In our continuing study of spiritual self-esteem we left off last time with the principle that spiritual self-esteem provides the power and the ability to fulfill the protocol plan of God.
Without this power spiritual self-esteem is vulnerable to arrogant self-confidence. This is where many believers become disillusioned and fail and why this suffering is called providential preventative suffering.
The suffering for blessing for spiritual autonomy is momentum testing. No one can handle momentum testing without spiritual autonomy. Because of this, God does not give us the four momentum tests until we've attained spiritual autonomy.
The suffering for blessing of spiritual maturity is evidence testing. Once we reach spiritual maturity, we'll receive unexplained undeserved suffering in our lives. This third category is suffering for blessing that only comes to mature believers as their opportunity to become a witness for the prosecution against satan in the angelic conflict.
It is called evidence testing because this is where the believer's decisions are entered as evidence for God in the rebuttal phase of Satan's appeal trial.
As we see in the case of Job, the reason for the suffering is unknown to him, but the power to deal with the suffering has already been provided through preventative suffering plus momentum testing.
Spiritual self-esteem becomes a dividing line in the spiritual life because spiritual self-esteem separates spiritual childhood from adulthood. It separates lack of capacity from capacity for life, love, and happiness. It separates spiritual dependence from spiritual independence in spiritual autonomy, and it separates suffering for blessing from suffering for discipline.
Spiritual self-esteem establishes believers in the autonomy of their own unique personal identity where there is no interest in competing with others because it is self contained, self sufficient, and self perpetuated from the PMA of Bible Doctrine that results in confident expectation in God alone.
When people compete with others to establish their self-esteem, they are manufacturing self-induced unhappiness. Without spiritual self-esteem, the strong try to control the weak through fear and intimidation and the weak try to control the strong through accusation and guilt.
To often people become possessive of someone or something and they seek to isolate the object of their affection by bullying or nagging, and complaining, or through trying to instill a guilt complex.
People with power lust are always trying to control their periphery. In doing so, they develop a system of arrogance that guarantees that they will be miserable all their lives because they cannot actually control things the way that they want to and think they can.
This is the exact same problem that satan has created for himself in his attempt to become "like the Most High" Isa 14:14;
It is interesting that if we are manifesting love we are emulating God and TLJC and if we are manifesting arrogance we are emulating satan. Love sets people free while arrogance enslaves.
Under spiritual self-esteem you are never insecure in your relationships, and you never feel threatened by arrogance or jealousy, and you never have the problems related to self-pity. 1Cor 13:4-8a;
Spiritual self-esteem combines with unconditional impersonal love to destroy inordinate ambition and competition for someone's love, affection, or for some greatness in life because spiritual self-esteem is motivated by personal love for and trust in God, that eliminates both inordinate ambition and competition.
Spiritual self-esteem has capacity for personal love for God and for a few people. This eliminates personality flaws. You cannot find yourself until you find God. You will never discover the real you until you first discover God.
Understanding this is very important, because it establishes the right priorities for life.
Spiritual self-esteem provides the capacity to admire and appreciate people without trying to imitate their personality.
Many believers have destroyed their potential in life by trying to imitate others. The only legitimate imitation is the lifestyle of wisdom. The lifestyle of wisdom is the pattern that was demonstrated by TLJC in the prototype spiritual life that has now been conveyed to us as the operational spiritual life.
Many believers have destroyed their capacity for life, love, happiness, or their potential in the Christian life by trying to imitate someone they admire rather than learning the doctrine and applying for themselves in the privacy of their priesthood.
Finding self is based on normal advance to spiritual self-esteem based on personal love for God from maximum metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness. Your personality must relate to your own portfolio of invisible assets and the protocol plan of God.