The Word
Vol. 9 No. 24
Upper Room Discourse
In verse 11 we
have, “These things (Bible Doctrine) I have spoken to you so
that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
C.
Suffering for Blessing and Joy. Mat
In
“Happy are those who have
been persecuted for the sake of righteousness” means maintaining and continuing
with cognitive invincibility in the face of anti-Christ tacks that also come
from our airwaves, the nightly news, the internet, radio, newspapers, etc. If
you focus too much on the messages the media is feeding you, you will succumb
to Cosmic Viewpoint and fail in receiving the Joy of Jesus Christ.
1. The Greek word
used here for “consider” is HEGEOMAI (Aorist, Middle Deponent, Imperative),
which has two main meanings. The first is “to lead” as in having authority, and
the second is “to suppose” which means to think, to consider, to regard. Both
are important here as the believer is to have authority over their soul through
the thinking / application of Bible Doctrine.
2. Thinking,
considering, and regarding is the liveliness of Bible doctrine in the stream of
consciousness, the stream of consciousness being operational. Therefore HEGEOMAI
provides us with three explanations of joy.
a. To Think means the reasoning of the conscious mind, the
capability of reasoning, remembering, decision making, and application.
Therefore joy means to employ the mind rationally and objectively in evaluation
and application of Bible doctrine (Divine Viewpoint). The mood of the Greek
word HEGEOMAI is Imperative, which mandates the function of joy.
b. To Consider means to think
carefully in making decisions. Joy is the process of thinking, and careful
thinking in making decisions. Joy is making a decision based on thinking in
terms of Divine Viewpoint.
c. To Regard
means to concentrate, to value, to honor, to revere;
therefore to think in terms of high esteem, to evaluate the facts is joy.
3. Joy is thinking,
considering, and regarding. This is an
Imperative Mood, in which God makes a direct positive demand on the volition of
the believer involved in Suffering for Blessing.
4. These verses apply only to the adult stage of the
spiritual life. You are commanded to face Providential Preventative Suffering,
Momentum Testing or Suffering for Blessing with joy; a system of thought based
on cognitive self-confidence and the integrity envelope. This is thinking in
terms of Bible Doctrine that does not use prayer as a Problem Solving Device.
Instead it uses Bible Doctrine resident within your soul to stand firm
(cognitive invincibility) against the attacks of anti-Biblical thinking that
results in you having the Joy of Jesus Christ,
5.
6. The maximum
Problem Solving Device for our Lord Jesus Christ during the First Advent was
Joy / Sharing the Happiness of God, which is a system of thinking. This system
of thinking has been given to us during the Church Age.
7. Joy / Sharing
the Happiness of God and Occupation with Christ are two sides of the same coin
as we have seen in
8. Our Lord’s
exhibited joy was the result of maximum metabolized Bible doctrine circulating
in His stream of consciousness as a Problem Solving Device as He endured the
bearing of our sins on the Cross.
9. One of the rewards
Jesus received for enduring the Cross was having joy in the knowledge that He
made possible reconciliation for the entire human race and that some would
receive that reconciliation.
10. Christ underwent
all the misery and shame of the Cross that he might purchase for us everlasting
life, and joy, and glory.
D.
Joy and Emotions:
1. Emotion has no
strength. Emotion is totally self-centered. For example,
guilt is all emotion and is full of sin. It has no strength. Shame is a normal
function of the soul, which is why it occurs at the judgment seat of Christ in
resurrection body (1
2. How you feel is
never the issue in the spiritual life.
a. When a person is
motivated to perform works by how they feel and their emotions, they produce
dead works (wood, hay and straw,
b. When a person is
motivated to perform works by Bible Doctrine circulating in their souls, they
produce Divine good works.
3. Emotions were designed by
God. In planning the creation of mankind, God said, “Let us make mankind in our
shadow-image according to our likeness,”
a. In the Garden of Eden, perfect mankind functioned under four shadow-image
principles (self-consciousness - I am, self-perception - I think, volitional
options - I ought, and self-determination - I will) resulting in good emotion.
Good emotion was added by God as an appreciator of the things in the soul.
b. Emotion is what is
experienced as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of
consciousness. Emotion is part of the essence of the soul. The soul resides in
the brain.
c. Emotion has two
functions in life as a part of the soul; a normal and an abnormal function. The
emotions of the soul are designed to respond to what is in the mentality of the
soul.
d. As a result of
perception, metabolization, and application of Bible
doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness through the filling of the
Holy Spirit, the believer responds in appreciation to God. That is good
emotion. Good emotion came in the Garden of Eden before bad emotion, which came
after the fall of man.
e. Bad emotion began at
the original sin and has continued throughout human history. Bad emotion was
very much in evidence in the original sin of man. Bad emotion came in the form
of tremendous guilt after the original sin. Bad emotion continued when Adam was afraid of the Lord, when He came
looking for Adam,
4. Emotion is a result of cognition. Emotion
is not a part of the spiritual life. It is the result of the spiritual life
where in animation we express what is in our soul. We are not spiritual because
we feel spiritual. The spiritual life is the cognition and function of the
spiritual mechanics revealed in the Word of God, and it produces the purpose of
the spiritual life; to reflect the integrity of God.
5. As a system of
response and feeling, emotion does not contain the following.
a. Emotion does not
contain thought.
b. Emotion does not
contain the ability to reason.
c. Emotion does not
contain common sense.
d. Emotion does not
contain vocabulary as a tool for mental function.
e. Emotion has no
doctrinal content.
6. Etymology of
Emotions. The New Testament uses several Greek words for emotion.
a. KOILIA is identified
with the solar plexus, a part of the central nervous system. It is often
translated “stomach, inner most or appetite” in scripture. Its Hebrew equivalents are MEEH, BETEN and
QUEB. It originally meant some kind of hollow. Hypocrates,
a physician, used this word for both the stomach and womb, but he did not
correctly identify it as the solar plexus, which is often confused with the
stomach.
b. SPLAGCHNON represents
the parasympathetic and sympathetic effects of emotion. It is the word for
“intestines, heart, liver, or lungs”, often translated “bowels, guts or
entrails” in the
c. The noun NEPHROS is
translated “minds” in
d. While certain
portions of the anatomy double for parts of the soul in the Bible, it is not
difficult to distinguish the essence of the soul from the physiological anatomy
of the body. For instance the Greek word KARDIA means heart and always refers
to the area of thought in the soul. English words used in the Bible to describe
the emotions include: bowels, belly, reins, etc.
7. The heart contains
all thought and standards. The emotion, KOILIA, contains nothing, is empty, or
hollow. Emotion is something empty and waiting to respond. Emotion contains no
doctrine, no thought, no common sense, and no ability to reason. If emotion
controls the soul you can not think or apply Bible doctrine to life.
8. By definition, the
emotions are the appreciator of the soul. By function, the emotions respond to
the right lobe. The emotion is strictly a responder. It contains feeling. It is
like an empty bag lined with sensitivity. It is sensitive to music, art, drama,
the opposite sex, etc.
9. Emotion is not
designed to assume authority over the soul, but is designed to be dominated by
the KARDIA (right lobe of your soul).
10. Emotion has no
ability to love. Thus, emotional revolt produces homosexuals and lesbians.
11. Capacity for life is
related to the right lobe (KARDIA – heart of your soul), which is thought, not
the emotions. You can enjoy life only by running your emotions in response to
your thoughts.
12. The emotions of
worry, anxiety, and guilt all come from fear; they are the manifestation of
fear. Fear is lack of thinking under pressure. Fear is the believer’s failure
to apply doctrine to the problems of life, of suffering, of disaster, and of
failure. Hatred, anger, violence, and murder also come from fear. Scriptures
related to fear as an illustration of sin include,
13. Joy is far
greater than emotion. It is sharing the happiness of God, a happiness that does
not depend on circumstances.
E. Emotion
stimulates happiness.
1. Verse 15 says that
happiness is in the right lobe and in verse 16 the emotions respond as he
becomes aware of what is in his right lobe. This is analogous to a Pastor who
is receives happiness and is able to expresses the happiness in his soul as joy
from the knowledge that one of his students (MATHETES) is advancing and having
impact in the Plan of God.
a. Our good emotions
respond to the happiness in our soul just as a right
woman responds in happiness and joy when here right man expresses joy to her.
2. The Frame of
Reference in your Heart, (the right lobe
of your soul), provides information for the
3. In addition, your conscience, which contains
your norms and standards, also turns on your emotions. Therefore, in the
spiritual life, your priesthood is stimulated to function when your emotion is
turned on by your norms and standards that are based on the Word of God.
Emotional response to your conscience causes you to have good emotions of pride
knowing you are fulfilling the Plan of God for your life,
4. The
viewpoint in the right lobe provides stimulus or response from the emotions, as
when you hear someone else speak Divine viewpoint. This stimulates a joyful
response to your own viewpoint from Bible doctrine.
If you would like more information on this
subject,
you may listen to lessons 10-063 and 10-065.