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Within the ethical parameters that God provides, there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of whatever resources and services that the medical field has to offer.
Physicians and mental health professionals can treat the body and the mind with varying degrees of success, but such human resources can do NOTHING to treat the spirit in Man.
With the exception of the born-again believers who will be on the earth when the Rapture (1) takes place, our physical bodies are destined to return to *dust (2), but the soul and spirit lives on in one of two environments.
[The *dust of a departed born-again believer will be raised up in the form of a resurrected body when the Rapture takes place.]
Spiritual deliverance, here in the land of the living, is not to be found in a bottle (3), a chemical substance, or overt activity.
The relief that such things have to offer, is at best, only temporary, and many times only prove to create additional problems to the ones you already have.
The level of the joy of the Lord that one has is compatible with his or her level of spiritual maturity at any given time.
Spiritual maturity is measured by the amount of accurate doctrine that an advancing disciple has in his or her edified soul structure, coupled with his or her willingness to apply it.
Only a fool would think he or she could just show up out of shape at an athletic event, and then expect to perform as well as others who have trained and prepared for it.
Likewise, don’t expect to experience the joy of the Lord in the midst of the trials and tribulations of life, here in the land of the living, if you are not obedient to the 2Pet. 3 :18 command, the Matt. 7: 24 preparation, and the James 1: 22 principle of application.
“There is a way which seems right to a person, But its end is the way of *death (Prov. 14: 12 NASB2020).”
The word *death in Proverbs 14: 12 NASB2020 is an English translation of the Hebrew word m-a-v-e-t-h.
Maveth can refer to physical, spiritual, or temporal death, or as in this case, it can figuratively refer to ruination.
In His grace and mercy, God will see you through whatever adversity comes your way.
But only by learning and doing things His way, can you maintain the joy of the Lord as you either endure or escape each storm, and in the process, He will be glorified.
Sometimes it is His will for us to endure the adversity.
Sometimes it is His will for us to avoid or escape.
In either scenario, He supplies us with the means to accomplish His objectives.
The glorification of God in the midst of an ongoing battle between the forces of good and evil was the reason that God created, and maintains, the human race, and each and every member of it!
By choosing to do things independently of God, one can ruin his or her life, suffer earthly consequences, and set the stage for never-ending consequences in the life to come.
Life after physical death is not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHERE and HOW eternity future WILL be experienced, based on choices we make, here and now, in the land of the living.
Believers who do not spiritually mature will not experience the joy of the Lord during the days of adversity here on Earth.
In Eternity, each and every one of us will either experience the complete and uninterrupted joy of the Lord in His presence, or permanent suffering and separation from Him, in what the Bible calls the lake of fire (4).
End of Part 3
End of series.
(1) 1Thess. 4: 17 (2) Gen. 3: 19 (3) Eph. 5: 18 (4) Rev. 20: 15
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