in the status of circumcision, but in the status of uncircumcision." (1) Abraham received the imputation of divine righteousness and was justified by faith alone in Christ alone as a Gentile long before he became of Jew, Rom 4:1-10. The imputation of divine righteousness occurred when Abraham was an uncircumcised Gentile of the third dynasty of Ur. Abraham did not become a Jew when he was saved in Ur of the Chaldees but at age ninety-nine. At age ninety-nine Abraham attained his personal sense of destiny and deployed it on his own soul. Circumcision became the sign of Abraham's personal sense of destiny. (2) There came a point in the life of Abraham when his personal sense of destiny had been attained in the same way we attain it-- through the use of the revealed word of God. When Abraham finally attained a personal sense of destiny, God ordered him to be circumcised, which is the ritual of a personal sense of destiny. b. The Judaizers who followed Paul around confused the ritual of circumcision with the reality of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. The ritual belongs to Israel only as a memorial to the postsalvation experience of the attainment of a personal sense of destiny. Rom 4:11, "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness because of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might become the father [pattern] of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them." (1) Abraham is the pattern of Old Testament salvation, which is faith alone in Christ alone. The result is the imputation of divine righteousness at salvation which is called justification. Abraham believed in Jesus Christ as He was revealed then, just as we believe in Jesus Christ now. Circumcision is the ritual sign of a personal sense of destiny. (2) Abraham used the faith-rest drill as a believer to enter into a personal sense of destiny at age ninety-nine under hopeless conditions of sexual death. Abraham had a very strong personal sense of destiny. The sign of Abraham's personal sense of destiny and the new racial species was circumcision. From this personal sense of destiny he had the greatest confident expectation with regard to his heir through whom the promises of God would be extended. (3) Abraham's personal sense of destiny had to overcome the fact he and Sarah were both sexually dead. His personal sense of destiny believed the word of God above everything else in life. He was very cognizant of the word of God before the word of God had been committed to writing. c. Rom 4:12, "and the pattern of circumcision to those who are not only from the source of circumcision, but those [Gentiles] who also follow the steps [pattern] of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised." (1) This says that faith alone in Christ alone for eternal salvation is justification by faith. This faith is little more than no faith at all. (2) Postsalvation function of the faith-rest drill resulted in a personal sense of destiny. This faith requires posting certain problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul available to Abraham. d. Rom 4:13-15, "For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation." (1) No one is ever saved by keeping the Law or any system of works or any ritual like circumcision. Circumcision was the badge of attainment of a personal sense of destiny. (2) We are saved by faith alone and we are mandated to live by faith thereafter. e. Abraham's personal sense of destiny is described in Rom 4:19- 21, "And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, he staggered not at the promise of God in unbelief, but grew strong in faith [faith-rest drill], giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform." (1) Abraham and Sarah finally reached a personal sense of destiny and the first thing they encountered was a test--sexual death. A personal sense of destiny never looks at life from the standpoint of human failure or impossibility, because a personal sense of destiny is strong in claiming the promises of God. A personal sense of destiny is that status in which what the Bible says is always right no matter what. (2) Abraham did not waver in unbelief. He no longer looked at the promise of God emotionally. God is glorified when the believer deploys and uses the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. (3) Loser believers do not understand the principle of a personal sense of destiny, because they fail to recognize that they never have to worry about God. God will do everything right and keep His word. What God has provided unconditionally, God will provide. (4) In the sophisticated spiritual life Abraham began to have true fellowship with God. With a personal sense of destiny Abraham knew that God never works through dead things, therefore submitted willingly to circumcision. (5) One day God gave a mandate to Abraham to be circumcised. The moment Abraham complied, God restored the sexual ability of Abraham and the womb of Sarah. Abraham's spiritual heritage to Israel was in two great acts of faith. Both of them were the application of a personal sense of destiny. He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief. He obeyed the command to be circumcised. Every circumcised male is a reminder of Abraham's faith in Jesus Christ and personal sense of destiny. Circumcision was an act of a personal sense of destiny, which is the power of the faith-rest drill using doctrinal rationales. (6) The heritage of Israel is regeneration through personal faith in Jesus Christ. God promised that in Isaac Abraham's progeny would be elected. True Israel is only those who believe in Christ. Circumcision is the sign of the purpose of Israel--to have a personal sense of destiny after salvation. (7) The Church Age believer's sign of a personal sense of destiny is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A personal sense of destiny opens the door to the sophisticated spiritual life. f. Abraham's personal sense of destiny looked forward to the divine initiative of eschatological grace related to living in a resurrection body and in a new earth and a new universe. (1) Heb 11:1-2, "Now faith [what is believed--doctrine] is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by means of it [doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness] men of old attained approval." (2) Heb 11:9, "By means of doctrine he [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise." What is this promise? The answer is found in the land grant covenant or promise, often called the Palestinian covenant and in the doctrine of resurrection. This promise included an eternal city. (a) Gen 13:14-16, "And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, `Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.'" (b) Gen 15:18-21, "On that day the Lord cut the covenant with Abram, saying, `To your seed I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite." (c) The eternal city is described in Rev 21:2, "And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out from heaven from God, made ready as a bride dressed for her husband." Compare Rev 21:10. Abraham looked forward to this eternal city as part of his eternal estate, so that he continued to live in a tent rather than use his great wealth to build a city. Abraham's life in a tent is another sign of his personal sense of destiny. Abraham's security was not based on fortifications, but on the function of the problem solving devices stationed on the FLOT line of the soul. (3) Heb 11:10, "for he himself kept waiting for a city which has foundations, whose architect and contractor is God." (a) A personal sense of destiny is an extension to the faith-rest drill. The only difference is the power available at the stage of a personal sense of destiny automatically moves in a utilizes doctrinal rationales in application to experience. (b) Once you begin the sophisticated spiritual life you live by principle. Every great virtue is based on principle. i. Take compassion as an example. There is a terrible pseudo compassion which is irresponsible. Pseudo compassion is a part of the emotional complex of sins. The believer who lives outside of principle lives by his emotions and uses experience as his basis for relationship with God. That believer is a spiritual loser as long as he lives. ii. When a believer reaches a personal sense of destiny, he lives by principle--the concepts of Bible doctrine metabolized in the soul and circulating in the stream of consciousness. The problem solving devices are the only means of applying principle to your experience. You were designed to live by principle. (c) A personal sense of destiny is the status of the believer who is living by principle. The application of doctrine to experience establishes spiritual values, provides God-given spiritual environment for the soul, provides self-motivation for the fulfillment of the spiritual life, becomes a prerequisite for the fulfillment of God's plan, and inevitably becomes the source of the greatest blessing and happiness you can have in this life. (4) Heb 11:11, "By means of faith [doctrine] even Sarah herself received the power for laying down the seed [to ovulate], even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised." She believed the same promise that was given to Abraham. She came to admire her husband. She had true fellowship with God, from which she had a personal sense of destiny. And from that personal sense of destiny she had capacity to love God based on principle--Bible doctrine. This gave her capacity to love a man she admired. (5) Heb 11:12-13, "Therefore, also, there was born out from the source of one man, and he as good as dead in this status, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in doctrine, without receiving the promises, but having seen them from a distance and having saluted and embraced them, they also acknowledged that they were strangers and transients on the earth." (a) Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph died in doctrine without receiving the promises and were never disappointed because they believed in resurrection. They realized that God is fair and that they did not have the capacity to enjoy that eternal city without a resurrection body. (b) How do you see from a distance? By having a personal sense of destiny. If you live by principle, sooner or later everything falls into place. You do not salute someone you cannot see. They all saw the One who would provide the blessings in eternity. They were occupied with Christ. (c) They were transients on the earth because they had true fellowship with God. If you live by principle, you will salute or embrace Him who is invisible. The sophisticated spiritual life is a life based on principles of Bible doctrine, not how you feel. (6) Abraham's personal sense of destiny in spiritual maturity was related to resurrection. Heb 11:17-19, "By means of faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; even he who had received the promise offered up his uniquely born son; face to face with whom it was said, `In Isaac your seed will be called.' He concluded that God [was] able to resurrect even from the dead; from which he also received him back in a parable." (a) The closer you get to spiritual maturity the greater becomes the testing. (b) A personal sense of destiny was related in Abraham's mind to resurrection. His personal sense of destiny was occupied into occupation with Christ. (c) More than anything in life Abraham loved his son. Even though he was mandated to sacrifice his son, He knew that God had some reason for it which was beyond human reason. Human sacrifice was contrary to everything in his life. The test was: are you going to believe what God mandates, even though you do not understand it, or are you going to refuse and never make the final step in spiritual growth? (d) Abraham did not become emotional about the Lord's command to sacrifice Isaac. He thought about it and concluded that God keeps His word. God told him to use the knife on his own foreskin and again on Isaac. Abraham did not rationalize what God had told him to do and try to find an excuse for not offering his son. When emotion creeps in, you start to rationalize. Abraham came to a conclusion that led to action--to obey God. (e) Only God could solve the problem because only God had the power to resurrect anyone. God was able to resurrect--an objective doctrinal conclusion with no emotion involved. Gen 22:5, "Stay here with the donkey and I and the lad with go yonder, and we will worship, and we will return." (f) The parable was the parable of a substitute sheep provided by God. g. Abraham had to pass the test of sexual death, which demanded the application of doctrine from a personal sense of destiny. Abraham had to pass the test of offering Isaac, which demanded the application of doctrine from a personal sense of destiny. h. This anticipates four concepts related to a personal sense of destiny in Phil 3:10, "that I may know Him [a personal sense of destiny parlayed into occupation with Christ], and the power of His resurrection [a personal sense of destiny related to the doctrine of resurrection] and the fellowship of His sufferings [a personal sense of destiny is related to true Christian fellowship as well as precedence for the Christian way of life], being made conformable to His death [a personal sense of destiny is related to both the power options and the spiritual skills]." i. Our personal sense of destiny is related to resurrection just as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. (1) Gen 50:24-26, "Now Joseph said to his brethren, `I am about to die, but God will surely concern Himself about you, so that He will take you up out of this land to the land which He has promised by an oath to Abraham [Gen 13:14-15], to Isaac [Gen 26:3] and to Jacob [Gen 35:12].' Therefore Joseph made the sons of Israel take a solemn oath, saying, `God will surely come to your rescue, therefore you will carry my bones up out from this place.' So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt." (2) Heb 11:22, "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones." Joseph's coffin would remain unburied for 400 years as a testimony to God's faithfulness. The eschatology of Israel for 400 years was Joseph's coffin. God will rescue us in His timing. Joseph's coffin continued to be a testimony of the faithfulness of God and the certainty of resurrection as the Jews followed it for forty years in the desert. (3) When Joshua led the second generation of Israel into the Land, they had a testimony recorded in Josh 24:31-32, "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Then they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons." (4) Joseph understood that physical death of the believer is a matter of grace orientation and doctrinal cognition. While Joseph had control over his life while living, he had no control over the time, the manner, or the place of his death. The death of Joseph was a matter of the sovereign wisdom and integrity of God. Joseph was not buried until 475 years after his death as a testimony to the faithfulness of God, God's timing and a memorial to the certainty of resurrection. (5) Just as the believer has no control over the time, the manner, or the place of his death, so he has no control over the time, the manner, or the place of his resurrection. Resurrection is God's victory because it is totally the work of God and includes every believer. Just as the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for time, so the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for resurrection and for all eternity. 2. Moses. a. There are many men of genius that have had a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny in someone who is a genius is a very fragile thing. There are great frustrations in being a genius. Many people of genius are the object of hatred, vindictiveness, and vilification because they are so much smarter than others. The life of a genius is no fun. Moses was the greatest genius recorded in Old Testament times. Moses was a multi genius. He was a genius in music, the military, in engineering, in public speaking. The Bible says he was the most beautiful man who ever lived. He also had phenomenal strength. But most of all, he had a personal sense of destiny. b. Moses grew up in the most beautiful palace in the ancient world--Egypt. He grew up as the adopted son of the queen of Egypt. There were two other children in the palace: the bastard son of pharaoh Thutmose II, who would one day be crowned Thutmose III, the greatest ruler in the history of Egypt, and Neferari, the daughter of queen Hatshepsut, who loved Moses. Thutmose II married Hatshepsut and lived until 1508 BC, leaving Hatshepsut as the queen regent after his death. Moses was the crown prince and heir apparent to the throne. Thutmose III was extremely jealous of Moses, hated him and Hatshepsut, and would do anything to get rid of him. When Moses came back to Egypt forty years later, he would face Amenhotep II, the son of Thutmose III and Neferari. Moses loved Neferari and was about to be named Pharaoh. At that moment he made a dramatic decision because of his personal sense of destiny. c. Acts 7:22-29, "And Moses was educated in all the academics of the Egyptians, furthermore he was dynamic in his words and deeds. But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered into his right lobe to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance on the oppressor by striking down the Egyptian. Then he concluded that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance through him; but they did not understand. Then on the following day he appeared to them as they [the Jews] were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them for the purpose of peace, saying, `Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?' But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, `Who made you a ruler and judge over us? You, you do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?' Then Moses fled at this remark, and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons." (1) Whatever Moses did was better than anything anyone had done before him. Moses built the treasure cities of Egypt. He had a phenomenal knowledge of academics, but more importantly he learned doctrine. He was the number one man in the Egyptian empire at its peak. (2) As a believer it was time for him to identify himself with the Jews, because God had revealed to him that he would be the founder of the Jewish nation in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Already he was planning how he would deliver them from slavery. Moses committed murder to deliver a fellow Jew. (3) The fact that Moses concluded that God was giving the Jews deliverance through him was a personal sense of destiny in a born-again believer. Moses had a personal sense of destiny with a dilemma--the Jews did not understand he was to deliver them. Moses had the right personal sense of destiny but the wrong timing. God's timing must always supersede man's timing. (4) Moses fled because God had revealed to him something that had given him a personal sense of destiny but it was not working out the way he thought it should. Moses, on Moses' timing, had failed to deliver Israel because his timing was wrong. However there was nothing wrong with his personal sense of destiny. (5) In the forty years that Moses was in Midian, the Jews had become ready for deliverance. It took his entire life, 120 years, for his personal sense of destiny to be fulfilled. Moses had to learn that human power and human dynamics cannot fulfill the plan of God in any dispensation. For forty years Moses had to go to the college of Bible doctrine and become occupied with Christ before he could be sent back to Egypt. (6) Before Moses could take his family back into Egypt forty years later his personal sense of destiny demanded that he circumcise his two sons, since circumcision was the ritual sign of circumcision. Moses could not give the message to Pharoah to let the Jews go or all the first born males in Egypt would be slain by God until Moses had first circumcised his own first born son was circumcised. Moses had been put under the sin unto death for failure to obey, Ex 4:24. His wife circumcised his son and then left him and took his sons with her. Moses had learned the lesson that when God makes a promise, it does not depend on man or upon the power of man. It always has to be God's timing and God's power, not man's. d. Every believer must learn the lesson of dependence on who and what God is. Every believer must understand the essence of God. The Lord will provide the power. It took Moses forty years to learn this lesson. e. Heb 11:24-27, "By means of doctrine, when Moses had become great, he refused to be proclaimed the Pharaoh; and he choose to endure maltreatment with the people of God, rather than enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin; he concluded that reproach [insults, reviling, disgrace] for the sake of Christ greater value than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking ahead to his reward. By means of doctrine he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger; for he persevered, because he kept on seeing the invisible One." Moses understood the fantastic blessings for eternity. f. A personal sense of destiny establishes true spiritual values in time related to the spiritual life. A personal sense of destiny applies of the divine initiative of eschatological grace to the eternal state. This is what Moses did. g. Moses made his decision to give up the throne of Egypt as a celebrity, not as a failure in life. The decision was not subjective, emotional, acting out of guilt, impulsive, or based on bitterness and disillusion. Moses made his decision at the lowest ebb of Jewish history. So there was nothing to be gained by this decision. Moses made the decision when he was fully aware of the pleasures he would have if he remained in Egypt. Moses also had to choose between God's plan for his life and the woman he loved. Moses reversed what Adam had done. h. The dynamic decision of Moses was made under three legitimate motivations: metabolized doctrine circulating in his stream of consciousness, cognition of his future blessings in eternity, and occupation with the person of Christ. i. Moses wrote in Ps 90:12, "So teach us to organize our days, That we may attain a heart of wisdom." j. A personal sense of destiny must be related always to divine power, never human genius, never human dynamics. A legitimate personal sense of destiny can be destroyed through arrogance. While Moses had a personal sense of destiny, he was not yet ready to be promoted to the leadership of Israel. A personal sense of destiny must be reinforced with all the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. The arrogance skills have no place in the fulfillment of God's plan, and are, therefore, a distraction to the personal sense of destiny. Moses had made a great decision which required sacrifice on his part. Now he must learn to use divine power and never look back. k. A personal sense of destiny is related to the dynamics of spiritual leadership. When Israel was trapped at the Red Sea, Moses said in Ex 14:13-14, "Do not fear! Take your stand and watch the deliverance of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you shut up." (1) Fear is incompatible with a personal sense of destiny. (a) The only mandates for fear are used in the sense of respect or fellowship with God. A personal sense of destiny has eliminated fear from your life. Where fear dominates it eliminates the spiritual skills including the personal sense of destiny. (b) Fear eliminates the functions of the spiritual skills, which includes a personal sense of destiny as a problem solving device. The loser believer cannot conquer fear in a crisis because he has no personal sense of destiny. This is why the Jews of the Exodus generation could not learn anything from Moses. Fear and a personal sense of destiny are mutually exclusive. (c) Not only is leadership required to have a personal sense of destiny, but in the Christian way of life it is imperative that those who listen to the teaching of the word of God also have a personal sense of destiny. (d) Fear of death will never prevent dying but it may prevent living. This is why the Exodus generation died in the desert. (2) Whenever Moses taught the people, he made them stand. You take your stand when you stop being afraid. Taking your stand means utilizing the faith-rest drill, which was understood by them. Then you have the privilege of watching the Lord's deliverance. No one ever succeeds in the spiritual life by trying to help God. A personal sense of destiny stands still and watches the deliverance of the Lord. (3) A personal sense of destiny is living by principle. It provides leadership for the crisis. The Jews were delivered by the Lord through one mature believer with a personal sense of destiny. Fear sees the problem; a personal sense of destiny sees the solution. (4) They had to shut up to they could drop their arrogance and watch the grace of God. There emotion had become a distraction and they needed to shut up, watch, and learn. 3. Joshua. a. At the end of his life as a great leader Joshua said in a crisis of Jewish apostasy, Josh 24:14-15, "Now, therefore, respect the Lord and serve Him in integrity and doctrine; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River [Nile] and in Egypt, therefore serve the Lord. Furthermore if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites [the Phallic cult] in whose land you are living; but as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord." (1) Serving the Lord in doctrine is the means of deploying the personal sense of destiny on the FLOT line of the soul. (2) Joshua learned from Moses that you cannot force people into a course of action when it comes to doctrine. b. Joshua was not only the leader of Israel but of his family. c. Like Moses, Joshua had a personal sense of destiny and a life to match that personal sense of destiny. d. A personal sense of destiny recognizes in grace that God does the work and we cannot help God. A personal sense of destiny never loses sight of the fact that God does the work. 4. David. a. In 1 Sam 17:26 David said to the soldiers standing around him, "Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, `What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should ridicule the armies of the living God?'" David understood the meaning of Abraham's circumcision as a sign of a personal sense of destiny. b. David had a personal sense of destiny when he killed a lion and a bear to save his sheep. 1 Sam 17:36, "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has ridiculed the armies of the living God." David saw the solution, not the problem. c. When Israel was being taunted the Philistine Goliath, David said in 1 Sam 17:45-47, "Then David said to the Philistine, `You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of the armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have ridiculed. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will strike you down and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the vultures and the wild animals of the land, that all the land may know that there is a God is in Israel. Furthermore that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into my hands." David paraphrased Moses "the Lord will fight for you today." d. A personal sense of destiny takes a stand against consensus human viewpoint. Consensus human viewpoint prevailed in the bivouac of Israel until David arrived. The entire army of Israel was afraid. 5. Jeremiah. a. Jeremiah ministered for forty years, beginning with the thirteenth year of king Josiah in 626 B.C. and continued until 586 B.C. He taught the word of God under the last five kings of Judah. He taught three generations that were negative to doctrine just as Moses had done. The only response to Moses' and Jeremiah's ministries was from the young people. b. Jeremiah understood the true significance of circumcision as a ritual related to Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. He parlayed a personal sense of destiny into occupation with Christ. He understood the relationship between the reality of a personal sense of destiny and its meaning in the ritual of circumcision. c. Jer 4:4, "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My wrath go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds." (1) Jeremiah challenged the people to be circumcised, something they understood very well. The challenge was to use the doctrine in their souls to develop a personal sense of destiny and become occupied with Christ. (2) The foreskins of their heart referred to the arrogance skills, scar tissue of the soul, and reversionism. It was never too late to recover as long as you are alive. But if you continue rejecting doctrine, you will completely cover your stream of consciousness with scar tissue of the soul. You will come to the point of Esau, who was circumcised but never believed in Christ. Therefore, his very own circumcision meant nothing because of the scar tissue of his soul. (3) Jeremiah was remembering Moses' message of Deut 30:6, "Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your progeny, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." Circumcising the heart is a personal sense of destiny. Loving the Lord your God will all your heart is occupation with Christ. d. Jer 6:10, "To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it." (1) The uncircumcised ear refers to the negative volition to Bible doctrine at the point of hearing. People who enjoy doctrine are positive believers, even when they are rebuked. People who do not like doctrine never like to hear any message that rebukes them. (2) When you reject doctrine you become a slave to something in your life. Your values change and you go back to being what you were before. You are far worse than what you were before because you have scar tissue of the soul. Once you have rejected Bible doctrine and become a slave to the humanistic values of life, you cannot listen to the word of God without reacting and despising doctrine. You can always tell if your are positive to doctrine, because you will enjoy the principles of the word of God even when they hit you right between the eyes. (3) Believers who are at first positive to doctrine and then become negative fade as losers. They find neither comfort nor delight in the word of God; for their very actions are condemned by it. People who leave Bible doctrine are subjective. They change by hearing Bible doctrine and reacting. e. Jer 9:25, "`Behold, the days are coming,' decrees the Lord, `that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised--" They have ritual without reality from Bible doctrine. They no doctrine, no values, no positive volition. Jeremiah taught the same thing that Moses taught in Deut 10:16, "Therefore circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no more." When you have Bible doctrine circulating in the seven compartments of your stream of consciousness, then you have a circumcised heart. 6. Daniel. When Daniel and his friends were about to be killed, he said, Dan 2:20-21, "Daniel answered and said, `Let the name of the Lord be blessed forever and ever; for wisdom and power belong to Him. For it is He who changes the times and the dispensations; He removes rulers and establishes rulers; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to the knowers of doctrine." 7. Summary. a. Abraham's personal sense of destiny was related to the power of the faith-rest drill, which he exploited to the maximum. He had a personal sense of destiny related to his circumcision and related to resurrection. b. Joseph demonstrated in the fourth generation that the principle of a personal sense of destiny related to resurrection was still there. c. Moses' personal sense of destiny saw the solution while Israel could only see the problems. In testing a personal sense of destiny concentrates on the solution. The divine solution is the only solution. d. Joshua demonstrated that a personal sense of destiny does not need consensus. Instead of consensus Joshua had fellowship with God. (1) Consensus does not determine right or wrong; the word of God does that in the thinking of the believer who has attained a personal sense of destiny. (2) Therefore a personal sense of destiny is always on the side of the absolutes of Bible doctrine. e. David demonstrated that a personal sense of destiny is constructed through the testing experience. David had the preparation of killing a lion and a bear which had taken a lamb. The personal sense of destiny acknowledges that the only true hero for any crisis is our Lord Jesus Christ. A personal sense of destiny advances to occupation with Christ. f. Daniel demonstrated that because of grace orientation a personal sense of destiny recognizes that God can handle every crisis in life, and that He has delegated to us the right mental attitude to go with that crisis. g. Jeremiah kept teaching doctrine in spite of three generations rejecting his message. He watched the young men and women of his last Bible class go into slavery with a personal sense of destiny. h. The four unconditional covenants should have given Israel a total personal sense of destiny. i. The summary of circumcision was given by Stephen in his message to the men of Israel, among whom stood Saul of Tarsus. Acts 7:51, "You men who are stiff-necked [the application of the three arrogance skills in the status of scar tissue of the soul] and uncircumcised of heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your ancestors did." Resisting the Holy Spirit is ritual without reality. Acts 7:58, "And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul." The attitude of Saul at Stephen's death is given in Acts 8:1a, "And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death." After his salvation, Paul would teach that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the mandates of God, 1 Cor 7:19. 8. The Church Age believer who uses the two power options on a daily basis to deploy problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul has the potential to be greater than all these Old Testament visible heroes. Every Church Age believer has equal opportunity to attain a personal sense of destiny. God has provided for you your very own portfolio of invisible assets, so that you can have greater power from God, greater blessing, greater impact. 9. Principles. a. Only metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness can be applied to experience. The vehicle for application of doctrine to experience is always the problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. If you do not have problem solving devices deployed, you do not have true solutions to the problems you face. b. Therefore you will make bad decisions from a position of weakness. A personal sense of destiny heads off bad decisions in all areas of your life from a position of weakness. c. A personal sense of destiny is the advanced application of metabolized Bible doctrine to experience. Your spiritual life really begins to move once you have a personal sense of destiny. If you do not reach a personal sense of destiny, you happiness all your life is dependent on things that man provides, some form of stimulation such as wealth, success, sex, promotion. None of these things can cope with life. d. A personal sense of destiny is spiritual orientation to the plan, will, and purpose of God in contrast to self-absorption. The more you justify yourself, the more you deceive yourself and the greater becomes your self-absorption. Self-absorption must continue to justify self. e. A personal sense of destiny is objective viewpoint in contrast to self-absorption which is subjective viewpoint. A personal sense of destiny begins to eliminate the human viewpoint in your life. f. A personal sense of destiny is the maturity extension of the faith-rest drill as a major factor in the application of doctrine. There are three stages of the faith-rest drill. (1) Faith mechanics begin with mixing the promises of God with faith and continue with the application of doctrinal rationales. The essence of God rationale, the plan of God rationale, the policy of God rationale, the a fortiori rationale. (2) Faith functions include: faith perception of doctrine, the plaintiff function before the supreme court of heaven to resolve the problems of injustice, and faith correlation with other problem solving devices like a personal sense of destiny, sharing the happiness of God, or occupation with Christ. (3) Faith execution include: the faith-rest drill as a coordinator of all the problem solving devices, the faith-rest drill is a source of great humility, the faith-rest drill is related to spiritual growth and divine promotion. Since the faith-rest drill is the basic problem solving device for the application of doctrine to experience, a personal sense of destiny takes over and becomes the advanced problem solving device for the application of doctrine to experience. (a) Under the protocol plan of God every Church Age believer is given a destiny as a part of the divine initiative of grace. You have been given spiritual freedom and provision to fulfill your destiny. (b) The believer must distinguish between having a destiny and fulfilling that destiny. All believers have a destiny; only positive believers fulfill it. (c) This destiny is often called "the riches of His glory." Rom 9:23, "In order that He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of mercy which He has prepared in advance for His glory." Eph 1:18, "That the eyes of your right lobe may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope [confidence] of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Eph 3:8, "To me, the very least of all saints, this grace has been given to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ." Eph 3:16, "That He may give you on the basis of the riches of His glory to become strong by means of power through His Spirit in your inner being." Col 2:2, "That their right lobes may be encouraged, having been knit together in virtue love and attaining to all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding on the basis of epignosis knowledge of the mystery, that is, Christ." Phil 4:19, "My God shall supply all of your needs on the basis of the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." g. A personal sense of destiny is an extension of the faith-rest drill into maturity. A personal sense of destiny is defined as the application of metabolized doctrine to the believer's self-orientation. Self-orientation is the function of the spiritual skills (filling of the Spirit, metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness, and the function of the ten problem solving devices) in contrast to the arrogance skills (self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption). 10. Principles. a. God has provided in eternity past as a part of our portfolio of invisible assets our very own spiritual life. You and you alone are the only who can live that spiritual life. b. The spiritual life functions under three spiritual skills: the filling of the Holy Spirit, metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness, and the formation and function of the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. c. A personal sense of destiny is defined as maximum application of metabolized doctrine to the believer's self-orientation, so that his life on this earth has meaning, purpose, and definition related to the protocol plan of God. d. Our postsalvation experience revolves around our spiritual life. e. Therefore, a personal sense of destiny as problem solving device number six is the advanced application of metabolized doctrine to the problems of life. God never puts on us more than we can bear, expect in divine discipline. Your problem solving devices match your problems. f. A personal sense of destiny is self-orientation to the protocol plan of God for your life based on the application of doctrine to your experience. Therefore, a personal sense of destiny is related to many doctrines you apply to your experience: the uniqueness of the Church Age, the content of your portfolio, the a fortiori of Rom 8:32. A personal sense of destiny avoids the complications involved in the function of the arrogance skills. g. A personal sense of destiny is formed from other problem solving devices. It is formed from the filling of the Holy Spirit, metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. It becomes an extension of the faith-rest drill into more mature applications of doctrine to experience. G. A Personal Sense From the Standpoint of its Future. 1. A personal sense of destiny looks forward, never backward. Therefore the self-orientation of your personal sense of destiny includes the reality of future prophetical events beyond the rapture of the Church. 2. Eschatological doctrine is a part of the believer's spiritual life and related to a personal sense of destiny. 3. 2 Pet 3:10-14 is part of the believer's eschatological challenge to a personal sense of destiny. In looking forward a personal sense of destiny fulfills the principle of living your life in the light of eternity. a. The outline of this passage is as follows: (1) 2 Pet 3:10--what survives the destruction of the universe establishes the only permanent values related to a personal sense of destiny and the highest priorities for us right now. A personal sense of destiny has nothing but permanent values and all other values are built around that. (2) 2 Pet 3:11--the eschatological challenge to a personal sense of destiny is based on the destruction of the universe. (3) 2 Pet 3:12--this verse relates a personal sense of destiny to permanent spiritual values. (4) 2 Pet 3:13--a personal sense of destiny relates our spiritual life to the eternal state. (5) 2 Pet 3:14--a personal sense of destiny relates our spiritual life to the rapture or resurrection of the Church. b. A personal sense of destiny cannot be divorced from eschatology on the basis of the fact that a personal sense of destiny looks forward, never backward. Hence, a personal sense of destiny is the means of application of pertinent eschatological doctrine to self-orientation both in time and in the eternal state. c. A personal sense of destiny is related to the divine initiative of eschatological grace. (1) A personal sense of destiny is always related to dying grace, Ps 23:4. God has provided for each one of us our very own death shadowed valley as a part of the divine initiative of eschatological grace in time. (2) A personal sense of destiny is related to the divine initiative of eschatological grace in the eternal state in 2 Pet 3:10-14. The future of the believer in the eternal state becomes a motivator once we reach the point of a personal sense of destiny. Once we attain this our scale of values becomes quite different. 4. 2 Pet 3:10-14, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will disappear with a roar and the elements will be dissolved with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be incinerated. Since in this way all these things will be destroyed, what sort of person must you become in a dedicated to God lifestyle, that is to say, your very own spiritual life, while looking forward with confidence and hastening the coming day of God, in which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But on the basis of His promise we are looking forward with confidence to a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Since therefore, beloved, you are looking forward with confidence to these things, be self-motivated to be found by Him in a state of prosperity, spotless [having spiritual capacity righteousness] and blameless." a. At the end of human history the universe in which we live we be completely destroyed by our Lord Jesus Christ in a moment of time. Five things survive the destruction of the universe and therefore are of the highest value in life and become the content of a personal sense of destiny related to the eternal future. (1) Eternal salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. Only the believer will survive the destruction of the universe at the end of history. (2) The resurrection body survives the destruction of the universe to enter into the eternal state. (3) The infallible word of God, Isa 40:8, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever." Mt 24:35, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away." (4) Escrow blessings for the eternal state. A personal sense of destiny accepts the challenge to use volition to attain escrow blessings, and is self-motivated to persevere in the three spiritual skills to fulfill the protocol plan of God and receive their escrow blessings. (5) The historical records of the invisible hero survive the destruction of the universe. His name, his title, and his deeds are a part of the permanent historical record of the Church Age in the hall of records in heaven. b. A personal sense of destiny includes living your life in the light of eternity or "looking forward with confidence." A personal sense of destiny avoids the arrogant solution to the problems of life which include the function of the three arrogant skills (self-justification, self- deception, and self-absorption). Self-absorption is the antithesis of a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny anticipates the fulfillment of better things in the eternal state and lives on the basis of divine promises. It anticipates the fulfillment of the promise of better things in the eternal state. c. A personal sense of destiny looks forward with confidence to the creation of a new heavens and a new earth. The new universe of the eternal state is prophesied in Isa 65:17, 66:22. It is the basis for a personal sense of destiny in both Rev 21:1 and 2 Pet 3:13. The righteousness which dwells in the eternal state is the righteousness given by God the Father which provides capacity for blessings in the eternal state. God will never bless you beyond your capacity; that would be cruel. d. As a problem solving device a personal sense of destiny applies the divine initiative of eschatological grace to the believer in time. A personal sense of destiny functioning under both the power options and the spiritual skills lives with focus on the eternal state, and therefore lives in the light of eternity. e. A personal sense of destiny is developed from the self- motivation produced through the metabolized doctrine circulating in your soul. When you reach a personal sense of destiny, you have reached the point of the self-motivation necessary to execute the protocol plan of God. Once you reach the point of a personal sense of destiny all of your motivation will come from yourself. f. Spiritual capacity righteousness plus a personal sense of destiny understands the highest objective in time and becomes the ultimate objective of the eternal state. "Spotless" means "being filled with all the fullness from God" (Eph 3:19), "partners in the divine endowment" (2 Pet 1:4). Blameless means no shame at the judgment seat of Christ. 4. Principles. a. There is a pseudo personal sense of destiny. It is related to the unbeliever's life on this earth as illustrated by the apostle Paul's success in Judaism, Phil 3:4-6. b. The human achievement of a pseudo sense of destiny is a dead end. It provides no real happiness in time and the lake of fire for the eternal state. "So the glory of the world passes away." What a tragedy to come to the reality of dying and to look back and to realize that everything you have attained that mankind calls success has no meaning in the eternal state. It is only what goes beyond the destruction of the universe that counts. c. For the believer the consistent function of the spiritual skills results in a true personal sense of destiny, which is the source of the greatest self-motivation and the greatest blessing up to that time in his life. d. The motivation for the personal sense of destiny is the attainment of the advanced problem solving devices. They are attained much more rapidly than the basic problem solving devices were. e. The believer's personal sense of destiny is related to the most fantastic blessings of living and dying grace. The personal sense of destiny provides a spiritual life, a divine initiative of grace in four categories: (1) Antecedent grace of eternity past, the fulfillment of your very own portfolio of invisible assets. (2) Antecedent grace in time, the function of the power options and the spiritual skills to execute the protocol plan of God. The impact which follows is invisible but it changes the course of history. (3) Eschatological grace in dying, in which the believer journeys through his very own death-shadowed valley. For the believer who is a winner, dying is a far greater blessing than living, and the entrance into the presence of the Lord is far greater than anything that has ever occurred on this earth. (4) Eschatological grace in the eternal state, in which the winner believer anticipates and receives the escrow blessings for the eternal state. f. A personal sense of destiny cannot lack anything in living grace and cannot fear anything in dying grace. Therefore, a personal sense of destiny anticipates with confidence Phil 1:21, "For me living Christ, and dying profit." g. A personal sense of destiny is both self-motivated to persist in the function of the spiritual skills and the major system of application of metabolized doctrine to postsalvation experience. h. The believer who becomes bogged down in the reality of their problems never seem to find equal reality in divine solutions. This is because of ignorance of the problem solving devices and how they are deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. i. Divine solutions are the function of the third spiritual skill of the Christian way of life. The third spiritual skill is formed by the two power options--the filling of the Holy Spirit and metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. The third spiritual skill are the ten divine problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. Once the personal sense of destiny is in place in the soul, then you have total self-motivation for the final advance to maturity with the last four problem solving devices (personal love for God, impersonal love for God, sharing the happiness of God, and occupation with Christ). j. Divine solutions to the problems of life exist in one sphere of Christian modus operandi--the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. Human solutions are no solutions. Divine solutions are the only solutions. Divine solutions are the only system for the application of metabolized doctrine to experience. k. Divine solutions originate from the consistent function of two power options which become three spiritual skills. l. The biblical use of the elative conclusion establishes an absolute which eliminates all relatives in the spiritual life. The absolute is the divine solution. The relative is always the human solution. m. Since problem solving is a major function of the spiritual life of the Church, all divine solutions are related to the deployment of these battalions on the FLOT line of your soul. You were designed to be spiritually independent of human solutions in life. n. Metabolized doctrine or epignosis circulating in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness creates the divine solutions, the only legitimate and accurate system of application of Bible doctrine to experience. o. God the Holy Spirit is both the teacher and the metabolizer of Bible doctrine. In turn, metabolized Bible doctrine creates its own solutions, the divine solutions to human problems. p. The divine solutions form the third spiritual skill, which completes the structure of your very own spiritual life. The spiritual life of the Church Age believer is consistent only when all three spiritual skills are operational in your life. The result is the execution of the protocol plan of God. 5. A personal sense of destiny is both the means and the result of the application of doctrine to experience. a. As a means of application of Bible doctrine, a personal sense of destiny applies the doctrinal principles and rationales to the problems of life. b. As a result of the application of Bible doctrine, a personal sense of destiny motivates the continuation of the spiritual skills in the deployment of the advanced problem solving devices. This is how self- motivation in your soul reaches its peak. Self-motivation comes through the function or use of the spiritual skills. All three spiritual skills provide the only motivation that is legitimate in the advance of your spiritual life to the glorification of God. c. The consistent function of three spiritual skills is offensive action resulting in victory in the spiritual life. We learn to execute God's plan, not the plan of some legalistic group. (1) The availability of the spiritual skills creates options for the spiritual life. (2) A personal sense of destiny recognizes the importance of volition in the spiritual life. (3) A personal sense of destiny deployed on the FLOT line of the soul establishes right priorities and true spiritual values. (4) A personal sense of destiny deployed on the FLOT line of the soul creates the spiritual environment for the function of the advanced problem solving devices and causes us from the motivation of our soul to make right decisions daily to advance us to spiritual maturity. (5) A personal sense of destiny deployed on the FLOT line of the soul provides self-motivation for perseverance in the function of the spiritual skills. All motivation must come from your soul. No pastor can force you or lead you into a course of action or into some system. The job of the pastor is to communicate the information. (6) The advance includes moving forward through a barrage of momentum testing with full use of all the problem solving devices with emphasis on the advanced problem solving devices. A personal sense of destiny becomes the turning point in your spiritual life. (7) It is a personal sense of destiny that applies metabolized doctrine to experience, winning the battles of the soul, including: the battle of stress in the soul, the battle of sin in the soul, the battle of false doctrine in the soul, the battle of false solutions. Adversity in many categories is a challenge to motivation and momentum of a personal sense of destiny. Adversity comes in many categories to frustrate momentum in that personal sense of destiny; for example: rejection from others, unjust treatment, a victim of vilification, loss of health, economic disaster, criminal disaster, weather disaster, historical disaster. d. Problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul often are driven back and must counterattack. (1) Adversity is the outside pressures of life. Stress is the inside pressure of the soul. Adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. Adversity is what circumstances do to you, stress is what you do to yourself. (2) When adversity attacks, you do not have to let it break through the defensive line of doctrine in your soul and create stress in your soul. Stress in the soul is damaging to the spiritual life. (3) Often adversity is permitted by God as a part of momentum testing for your own spiritual advance. When the problem solving devices deal with adversity on the FLOT line of the soul, the believer is a winner. When adversity breaks through the FLOT line of the soul and becomes stress in the soul, it temporarily destroys your spiritual life. (4) Stress in the soul means sin nature control of the soul. The command post of the stream of consciousness is put out of action and the believer suffers either temporary or permanent loss of spiritual life, depending on the believer's use of the rebound technique to recover. (5) Stress in the soul destroys the modus vivendi of the spiritual skills including the function of a personal sense of destiny. Only the rebound technique recovers fellowship with God and the restoration of the filling of the Spirit. (6) When the sin nature takes control of the soul and there is no rebound, the spiritual life of the believer implodes and fragments into the function of the arrogance skills, the arrogance complex of sins, the emotional complex of sins, reversionism, moral degeneracy from legalism, immoral degeneracy from antinomianism. H. Offensive Action in the Spiritual Life Related to A Personal Sense of Destiny. 1. The FLOT line of the believer's soul (the place where problem solving devices are deployed as you learn doctrine) is designed for two kinds of action: defensive action against Satan and demons and offensive action through the function of the three spiritual skills. a. Defensive action against Satan is described in the Greek verb ANTHISTEMI, which means "stand your ground," Jam 4:7; 1 Pet 5:9; Eph 6:13. We are not to take offensive action against Satan and his demons. (1) Legalism and Christian activism seeks to take offensive action against Satan, while grace orientation with the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul seeks to remain defensive against Satan, and therefore clear the field of fire for the power of God to be used from heaven. (2) The believer's defensive action against Satan allows the omnipotence of God to clear the field for God's offensive action against Satan. b. The protocol plan of God for the Church demands defensive action on the FLOT line of the soul against Satan and offensive action through the function of the spiritual skills. 2. The Principle of Objective. a. The purpose of any military operation is to attain the objective assigned to a designated force. This is also true in the spiritual life. b. The objective of the protocol plan of God for the Church is the glorification of God through the consistent function of the spiritual skills, which is offensive action from the FLOT line of the soul. c. The objective constitutes a guide for the interpretation of orders, the formulation of decisions, the deployment of problem solving devices. The interpretation of orders demands that we use the two power options and the three spiritual skills. The formulation of decisions are the daily decisions we use with regard to the objective of the glorification of God. The purpose for the deployment of the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul is to attain the objective of becoming a winner believer and invisible hero. Deployment is based on the function of ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of your soul. d. The principle of offensive action comes into focus with the objective of becoming a winner believer. 3. The Principle of Offensive Action. a. Offensive action is the only action by which a decision is gained. b. Offensive action brings victory compatible with the objective while defensive action simply avoids defeat. The purpose of offensive action is to win. God has assigned to us specific offensive action under divine mandates. c. Christian offensive action is the utilization of the divine initiative of grace to become a winner believer. The winner believer is consistent in the function of the three spiritual skills, executes the protocol plan of God for the Church, utilizes equal opportunity to execute the protocol plan; and therefore, the winner believer utilizes the divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past. d. Offensive action uses the FLOT line of the soul as a staging area for the application of metabolized Bible doctrine to experience. e. The ten problem solving devices take the offensive in the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God, resulting in being filled with all the fullness from God. f. The problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul are the accurate and legitimate system for the application of Bible doctrine to postsalvation experience. Any application apart from these ten problem solving devices is false, erroneous, and leads to major spiritual disaster. g. The problem solving devices are formed on the FLOT line of the soul from a combination of two power options: the filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. 4. 1 Cor 2:9-16, "But as it stands written, `What eye has not seen [empiricism] and the ear has not heard [rationalism], furthermore it has not entered into the right lobe of mankind, what God has prepared for those who love Him.' But to us for our benefit God has revealed them [doctrines] through the Spirit; for the Spirit investigates all things, even the deep things from God. For who among men understands the thoughts of a man except the soul-life, which is in him? Even so the thoughts from God no one has known except the Spirit from God. But we have not received, a human I.Q. of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that He might make known to us the things which have been graciously given to us by God, which things we also do not communicate in words taught by human wisdom, but in doctrines taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to spiritual persons. But the soulish person [unbeliever] does not receive the things from the Spirit of God; for to him it is senseless. Furthermore he is not able to understand, because it [Bible doctrine] is discerned in a manner caused by the filling of the Spirit. But the spirit filled believer discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one. For who knows the thinking of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we keep on having the mind of Christ [the word of God]." 5. Why we are to have offensive action in the Christian life is taught in 2 Cor 5:17, "Therefore if any one is in Christ, [he is] a new spiritual species; the old things have lost their power; behold, new things have come to pass." a. The baptism of the Spirit created the new spiritual species at the moment of salvation. There are two new species in history: the new racial species, Israel and the new spiritual species. b. The new spiritual species is mentioned in Gal 6:15, "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new spiritual species." c. As a new spiritual species we have equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church, which includes spiritual freedom. (1) Jn 8:32, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (2) Spiritual freedom existed in the Old Testament, Ps 119:45, "For I will walk in freedom; For I seek Your doctrines." (3) Spiritual freedom must be guarded, Gal 5:1, "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free; therefore keep standing fast and do not again become entangled in the yoke of slavery." The yoke of slavery includes: sin nature control of the soul, the function of the arrogance skills, the function of the arrogance and emotional complex of sins and the trends which result from it, and the neurotic or psychotic believer. d. The old things which have lost their power is spiritual death. 1 Cor 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." Human power has been replaced by divine power. The spiritual life runs on divine power rather than human power. e. The new things which have come to pass refer to all the unique features of the Church Age: our portfolio of invisible assets, the forty things given to us at salvation, the unique characteristics of the Church Age. 6. The focal point of the spiritual life means the principal point of focus, which, after the attainment of a personal sense of destiny, emphasizes the sophistication of the spiritual life and offensive action of the Church Age believer. The focal point of the spiritual life of the Church Age believer is the function of the two power options and the three spiritual skills by which we execute the protocol plan of God for the Church. a. Attainment of a personal sense of destiny is a landmark of the spiritual life. It is when we enter into the sophisticated spiritual life. A personal sense of destiny is the entrance into the sophisticated spiritual life. b. A personal sense of destiny separates the winner believer from the loser believer. c. A personal sense of destiny separates spiritual childhood from spiritual adulthood. d. A personal sense of destiny adds sophistication to the spiritual life of the believer as he enters spiritual adulthood. Spiritual adulthood occurs in three categories. (1) Spiritual self-esteem is cognitive self-confidence; hence, entrance into a sophisticated spiritual life. Cognition is the key to sophistication. Once you reach a personal sense of destiny you are now in spiritual self-esteem and have entered the sophisticated spiritual life. (2) Spiritual autonomy is cognitive independence. This is added sophistication to the spiritual life. (3) Spiritual maturity is cognitive invincibility. This is maximum sophistication of the spiritual life. Sophistication means advancing cognition of Bible doctrine, advancing metabolization of doctrine. e. Each stage of sophisticated spiritual adulthood deploys problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. Spiritual self-esteem deploys personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind on the FLOT line of the soul. Spiritual autonomy deploys sharing the happiness of God on the FLOT line of the soul. Spiritual maturity deploys occupation with Christ on the FLOT line of the soul. f. For the first time in history the function of the spiritual life demands thought before action. g. The sophistication of the spiritual life as related to a personal sense of destiny always has a focal point--spiritual skills must precede production skills for the performance of divine good. The focal point of the spiritual life occurs with the attainment of a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny with its maximum self-motivation enters into the sophisticated spiritual life. The sophisticated spiritual life is the highest motivation in any factor of spirituality. There is no greater self-motivation than that which comes from the sophisticated spiritual life. The initial focal point of the spiritual life is the function of the two power options, divine power replacing human dynamics. It advances to the three spiritual skills. But before it does divine power has replaced all human power. h. Therefore offensive action of the three spiritual skills attains the objectives of the spiritual life. (1) Continued offensive action of the three spiritual skills in the sophisticated spiritual life by which you become a winner. (2) Effective Christian service. (3) A winner believer. (4) An invisible hero. (5) Glorification of God. i. A personal sense of destiny is key to offensive action in your spiritual life. (1) A personal sense of destiny is the self-motivation to follow the colors and advance to the high ground of spiritual maturity. The personal sense of destiny opens the gates to the sophisticated spiritual life. Personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind make up the spiritually adult believer's spiritual self-esteem. Sharing the happiness of God is spiritual autonomy. Occupation with Christ is spiritual maturity and the ultimate spiritual experience in the spiritual life. (2) A personal sense of destiny is the dividing line between spiritual childhood and spiritual adulthood. A personal sense of destiny adds sophistication to the spiritual life. (3) A personal sense of destiny is also the dividing between the believer and the unbeliever. No unbeliever has a personal sense of destiny like the one God the Father has provided for the believer. (4) Sophistication related to the spiritual life is defined as changing the life of the believer through cognition, the utilization of the two power options (the filling of the Holy Spirit and metabolized doctrine circulating in the soul) and the three spiritual skills. Cognition always precedes action in the spiritual life. (5) The key to the sophisticated spiritual life is cognition. Spiritual adulthood occurs in three categories: spiritual self- esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity. Fellowship with God finally opens up when the believer attains a personal sense of destiny. In spiritual self-esteem the believer has personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind. In spiritual autonomy the believer shares the happiness of God. In spiritual maturity the believer is occupied with Christ. (6) Therefore, from a personal sense of destiny and the sophisticated spiritual life the invisible hero emerges to glorify God in time and forever in the eternal state. (7) No wonder the sophisticated spiritual life is filled with human blessing beyond human description and fulfills the statement that God has done exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. (8) A personal sense of destiny is entrance into full realization that every aspect of the spiritual life functions on divine power provided by the divine initiative of antecedent grace. I. A Personal Sense of Destiny and Mental Attitude. 1. The personal sense of destiny is the greatest and most unusual change in all of the Christian life. It is shifting gears from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood. 2. With a personal sense of destiny comes a phenomenal mental attitude, reflected in a number of passages in the word of God. a. Eph 4:22-24, "With reference to your former lifestyle [as a loser believer] you yourself lay aside the old man which is being corrupted on the basis of the lusts of deceit and become renewed [refreshed] by means of the [Holy] Spirit by means of the way of your thinking, and clothe yourselves with the new man which on the basis of the will of God has been created by means of spiritual capacity righteousness and holiness toward God from doctrine." The Greek verb ANANOEO means to be refreshed or renewed. (1) The lusts of deceit are described in Gal 6:3, "For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." (2) The lusts of deceit have to do with the lust pattern of the old sin nature as related to the second arrogance skill, self-deception. (3) The greatest change in the viewpoint of life of any believer comes when that believer has finally attained a personal sense of destiny. (4) "By means of the way of your thinking" refers to a maximum amount of metabolized doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness. (5) A personal sense of destiny is a new way of objective thinking. The life of every believer has a great deal to do with how he thinks. Right thinking is a part of the spiritual life. Divine viewpoint mental attitude is a part of the greatest delegation of divine power in human history. This delegation of power is the grace provision of the omnipotence of God for the execution of His plan. (6) "Clothing yourself with the new man" is the consistent function of the spiritual skills. b. Eph 1:19-20, "and what is the surpassing greatness of the power given to us who have believed for the delegation of His superior power which He put into operation by means of Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." God has delegated His divine power to every Church Age believer in the provision of the spiritual skills. This delegation of divine power comes in the form of thought--Bible doctrine metabolized in the stream of consciousness. c. 1 Cor 2:16, "But who has known the thinking of Christ that he should instruct him? We have the thinking of Christ." Your spiritual life is what you are thinking, not what you are doing. The Bible doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness is the delegated power of God. The delegated power of God is the mental attitude divine viewpoint which is applied through the problem solving devices. d. Prov 23:7, "As a person thinks in his soul, that is what he is." (1) Mental attitude and motivation from divine viewpoint becomes a major factor as far as your spiritual life is concerned. This reaches its peak on entrance into a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny has to do with everything you have learned by way of metabolized doctrine circulating in your soul. (2) Concentration is a matter of your priorities in life. All forms of worship are a concentration test and a reflection of your values, motives, mental attitude in life, your spiritual status quo and your personal sense of destiny in spiritual adulthood. e. 1 Cor 10:12, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Thinking has a great deal to do with failure or success in your spiritual life. Wrong thinking is the greatest distraction to your spiritual life. f. Gal 6:3, "If anyone thinks he is something when he nothing, he deceives himself." Thinking becomes either the application of doctrine in the life or the application of arrogance and ignorance. Divine viewpoint requires all the thinking of Bible doctrine that can be accumulated in your stream of consciousness. g. Rom 12:2-3, "Stop being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renovation of your thought, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is divine good production, 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 point you ought to think; but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rationale without illusion, as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine." (1) Being conformed to this world means no doctrine in the stream of consciousness, no problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul, human viewpoint thinking. (2) A personal sense of destiny is the major sponsorer of the changeover from human to divine viewpoint of life. Therefore a personal sense of destiny is a must in your life. (3) A personal sense of destiny is the transitional problem solving device from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood. (4) A personal sense of destiny is the major transformation from people fellowship to fellowship with God. Your spiritual life is not your interaction with people but your interaction with God, and is based on what you think. (5) Your viewpoint of life is based on your emphasis in life, and you have a choice between social intercourse with people or fellowship with God. (6) The believer must learn from the pastor, and once the doctrine is metabolized it forms problem solving devices deployed to apply divine viewpoint to every circumstance in life. (7) A personal sense of destiny relates the life of the believer to divine viewpoint thinking resulting in the deployment of the four advanced problem solving devices. No one ever attains spiritual self- esteem without a major change in their thinking. (a) Even the unbeliever Marcus Aurelius understood the principle of thinking, "Our life is what our thoughts make it." You are not how you act, it is what you are thinking, what is your attitude. The spiritual life is thinking, and the evil substitute used by people to think they are spiritual is emotion. Only with a personal sense of destiny can you think Bible doctrine under pressure. (b) Isa 55:8-9, "`For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." Your ways reflect what you think or fail to think. Thinking always comes before doing. (8) A personal sense of destiny cannot be faked. A personal sense of destiny cannot be developed apart from thought, divine viewpoint of life. h. Phil 2:5, "Keep on having this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus." The nature of Christ's spiritual life was His mental attitude, His thinking. Your spiritual life is your thinking, your mental attitude; it is made up of words. Speech and action is an expression of your thinking. Therefore, what you say and do is what you think. Thinking and speaking is a reflection of your priorities in life. i. Phil 3:15, "Therefore, as many as are mature [believers], let us continue objective thinking; furthermore if you have any different mental attitude in something, God will reveal that also to you." The believer with a personal sense of destiny can be wrong but it is correctable. When you have a personal sense of destiny, you can correct your erroneous thinking. j. Col 3:2, "Keep thinking objectively about above things [divine viewpoint] and not things on the earth [human viewpoint]." (1) The more doctrine you learn, the more you think about God. There is no personal love for God until you have a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny and occupation with Christ combine to form the most marvelous life, because you are now having fellowship with God as a believer. You can only have fellowship with Christ by thinking the thoughts of Christ. (2) Your spiritual life related to people is almost meaningless until you have impersonal love for all mankind. Why? Because your impersonal love for all mankind is a direct result of a personal sense of destiny. (3) Your spiritual life is personal love for God, impersonal love for all mankind, and the ability to evaluate your own life from metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. (4) Learning doctrine is tantamount to thinking doctrine. Thinking doctrine is tantamount to a spiritual life. A spiritual life is tantamount to application of doctrine to your experience. You have to learn doctrine before you can think doctrine. You have to think doctrine before you can apply doctrine. k. 2 Cor 10:4-5, "For the weapons with which we fight are not the weapons of this world, on the contrary they have divine power to demolish fortresses. We demolish speculations [by Bible doctrine circulating in our stream of consciousness] and every arrogant thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, even when we bring every thought into captivity to make it obedient to Christ." 3. Lack of a personal sense of destiny produces evil thoughts. a. Ps 56:5-6a, "All day long they distort my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife." b. Prov 12:5, "The thoughts of the righteous are just, But the counseling of the wicked are deceitful." c. Ps 94:10-11, "He who instructs the nations, will He not punish, Even He who teaches man knowledge? The Lord knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile." d. Isa 59:7, "Their feet rush into sin, And they are swift to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are evil thoughts; Ruin and destruction are their path in life." e. Jer 4:14, "Oh Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil that you may be delivered. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?" f. Jer 6:19, "Hear, O land: behold, I am going to bring disaster on this people, The production of their thoughts, Because they have not listened to My doctrines, And as for My law, they have rejected it also." J. A personal sense of destiny is related to the clothing analogy of the spiritual life. 1. Eph 4:23-24, "and that you be renewed by agency of the Spirit by means of your way of thinking, and clothe yourself with the new man [a personal sense of destiny], which on the basis of the will of God has been created by means of [spiritual capacity] righteousness and holiness of life [the utilization of the power options and spiritual skills] from the absolute truth [Bible doctrine]." a. A personal sense of destiny is entrance into the sophisticated spiritual life of the Church Age believer. b. A personal sense of destiny always looks forward, never backward. A personal sense of destiny concentrates on the objectives, never the distractions. c. A personal sense of destiny recognizes absolute truth in the New Testament and is under the elative conclusion (the divine solutions are the only solutions because they are based on the absolutes). d. Being renewed by the agency of the Spirit refers to the filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is direct agency from heaven empowering you to execute the protocol plan of God. You cannot execute the plan of God without the filling of the Spirit. Indirect power from heaven is the power of doctrine transferred from the written page of Scripture to your soul. e. Your way of thinking, when its effective, indicates a personal sense of destiny deployed on the FLOT line of your soul and thereby entrance into the sophisticated spiritual life. 2. Sophistication is a new spiritual person. In this analogy the new man or new suit is located in a closet. The closet represents your very own portfolio of invisible assets and spiritual life. You have a new set of clothing, a new suit, hanging in the closet. We are to take this new suit (our personal sense of destiny) out of the closet, put it on, and wear it. Putting on the new set of clothing is a metaphor for the attainment of personal sense of destiny. To do this you have to use your volition. The sophisticated spiritual life demands sophisticated clothing. The sophisticated clothing is the life beyond gnosis (Eph 3:19), the life beyond expectation (Eph 3:20), and a personal sense of destiny. 3. The new man has two concepts: utilization of the two power options (filling of the Holy Spirit and metabolization of doctrine) and consistency in the function of the three spiritual skills. The new man in which we are clothed is the personal sense of destiny of the new spiritual life, the sophisticated spiritual life. a. In your portfolio of invisible assets, which came from the divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past, you were given your very own spiritual life. b. Every believer has the closet--your very own portfolio of invisible assets. Your personal sense of destiny is hanging in your closet. Go in and get it and put it on. c. Fulfilling the divine mandate to clothe or dress yourself with the new man is the divine command to deploy a personal sense of destiny on your FLOT line. 4. The loser believer never puts on the new clothing of the spiritual life. He is still running around in his old clothes--controlled by the old sin nature. 5. The personal sense of destiny (our new set of clothes) has been created for us by the sovereign will of God and is available only by the development of spiritual capacity righteousness through the function of the three spiritual skills. The blessing of the sophisticated spiritual life require spiritual capacity righteousness, which has nothing to do with the circumstances of life. 6. The "cannot" principles of a personal sense of destiny. a. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny unless you understand the uniqueness of the Church Age with all of its grace assets. b. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny unless you understand and utilize the assets of your very own portfolio of invisible assets. c. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny unless you understand the divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past and all that has been provided for you right now. d. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny unless you understand the divine initiative of eschatological grace both in time and in the eternal future. e. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny until you understand and consistently utilize the spiritual skills. f. You cannot have a personal sense of destiny unless you avoid the distraction of the arrogance skills. K. Major passages on the personal sense of destiny. 1. 2 Cor 4. a. 2 Cor 4:6, "For the God [Holy Spirit] who said, `Light shine out from the darkness.' He is the One who has shined in our hearts face to face with the light [enlightenment] of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person [face] of Christ." (1) "God" here is a reference to God the Holy Spirit, the One who restored the earth for man's occupancy and is quoted from Gen 1:3. (2) God the Holy Spirit, the One who made light shine out of darkness, is the same One who makes Bible doctrine ("the light") shine in the believer's stream of consciousness. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of doctrine. (3) God the Holy Spirit makes the Lord Jesus Christ shine forth in our right lobe. The modus operandi of the Christian way of life begins with knowledge of Christ, i.e., the function of His humanity during the dispensation of the hypostatic union. b. 2 Cor 4:7-10, "Furthermore we have this treasure in jars of clay [human bodies], that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from the source of God and not from the source of ourselves; in every way we are under adversity, but not under stress; we are perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body." (1) What is inside of your soul is a private matter between you and God and only becomes manifest as your spiritual life develops (2) The "surpassing greatness of the power" is the fact that God has given us His power in our very own portfolio of invisible assets. The spiritual life functions only on divine power. It is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. (3) We have outside pressures of adversity but are not under stress because of the deployment of the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. When adversity breaks into the soul it becomes stress. (a) Adversity is the outside pressure of life; stress is the inside pressure of life. (b) Adversity is what circumstances do to you; stress is what you do to yourself. Stress is the result of too many bad decisions. (c) Adversity is historical disaster, economic disaster, loss of freedom, victim of terrorism or revolution, defeat in warfare. Adversity is criminal disaster, the victim of rape, robbery, abuse. Adversity is becoming the victim of vilification, maligning, gossip, slander, judging, the creation of a public lie. Adversity is loss of health, disease, pain, suffering. Adversity is the death of a loved one. Adversity includes weather disasters. Adversity includes loss of job. Adversity includes domestic problems. Adversity includes rejection. (d) Adversity is inevitable; stress is optional. (e) The function of the spiritual skills in the soul provides momentum in the spiritual life, but the function of stress in the soul destroys your spiritual life. The function of the problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul is the only accurate and legitimate solution to all problems and adverse circumstances in the life of the believer. (4) Being perplexed is the status quo of the believer prior to having a personal sense of destiny. There are many things in his life he will not understand until he has attained a personal sense of destiny. (5) "Persecuted, but not forsaken" is the status quo of a personal sense of destiny. (6) The phrase "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus" refers to the fact that we carry the same power options and problem solving devices, that is, the same spiritual life in our body that He used to live a perfect life and die for our sins without sinning Himself. (7) The phrase "that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies" means we carry in our bodies invisible Bible doctrine and the filling of the Spirit resulting in the invisible function of the three spiritual skills. Inside your body is a treasure--Bible doctrine circulating in your soul. We have in our clay jar the same great treasure--the spiritual life--that our Lord Jesus Christ carried in His body. c. 2 Cor 4:13-14, "But having the same [spiritual] state of faith, on the basis of what is written [Ps 116:10], `I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, therefore we also speak; knowing that He who resurrected the Lord Jesus will also resurrect us [the apostles] in association with Jesus and will present us with you [Church Age believers at the rapture]." (1) The doctrinal rationale in verse 14 relates the resurrection of Christ to the resurrection of the Church Age believer. A personal sense of destiny thinks in terms of doctrinal rationales. (2) A personal sense of destiny never wavers from the principle that relationship with God is based exclusively on divine power, never on human power. This is illustrated from the doctrine of resurrection. (a) The divine power of God the Father returned our Lord's human spirit to His human body in the grave, Acts 2:24; Rom 6:4; Eph 1:20; Col 2:12; 1 Thes 1:10; 1 Pet 1:21. The divine power of God the Holy Spirit returned our Lord's human soul to His human body in the grave, Rom 1:4, 8:11; 1 Pet 3:18. (b) The divine power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to every Church Age believer, Eph 1:18-20. This power is found in your very own portfolio of invisible assets as the two power options--the filling of the Holy Spirit and metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the direct power option and metabolized doctrine is delegated power. (3) Therefore a personal sense of destiny recognizes the inclusion of divine power only in the spiritual life of the believer in the Church Age. To reject divine power is the greatest tragedy for the believer. A personal sense of destiny recognizes the exclusion of human power in the function of the spiritual skills. The spiritual life runs only on divine power. Your personal sense of destiny is aware of and uses available divine power. Divine power is an absolute and available through our portfolio of invisible assets. Human power is relative and totally unacceptable to God in the function of the spiritual skills. (4) A personal sense of destiny not only recognizes the inclusion of divine power in the spiritual life but also recognizes the inclusion of divine power in the resurrection or rapture of the Church. (5) 1 Cor 6:14, "Now God not only resurrected the Lord, but He will also resurrect us through His power." The only power that counts in your life is divine power, and that same power will resurrect all believers. (6) There can never be a personal sense of destiny on the FLOT line of your soul until you understand and apply the absolutes of Bible doctrine. (7) A personal sense of destiny never departs from the absolute truth of Bible doctrine and the monopoly of divine power in the modus operandi of the spiritual life. (a) Just as the dispensation of the hypostatic union terminated with resurrection--the function of divine power, so also the dispensation of the Church terminates with resurrection--the function of divine power. (b) God is perfect, therefore His plan is perfect. (c) The perfect plan of God for the Church can only function under divine power. Therefore a human power intrusion is a contradiction of the protocol plan of God for the Church and never a part of the spiritual life. (d) In postsalvation experience the spiritual life of the Church Age believer excludes all power and energy of the flesh and functions totally on divine power in two categories: the filling of the Holy Spirit and metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. (e) The same divine power available for your spiritual life is also involved in the resurrection or rapture of the Church. d. 2 Cor 4:15-18, "For all things are for your benefit, that the grace impact which has increased through the agency of the many [invisible heroes] may cause the increase of thanksgiving resulting in the glory of God. Therefore we do not despair, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. For a momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (1) A personal sense of destiny uses grace orientation to glorify God. Once you reach a personal sense of destiny you move into an entirely new spiritual life, called the sophisticated spiritual life, in which you use the advanced problem solving devices (personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, sharing the happiness of God, and occupation with Christ. No believer reaches a personal sense of destiny without grace orientation. (2) A personal sense of destiny separates the status of spiritual childhood from the status of spiritual adulthood. Therefore the personal sense of destiny is a landmark in the spiritual life. A personal sense of destiny must understand the divine objective and how the protocol plan glorifies God, in order to be motivated to continue utilizing the power options and the three spiritual skills. (3) One of the greatest distractions to the spiritual life, outside of the function to the three arrogance skills, is to become discouraged or despondent. All things are for your benefit. You have no need to be discouraged or despondent. What you achieve in this life does not mean a thing when you are dying or think you are dying. Nothing is as important in this world as Bible doctrine. God has provided every problem solving device for every problem in life--all things are for your benefit. When you realize that Bible doctrine is important, you have real genuine change as you move into spiritual adulthood. You have true Christian fellowship and true spiritual change. (4) A personal sense of destiny is not discouraged by any circumstance in life. The decaying body or jar of clay is not the significant thing in life, but the soul, i.e., the inner person, which continues to grow spiritually day by day. The continual weakening of physical power and energy does not diminish spiritual power when you have reached a personal sense of destiny. You have now locked in spiritual adulthood. Your momentum and motivation is far greater and far stronger than anything in life before that moment. The power of God advances even though physical power decreases with age. Your health is not an indicator of your spiritual status. You are renewed day by day through the consistent utilization of two power options and three spiritual skills. (5) No matter how great the suffering of the physical body the power related to the spiritual life in the soul is infinitely greater than any adversity. This is why Paul calls all of his terrible suffering a momentary, light affliction. A personal sense of destiny always looks forward to the eternal weight of glory rather than the momentary, light affliction. (6) A personal sense of destiny must always emphasize the eternal state. A personal sense of destiny lives in the light of eternity. A personal sense of destiny with its maximum self-motivation enters into the sophisticated spiritual life. A personal sense of destiny is the major offensive action of the sophisticated spiritual life. e. Summary. (1) A personal sense of destiny always has an objective. (2) The objective of a personal sense of destiny is the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church, resulting in the glorification of God, resulting in becoming a winner believer, an invisible hero. A personal sense of destiny has fellowship with God. Heb 11 gives us all the examples. Fellowship with God is a different kind of life. The execution of God's plan in any dispensation is impossible without fellowship with God. A personal sense of destiny is the mechanics of fellowship with God. (3) The means of fulfilling the objective is the utilization of God's power. God's plan was never designed to function on human power, human ability, human personality gimmicks, or any thing else related to human dynamics. God called on you to utilize divine power. The means of fulfilling the objective is the consistent use of the two power options and the three spiritual skills. This is the only way of momentum in your spiritual life. (4) A personal sense of destiny is constantly aware of the impact of the invisible hero. (5) The impact of the invisible hero of the Church Age is related to five invisible categories. (a) Personal impact, which is blessing by association to anyone related to the mature believer. Marriage, family, schools, the local church, where you work, etc. are blessed by association with the invisible hero. God provides for that organization what they cannot earn or deserve as long as that person is in that organization. (b) Historical impact, which is blessing by association to a client nation. The nation is blessed by the pivot of mature believers within it. As goes the believer in the client nation to God, so goes that nation spiritually, historically, economically, socially, Rev 3:12. (c) International impact, which is blessing by association with a non-client nation through a limited number of missionaries who have reached spiritual maturity. He is a blessing to the client nation from which he comes and to the non-client nation to which he goes. When a missionary becomes involved in the politics of the country to which he goes, he has been distracted from his mission. Other distractions include becoming involved in any form of Christian activism, interference with the culture of a non-client nation. (d) Angelic impact, which is the impact of the winner believer as a witness for the Prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan's appeal trial (which is coterminous with human history). This is accomplished through the attainment of spiritual maturity through the consistent function of the spiritual skills, and it becomes effective when the believer reaches spiritual self-esteem, the entrance into spiritual adulthood. Once you have a personal sense of destiny and reach spiritual self-esteem God's purpose in permitting certain testing and suffering in your life is for evidence testing. (e) Heritage impact, which is blessing by association with the mature believer after his death for those loved ones the invisible hero leaves behind. This explains why the wicked often prosper--they were the children or grandchildren of an invisible hero. 2. The second major passage on a personal sense of destiny is 2 Pet 3:11-14, "Since in this way all things will be destroyed, what sort of persons must you become in a dedicated-to-God lifestyle, that is to say, your very own spiritual life, while looking forward with confidence and hastening the coming day of God in which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with an intense heat." a. A personal sense of destiny includes living your life in the light of eternity (verse 11). When you start looking forward to eternity with confidence, you have a personal sense of destiny and spiritual self- esteem. b. A personal sense of destiny relates the spiritual life of the believer in time to his status in the eternal state (verse 13). c. A personal sense of destiny relates the spiritual life of the believer to the Rapture and the judgment seat of Christ which follows (verse 14). 3. Another major passage on a personal sense of destiny is Heb 11. Heb 11 is the story of those who had a personal sense of destiny and moved on from their to spiritual maturity. A personal sense of destiny is related to the reality of the doctrine of resurrection. L. Distinction between Having a Destiny and the Fulfillment of Destiny. 1. Having a destiny is positional sanctification. This is related to the baptism of the Spirit, whereby we are entered into union with Christ and so we share the destiny of Christ. 2. Having a personal sense of destiny is experiential sanctification. This occurs through understanding God's plan for your life. 3. The experience of cognitive self-confidence from maximum doctrine in the soul is classified as having a personal sense of destiny. Cognitive self-confidence results in the experience of a personal sense of destiny. a. While every believer has a destiny under the protocol plan of God and the unique features of the Church Age, not every believer actually attains that destiny through the execution of the protocol plan of God. b. Only through postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation and subsequent cognitive self-confidence related to your politeuma privileges can you have and enjoy, under all circumstances of life, a personal sense of destiny. c. If you have been jilted in a romance, that doesn't change the fact that you have a personal sense of destiny. If you have been treated unjustly, it doesn't change the fact that you have a personal sense of destiny. If you've just lost out in your social group, lost your job, are lonely or isolated, these do not imply that you do not have a personal sense of destiny. All you have to do is ask: "Have I personally received Jesus Christ as my Savior?" If so, then you do have that sixth problem solving device in focus; i.e., the experience of having a personal sense of destiny. d. So having a personal sense of destiny is a problem-solving device. It is designed for the perpetuation of spiritual momentum in your life. Continuation of momentum results in becoming a winner and an invisible hero where a personal sense of destiny receives its fulfillment. e. Having a personal sense of destiny aids the believer in passing three categories of suffering for blessing in spiritual adulthood: providential preventative suffering, momentum testing, and evidence testing. 4. A personal sense of destiny is the experience of being a winner, an invisible hero, a believer who has attained spiritual maturity. A personal sense of destiny is the thing that carries winners in times of great adversity and historical disaster. 5. Because of wrong priorities in the life of the Church Age believer as royal family, he does not have a personal sense of destiny. If your priorities are wrong, you will never have the experience of having a personal sense of destiny. Therefore, you will never fulfill your destiny in time. 6. Under the protocol plan of God, every believer still has a destiny. But to know it, understand it, and have the confidence that goes with it is the experience of having a personal sense of destiny. 7. The Fulfillment of Your Destiny. a. There must be cognition of Bible doctrine for the fulfillment of your destiny, which is tantamount to execution of the protocol plan of God. b. Under the protocol plan of God, every believer has a destiny. But rejection of doctrine or apathy toward doctrine, distraction or preoccupation with pleasure, destroy the possibility of ever fulfilling that destiny and therefore of having a personal sense of destiny. c. Having a destiny is not enough. You must fulfill that destiny through consistent perception of Bible doctrine, out of which are manufactured invisible heroes. The believer must reside inside the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, with momentum from metabolized doctrine. d. Consistent positive volition toward doctrine results in the attainment of spiritual adulthood and the experience of having a personal sense of destiny. This means complete and consistent exposure to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. e. Having a personal sense of destiny in spiritual adulthood is the prerequisite for the fulfillment of that destiny through the attainment of spiritual maturity. (1) If God doesn't promote you, you're not promoted. (2) God promotes the prepared believer. (3) The prepared believer is promoted by being manufactured into an invisible hero. The material from which the invisible hero is manufactured is made up of metabolized doctrine. (4) Part of being prepared is to have a personal sense of destiny from cognition of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. f. A personal sense of destiny comes through perception of Bible doctrine. The fulfillment of that destiny comes through the application of that doctrine after its metabolization. g. The Church Age believer must learn the content of his portfolio of invisible assets. For you cannot use what you do not understand. You will never understand what God has provided for you apart from the mastery of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. h. The mystery doctrine of the Church Age orients the believer to God's purpose, will, and plan for his life. i. Having a personal sense of destiny requires that you understand what God has provided under logistical grace, the entire content of your portfolio of invisible assets, your politeuma privileges, your equal privileges and equal opportunities under God's plan, and the problem solving devices. j. Once you begin to utilize the nine problem solving devices, you begin to acquire a personal sense of destiny. k. In time of historical disaster, a personal sense of destiny is a fantastic thing to apply to the daily circumstances of life. l. A personal sense of destiny becomes motivation to be consistent in reception, retention, and recall of Bible doctrine. M. A personal sense of destiny is related to the ten unique factors of the Church Age. 1. When you recall any factor related to the baptism of the Spirit, whether it's being a new spiritual species or sharing everything our Lord has because you're in union with Him, you can conclude in time of problems that you have a personal sense of destiny. 2. Or you can conclude that because of the unique protocol plan of God, "I have a destiny." 3. Because of the unique equality factor of the protocol plan, you can say, "I have a destiny." 4. You can conclude: "Because of my portfolio of invisible assets provided by God the Father for me in eternity past, I have a destiny." 5. You can reflect: "Because of the two unique royal commissions, I have a destiny; both because I'm a royal priest and because I'm a royal ambassador." 6. Or because of the unique mystery doctrine of the Church Age, you can say you have a destiny. 7. Or because of the indwelling of all three members of the Godhead, you can say, "I have a destiny." 8. Or because of maximum availability of divine omnipotence, you can say "I have a destiny." 9. Or because of living in a dispensation of no prophecy but in a time of historical trends, you can say "I have a destiny." 10. Or, "Because I am commanded to advance to maturity and become a winner and an invisible hero, I have destiny." There is no reason why you should not be aware of the fact that you have a destiny, and therefore enjoy the experience of having a personal sense of destiny. 

I think the more interesting question is why you feel you need company in your spiritual path. What is wrong with alone, so long as it is working for you? I think you sound like you need a support system (group, friends, mentor) within your faith system.