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Let the Holy Spirit (D) Empower Your A, B, C’s

Loving God back for His mercy and grace is a matter of YOUR heart. Physically acting on Godly Principles shows your love, commitment, and thanksgiving to God for adopting you into His spiritual family (Romans 2:6-8, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 2:5-7, Colossians 3:22, James 2:14, 1 John 3:1, 2 John 1:6, Revelation 14:12). When you are a Christian and you intentionally choose to act out your spiritual decisions in public (acting consistently with Godly instruction among a diverse group of people), you’ll experience internal peace while achieving a psychosocial balance despite living as a minority in a secular world (John 14:24, 26-27). The cognitive dissonance theory predicts that if you choose to hide your Christianity from the public, this peaceful feeling will erode with time because your personal integrity is not encouraged by the support of friends that act consistently with Christian values (Psalm 34:14, Isaiah 26:3, 32:17, John 4:34, Colossians 3:5, 1 John 1:6-7, McLeod, 2018).

 

One of the most overlooked and underutilized principles in Christianity is the role of the Holy Spirit in believers. Christian cognitive consistency is a willful (intentional and purposeful) decision to express your loyalty to God (as opposed to self) by shining His Holy love, despite public opinion (Psalm 33:18, Matthew 6:33, Romans 12:2, Romans 13:8-10). It's your values and belief in God that makes you willingly to prioritize the expression of your faith above your desire for popularity. Using your faith means you are willing to bind yourself to God’s standards of holy, just love (Ephesians 5:1, 1 John 4:7-8, Kaufman, B. E. (1999)). You will voluntarily curb your own behavior to reflect God's love when you trust God as the Creator, Provider, King and Sustainer of all life (Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 7:1). With the simple decision to trust God, you invoke the power of the Holy Spirit (D) to strengthen you to carry out God's principles in your life (1 John 3:9, Ephesians 3:16, John 14:26, Romans 8:13). The Holy Spirit empowers and energizes you and every Christian to express God's type of love (mercy and grace given within the boundaries of holiness and justice, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Galatians 5:22-23, and see Appendix 2 H).


Your attitude (A) portrays the first sign of your intent to act on this decision. It shows not only what you believe but shows that you are confident in your belief. A Christian is someone who follows Christ (spiritually born again and "in Christ" ) and mimics His behavior (Romans 8:37-39, 2 Peter 1:2-4, Psalm 119:133, 2 Thessalonians 3:5, Galatians 5:25, https://www.gotquestions.org/imitate-me-as-I-imitate-Christ.html). Eternal life starts the moment you turn to God, ask Christ into your life (to be cleansed from the stain of sin), and accept the the gift and guidance of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:3-8). Once a Christian, you see life through a new perspective as you learn more about God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (Matthew 5:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:8). The Spirit encourages you to learn about, to pursue, the things of God by reading and hearing the Word of God, so you find the motivation to want to change your behavior to become obedient to Christ (Romans 6:1-14, Galatians 2:20, 5:24, Colossians 3:3, 1 Peter 2:24). A life-long learner has an ever-evolving relationship with Christ, holds an optimistic view of the future, and​ ​is willing to try new biblical concepts and behaviors to realize the advantages of eternal life today (John 17:17, 1 John 5:20, https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-eternal-life.html). 

 

The use of prayer is one of the first signs that you’ve adjusted your A-attitude. When you ask God to help you, His answer will always be “Yes” and Amen” although His timing is not always in sync with yours. When what you’ve asked for in prayer is consistent with God's will (making a request that is in keeping with His holy character of love and good will), trust, believe, that He will coordinate events so they work for good, at just the right time (2 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Timothy 2:3-5, Romans 8:28, 12:1-3, DeRouche, J., (2017/April)). You will find that prayer that is not made from a pure, renewed heart may be frustrating. If it is, check your perception of absolute truth. Compare what you believe to the Truth recorded in the Bible and by listening to Bible-based teaching/preaching. Once convinced, you'll gain the motivation to apply what you've learned (Proverbs 3:3-5). Ensure you are operating on the absolute truth of God's Word, and not denying it or misidentifying your responsibility. Understanding God without a self-bias will change your perception and lead you to an unbiased understanding of the Word of Truth recorded in the Bible. Then, by applying what you learned back to your values, priorities and decision making, you will be (both spiritually and physically) a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).

 

You must consciously decide to accept the boundaries of God’s Holy love and make the necessary adjustments to, not just your beliefs and attitude, but your behavior too, in order to experience the outcomes documented in the Christian Bible (Luke 9:23-26, 2 Timothy 2:15). The Bible communicates both conditional (if/then clauses) and unconditional (gifts from God). For example, when it comes to prayer requests, God is not the variable in the correlation between your prayers and His answer being yes, but it's conditional based on your heart-felt and accurate beliefs. God's yes is conditional on your behavior (heart-felt attitudes, act) and the boundaries of His will

(His will is for you to express the character of Christ in all you say and do) which is further conditional on your understanding and acceptance of God's absolute truth (Genesis 1:26, Ephesians 5:17, Colossians 3:16-17, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 John 4:16, 5:14). This is the way that pleases God. (God’s principles are not time-bound, but they do follow basic cause and effect logic).

  • For more on the concept of Christianity and cause and effect logic, see article from the Apologetic Press.

  • Read Appendix 1H to learn more about using Godly wisdom to walk with insight.

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With this Christian mindset, you are now able to choose to train your body to act out physically what is true in your spirit. It’s learning to practice each characteristic of the fruit of Spirit that makes this change visible in your 

B - behavior (Galatians 5:22-23). Reading the Bible and learning to implement the definition of pure, holy Love renews your mind to God’s truth which reframes your thinking. With a renewed perspective, your attitude ignites the Holy Spirit's power and you now have the capacity to practice God's Holy love at an ever-increasing rate throughout life (Romans 5:1-5, Colossians 3:1-2, Hebrews 6:10-12). If you are a life-long learner and are in Christ, you will embrace change and work through the accompanying performance tension connected to learning the new skills/behavior associated with implementing Holy love rather than human love). Otherwise you'll become frustrated by Christian cognitive dissonance; a renewed mind but unchanged physical, worldly habits. 

By imitating the attitude and behavior of Christ, you are expressing the Holy Spirit of Love (D). This is when the 

consequences of your Christian behavior become apparent to not only you but everybody else. You can feel the joy and peace of allowing God to work in and through you. This is the center of God’s will for your life because you are practicing your faith through love; love for God, your neighbor and yourself (Matthew 22:36-40, Galatians 5:22-23, 6:2, Ephesians 5:1-2, 5:8-11, 5:15-21). This new identity gives you the faith to approach situations with a confident, hopeful, and optimistic A - attitude because you know by acting out His Word through your B-behavioral actions you can trust that the power and promises of God will be effectual in your life (1 Thessalonians 2:12-13, 2 Peter 1:8-9).

 

In Romans 8:28, God makes a promise to those Christians who show their love and loyalty to God, that no matter what happens, “Joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). When you make up your mind (A) to behave (B) according to Christ’s example and when you ask for the power and leading of the Divine Holy Spirit (D), you will be strengthened to behave consistently with the Spirit, D(ABC), so you achieve C-consequences that are spiritually "eternally excellent" (EE) as well as physically productive in this life (Isaiah 60:15, Luke 11:13, Galatians 6:7-8, 1 John 2:6).​

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Eternal Excellence (E  ) is achieved when your A, B, C’s are empowered by the Holy Spirit, D(A+B) = C  

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  • A, motive sparks the attitude that prompts behavior, (hope inspired faith)

  • B, the verbal and physical behavior itself, (trust expressed in love of self and neighbor)

  • C, natural and physical consequences of behavior

  • C  , divinely permitted consequences of behavior as a result of being "in Christ"

  • D , the divine power of the Holy Spirit because of your decision to take righteous action 

  • E  , eternal excellence physically and spiritually. ​

 

Acting out what is true in your spirit occurs when you make your spiritual transformation physical in both body and soul (3 John 2). In Philippians 3:9, Paul explains spiritual righteousness as being achieved when you accept Christ as Savior, but he contrasts it with the physical component in Romans 6:16 when he says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you OBEY, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

  • Explore some other scriptures that communicate the Holy Spirit’s righteousness being expressed through you physically: Proverbs 10:3, 21:3, Isaiah 48:17-18, Micah 6:8, Matthew 5:19-20, Romans 6:13-16, 2 Timothy 2:22, 3:16, Titus 2:12, Hebrews 1:9. ​​​

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Expressing righteousness through your behavior brings you peace from eternal excellency, E  , and when you practice Holy habits publicly you shinE   from the inside out (Psalm 119:105, Isaiah 60:1, 15, Matthew 5:16, Luke 24:49, John 10:10, 1 John 1:5-10)! Imagine your possibilities when you see and act with the eyes of your transformed heart (Ephesians 1:18). Christians use their free will to make the decision to activate the power that’s been deposited in their spirit (Luke 24:49, Romans 15:13, Acts 1:8, Acts 4:31, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Ephesians 3:19-21).

 

Right thinking results in right decision-making and this is what activates the power of the Holy Spirit in you so you can carry out that decision in your behavior (1 Corinthians 9:27). The Holy Spirit waits in readiness until you freely choose to ask Him to use His power to enable you to act like a child of God, boldly imitating Holy love through your (spiritual and physical) righteousness, walking gently and meekly in the power of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 37:11, Luke 11:13, John 15:4, Galatians 6:1, 1 Timothy 6:11, James 3:13)! When you are “in Christ”- perfection is not the goal, its learning to express the Spirit of Love (Romans 7:6, 1 Timothy 1:5, 1 Peter 1:22). Faith, patience and self-control enables you to learn to express these holy habits referred to as righteousness so you can maintain the peace and unity of the Spirit in today's world (Ephesians 4:1-3). A Christian can be optimistic, even in the midst of setbacks, because you are assured in Philippians 1:6 “… that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion”! This is how faith is the assurance of things hoped for, as defined in Hebrews 11:1. ​

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Christian faith-filled hope inspires your journey of transformation into a new normal-- an eternally excellent (E  ) lifestyle (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 15:13, Ephesians 2:10, John 16:33, (D(A+B) = C   )*. Choosing to ask God for the power to act righteously is a prayer He always answers (John 15:7). Adjusting your attitude, learning to be dependent on God and His Word, and then changing your psycho-social behavior is YOUR part in this change process (Romans 6:11, 12:1-4, 2 Timothy 2:21). Equipping you with the power of the Holy Spirit triggers is God’s part (2 Timothy 1:6-7, 1 John 4:13).

  • What are you thinking about?

 

Being mindful is a successful treatment for an unwanted addiction because it activates learning from your past experiences and shows you the connection between the decisions you make in life and the resulting outcomes which, for a Christian, will lead to mindfulness, repentance, 

more intimate prayer to God and zeal (Witkiewitz, K., Bowen, S., Harrop, E. N., Douglas, H., Enkema, M., & Sedgwick, C., (2014), 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, Psalm 25:4-5). 

  • Read more about mindfulness as Emotional IQ in Appendix 1T. 

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After battling through an unhealthy addiction, your willingness to align with a better “way”, through the “truth” of the Word, will lead you to a new, full, “life” in Christ, by using your faith-inspired power from the Holy Spirit (John 7:17, 10:10, 14:6). Once you make the choice to enter into the change process, it takes optimistic hope derived from your faith to persevere through the physical and mental training required to act out new habits (Galatians 6:9, 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Corinthians 10:4, Ephesians 1:19, James 4:1-10, Romans 8:25, 1 Peter 1:13-15). Your part in recovery from an unhealthy addiction is to let go and trust God to fulfill His plan and purpose for you. Learn to be content with a dependent relationship with God and show it by praying, being willing to do life His way, and by limiting distractions (people or environmental) along the way to recovery from unhealthy addiction (Miller, P. 2017). ​

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Christianity is a progressive lifestyle in which change is inevitable and customary. As you grow in the Word, you become more aware of how to act out your spiritual righteousness by making adjustments to your behavior (Acts 5:29, Romans 8:29, Galatians 6:15, Philippians 2:5, 1 John 2:6, Appendix 2A). Having realistic expectations prepares you for the peaks and valleys that happen along they way to goal fulfillment. For example, look at the life of the astronauts who walked on the moon in 1969. They spent years, maybe even decades, training. When it was time to perform the job, they had to make course corrections repeatedly to ensure they arrived at their destination, the moon. They had expected and were prepared to make these course corrections in order to reach their goal. They incorporated those skills into their behavior so returning home seemed easier and less stressful. When the astronauts returned home, they confidently set another goal.

  • Help shape the performance tension you feel as you learn new skills by using a positive imagination (Psalm 31:23-24, 1 Corinthians 14:20, Ephesians 4:13, Hebrews 6:1, Colossians 1:9-10)?

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Eternal Excellence now and forever!

D(A + B) = C   E  

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