9. I Live out from God's Desire

Our study of 1 Peter is a study of the shaping of our souls through the fires of suffering. Regardless of the cause of any suffering, it is capable of working in us two things that are required for us to know God and to live with Him. The first thing suffering works in us is honesty and humility, and the second is a heart stretched wide in compassion.

Suffering in itself is one big waste of time, however, unless through it, we live always inside the acknowledgement of God with us, that we never disconnect ourselves from God. Yet our study is neither on suffering nor the Fire of God, but rather, our human souls. What is the salvation of our souls? What changes in our souls as we share life with God?

Escaping Tyranny. The title of this lesson comes out from the JSV translation of 1 Peter 4:2, that, no longer disconnecting ourselves from God, we live always out from God’s Desire.

In beginning this study, I suggested that we would look more closely into the souls of a number of individuals, Jesus on the cross, David’s, and my own. But I also suggested a look at Peter’s soul, which we will do in the next lesson, and at the souls of individuals I have known who took the word of “obedience” in a different direction than I. This last “group of souls” will be the study of this lesson.

You see, “living out from God’s desire” is our escape from the tyranny of “the will.” I am speaking of those who, seeing God’s requirements, take themselves in hand, that they might FIX themselves – OR – that they might “fix” other people.

You Did Not Choose. Here is a ringing declaration from the old covenant, from Joshua. “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And here is a puzzling conundrum from the New Covenant, from Jesus in John 15. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you for Myself, and I set you forth and established you; that you should be led forward, that you should bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…”

At the center of this great dichotomy is the human will, the decider, the chooser, the moral responsibility of the self. Joshua’s words are completely True and good, when found inside of our True response to Jesus’ words. But for many, Joshua’s words are an opportunity to avoid Jesus and Life.

Our Choice. Is there a human choice? Absolutely. God treats every individual, coming out from His own thoughts, with utmost respect. Violating anyone’s choice never enters His mind. The ISSUE is – a choice between what? You see, the choice is only ever between two things, one or the other. As Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters.” Our choice is not between God and the devil, nor between right and wrong. Our choice is between Jesus and not-Jesus.

And the issue of the choice of every individual human is, “What must I do to be saved?” Does Jesus, Personal and real, always with me, save me inside every human problem? Or do I save myself? Do I get myself in hand? Do I make the right “choices?” Am I responsible for myself?

The Dynamics of Death. Life is full surrender to the present Person of Jesus, that He alone Propitiates and resolves. Death is choosing between good and evil, right and wrong, in every situation. Choosing surrender is a one-time act, rejoiced in daily. Choosing between good and evil never ends.

In this lesson, I want to draw from men whom I have known reasonably well. But I will not include any clues as to their names, although all are in my life story. These Christian and Spirit-filled men turned their relationship with God and the Bible into a choice between good and evil. Some went outward into placing this fake choice upon others, but some went inward into placing it upon themselves. Yet what we want to see is the dynamics inside their souls.

The JS2 Page. I intend to reference Chapter 12 “People,” in The Two Gospels. You will need to review that chapter.

After our statements of faith, we will have an explanation box titled “The Issue of Choice and the Will.” At the same time, I am writing an explanation box to add to the introduction to 1 John in this text titled “Defining Sin and Propitiation.” These two topics are closely related, and I will be writing them at the same time. I might have space to include that box also in this study. Then, we will have two more boxes, first “My Choice,” and second, “Out from God’s Desire.” Of truth, “My Choice” is my response to the definition of “sin.” And “Out from God’s Desire” is the miracle that is Jesus as our All-Propitiation.

Statements of Faith. I am happy when I suffer through being justly innocent inside of God. I have the same mind as Christ; I am never afraid of threats. I devote myself to Christ inside my heart regardless of what I endure. Through all things, I speak of the hope of Christ that I carry inside of me.

I equip my mind and make it ready to suffer ill-treatment, just as Jesus did. For Jesus connects me with God, even through the suffering we share together. I never disconnect myself from God. Whatever happens to me, I respond to God in all good consciousness.

I possess a good consciousness. I am never ashamed. I desire God’s desire, even when I suffer in doing good. I never disconnect myself from God, for I live always out from God’s desire.

Psychotic in Their Thinking. What happens inside the human soul when one eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, especially a Christian?

The appeal to Eve was that, “It was desirable to make one wise.” Yet Paul said this, “They became pointless, even psychotic in their thinking [a false story of self], and their incoherent heart was darkened, misunderstanding everything. Asserting themselves to be wise, they became foolish” (Romans 1:21-22). It is the thoughts of the mind that are affected first and dramatically. The realization that the spirit searches the heavens and finds nothing is only second. But that realization is less than the dramatic confusion of the mind, asserting itself to be capable of “figuring out” God’s meaning.

Response to Danger. Think about this. The response to danger inside the human form is God-created, good, and normal, that is, except when the “danger” becomes God Himself in the imagination. In the “fight or flight” mode, protecting one’s self is the normal response of any physical form. Stress comes when a person lives in that mode on a regular basis.

Yet here the “danger” is God and His “requirements.” Thus the protection of self becomes overwhelming stress. This is the darkening of the heart. The relationship of Life is utter Trust. Human choice for us begins with receiving Jesus and continues to refusing not-Jesus. Inside receiving Jesus and refusing not-Jesus, human choice rests in God and lives out from God’s desire.

God Becomes the “THREAT.” But when human thinking disconnects from the Spirit, it becomes psychotic because it sees threats where none exist. Inside of “threat,” “good” becomes what benefits me and keeps me alive. And “evil” becomes what harms me and threatens my well-being. Nicene Christianity then took a God who is Good all the time and who fills us with His Love and turned Him into the same “Threat” by which Adam first accused God. “Be sure your sins will find you out.” Calvinism came along and increased that “THREAT,” if that be possible. – “When you see God, you will know how evil you really are.”

Inside the imagination of All-Danger, the DESIRE of the human to secure good for self and to escape evil for self becomes the rule of the soul.

The Most Reckless Man. This is why we must place the most reckless man in the Bible into our knowing of, and experience with, Hebrews 10. David’s SINS found him out, and they were wicked. But God was NO threat to David. David took himself, with all of his wickedness, and ran straight into God, into the Most Devoted Place in the universe. And what did David do in that place? Did he weep? Did he grovel?

NO!!! David was busy finagling with God over the life of the newborn child, with no thought for his own problems. In fact, David was interceding for the sake of someone else. And what was God’s response? “Hey, I like this guy. Here is a man after My own Heart.”

The Entrance of Mental “Word.” “To reck” means “to care.” David did not care what God would do towards Him (2 Samuel 24:14); he cared only about being found inside of God, regardless.

But when the law entered into the human picture, word under human control, void of the Spirit and of Life, word with no reference to an immediate and personal Jesus, then humans were sealed into “God as Threat.” “You do this and I will bless you. You do that and I will curse you.”

We can now see exactly what happens. Because God does not know sin, He formed the human soul with “choice,” the right and the power inside our humanity to receive and to refuse. Then God invited us to receive Jesus, that is, Life, and to refuse not-Jesus, in full and complete honor and trust.

“It’s All About the Will.” Inside the psychotic mind that sees God as the THREAT, however, the choice between what is good for me and what is evil against me becomes the rule of survival, eyes darting back and forth, stressed out, and danger everywhere.

The real problem is when such a mind becomes a Christian, even born again, even filled with the Spirit, even dwelling inside the Altar of Incense, just before the Veil. It is such a mind that turns “the will of the human” and “the will of God” into something distorted, something out of balance, something twisted and tyrannical. It is such a mind, seeing God as the THREAT, that makes “the Christian life” to be a war of wills, “God’s divine WILL and your human will are always opposed,” rather than the renewing of the mind.

Brother A and Brother B. I know such minds really well, and I could give you several such names from my life story, but I will not. Rather, let me create two fictitious men, Brother A and Brother B, both of whom are gifted with “strong wills.” Because Brother A experiences NO self-doubt ever, his strength of will goes outward towards others, giving himself the mission of “setting them straight” – “with God.” Because Brother B is less strong and holds some self-doubt, his strength goes inward towards himself, giving himself the mission of “setting myself straight” – “with God.”

Both brothers are born again, filled with the Spirit, and living before the veil in the experience of the Altar of Incense. Jesus lives in their hearts, but they will not connect with God through an immediate and Personal Jesus.

Convinced They Are Right. Brother A and Brother B are deluded to complete dishonesty about themselves. They both declare that the “human” is opposed to “the will of God,” yet they have each placed their own strength of will as being “right with God.” Self dying to self. The human will getting the human will under control. The man of sin putting off the man of sin.
What is so sad is that neither brother ever stops, even one moment in their lives, and thinks, “This is not working.” Rather, they go into death convinced they have it “right.”

I have never looked into the eyes of Brother A, for his forehead is way too strong for me. I have looked into the eyes of Brother B, once, and saw the madness of a soul twisted by the false choices of a human “fixing” self.

Unresolved GUILT! Let us assume that Brother A fought in war as a young man and in the execution of that war, murdered innocent people. Let’s assume that he justifies his actions by patriotism or self-defense and sees no need to consider them. I do not know if all preachers of “outward obedience” fail ever to look at their own constant disobedience because of unresolved guilt over wicked actions in the past, but I do know that it is common and is possibly always the case.

Let us assume that Brother B is consumed with “what other people think about me,” to such an extent that he uses his naturally strong will to make himself ACT, in every instance, in accordance with what he thinks they expect. Yet Brother B is a good actor only in his own imagination.

Relations to Power Over. In the chart I created for “People” in The Two Gospels, Brother A is not a psychopath, for he is able to consider other people and their needs. I would place him in categories 18-19. Because Brother B carries some self-doubt, he is never as strong in asserting himself as Brother A. I would put Brother B into categories 16-17. Such men have always become leaders in the Church. Not all leaders are among them, however; I knew a number of leaders in categories 4-7. Yet the majority in church history are like Brother A.

It is clear to me now that Brother A’s strength of will was great enough to “deny” self completely, obliterating all guilt or wrongness. Whereas Brother B’s strength of will, while still denying any wrongness, was only strong enough to subdue self inwardly. Strength of will is always at war against Jesus.

The Decider. Here is my point, what I must express in our next JS2 box. Inside the mind of good versus evil, human will-power becomes the decider, claiming “I am responsible for myself before God.” The distortion of the human soul coming from this perversion is brutal, even to calling “God’s will” the same. Yet all who think that way are incredibly, incredibly dishonest.

And this is why the brightest day of my life was that cold and lonely day in February of 1998, when I lost all hope – in myself. And out from my hopelessness, I turned to – Jesus. The wondrous thing, then, is that God gave us human choice for the most beautiful of reasons, so that we might say, “Yes, Jesus,” and run with all the strength of our souls into God, who alone keeps us SAFE.

The Issue of Choice and the Will. God does not know sin or evil, neither does He ever choose between good and evil, or right and wrong. Because of God’s great respect for us, he created us with the authority and power to receive and the authority and power to refuse. The knowledge of God can enter us only through our explicit permission. By His respect, God gives us the choice between two, for no one can serve two masters. Our choice is between Jesus and not-Jesus; for a human, there is no other choice.

Christians who eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil have chosen “not-Jesus.” They approach God’s requirement to give answer to Him with their own strength of will to choose to do what is right and to refuse to do what is wrong. In such a mind, God is perceived as “the Threat,” and appeasing such a God by self-performance as the goal, even of survival.

In this mind, those Christians who are strong-willed towards self and towards others become leaders in the Church and definers of the “truth.” They place their same “control over self” upon God, turning His desire into an implacable “will.” They read their Bibles with their intellects, not their hearts, and they turn the Christian life into a battle of wills, “Hear and obey.” Such a mind is uncompromisingly dishonest about self.

Sin’s Root and Branch. John’s epistles bring the issue of sin front and center. We must define it clearly, that we might know that God has made us FREE from sin, as the Gospel says. A reader of 1 John must know what sin is and the Propitiation that surrounds it. I do not want to build to a definition. Rather, I want to give it as root and branch, that is, as source and completion.

The ROOT of all sin is the refusal of Jesus, the refusal to acknowledge Him as our only Source, the One sustaining us every moment by His power-filled Word. And the branch of sin, its completion, is how we treat other people. In between the root and the branch, however, are an endless array of sinful thoughts, words, and actions, the transgression of the law and whatever is not of faith.

The Entrance of Honesty. If the root of all sin is the refusal of Jesus and the Life He is, then the antidote to all sin is surrender to Jesus, a Person, real and True, inside our hearts. And the only surrender that can be complete is the surrender to One who has already come into union with us. For this reason, the Propitiation wrought by Jesus must find honesty before it can begin its work.

Read 1 John 1:5 through 2:2. It becomes clear that John is NOT describing a “sin nature” that we cannot escape, but rather the entrance of HONESTY into our lives. Jesus removes my sin. I do not! But then John takes the reader immediately into how you treat your brother, positioning “loving one another” as the completion of Propitiation.

God Cleanses All. Consider Brother A. Yes, under his immediate participation, thousands of Christian people were burned to death. Yet this was “for country” and considered entirely legitimate.

There is a huge difference between Propitiation and restitution. Propitiation is now; restitution is future. Propitiation requires active honesty, placing one’s self with all wicked actions entirely into God, with no denial or fake self-punishment. God cleanses ALL. Instead, in his strength of will, Brother A simply blocked any thought of being wrong. Brother A was kind and thoughtful of others. Yet no thought of “I might be wrong” ever entered his consciousness. The result was a continued presentation of a false view of God, bringing even more death into the lives of Christian people.

Defining “Iniquity.” God spoke a word to Cain before he murdered his brother. This is the anti-gospel, for Abel was the Gospel. – “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). Notice that the issue for all is to “be accepted” by God. Abel ran into God, by type, through the Blood of the Lamb. But Cain chose to approach God through “the strength” of his human will to “rule over” sin. This decision quickly became a boastful “rule over others.”

We can now define “iniquity.” Iniquity is the actions of a human who attempts to approach God through strength of will to exercise a dishonest and failed “control” over sin.

Defining Sin and Propitiation. We must define sin first by source and completion, by root and branch. The root of all sin is the refusal of Jesus, the refusal to acknowledge Him as our only Source, the One sustaining us every moment by His power-filled Word. And the branch of sin, its completion, is how we treat other people. In between the root and the branch, then, is the endless array of sinful thoughts, words, and actions, the transgression of the law and whatever is not of faith. All sin, from source to completion disconnects us from a God who requires us to give Him answer.

Propitiation is the action of Jesus to connect us back with God as our Father, by bringing full resolution to all offence and to all differences of person and character. This resolution is His Blood shed for us, the greatest action of Love, wherein Jesus joined us with the Father inside the deepest agonies of His human soul on the cross. Jesus then becomes our answer to God in all ways through faith.

In response to the Love of Jesus for us, we run straight into God, first at every sign of trouble, but then becoming the only place we live. Our connection with God, and the only answer we give, is the energeoing action of the Person of Jesus, dwelling inside of us as living Spirit Word, every Word God speaks fulfilled. Jesus alone surrounds all our sin, and Jesus alone cleanses us. Our response is to place ourselves into God, inside of absolute Devotion, regardless.

Iniquity, then, is all Christian attempt to deal with the “threat” of God’s requirement that we give answer to Him, first by putting the time of accounting into the future, and second by the strength of the human will. By an intellectual misunderstanding of God, this way of thinking elevates the human “will” as a response to an implacable “will of God.” Rather than running into God through Jesus, iniquity seeks to exercise control over sin by its own self-control. By a darkened heart, this self-control becomes a life of uncompromised dishonesty.

My Choice Is Life. The next box, “My Choice,” is found in 1 Peter, not 1 John, and so I will draw from what I have just written about sin and propitiation in order to write it.

God does not choose between right and wrong, and in creating us in His image, He certainly did not design us in that way either. That’s why He said, “Don’t eat of that tree.” Here is a wondrous thought. God chooses Jesus in exactly the same way and for the same reasons that He wants us to choose Jesus, that we might be what we are, like Him. In the same way, I do not choose you. Rather, I choose Jesus, and you come to me inside of Him.

My choice is LIFE, a living union with a Personal Jesus.

My Choice. Jesus has chosen me. And in my response to such wondrous Love, I choose Jesus in return. My response to Jesus began early on, when I surrendered to His Presence in my life, that He sustains me and walks with me through all. I rejoice in that surrender daily. Because I have chosen Jesus and refused not-Jesus, I run into God at any sign of trouble. I never hide myself from God, but I always allow Him to show me that I am wrong. Jesus alone cleanses me from all. My choice is Life, a living union with a Personal Jesus.

God’s Desire. We can now build to the purpose of this page, that a believer in Jesus lives out from God’s desire, not through “strength of will,” but through faith that God Is, already. God’s desire is Jesus’ desire, and Jesus’ desire is that we be utterly with Him inside of the Father, inside of His glory. God’s desire pre-supposes – Pro-Determines – union.

The words we want to find expression for, however, are “live out from.” What does it mean to “live out from” God’s desire. It begins with acknowledging the good things of Christ inside of us, becoming our acknowledgment of God sharing our lives with us, personally and together, every moment. God KEEPS us and God DEVOTES us to Himself. We live out from, that is, we proceed always out from such a God.

Jesus Always Saves Me. In keeping me, God never presents me with the need to “choose” between right and wrong. But I have found many times where I was in desperate need to access my decision to need Jesus to save me. He always does.

Certainly, there are on-going daily decisions to do this or to do that. In relating with other people, those decisions include agreeing with them. And my decisions include how I might bless and benefit others. All of this is a flow out from God’s desire. None of it is “will-power,” or choosing between right and wrong. And God’s Desire is that I include Him in all of my thinking, that I live knowing that He shares all with me.

Run with All into God. When I consider Brother B, I realize that he suppresses his emotions, putting on “the right” emotion, the thing that others expect to see in a “victorious Christian.”

I have great emotions that God has abandoned me. I never suppress those emotions, and I never live by them. I live by what God says, and I take myself WITH all my contrary emotions into God with me. And always my distress turns into comfort and peace. I am absolutely convinced that the thing that pleases God, the thing that He WANTS, is for me to acknowledge His presence shared always with me, regardless.

It takes will-power to suppress and to deny. We have neither; we have Jesus. He is all the faith we need.

Out from God’s Desire. Jesus shows me God’s desire by His own desire expressed to the Father. “Father, I desire that (your own name) be with Me inside of You sharing My glory.” By Jesus, I know that God’s determined desire towards me is always that I live inside of God and God inside of me in all my knowing and acknowledgement. God’s desire is to share life with me and I with Him. Then God’s desire reaches out to include my devoted Love for my brothers and sisters who are also here with me inside of God, inside of Jesus. I live every moment out from this Great and Determined Desire that is God. Inside of God’s Desire, which is His will for me, I never disconnect myself from God, for Jesus as my only life is the only answer to God that I ever give. God’s will is every Word that is Christ Jesus fulfilled in my life through Jesus’ own faith.

Joshua’s Choice. Read Joshua 5:13-15. You will see that Joshua did not choose between doing right or doing wrong; Joshua chose full surrender to a Personal Jesus. And the essence of Jesus’ word to Joshua was, “Humble yourself, for you are devoted to Me.”

Writing this lesson is so helpful to me. I have had years of close fellowship and interaction together with “Brother A” and “Brother B.” Yet they always left me deeply concerned. I know that Jesus lived as both brothers. Yet I can now see how it was that His forgiveness could not heal their souls. For Propitiation to do its work in our souls, honesty is required first, and with it, a full surrender to a Personal Jesus who actively comes into union with us.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “Peter, 1 Peter, and Canon.” By the end of the week, I hope to have completed the last remaining missing pieces in The Jesus Secret II, except for the introduction and conclusion. Those missing or partly completed pieces are “Peter as a Writer,” the synopsis and outline of 1 Peter, and the page explaining why I did not include 2 Peter and Jude (Canon). I hope to order the second proof copy before we finish the final two pages for 1 Peter.

At the same time, I have completed all the Bible text and most of the comments in the JSV, and I will be working on finishing the explanation of how I translate it and why. As soon as that explanation is finished, I will order the first proof copy. I am getting very excited.

Let’s Pray Together. “Oh Father, we have run into You with all the strength of our souls, and we live only inside of You. When You require of us, we give You our answer, the Lord Jesus, Your Word fulfilled, and our only Life.

“Our desire is the same as Yours, Father. For as we dwell inside of Your Goodness, as we acknowledge Your Grace every moment, so we desire that all our brethren, all whom you have brought into our lives and all who belong to Jesus throughout heaven and earth, that each one would be here with us inside of You, sharing the wondrous Glory of Jesus.

“Father, give us our desire. Give us Your Church set free with us inside of You, clothed with the Glory of Jesus. We know that You answer us in all that we ask of You, inside of Jesus.”