War College Trumpet W12

GRADUATION DAY: You Fight Like You Train

In the earlier War College trumpets I dealt mostly with issues that are black and white, issues that apply to our being good soldiers. In this trumpet I’m going to get into some things that are less definite: First, I want to stress that Satan’s subtlety when combined with our carnal, deceitful hearts is not something to be taken lightly. Second, I want to make the case that, unless we are good wives, we can be neither good nor successful soldiers. And third, I hope to use an imaginary Millennial Reign scenario to sober you into a deeper appreciation for the New Testament tactics and subjects we’ve covered in the War College curriculum.

WATCH THOU IN ALL THINGS

Eph 5:15,16  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

I’ll begin with something interesting I learned from my wife, which I’ll briefly summarize before I move on and get to my point: Processed foods that are sold commercially often have large amounts of refined sugar in them, and we are told that refined sugar is bad for us. It turns out sugars and starches are carbohydrates (which is a name that derives from their molecular structure). Carbs become fuel for our cells that burn only when their molecular structures are broken down into glucose, which is essentially the gasoline that our cells/engines burn. Now keep in mind that the Bible says we must work for our food (Ge 3:19a,23b; 2 Th 3:10) as you read this: Starches, which are molecularly-complex, and complex sugars such as molasses and honey are “good” carbohydrates because our bodies must work to break their complexities down into useable fuel/glucose/gasoline. That work takes time, which allows our bodies to properly use/burn that steady trickle of fuel. Processed sugar, however, is molecularly simple, and therefore our bodies don’t have to work to convert it into glucose/fuel. Therefore the conversion happens much too fast for our bodies to handle: the flood of glucose is just too much gasoline to burn all at once...so our bodies are forced to store that glucose by turning it into fat, which hinders our bodies in a number of ways.

​

The above is interesting to me because it’s but another indication that God’s word always has been way ahead of all of us in so many ways and on so many levels – even down at the molecular level (by Him all things consist). Therefore, the very things we like and want – foods containing processed sugar – are bad because the sugar is simple and does not require work; but foods that contain natural sugars such as honey are good because they are complex and do require work.

​

Why did I bring up something that is not a sin, such as eating simple sugar? Well, it’s certainly not because I’m trying to influence your eating habits. But I am trying to introduce (with perhaps too minor a point) the fact that the world has many more ways to condition us to yield control to the wants of our bodies than we can figure out in several lifetimes. Yes, it may be that our sinless wants can be harmful...as demonstrated by our basing which foods we eat on liking the taste...and in very small, subtle ways like that it may be that we are being trained to mindlessly make daily choices based purely on what our bodies want. Let me be clear about the point I’m trying to make: In many different ways the world is making us accustomed to following the lead of our carnal minds and bodies by bypassing the governing cerebral activity of discernment. That is bad because it severs the 1 Cor 11:3 chain of command that leads to and glorifies God by making Him our Head and Ruler. The active chain of command establishes God as our King, and it establishes us as His servants. Bypassing discernment is, in practice, the same as severing or disabling our new man’s head; it is surrendering control to the body, which is what Adam did when he meekly followed Eve’s lead, what Noah did when he got drunk, and what King Saul did when he democratically surrendered to the will of the people. Carelessly ignoring discernment makes us independent. The problem with bypassing discernment isn’t the activity itself; the problem is our new man isn’t in control – which makes us carnal.

​

The Apostle Paul spent a lot of time in his inner sanctum applying the word of God to everything in life. And as a result the Comforter directed his thoughts to fertile ground for our edification. Paul says his Natural concupiscence, his carnality, became apparent when he applied the meaning of covetousness to Lust A and Lust B in order to understand sinless Lust A can become sinful if we thoughtlessly go through life. Let’s look at some Scripture:

Rom 7:7,8,14 ...I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence...for I am carnal, sold under sin.

Eph 2:2,3 below contains a good definition of concupiscence: fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, but in it we also learn that living according to our “natural” desires is one of the ways Satan tries to make us fail:

Eph 2:2,3  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath...

Paul then realized the Lord has given us His words so we can use them to overcome our Natural concupiscence/carnality:

Rom 7:24,25  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the [carnal] body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind [the soul, our cerebral participation by using the Bible’s words to govern Self] I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The word of God made Paul aware that walking after the Devil/the flesh doesn’t merely involve obvious sins like adultery and stealing, it also includes thoughtlessly living according to our mental and physical wants. In other words, sinless activities – if they are the result of carnality / yielding to Self – become sinful because carnality is violent enmity against the Headship/Lordship of God, and because carnality is the opposite of discernment, which is always required. In other words, Paul used the word of God to carefully and in detail examine his own life...and he recognized his own daily carnality. Carnality is when the body acts independently of Biblical discernment. Paul saw that his “sinless” actions and choices all day long were actually sinful concupiscence if they were done “instinctively” – that is, Naturally. The “Devil was in the details”, and that’s why Paul didn’t recognize the subtlety of his sin until the word of God pointed out that anything we do that does not include some degree of discerning oversight is an independent action! That is carnality; it is violent enmity against the Headship of the Lord; it is rebellion because it is culpable neglect of our duty to be full-time servants as opposed to “95% servants” (see Trumpet A7). Paul saw that we brides of Christ are required to be faithful wives who are “keepers at home” with the Lord in our inner sanctums 100% of the time; rather than wives who are “at home” with the Lord in our inner sanctums 95% of the time...and out whoring with Self 5% of the time. Paul admitted he had a tendency to “step out” of his inner-sanctum home when doing sinless things like playing sports with his buddies, going along with the latest fad, and when failing to control his emotions and his tongue. The problem, Paul realized, wasn’t just “sinful” activities, the problem was more broad-based: it was “stepping out” on God by “forgetting” Him. Feeling overwhelmed because he was trapped inside a body of death, Paul realized that as long as he “kept at home” with his Husband via discernment in his mind, he wasn’t “stepping out”, he wasn’t being independent, and therefore the Lord would judge him as a good and faithful servant. Paul’s Romans 7 revelation was intimidating because he knew achieving that kind of mental circumspection, discipline, and watchfulness was difficult, unNatural, and would require a lot of work. And that caused Paul to make the keeper-at-home striving of 1 Cor 9:25-27 (below) part of every minute of every day of his life – it became an important tactic in his war against Self.

​

Our wifely keeper-at-home relationship with the Lord cannot mature properly if it isn’t constantly feeding on and doing the word in order to grow in understanding, then wisdom, then appreciation, and then true love for the Lord. In order for all of this to happen, we must be “keepers at home” by spending time alone with our heavenly Husband. If we utilize this private time, this communion of the Holy Ghost (2 Cor 13:14), the Comforter will respond in the same way every husband and master reacts to servant-wives who love them and please them: an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1:11). Now go back and read that verse again while applying I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25) and Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2). And then get the context of v.11 by thoughtfully reading 2 Pet 1:1-10.

​

But how can we make discernment always active? There is a well-known adage that says You fight like you train. It means we must be disciplined in our training by doing everything correctly, over and over and over. If we train properly the learned response replaces our natural response and we’ll be better prepared when we find ourselves in the unpredictable chaos of combat when that which we least expect and most greatly fear causes rising panic and an overwhelming urge for self preservation.

Job 2:4,5  And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life...put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

It is easy to sit in a classroom and correctly answer test questions about how we should respond in emergencies, and it is easy to tell ourselves we’ll do the right thing when sudden fear rears its ugly head. But the truth is when in stressful situations we all tend to resort to doing what comes most naturally. Our training, therefore, must include both mind and body, and our training must be effective enough and often enough that the proper responses become part of who we are – the words out on our periphery must become internalized parts of our character. Our Christian walk and war is cerebral.

​

And that is the answer to how we can make discernment always active: We do so by walking in a continual state of awareness in which everything we think, do, and say is filtered through discernment, which serves to train our old-man minds and bodies to always submit to our headship (and therefore the Lord’s Headship – 1 Cor 11:3), and to train our inner sanctums to be always actively alert and in charge. Or, as the Bible puts it, Having mastery over our carnal minds and bodies in all things by being temperate, by being in control.

1 Cor 9:25-27  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things [even sinless things]. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly [but deliberately]; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection [to the ruling authority of my discerning head]: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway [as a result of not having gained mastery over self in all things].

Since we are instructed to “die to self” by using the governing awareness of our discerning new man to control our Natural tendencies to allow our carnal minds and bodies to make everyday “unimportant” and “sinless” choices, let’s consider a few examples in order to perhaps better understand what the Apostle Paul was talking about.

​

Why do people simultaneously and with military-like precision (as if they were trained! – see Eph 2 above) suddenly turn their ball caps around and wear them backwards? Is it because their carnal old-man self likes that fad, and/or is it because they want to “go with the sludge” and emulate the mindless masses? (Apply this example to hundreds of different “trends” in speech, clothing, body piercings and tattoos, hairstyles, etc.) Are we so intellectually weak that we actually do things merely because our carnal minds/bodies tell us to “go along” with things as vain as fads?

​

Compare what we discussed about Rom 7 above with Gal 5:16-21,24,25 below in order to better understand concupiscence. And then think about how important gaining mastery over our mental and physical desires is as you read vv. 16,17 again).

Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit [via discernment in all things], and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh [mindless carnality] lusteth against the Spirit [thoughtful discernment], and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other [because the war is cerebral]: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would [because our spiritual minds haven’t gained proper mastery over the everyday non-cerebral wants of Self].

18 But if [note the conditional if] ye be led [via cerebral mastery/discernment] of the Spirit, ye are not under the law [because you’re not walking in the carnal flesh].

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance [to be different from our Instruction Manual], emulations [to strive to make oneself equal or similar to something or someone], wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings [discontent at not being like the world, a person, or a fad], murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified [cerebrally mastered] the flesh with the affections and lusts [have died to self via temperance in all things].

25 If we live in the Spirit [are born again, have faith], let us also walk in the Spirit [because discernment prevents carnality/independence/concupiscence – see v.16 again].

Why do people in churches claim to “believe” certain doctrines (such as immortality of the soul, evolution, and “foul” language is a sin); and why do they reject plainly-worded Scripture (don’t get married, greet each other with a kiss, women silent in church) even though they have never studied those issues? Is it because they have failed to gain mastery over self and have become accustomed to mindlessly (and therefore carnally) taking the path of least resistance through life (drifting with the sludge)?

​

Why did so many people of my generation (who were reared by loving parents who properly spared not the rod of correction) simultaneously and with military-like precision (as if they were trained!) suddenly jump on the “spanking is evil” bandwagon even though they never studied the issue!?

​

I have witnessed in my lifetime a society that fervently defended certain “rules” of morality, with astonishing rapidity and almost military precision become so amoral that I have become an anachronism. Was the change the result of intellectual participation and research...or were these wimps mindlessly going with the sludge that is orchestrated by the god of this world?

​

Why is it increasingly difficult in the U.S. to find certain healthy food products on store shelves? Is it because most Americans want to purchase and consume foods that are more appealing to the flesh? Are people’s diets the result of intellectual participation and research...or do people mindlessly go along with the mental and physical desires of the god of their belly?

​

Could it be that God gave us Scriptures such as the above because He expects us to meditate on them like Paul did in order to realize we Bible believers need to stop drifting mindlessly along? Doesn’t the Bible make it clear that we need to strive with ourselves in order to gain complete mastery over all things in our lives? Don’t the above examples indicate that the world entices, pressures, and even bullies us into living our lives with less and less intellectual/Scriptural participation by surrendering the ruling authority of our minds to the dictates of the god of our bellies – and therefore to the god of this world? By making more and more of our choices in life (notice I didn’t say decisions in life) in accordance with mindless wants, are we unknowingly training ourselves and conditioning ourselves to be intellectual and Scriptural wimps because we’re not striving/working to be “keepers at home” in our inner sanctums like good wives of the Lord’s? And at the same time are we making our biggest enemy – our carnal Self – stronger and stronger and stronger? I trow so, bro.

​

If striving/training ourselves to always have mental participation, discernment, alertness, and deliberate control over all things is so important and necessary in order to avoid the concupiscence of mindlessly walking through life, could it be that all the – cell phone bells, whistles, chimes, ringtones, vibrations, and tweets; combined with the Internet’s funny video clips, the porn, the TV shows, the music videos, the sporting events, the news, and the social media; combined with all kinds of real-life jobs, and shopping, and hobbies, and social events, and family functions – are used by the god of this world as sinless time-wasting vanities that will keep us mentally distracted from the all-important tasks/strivings mentioned above? Could it be that all of the ways used by the Devil to train and distract us have the (to him) all-important objective of keeping our old man alive, and that Satan’s job is made easier because those things aren’t sins and they come so Naturally?

WE MUST BE GOOD SOLDIERS AND GOOD WIVES

Within the context of temperance in all things I want you to think about wanting. I’m talking about “innocent, non-sinful” desires of the flesh and of the mind. I’m not talking about good wants that are the result of Biblical discernment such as, I want to serve the Lord. I’m talking about the same “innocent”-but-independent (and thereby carnal, and therefore sinful) wants we’ve been discussing above. Food for thought:

A SHORT ESSAY ON WANTING

Wanting is a very unattractive quality or state of being. Wanting means we are not happy, we are not content. Wanting is a weakness because it exalts Self over servitude. Peter and Joseph in prison did not want; Job did not want...(but his wife did). David’s adultery was caused by a temporary weakness when he allowed himself to want. The only proper want the new man/inner sanctum should have is the Lord’s will. Sadly, most of our wants originate in our carnal old man’s mind and body. Think of the old man and his wanting as a big part of our learning experience because in order to become proper servant-wives of the Lord’s we must die to Self (we must fast to Self) by cerebrally discerning and ruling well our wants from our inner sanctums, which is the Romans 7 struggle. Wanting is a lifelong temptation and challenge that will exist as long as we have our old-man minds and bodies. Good wives and servants are very much alike because their primary satisfaction in life is the complete and proper performance of their duties. In fact, when the performance of their duties necessitates self sacrifice (defined as subordinating what Self wants to the call of duty) it actually makes duty more rewarding. The absence of carnal wanting – the selflessness in doing our duty – is what makes duty so noble. That truth contributes to the fact that our Christian calling to be servants, soldiers, and wives is a high and noble calling. The Lord has designed us to be servants, and therefore true contentment is in doing somebody else’s will (duty), not in doing what Self wants. We must never allow the wants of our carnal old-man’s mind and body to slip unnoticed past the Biblical framework of words we have spent so much time and energy building in our heads, or to allow that framework to be weakened/corrupted by illocutionary influences. We are at war, brother, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal – they are the words of God, the sword of the Lord.

Notice above I said wanting is a lifelong temptation. That means wanting – like any temptation – isn’t a sin unless we yield to it, at which point it becomes covetousness, which is always a sin. Therefore, since we are talking about non-sinful wants, we must discern when they are and are not sins. And bringing carnality into the picture helps us figure out the difference. Carnality is always enmity against God because it is not being under His control, His Headship, His authority. Therefore, if we – as heads properly ruling our bodies under Christ – make a command decision to go buy a ball cap and wear it backwards, we have kept ourselves from being carnal/independent because we did not mindlessly submit to our bodies’ sinless wants, and because our discerning heads remained intellectually involved and in complete control. Our walk must be cerebral, and that is why dying to self – temperance in all things – is so important.

Another reason wanting is an unattractive attribute is the domino effect: If we get into the habit of yielding to our wants, our intellectual self-control withers and weakens over time...which causes us to become whiners when we don’t get what we want. Society is full of unhappy weaklings who disgust everybody around them by whining that they wish they could stop smoking, stick to a diet, lose weight, quit spending so much, save money, turn off the computer and study the Bible, be on time, keep their word, etc. ...“but I just can’t.” Peter and Joseph in jail – because they lived in their inner sanctums – did not want; so they made the most of the situation and glorified God. We need to always submit our wants to our intellects for evaluation and for approval, modification, or rejection. Again, the way to “strive” to gain more and more discerning control over our wants is to be temperate in all things because fasting from self makes us weak to self and mighty in spirit. And self is – by far – our biggest problem and obstacle and challenge! Having a self-disciplined reserve, an ability to continually impose upon ourselves temperance in all things physical, all things mental, all things emotional, and all things spoken is the key to walking after the Spirit, to not being carnal, to dying to self, and to being a “keeper at home” at the Lord’s feet so He can lead our thoughts into green pastures for our edification and for His name’s sake. That ability to hold Self back just a little bit in all things and at all times is how we strengthen our ability to rule with discerning wisdom, and it’s how we weaken our selfish desire to yield to the Natural wants and likes of our carnal minds and bellies. Temperance in all things is an effective way to wax strong spiritually with discerning self control, which leads to the John 14:26 inner sanctum relationship with the Lord that deepens our love and our wisdom. Temperance in all things is good training because it mentally controls our wants.

Now let’s think about some people God put in the Bible for our edification. And let’s apply the discussions above to their successes and failures in order that we might get a deeper understanding of how to properly subdue the flesh and walk in the Spirit.

​

Because all of us can identify with the Romans 7 struggle, I consider Matt Seven to be one of the scariest people in the Bible. He illustrates the fact that our deceitful and wicked hearts (Jer 17:9) can blind us to the need to die to self daily by striving to be always in a constant state of intellectual watchfulness and control (discernment). On the surface Matt Seven and the Pharisees were good, law-keeping Christians – certainly better (by judging the outward appearance) than King David. But the Lord rejected the former and favored the latter. Why?

​

Forgiveness and the doctrine of expediency teach us something about sins and about the law: As big and as important as we might think sins are (perhaps especially “biggies” like adultery and murder), love is revealed to be bigger, more important, and more powerful than everything else.

Love defined: Having a proper two-way-street relationship with the Lord. (As discussed in Trumpet B10.)

In other words, a proper relationship with the Lord must be our primary objective. David somehow had a proper relationship with the Lord, and Matt Seven and the Pharisees somehow didn’t. So the logical question is, How could an adulterer and murderer have had a better relationship with the Lord than people like Matt Seven? We can discern the answer when we apply James 2:10,11 to the “carnal (not under proper mental control) concupiscence” in Romans 7 that made Paul realize we are “sold under sin” and therefore must “strive for the (mental) mastery.” Notice Paul then says every man that striveth for the mastery “is” temperate in all things. He does not say we should “strive to be temperate”; he says “being temperate in all things is striving.” And that fact makes us appreciate how large a role in our training/growth temperance – restraint imposed by the mind – plays. Did David strive for the mastery and succeed most of the time? Yes, because David mostly avoided the daily “concupiscence sins” discussed above by keeping his inner sanctum active and in charge; and, yes, David also had a few times when he sinned. Matt Seven, on the other hand sinned every day numerous times by not continually walking with the Lord in his inner sanctum; and because of Jam 2:10,11 those numerous everyday “sins of concupiscence”, those “sins of carnally leaving the Lord out of his thoughts when doing ‘non-sinful’ things”, those “sins of independent ‘non-sinful’ thoughts and actions” were no different from murder and adultery...and those habitual sins show that Matt Seven’s carnality/enmity against God was a “normal” part of who he was even though he didn’t realize it (Jer 17:9; 1 Cor 9:27). And that is what made Paul recognize the seriousness and necessity of our full-time cerebral participation in this war: he didn’t want a Matt-Seven-like mostly-independent daily routine of “thoughtless carnal concupiscence” to prevent the Comforter from “manifesting Himself” to Paul in order that a proper Husband-wife relationship could develop. Paul is warning us that if we do not properly subject Self to the full-time rule of discernment we run the Matt-Seven risk of having the Lord say to us at Judgment: “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity; I never knew you because you weren’t a keeper at home!”

​

So, the bottom line: David was a proper wife because for the most part he was a keeper at home in his inner sanctum with the Lord – therefore David’s sins were forgiven. Matt Seven was not a proper wife, did not walk cerebrally with the Lord – and was therefore carnal, sold under sin. Matt did not have a proper two-way-street relationship with the Lord, and therefore the Comforter did not manifest Himself to him because the living word of God looked around in Matt’s inner sanctum and saw that Matt was AWOL! And not only that: the divine word also discerned the thoughts and intents of Matt’s heart and found that his absence was because he was carnal – which made everything he did a sin, which made Matt a “worker of iniquity” (Mt 7:23) and a loveless tinkling cymbal (1 Cor 13:1).

​

What this means, of course, is our relationship with the Lord is supposed to be real, it’s supposed to be personal, and it’s supposed to be paramount. “OK, no problem”, thought Matt as he drifted with “sinless” vanities. And that is why he was shocked and indignant enough at Judgment to argue with God Almighty – which itself is but another proof that he didn’t spend nearly enough real time with the Lord. No matter what words we use – temperance, discernment, self-control, walking in the Spirit, praying always, being under subjection, being in our inner sanctum, walking circumspectly, being watchful, or waiting on the Lord – the objective is the same: to conquer our Natural independence, our Natural carnality, because they can make us castaways.

​

I want to try to highlight the difference between the Davids and the Matts. On the surface it looked like Matt was a good husband/soldier who did all of the “manly” stuff like being separated from bad Christians, learning the Bible, and being a doer of the word in order to foster/create an environment in which his “wifely part” could “stay at home” with the Lord and build a proper relationship. But somehow Matt failed to develop that wifely relationship.

​

David was an adulterer and murderer, so on the surface we might say he was not as good a husband/soldier as was Matt. But, the primary purpose of the husband/soldier part of all of us is to create an environment around us and inside us that will help our wife part stay at home with the Lord where He can manifest Himself to us. Therefore, in spite of his headline-grabbing sins, David was obviously a pretty good husband/soldier because “she” and the Lord developed such a real and close and trusting relationship that when David sinned the Lord – in effect – held out His royal scepter (Est 5:2). Therefore, even though we cannot and should not reduce the importance of our husbandly/soldierly duties, we must keep in mind the fact that neglecting the all-important wifely relationship with the Lord is apparently what caused the Lord to withhold His scepter from Matt.

​

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, we must each incorporate all of the word of God into who we are (like David did) so we can be good soldiers and good wives. Being good wives may sound simple but it isn’t...for two reasons. First, people like Matt Seven show it’s possible (and maybe easier) to be a good husband/soldier without being a good wife. We need to always keep in mind that all of our husbandly and soldierly duties exist primarily so our wifely relationship with the Lord can flourish.

​

The second reason being good wives is difficult is the fact that so many Christians seem to need constant activity. They seem to be unable to sit still for two seconds without having to jump up and go do something. That means spending time quietly sitting in their inner sanctums will be difficult to incorporate into their daily lives. In fact, studies have shown that many people are so addicted to mental and physical activity and entertainment they can’t even force themselves to sit quietly and think for 15 minutes. 67% of men and 25% of women in the studies chose to electrically shock themselves rather than sit for 15 minutes, and most began shocking themselves before half of the 15 minutes had passed. This may mean all of the modern worldly ways we have to keep ourselves “busy” are, indeed, impediments to forming proper relationships with the Lord...and that may underscore the wisdom of be keepers at home and study to be quiet. Also, the percentages may mean Christian men will have a harder time sitting quietly than Christian women. We might also conclude we present day Bible believers have a bigger Romans 7 problem in trying to curb the carnal desires of the flesh and of the mind than did the Apostle Paul, and that may mean being temperate in all things while we strive to master dying to self will be as unattainable for many of us as it apparently was for Matt Seven and the Pharisees.

​

The Bible tell us to be temperate in all things for the obvious reason that we have a Natural tendency to overindulge our mental and physical lusts (Eph 2:3). And when I say overindulge I’m not merely referring to profligate binging, I’m referring to the Natural everyday types of concupiscence Paul spoke about in Rom 7 that caused him to realize we must be temperate in all things. That means walking circumspectly is a full-time job that requires maintaining at least some part of our discerning consciousness (inner-sanctum awareness of the Bible and the Lord) and control (temperance) no matter what we’re doing.

​

Being temperate in all things (not just most things) in and of itself seems (by today’s self-centered standards) like a pretty big task. But when we zero in on the fact that the word is means equals we realize the following is an accurate rewording of that verse: “He that is not temperate in all things is not striving; he’s not even trying.”

​

That means being temperate in all things can be properly defined as always being with the Lord by always being aware of Him, which can be called a never-ending state of prayer (1 Th 5:17; Ep 6:18) – is only the beginning because it is merely striving (as opposed to achieving)! That seems to indicate that the real objective of striving / being temperate / being continually with the Lord is to learn from Him and put what we learn from Him into action as His servants. And that objective is not possible if we aren’t trying/striving by being temperate in all things!

​

With all of the above discussion in mind (about daily concupiscence, temperance in all things lest even Paul lose it like Matt Seven did), see if that discussion might complement these difficult sayings of the Lord’s:

Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?

And he said unto them, Strive [as defined above] to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able [because they didn’t even strive by being always temperate / always present with the Lord].

When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men [being with men] this is impossible [therefore come out from among them, consult not with flesh and blood, avoid distractions and leaven]; but with God [being always present with God] all things are possible [because He is our Mentor and our arm of strength. Therefore if we wives want to learn how to be proper soldier-wives we should ask our Husband at home (1 Co 14:35) in our inner sanctums].

It says “all things are possible”; it doesn’t say guaranteed, because it’s still up to us to be doers. In other words, it says the same thing as this verse:

1 Cor 10:13,14 God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way [strait gate, being with Him so we can learn] to escape, that ye may [if we are doers of what we learned] be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry [Flee from Self – the daily concupiscence of living in accordance with our “non-sinful” lusts of the flesh and of the mind – lest we ourselves should be castaways].

How do we flee from the deadly subtlety of our Naturally-concupiscent Selves? By being good soldiers/men who prudently provide a quiet lifestyle for our wife/female part so she/we can be with the Lord in our inner sanctums rather than with Self (idolatry, see next verses) via unthinking concupiscence.

Phil 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

Co 3:5,6  Mortify therefore your...evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

We are Christian soldiers in mortal, carnal bodies trying to fight a spiritual war against supernatural beings who are way too smart and powerful for us. Therefore it is impossible for us humans to win (Mk 10:27a)...unless we are “with” the Lord, for with God all things are possible (Mk 10:27b). And the only way to be “with” the Comforter – according to Jn 14 – is by being proper doers of the words in the Bible. Whenever our daily lives are not spent with God via intellectual ruling discernment we have left our Husband at home with nobody to serve Him, we have shown that “me time” is more important than “Thee time”, and we have usurped His ruling authority by doing and choosing things based purely on what we want, on what we like – and are therefore idolatrously glorifying the god of our bellies. The Christian walk is fighting the good fight against Self in order to become a pleasingly-submissive wife who is one-flesh with the Lord – a real living, breathing, walking, talking member of His body/church. The real purpose of being in our inner sanctums is to become closer and closer to Him until we can’t stand being apart from Him...and the resulting love will make the Romans 7 struggle and the “earnestly desiring to be clothed upon” more and more real to us.

​

We need to be hermits who live in the exclusive sanctity of our inner sanctums. This solitude is good and important and necessary. And that is why our husbandly duties are important – we must deliberately and prudently build a lifestyle conducive to quiet, and we must protect ourselves from outside influences and distractions so our wifely part can mature in love and strength and wisdom...because our wifely relationship may be the key to our successfully enduring to the end of the Millennial Reign.