Intro. Last week:
     1.   Introduced Triune Model of mankind: everyone has a spirit, mind & body, regardless
     of their spiritual condition.
     2.   Distinguished between human spirit and Holy Spirit
     3.   Key point: God communicates with you spirit-to-spirit

Today:
     1.   Different types of people, how they perceive reality
     2.   A major hindrance to knowing God’s voice
     3.   Preparing your spirit to hear God

People tend toward either rationalism, emotionalism or mysticism.

 Rational Person
     Reality - perceived through senses & intellect
     Action - calculated, premeditated, what makes sense

Emotional Person
     Reality - perceived through feelings
     Action - spontaneous, what "feel" like doing

Mystical Person
     Reality - perceived through spirit
     Action - spontaneous, what "feel" like doing

Mature Christianity: a balance of spirit & mind (mind = conscious awareness, intellect,
rational thought, emotions, feelings, decisiveness)
     1.   You may expect mature Christian to become less rational, predominantly
     spiritual/mystical/other world; not so.
     2.   “With the Word without the Spirit, we dry up.
 With the Spirit without the Word, we blow up.
 With the Spirit and the Word, we grow up.”
     3.   Need a balance of mind & spirit.
     4.   Must emphasize what seems "ethereal" or "mystical" to move from rational or
     emotional existence to maturity; our goal: balanced nature. God is not wacky, we
     shouldn’t be, either.
     5.   Many Christians/denominations place emphasis on one aspect of human nature;
     imbalanced.

Rational Christian
     Priorities: Laws, code of ethics, theology (structured)
     Focus: Intellect, works

Emotional Christian
     Priorities: What seems right (fluid)
     Focus: Feelings, emotions

Mystical Christian
     Priorities: What seems right (fluid)
     Focus: Revelation, faith

Mature Christian
     Priorities: all the above - Laws, code of ethics, theology, what seems right
     Focus: all the above - Intellect, works, feelings, emotions, revelation, faith

My theory
     1.   “Feelings” orientation is not more spiritual than “intellect” or other orientation.
     2.   Intellect, rational thought, emotions, feelings, decisiveness are all functions of
     psyche/mind, not spirit
     3.   Spiritual activity affects the mind, so:
               a.   feelings-oriented person may sense spiritual activity primarily as a feeling
               b.   thought-oriented person may sense it primarily as a thought
               c.   intellect-oriented person as new understanding; and so on.
     4.   Seems the prevailing theory is: feelings are evidence of spirit, so feelings-oriented
     people are more spiritual.
     5.   I believe:
               a.   Everyone has a spirit, including rational & intellectual people.
               b.   God wouldn’t create different kinds of people, then devise a system of
          redemption biased toward only one type of person.
                         i.   God is just, impartial.
                         ii.  He wouldn’t do it that way; no evidence that he did.
               c.   Because we are all different, God interacts with us individually & differently.
               d.   Our character/personality largely determines how we typically approach God
          and interact with him
               e.   But one personality type is not more godly than another.
               f.   All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, regardless of their
          personality type.
               g.   All of us have same chasm separating us from God; all of us need same plan of
          redemption.
     6.   God has given us conscious awareness, intellect, rational thinking, emotions, feelings,
     decisiveness; he honors all of those and expects us to use all of them in our relationship
     with him.
     7.   Issue: each personality type finds different Christian disciplines easier, gravitates
     toward one aspect of relationship with God. [Repeat!] Our goal: balance.

Major hindrances to knowing God's voice
     1.   It's not that God doesn't speak to us; he does.
     2.   Problem: We're not good listeners, or don't recognize him.
     3.   Rational thought very important; one thing that distinguishes you from dog or goldfish.
     4.   But cultural emphasis on feelings and rational thinking has prevented development of
     other skills.
               a.   Major hindrance to hearing and knowing God’s voice: emphasis on mind,
          ignorance of spirit.
               b.   Feelings and rational thinking are both functions of psyche/mind; both overlook
          spirit!
     5.   We will emphasize those things which seem ethereal or mystical; purpose is to develop
     a balance — spiritual maturity.
     6.   Spiritual maturity is always important; but hearing God’s voice is increasingly
     important.
               a.   Our world is becoming increasingly dangerous — politically, militarily,
          financially, socially
               b.   Recognizing God’s voice will be essential to your effectiveness & survival
     7.   Spiritually mature Christian:
               a.   one who spiritually detects God's will & guidance, dialogs with him.
               b.   one who uses his knowledge of Bible & draws on maturity of other believers to
          verify:
                         i.   what he sensed really was God.
                         ii.  it conforms to God's nature & expectations of us, as revealed in Bible.
               c.   Class discussion: What difficulties would each of these have in achieving
          balance/maturity? Rational, emotional, mystical.
     8.   Consider analogy of small boat on pond
               a.   Visualize your spirit as pond of water, your mind as small boat floating on
          pond.
               b.   Imagine God wading thru the pond, making ripples on the surface.
               c.   Boat bobs up & down on ripples.
               d.   I suggest: When God interacts with your spirit, one of the primary ways you
          detect this is by response of your mind, bobbing on spiritual ripples.
               e.   We’ll use this analogy later.
     9.   I suggest: biggest hindrance to knowing God’s voice is emphasizing functions of
     psyche, being ignorant of your spirit and how it affects your mind.

     10.  Another problem: occult practices — very different from hearing God’s voice,
     dialoging with him.
               a.   clarify: is a biblical form of meditation, focusing on God; side effect: change
          your perspective.
               b.   occult meditation emphasizes the experience itself
                         i.   altering conscious state, producing trance, sense of oneness with
               universe, state of tranquility.
                         ii.  Trying to contact spiritual beings, often through altered state of
               consciousness
                         iii. These are occult practices; want to avoid occult, activity of Satan's
               kingdom.
               c.   The existence of a counterfeit is proof of an original.
                         i.   Key is to avoid the counterfeit without rejecting the original; most
               Christians see counterfeit, believe all spiritual activity is demonic. That
               is Satan’s strategy, very successful.
                         ii.  If you become skilled with the original (God's ways), will have no
               difficulty identifying and rejecting the counterfeit (Satan's perversion of
               God's ways).

     11.  Skepticism is a problem
               a.   If you only accept those things that make sense,
                         i.   you have allowed your mind to be supreme (self-centeredness, sinful
               nature)
                         ii.  you'll miss out on some of the best things in life.
                                   (1)  example: love hardly makes sense, especially when you consider
                    those whom some people love.

     12.  This identifies potential problem with Dichotomy Model of mankind (human body,
     human soul, God’s Spirit)
               a.   What are some problems with not being aware of your own spirit? You will not
          develop it and care for it properly.
               b.   If you believe your spirit is really God’s Spirit, then what could you possibly do
          for it? Nothing.
               c.   I believe it’s very important to distinguish between your spirit and Holy Spirit,
          then accept responsibility for your own spiritual development.

Prep for future sessions:
          Bring paper & pen. Be prepared to take notes.
          Also, class exercises will require you to write things, so come prepared.

Exercise
          Spend 2-3 minutes quietly thinking about how God loves you, cares for you. Do not use
     this time to pray. Think about scriptures that express his love for you, think of specific
     incidents in which he took care of your needs.

          For effective meditation, your spirit, mind & body must be working together.
      1.  You calm and relax your body, so it doesn’t distract you.
      2.  Focus your mind on related image or concept to keep it from becoming
     preoccupied with less significant matters or seizing control; that’s why
     emphasized not praying during exercise.
      3.  Allow your spirit to respond to God and pass the results on to your mind.