Led By The Spirit

[John Reece]

I would like to do a survey of what Jesus and Paul said about being led by the Spirit.

It will be slow going on my part, because of limitations re health, energy, and other current interests.

Kibitzing by people of all persuasions is welcome.

[themuzicman]

:popcorn:

[John Reece]

In 1957, while serving as a Chaplain’s Assistant on a U.S. Army base in Schweinfurt, Germany, I read a library copy of The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis.

A passage in the book made such an impression in me that I memorized it and made a commitment to order my life by its precepts.

The title of the book alludes to at least one of the texts in which the word rendered "imitator" (mimhthV) occurs in the New Testament.

Here are all the texts in which the word mimhthV occurs:

1 Corinthians 4

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators (mimhtai - plural of mimhthV) of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (ESV)

1 Corinthians 10-11

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. 1 Be imitators (mimhtai) of me, as I am of Christ. (ESV)

Ephesians 5

Walk in Love

1 Therefore be imitators (mimhtai) of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (ESV)

1 Thessalonians 1

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators (mimhtai) of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. (ESV)

Thessalonians 2

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators (mimhtai) of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved--so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God's wrath has come upon them at last! (ESV)

Hebrews 6

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things--things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators (mimhtai) of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (ESV)

[Etcetera]

John:

If there are ten books in the world that I would recommend that every Christian read, The Imitation of Christ would be among them. Humility oozes from every page.

Good idea for a thread. Which passage, by the way, did you commit to memory?

In him.

Etcetera.

[John Reece]

John:

If there are ten books in the world that I would recommend that every Christian read, The Imitation of Christ would be among them. Humility oozes from every page.

Good idea for a thread. Which passage, by the way, did you commit to memory?

In him.

Etcetera.

Hi Etcetera,

I'm glad you asked.

This is how I remember it:


"Son, now will I teach you the way of peace and true freedom.

Speak, Lord, for this is delightful for me to hear.

Study, son, to do the will of another rather than your own.
Seek always the lowest place and to be the inferior of everyone.
Chose always to have less rather than more.
Wish always and pray that the will of God may be wholly fulfilled in you.
Such a man enters the land of peace and rest."

When I memorized and committed myself to live by those words, I was barely out of my teens.

Now, as a septuagenarian, I can say that truer words were never spoken, because I do indeed live in a land of peace and rest - full of joy and grateful for the grace to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven.

Blessings,

John

[Etcetera]

Amen, John, thanks for that. Speak, Lord, for this is delightful for me to hear. Gives me chills.

I have just posted a little list of my top ten spiritual books (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37846) in Christianity 201 that may interest you. And of course the Imitatio made the list.

In him.

Etcetera.

[Jaltus]

If this thread turns into the Biblical Theology of mimes, I am putting it in the Naturalism forum.

[John Reece]

If this thread turns into the Biblical Theology of mimes, I am putting it in the Naturalism forum.

Question:

Does relating this

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

and this

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit . . . (1 Thessalonians 1:6)

to this

. . . Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit . . . was led by the Spirit . . . (Luke 4:1)

tend toward turning this thread into the Biblical Theology of mimes?

[themuzicman]

Do you need a mimesweeper in here?

[John Reece]

Do you need a mimesweeper in here?

:smile:

[t-rex]

I would like to do a survey of what Jesus and Paul said about being led by the Spirit.

It will be slow going on my part, because of limitations re health, energy, and other current interests.

Kibitzing by people of all persuasions is welcome.
Hi John,

How's this study progressing? I'm curious to see it develop.

t.rex

[John Reece]

Hi John,

How's this study progressing? I'm curious to see it develop.

t.rex

I'm still waiting for a mimesweeper.

:smile:

[themuzicman]

:aye: Sir! The area is clear of mimes! :aye:

(Hope all things are well with our local septuagenarian..) :hi:

Michael

[John Reece]

:aye: Sir! The area is clear of mimes! :aye:

(Hope all things are well with our local septuagenarian..) :hi:

Michael

:lol:

Thanks, Michael.

All things are well with me. I'm enjoying not having to do anything more than bask in the goodness of God, and do whatever he may inspire and enable me to do each day.

Regarding this thread, it seems a certain inertia has overtaken me - I don't know if I will receive sufficient inspiration and enablement to resume it. Time will tell.

Blessings,

John

[John Reece]

A great Pentecostal Bible teacher - Bob Mumford - said, “Joy is the mark of maturity.”

At the time I heard Bob say that (many, many years ago), joy was not a defining characteristic of my life.

However, by the grace of God, I have been brought to a stage in life wherein joy is indeed a daily manifestation of the Spirit in me.


But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. –- Galatians 5:16-26 (ESV)

[John Reece]

brabeuw . . . be in control of someone’s activity by making a decision, be judge, decide, control, rule . . . Col 3:15 - BDAG
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule (see definition above) in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -- Colossians 3:11-17 (ESV)With regard to the thread topic, one continues to be led by the Spirit – and to maintain the rule of Christ’s peace in one’s heart – by eschewing all anger, wrath, malice, slander, and all the other such things referred to by Paul in Galatians 5 and Colossians 3.

[elderbanks]

as alwways Rom 8;1 talks about there is therfore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In this last and evil days the wickedness of man is enormous. When your spirit of life is as Gods' sspirit then you can walk in the spirit as Christ Jesus did. Through my study of God don't take your spirit from me! Isaiah 58 1-6 that speakes of Fast ting and praying in the old testament be focus let the Holy Spirit take you to another level.