What is being brought to the table here

What is being brought to the table here is, frankly, rather major. I was going to write a post on Intrusion Ethics, but...that's not my bailiwick. (If you have your covenant theology down look up some writings of or about Meredith Kline and learn some striking new things about God and His plan and sacred history and the Word of God and...)

What's my bailiwick? The very going out and coming back in of sanctification. The effort, the rhythm, the very breathing... What you do.

Understanding Kline's insights down to the last footnote won't effect inner development and awakening in you. The foundational activity and effort of a Christian is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. Actually do it. At the practical level. Do it like you breathe...

Yes, when you pray (I have to use biblical language like 'prayer') you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter prayed and was filled with the Holy Spirit. What does the Bible say is the relationship betweeen the Spirit and the flesh? Not a placid love relationship. A relationship of great conflict and friction. Constant battle. So what happens when you get filled with the Holy Spirit via the act of prayer? You set up a battle. A battle between your carnal self and the Spirit. And when the world and the devil see this battle taking place they rush to the scene and perform their part in it. So you have a three front war, in effect, internal and external: with your carnal self, with the world, and with the devil. This, though, is what you want.

It's what you want because it is how you extend your limits (which means it is how you increase your level of being defined by your ability to glorify God).

What does this mean, practically? It means you have to pray. Pray five times a day like muslims! Then pump your fists in the air shouting "Great Satan!" this and that, and go home and beat your wives... (Though there's some dispute on this matter they're probably praying to a 7th century moon god false idol representative of the devil. Though they 'may' be praying to El Elyon, Jehovah as He makes Himself known to the nations. Probably the ones who really believe their 'holy' book the Koran are the ones praying to the moon god...) Yet...the mechanics of it are similar, either way. You pray, then you experience a backlash from your carnal self (we Christians share having carnal selves with muslims). Anger, resentment, Koranic-approved wife-beating spasms. Anti-Jew rants. If you're James White you write your 803rd blog post saying Dave Hunt is a dishonest moron (and you can even be right!).

But you want this. You want this emotional energy caused by the praying. You just don't want to use it - waste it - negatively and mechanically. You want to use it to glorify God. That requires alot of effort and development. But you can only get this development by putting yourself in the heat of the battle. Which is why you have to pray. Pray ceaselessly. Pray seriously. Pray for duration, depth, and frequency. And I'm talking about prayer as a state of presence as if in the presence of God. A heightened state. An awake state. "I am here, Lord." A no-nonsense state where you are attentive physically, emotionally, and intellectually. A difficult state to maintain. When you are in this state and you communicate with God you get filled with the Holy Spirit. There's no better way of saying it because it is as the Bible says it. It's real. And then the Spirit in you wars with your carnal self. Not always immediately. In time. But inevitably. This is the battlefield. This is when you practice 'fasting' (I have to use a biblical term). This is when you struggle to glorify God by acting from God's will as revealed in His Word rather than from self-will as demanded by your vanity and worldly pride.

There's a post below about the 7 features of the carnal self that you have to struggle with in those backlash battles.

What defines development is the degree you can pray and be filled with the Holy Spirit and the degree that you can contain that Spirit without wasting it negatively in the usual human, all to human ways. When you can contain that Spirit without having your carnal self throw it out of you you connect with - reconnect with, speaking Adamically - functions that human beings have but that were lost contact with in the Fall. What these functions are have to do with the fact of being a prophet, a priest, and a king. Basically these functions have to do with communication with God (what prayer is in even the plainest sense and level of practice); with ability to sacrifice suffering (a strange phrase I know, but as a priest this is how you glorify God in the second of Jesus' two great commandments: to love your neighbor as yourself); with ability to exercise command...inner command, inner unity, inner order.

Or, you can be lazy and drift off into the theoretical and philosophical realms of the Faith solely and never disturb your comfort with the demands of the practical level.

You know Spurgeon said Gurnall's Christian in Complete Armour was, in his estimation, the most valuable book other than the Bible. Well, what was Gurnall's subject? And note his connecting of watching with prayer (i.e. Gurnall connected state of being with prayer). In that massive book Gurnall hit on all the themes of the practical level of the faith. It's still written at a devotional level (as opposed to a very practical level), yet it's a treasure house of insight. It's the best I know for a recommendation of a book on this subect I discourse on. I mean, Gurnall's book is the closest to the subject at the practical level without getting into 'scary' non-Christian books, which I wouldn't want to disturb anyone's world with. Man-fearers have their limits...even if they are reading this post...

Zacharias' little book called The Embattled Christian is a very, very good, concise and understanding intro to Gurnall's book and the Puritan's experimental approach to the faith in general...