WE have completed Part Five in The Complete Green Letters titled, A Guide to Spiritual Growth. We will now proceed to Part Four titled, The Realization of Spiritual Growth. This section was originally published as a stand-alone under the title, The Reckoning That Counts, subtitled, The Realization of Spiritual Growth. Again, be reminded that we are not taking the Five Parts of The Complete Green Letters in the order found in the book. See “How to Read the Complete Green Letters” as to my reasonings for altering the reading order.
THE focal point of The Realization of Spiritual Growth is the term “Reckoning.” Reckoning is a principle pulled from scripture primarily out of Romans, chapter 6. It is defined and used by Stanford as the “how-to” of spiritual development. Once the fundamental principles and truths are understood and accepted, reckoning is the process for implementing them into the life of the believer. Chapter titles in this section will portray “Principles of Reckoning” that are discovered in the patterns of learning and behaviors exhibited. There are “Three Steps in Reckoning” – 1) to know and reckon, 2) to abide and rest, and 3) to depend and walk in the process. Under several chapter headings we will see the necessity for growth in the “Knowledge of Reckoning,” by using “Spirit Applied Reckoning.” Reckoning may be accomplished through service as well as study. Detailed accounts of the reckoning process are drawn from Romans, Galatians, Philippians and Colossians. “The Rest of Reckoning” describes the peace and truth that comes to the believer from the process. Reckoning results in the continuity of faith throughout the life of the believer. It is the Reckoning upon the truths of God’s Word, “counting it as so,” that The Realization of Spiritual Growth occurs.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
SO, as we saw in Part Five – The Guide to Spiritual Growth, it is the Spirit’s ministry and goal to foster growth in Christ, to the end that the peace of God would rule our hearts, when the word of Christ dwells in us richly in all wisdom (Col. 3:15-16 – paraphrase). It is to that end that Spiritual Growth becomes evident.
WITH these introductory words, we will begin our study in Chapter 40 – “Principles of Reckoning” in the next post. In the meantime:
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Acts 20:32
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15, Jas 1:2; Prov. 21:30
