The Grace Perspective 2021
The Grace Perspective is from Don's comments during sessions with groups and individuals, and may need additional context for better understanding.
Week 14
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification / Reconciliation / Regeneration) by Grace (God's Provision of Christ's Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We are lost (separated from God, under his Judgment), not because we have sinned, but because of Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden that separated the human race from God - which means, we were separated from God when we were born (before we sinned). And we are saved (delivered from God's Judgment), not because we are sorry for our sins and give them up, but because we have trusted God's Provision of Christ (his Blood / death on the cross) as the only Payment God will accept to satisfy his Judgment against us (because of Adam's disobedience).
Salvation (Sanctification / healing) of the heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) for Holiness (purity and usefulness as a vessel for God's Redemptive Work in the world) by Grace (God's Provision of Christ's Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:10,17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
Knowing what the Bible says about Christ or memorizing Scripture may make us more religious, but it will not make us more like Christ. Christ alone, living his Life in and through us, supports us for being like him.
We are made humble, not by our religious behavior or by our worldly successes, but by our experience of Christ (his Meekness) living his Life within us.
Religious performance "puffs up" (makes us proud) (1 Corinthians 8:1).
Believers were first called Christians in the first century because they acted and looked like Christ more than they did the world.
Satan opposes us learning information about Christ, but opposes more us experiencing him.
Salvation for Physical Health by Grace (God's Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
No resource in Creation or Community has more power to support our physical and psychological health than our experience of Christ to live his Life within us.
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
Christ, the Word of God, has always existed (John 1:1-2).
Obedience
We make choices each day for our life as God directs and supports us, and then surrender responsibility for the outcome to him.
We are healthier and happier receiving from God what we need than we are chasing after what we think we want.
Quiet Time
Becoming like Christ is not an event but an ongoing process which takes place during our quiet time to read the Scripture in order to hear and experience God to fuller measure each day.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
Praying is not really what we do, but what the Holy Spirit does through us (Romans 8:26).
"The Spirit-enabled praying of a righteous person accomplishes much" (James 5:16).
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
The passion we feel to superficially relieve the suffering of others may not be from God, but may be motivated by our fallen religious nature to please God, or by our unmet need to feel significant.
God calls us to make wise choices for health and then to connect to his Leadership Resources that support us for making those choices, including in the home and Church, but beginning with Christ per John 15:4-5.
Our worship of God is illustrated by the intimacy of a husband and his wife - he to care for her needs, and she to give him opportunity to support her, beginning with her need to bear children.
Adversity
God does not use hard times to make us stronger but to cause us to confess our weaknesses and need for him.
Hard time are not necessary except because we are sinful.
God
God has no unmet need for us to adore him.
God is not humbled by our response to him.
God knows who we are and calls us to know (experience) who he is.
Eschatology, Heaven, Eternity
We long for Christ to return to establish his Kingdom on Earth, not only because the world is filled with increasing corruption, anger, and hate, but mostly because of our desire to know Christ to a fuller measure.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the Performance-Driven, Entertainment Church
The Performance-Driven, Entertainment Church exists to meet the superficial pain relief needs of broken people. But Christ calls the Church to provide support to broken people for learning how to experience him, and then, to support others for learning how to experience him.
Codependency and Redemptive Relationships
God's Provisions of Grace will not meet our fantasy lifestyle needs.
SlimSupport (Safe, Sensible, Lifestyle Solutions for Initiating and Maintaining Weightloss)
Good health is the result of the wise choices God enables us to make.
Week 13
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification/Reconciliation/
Christ alone, by his Blood/death on the cross, makes possible our eternal salvation. Religious behavior is a bridge too short.
Salvation (Sanctification/healing) of the heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) for Holiness (purity and usefulness as a vessel for God's Redemptive Work in the world) by Grace (God's Provision of Christ's Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:10,17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
Our love (value) for ourself is the Love of Christ in us for us. Our grief, because of sin in our life and also in the world, is our experience of the Holy Spirit's grief within us. Hatred for ourself is from Satan.
If our health and happiness needs could be represented by a 100-foot hole, one mile of that hole is met through God's Provisions in Creation (the soil and atmosphere) to meet our physical needs; two miles of that hole is met through God's Provisions in Community (redemptive relationships, especially in the home and Church) to meet the needs of our heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will); and 98 miles of that hole can only be met by our experience of Christ.
The "Daily Bread" in Matthew 6:11 is God's Provisions of Grace - "that which is absolutely indispensable to health and happiness."
Pets, partying, and possessions are failing choices for long-term health and happiness.
Salvation for Physical Health by Grace (God's Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
God has provided especially Christ so that no one who receives his Provisions of Grace needs to suffer or perish, either in this life or in Eternity (Romans 5:17; 2 Peter 3:9).
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
The Living Word of God is Christ; the Written Word of God is the Scripture; and the Spoken Word of God is the Rhema (Truth spoken to us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture).
Information about God that is not communicated to us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture may be notions rooted in our prideful, performance-based, fallen religious nature (akin to Gnosticism).
Obedience
Health and happiness is not a reward from God for doing a good job, but is the assured outcome of our obedience to include his Provisions of Grace into our life each day which has power to produce good outcomes in our life according to his scientific law of cause and effect (Romans 5:17).
Quiet Time
Devotional time with family is not a good substitute for alone time with God to experience his Presence.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
Provisions from God to meet every need we have begins with Christ. Rejection of Christ shuts the door to the flow.
We pray for others by praying for ourself in their behalf - that is, we receive from God in our quiet time the support we need that enables us to support others for making wise choices that result in good outcomes in their life.
At the Place of Exchange (our will for his), God hears (meets) every Redemptive need we have (1 John 5:14-15).
The Holy Spirit only enables us to pray for our Redemptive needs (Romans 8:27b).
"The Holy Spirit-enabled prayer of a righteous man (obedient to include God's Provisions into his life) is effectual" (James 5:16; I John 3:21:22).
God never says "No" when we open the door of our heart to receive his Provisions of Grace to meet our Redemptive needs (per Romans 5:17, 1 John 3:21-22, and 1 John 5:14-15).
The result of us receiving God's Provisions of Grace into our life for the healing of our body and soul may not be immediate, but may take awhile - not because God is slow, distracted, or indecisive (2 Peter 3:9), but because he chooses normatively to produce Redemptive outcomes for our healing according to his scientific law of cause and effect (sowing and reaping) (Galatians 6:7).
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
God relates to us as a Resource and provides support to us through resources - in Creation, Community (redemptive leadership in the home and Church), and especially Christ and the Scripture. "For God has so exalted above all things his name (who God is) and his Word (Christ and the Scripture)" (Psalm 138:2; John 1:1-2).
God calls husbands to serve as a resource to their wife to support her for living out God's Calling for her life, beginning with to bear and care for their children.
God calls parents to serve as a resource to their children to support them for making wise choices that result in health and happiness.
God calls pastors to serve as a support resource to members of the Church for learning how 1) to experience Christ and 2) to support others for knowing how to experience him.
God calls employers to serve as a support resource to members of their staff for living out his Calling for their life consistent with the mission statement of the organization.
Children who learn to obey their parents as small children at home will be supported throughout their life for obeying law enforcement in the community.
Adversity / Afflictions
The problem of brokenness is not the presence of adversity but the absence of support, the same as injury is not the result of stress but strain (unsupported stress).
God
God did not have a first cause; he has always existed.
Scientists now know that the Sun is not the source of light but a conduit for it.
God is Sovereign and can do whatever he chooses; but he has chosen not to impose Salvation (for health, happiness, or Heaven) on man's freewill.
Eschatology, Heaven, Eternity
During the Millennial Reign of Christ (the 7th and last dispensation of human history), Satan and his demonic forces will be bound so that they will not roam the Earth deceiving and devouring, and, although individual freedom to pursue health and happiness will continue to be supported, the Government of Christ will rule in righteousness with an iron hand so that corruption in government and commerce will not be tolerated.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the Contemporary, Performance - Driven, Entertainment Church
The Performance - Driven, Entertainment, Happy - Clappy, Hoopty - Dramatic, Contemporary Church has no power against evil. Christ alone, by our experience of his Life to live within our heart, and through us into the world, has power to dispel the darkness.
Codependency and Redemptive Relationships
Codependency relationships, the same as a drug addiction, shut the door of our will against God's Redemptive Plan for our life.
SlimSupport (Safe, Sensible, Lifestyle Solutions for Initiating and Maintaining Weightloss)
Excess exercise to offset a poor diet puts us at risk for injury.
Schedule is like a budget: It supports us for making wise choices.
Week 12
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification / Reconciliation / Regeneration) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We are reconciled to God by receiving/trusting in the death of his Son for us (Romans 5:10a).
Salvation (Sanctification / healing) of the heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) for Holiness (purity and usefulness as a vessel for God’s Redemptive Work in the world) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:10,17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
We are healed (sanctified/made holy) by receiving/trusting in the Resurrected Life of Christ to live within our heart (Romans 5:10b).
The Work of the Holy Spirit to sanctify us (our heart/soul: mind, emotions, and will) makes possible 1) our purity (Christlikeness / holiness / psycho-spiritual health) and 2) usefulness as a vessel to God for his Redemptive Work in the world.
Salvation for Physical Health by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We are established in physical health by including / receiving God’s Provisions of Grace in our life - received through diet, exercise, lifestyle, and supplementation.
If we do not take the Covid vaccine, it will not be because we believe God is in control and will protect us, but because we are making wise choices (to include his Provisions of Grace in our life) that support our immune systems.
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
God communicates Truth, first to our mind which supports our emotions, which, together with the mind, supports our decision-making.
Obedience
Obedience to God means to first come and receive his Provisions of Grace (per Romans 5:17) which increase us in good health (body and soul) so that we are supported to go and give in redemptive service to others.
Quiet Time
Attending church is not God’s first call to us; rather, it is for us to experience him during our quiet time.
Our first need to attend church is to be supported for learning how to read the Scripture in order to experience Christ.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
The pastor is not called to teach the Scripture but to share with others Truth God is teaching him.
If what we believe is only what we hear
the preacher say to us, we have reason to wonder if what we believe is Truth.
Members of the Body of Christ meet to share their conviction and understanding of Truth given to them, not by their favorite author or speaker, but by the Holy Spirit during their quiet time.
Members of a group sharing with each other their opinion about God is the blind leading the blind.
Adversity
Adversity does not make us stronger; rather, it causes us to confess our brokenness and need for God, who, by our experience of him, does make us stronger.
God uses adversity to call us to receive his Abundant Provisions of Grace. When we neglect them, pleading with him to nonetheless remove our brokenness, because “he is kind and good,” will not help.
God
God is kind and good, but when we are disobedient to receive his Provisions, our experience of the outcome will be disappointing.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
We do not need to ask (plead with) God to provide for our needs; his Provisions to meet our needs flow continually to us for us to receive.
We have our needs met through prayer (at the Place of Exchange), not because God provides, but because we receive his Provisions.
Praying in doubt means to plead with God while rejecting his Provisions. “That man is doubled-minded and should not think he will receive anything from the Lord” (James from 1:5-8).
The prayer of Faith means to receive God’s Provisions of Grace (in Creation, Community, and especially Christ) with confidence they support our health (1 John 3:21-22; 5:14-15).
Disobedience to make wise choices that support our health is foolishness.
Eschatology,
Heaven, Eternity
Life on Earth is a launching pad to
Eternity.
A wise investment is in things that are
eternal, that support God’s Redemptive Plan on Earth.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the
Performance-Driven,
Whatever is entertaining at church will
soon disappoint. But we never tire of experiencing Christ.
Socialism claims to care for the survival
needs of broken people; but if the Church fulfilled its calling to support
broken people for learning how to experience Christ for health, the need for
socialism would not exist, except maybe for their need to control, or for the
need of broken people to be controlled.
Codependency and Redemptive Relationships
Codependency relationships are demanding and controlling; Redemptive relationships are supportive and set us free (without expectation of return).
SlimSupport (Safe, Sensible, Lifestyle Solutions for Initiating and Maintaining Weightloss)
For healthy weight management, we sleep (nap/rest) before we eat (so that we don’t eat when we are tired), and then walk or workout after we eat (so that we don’t gain weight by sleeping on a full stomach): SEW
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 12
Week
11
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Our Justification and Regeneration are acts of God that make certain our going to Heaven.
Faith and Repentance are the Works of the Holy Spirit within our spirit to enable our
- confession of brokenness and need for Christ and
- trust in his Blood/death on the cross as the only Payment God will accept to satisfy his Judgment against mankind because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
Sanctification is the Work of the Holy Spirit that makes possible our Christlikeness (purity) and usefulness as vessels to God for his Redemptive Work in the world (Philippians 2:12-13; 2 Peter 1:3-4).
God created man in his Image, but that Image was lost when Adam disobeyed in the Garden of Eden. Christ died on the cross for us and was resurrected by the Holy Spirit to live within us in order for his Image to be restored in us - in everyone who opens their heart to experience him (during Quiet Time Worship each day).
Christ, our experience of his Life to live within us, makes possible, in increasing measure each day, the same ever-increasing experience of Christ we will have when we get to Heaven.
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Health and happiness are the guaranteed outcome of the choices we make to receive God’s Provisions of Grace into our life each day (Romans 5:17).
Yielding to the call of Satan, the world, and our own human nature will mire us in a deep, dark pit - personally, relationally, and financially - but our experience of Christ will lift us up out of the mire and establish us in health and happiness (Psalm 40:2).
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
Reading the Scripture without the work of the Holy Spirit to give us understanding leaves us with only a religious, performance-based notion of its meaning (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
The Scripture is only ink on paper until the Holy Spirit gives it Life, the same as a seed abides alone until it is germinated by sunlight and water (John 12:24), the same as a battery is only a casing until it is infused from an outside source with electricity.
Attempting to do God’s Work without his enablement results in increased brokenness (Matthew 11:28) - that’s because, it is God who makes us competent for the work he uses us to do (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Quiet Time
God will not call us to do work that interferes with us having time to read the Scripture in order to hear and experience Christ.
We may know about God without experiencing him, the same as we can know about food without eating it.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
Money won’t make us happy but will help us choose a place to be unhappy.
The happiest people do not strive, but are supported by the Holy Spirit for living out God’s Calling for their life.
Religion mocks our past failures, but mostly our recovery and message to explain it.
Performance-based religion mocks past failures more than it celebrates recovery.
A happy home begins with a husband’s experience of Christ to love his wife as God does.
God
God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) is a Trinity, one Person manifesting as three - somewhat (but not fully) illustrated by the existence of a man as a father, son, and husband, or maybe by an apple as skin, pulp, and core. Man is also a trinity – body, soul (heart: mind, emotions, and will), and spirit (the innermost dimension of man’s existence).
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
If praying means to “ask” God for things, then Jesus misspoke when he said “Ask and you will receive… for everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:7-8) - which does not happen.
Asking in prayer means to receive, in the sense of opening the door to our home in order to receive someone in.
As it turns out, Christians who insist God performs miracles to meet our needs in answer to our pleading and begging are the most fearful. But we have this confidence in our heart, that our needs are met by God because we receive his Provisions of Grace into our life each day (Romans 5:17; 1 John 5:14).
Eschatology, Heaven, Eternity
Earth and the atmosphere surrounding it
are not “our Father’s world” (per the popular song). They were in the beginning,
but when Adam disobeyed in the Garden of Eden, they were lost to / taken over
by Satan. Christ, during his First Coming, purchased back (redeemed) at
Earth is a dressing room for Eternity.
Our life on Earth is temporary; our life in Heaven is forever.
The work we do on Earth that will last is not the work we do for Christ, but the work we allow Christ to do for (in and through) us.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the
The great
cause for the grinding down of
Codependency and Redemptive Relationships
Meeting the redemptive needs of others means to provide support to them for making wise choices, especially to take time each day to experience Christ during quiet time worship to read the Scripture.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 11
Week 10
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We are saved by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) - that is, Grace that is appropriated through faith (to receive it).
Faith is produced in us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture and enables us to trust (receive) God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us.
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
Holiness is not a performance or accomplishment. It is the result of Christ living his Life in and through us.
God calls members of the Church to experience (worship) him and then to manifest his Light into the darkness.
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
The choices we make when we are away from God compound our brokenness for a long time.
The choices Christ enables us to make support the choices we make that increase our health.
We tend to do what we do and to stop doing what we don’t.
We obey God when we go and give, but mostly when we come and receive so that we are supported when we go and give.
Quiet Time
Quiet Time means that, as we read the Scripture, we are quiet in order to listen to the Holy Spirit communicate Truth to us he wants us to know and also to call us to receive him (worship).
The talking we do to God during our quiet time is to confess our deep brokenness and desperate need for him.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
If we want a happy home more than to be holy, we risk not having either.
The first duty of the pastor is to support members of the Church for learning how to experience Christ (to come and receive / worship him).
God raises up certain ministries and then calls select persons to connect to it for support.
God
God had no beginning and will have no end. (The universe also has no end.)
Also, the Life God gives is without end.
Our experience of God will never exhaust who he is.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
We are motivated to seek God by
- the pain of our unmet needs,
- our losses
(Ps.119:67, 71),
- the Love of Christ within us for the Father (Psalm 119:35, 47-48,), and by
- our experience and appreciation (thanksgiving) for his goodness to us (the comfort/support he gives) (Ps.119:52, 68).
Eschatology,
Heaven, Eternity
In Heaven, we will live in community with others in peace and safety, without adversity, tension, or anxiety. Theologically, we will all agree.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the
Events all
over the world indicate we are nearing the end of this present age, mostly that
faith (conviction of Truth) and righteousness are diminishing from the Earth,
Codependency and Redemptive Relationships
Our giving to others can be to purchase friendship with expectation of a return (codependency), or it can be an investment in the Redemptive (healing) needs of others without the expectation of return.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 10
Week 9
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
The efficacy of the Blood/death of Christ is to satisfy the Judgment of God against mankind because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
The efficacy of the Resurrected Life of Christ living within our heart is to make possible our Christlikeness (holiness, sanctification).
God’s Redemptive Plan for mankind is to
- provide for us (Provisions
of Grace) in Creation (elements in the soil and atmosphere), Community
(connection to resource leadership in the home and Church), and especially
Christ (his Resurrected Life to live within our heart per John
15:5) which support us for making wise choices that increase us in health
and happiness. (“How certain and unfailing will those who receive God’s
abundant Provisions of Grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in
life through the one man, Jesus Christ” - Romans 5:17), and then to
- call us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture to receive his Provisions (Revelation 3:21).
Our experience in Heaven to experience Christ begins in this life.
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
God allows tragedies that can end our life prematurely, but he does not schedule the time of our death – no more than he schedules the death of a tree or any organic life. Rather, the time of our death is mostly determined by the choices we make for diet, exercise, lifestyle, and supplementation.
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
The “word” which is hidden by the Psalmist in his heart (Psalm 11:12) is Christ.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
Grace leadership identifies wrong choices, behaviors, and attitudes, but with grief, not condemnation.
If the leadership resources in our life use us to achieve their goals, they will use us for other reasons, including reasons that will undermine our health and happiness.
We do not give to God (or his leadership/resources for our life), except to give him (them) an open door of opportunity to influence our life; rather, we receive from him (them).
We do not pay God’s resources for their service to us; rather, they pay us in order to support us for living out his redemptive plan for our life (Romans 6:23).
God
God’s Mercy and his Grace are not the
same. The Mercy of God is his Love, the attribute (virtue) of God from which
his Grace (Provisions to support us) flows to every person unconditionally (undeserved,
unmerited) to the door of our heart for us to receive (John 1:12; 3:16; Romans
5:17; James 1:5; Revelation 3:20).
Jesus was human, but he did not inherit man’s sinful nature, because God was his father (by the Holy Spirit), not man.
Prayer
We can ask (request from) God all day long for whatever impulsive thing we want, but Scriptural asking is guided by the Holy Spirit and means to open the door of our heart to receive from God the Provisions he offers to meet our redemptive needs.
We are healed, not because we plead with God to circumvent the outcome of our poor choices, but because we turn from them in order to receive his Provisions of Grace which support our health.
The Prayer of Faith (faith that is expressed by obedience to receive God’s Provisions) is the only prayer the Father hears and answers.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the
The experiences we have in church that excite us sensually or emotionally will, in time, become boring.
Law
Tolerating lawlessness, hoping it will go away, breeds disrespect and increased lawlessness.
God gave the Law because of the sinful nature of man. In Heaven, law to enforce good behavior will not be needed. It is also only needed minimally in this life among those who experience Christ.
Eschatology, Heaven, Eternity
Increased diseases and lawlessness will prevail in the world just before the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the Tribulation.
Heaven will not be party life or the pursuit of worldly things or the performance of religious duties, but koinonia with others to experience Christ in ever-increasing measure. Conversation, entertainment, and recreation will be wholesome and redemptive.
In Heaven, we
will never have seen everything there is to see, or know everything there is to
know, or experience of God everything that is to be experienced.
Codependency and Redemptive Relationships
Redemptive resources provide us support for making choices that increase our health and happiness. Users meet superficial pain relief needs in order to promote codependency relationships.
Update
Our home
address is in Southern Pines. The home/office address for GraceRenewal is in
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 2021/Week 9
Week 8
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Salvation (Sanctification) for health, holiness, and happiness is far from the wicked (Psalm 119:155), but salvation for going to Heaven (Justification) is not.
Our justification, reconciliation to God, and regeneration (new birth) is not a process but is an instant, one-time event, experienced the moment we trust God’s Provision of Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us) as our only hope for going to Heaven.
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within our heart) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
We open our heart each day to be renewed in our experience of Christ (his Resurrected Life) to live within us, but then we wait for the sanctifying process to recover us from our sinfulness.
Our experience to be recovered (sanctified) from our sinfulness is daily, a process we take time for each day, in the way a farmer understands (James 5:7).
Watching tv will be the greatest hindrance to taking time each day for reading the Scripture in order to experience Christ, and therefore the greatest hindrance to our life being useful to God as a vessel for his use (“This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting [taking time for worship to experience Christ]” - Matthew 17:21 KJV).
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We are supported for health and happiness by receiving God’s Provisions of Grace in Creation and Community, but especially through Christ to live within our heart (Matthew 4:4, Romans 8:11, Colossians 1:27).
Everyone is subject to becoming sick, but it won’t be because God has failed to make Provisions for us (in Creation, Community, and especially Christ), so that we don’t.
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
We are increased in Christlikeness, not just by knowing the Written Word of God (what it says), but especially by experiencing the Living Word of God (who he is).
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
God uses imperfect resources to support us for advancing to the next level. For example, a broken person can support us for knowing how to be born again and the need to read the Scripture. But God calls, prepares, and uses surrendered, healed resources to support us for learning how to experience Christ.
Grace leadership confesses its brokenness but also testifies to God’s faithfulness to restore.
Religious people deride us because of our failure, but mostly because we testify to being restored.
God
God is a trinity. Members of that Trinity are 1) the Father (the Head of the Trinity or the Godhead), 2) the Son, Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, and 3) the Holy Spirit. All three Persons are God and no less God than the others.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
We pray to the Father enabled by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26).
The Father meets our redemptive needs through Jesus Christ (his Provisions of Grace to us through Creation and Community and his Blood/death on the cross and Resurrected Life).
Government, Religion, Satan, and the
Satan entices us with handouts in order to addict us to him.
Codependency
Churches can be held together through programs to meet entertainment, social, and codependency needs (including to help the poor).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 8
Week 7
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Our experience to be placed by the Holy Spirit into spiritual union with Christ (so that we are IN CHRIST) is the basis of us going to Heaven.
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
Our experience to be filled with Christ (so that Christ is IN US, our heart) is the essential enablement that supports us for making the wise choices each day that increase our health, holiness, and happiness in this life.
Speaking without vulgarity, cursing, and using God’s Name in vain is evidence, not that we have been born again (regenerated), but of our experience of Christ to be made holy (sanctification).
We are diminished in Christlikeness when we are not renewed each day by the Presence of Christ to live within our heart – in the same way we are diminished in physical health when we miss taking time for eating food and drinking water and also exercising.
If we want anything more than we want to be filled with the Likeness of Christ, we risk having neither.
Devotional readings are like canned food and not a good substitute for reading the Scripture during our quiet time in order to hear the Holy Spirit communicate Truth to us.
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
God’s Provisions of Grace flow fully and freely at all times to everyone (for us to receive), both to the best and the worst among us.
Our best hope to be protected from Covid is not religious behavior that makes God happy, but our lifestyle commitment to include his Provisions of Grace into our life each day which support our immune system.
The Word of God: Christ, the Scripture, and the Rhema
There is no Worda God, Lova God, Peasa God, Faitha God, Grasa God, Gifta God, Feara God, Wratha God, Cursa God, Voica God, Willa God, Worka God, Hearta God, Helpa God, Handa God, Housa God, Plana God, Minda God, Mova God, Acta God, Breatha God, Sighta God, Faca God, Moutha God, Eyesa God, Eara God, Mana God, Spirita God, Lamma God, or Sona God.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
We only need God’s support to enable us for the work we do that accomplishes his redemptive purpose.
We welcome to be supported for health by nutritionists who have a lifestyle commitment to making wise choices for health. We also welcome support for learning about God and his redemptive plan from anyone who is experiencing Christ to fuller measure each day.
God
God created us, not because he was lonely, so that he could experience us, but so that we would have opportunity to experience him.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
Asking God to bless food that has no nutritional value does not make good sense.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the
Performance Christianity uses us and then bills us (takes a collection) for the opportunity of working us to death.
Codependency
No one wins in codependency relationships.
Everyone wins in redemptive relationships.
We tend to misuse those we use.
Eschatology
The world has never been more ready for the introduction and rule of the antichrist - at which time Christ will rapture the Church.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 7
Week 6
This to report that we recently changed the name of our ministry to Grace Renewal Counseling, AGRC (A Grace Renewal Church) and also changed our home and office address from Greensboro to High Point.
I continue to be available by email and phone (336-681-7913) and also for in-person meetings, both for individual and group sessions, to provide support for learning how to
- Read the Scripture in order to
- Hear the Holy Spirit communicate Truth and also call us to open the door of our heart (in order to)
- Experience Christ during quiet-time worship (in order to)
- Be supported by him for making wise choices that increase health and happiness (in order to)
- Manifest his Life to others, beginning with our family.
Our website (TheGracePerspective.org) is continually updated in order to provide support ministry, especially through OISGC (Online Institute for Studies in Grace Concepts) and the weekly postings on the TGP page.
Much love and care for you!
Don
Don Whisnant, DCC / Grace Renewal Counseling, A Grace Renewal Church / High Point and Southern Pines, NC
Week 5
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God's Provision of Christ's Blood / death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
We are saved for going to Heaven according to (consistent with, because of) God's Mercy, by Grace (God's Provision of Christ's Blood/death on the cross for us), and through our Faith (to receive/trust it).
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God's Provision of Christ's Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
If we want anything or have goals more important to us than to experience Christ, we risk losing everything.
The values Christ produces within us are prioritized as follows:
- to know (experience) him,
- personal health (especially holiness),
- his enablement in redemptive service to others, including in our church and community, but especially in our home to our wife and children, and
- redemptive vocation to earn an income.
"Double-minded" (James 1:8) means to desire or pursue anything more than to experience Christ (his Provisions). "That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord" (v. 7).
The Daily Bread is not a devotional book; rather, it is Christ, his Resurrected Life to live within our heart, which he promises to do when we take time each day for quiet time worship.
In a broken, dark, God-hating world, we cannot expect to live free from suffering and conflict except as we are renewed each day to be filled with the Light of Christ.
Faith supports us for trusting God for the outcomes he has promised to give us who include his Provisions of Grace into our life so that we are not left in doubt to worry and fret.
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God's Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
God's promises to provide for us - for every aspect of our salvation (body, soul, and spirit) - are unconditional. Our experience to receive those provisions is conditional, based upon us taking time each day to connect to his Resources through which they flow into our life (Romans 5:17).
We are protected from sickness, not because we "serve" God or behave like "good" Christians, but because we include into our life each day God's Provisions of Grace which protect us per Psalm 91 and Romans 5:17.
The solution for a world divided against itself, the same as it is for a broken home, is Christ to live within our heart.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
Discipline is providing support for wise behavior (training) with a view (goal) of learning and increase. Punishment is pounding on misbehavior.
God's Provisions never diminish in power, but the leadership resources through which they flow into our life may be dysfunctional, so that we are not supported for making wise choices.
God
God is in a power position over us, but he is mostly, especially during this Age of Grace, in a support position beneath us, like a vine to a branch.
No outcome God gives will disappoint us but will fully satisfy our health and happiness needs.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
The notion that we can "ask" God (in the sense of requisitioning or even pleading with him) to give us the desires we have, including the whimsical, feel-good ones, is nonsense.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the Performance Church
The goal of evil is to impose control over mankind; the goal of righteousness is to set us free.
Satan, the god of this world, has power to provide our superficial pain relief needs. Our experience of Christ supports us for making wise choices that increase us in health (including holiness) and happiness.
Performance Theology
PT is the notion that we can perform good works in order to earn God's blessings, including for salvation (health, holiness, happiness, and going to Heaven).
Examples of PT are:
- - Visualizing putting on the Full Armor of God;
- - Memorizing Scripture (not the same as knowing Scripture by memory because of familiarity);
- - Positive thinking;
- - Naming and claiming "blessings" because God has promised them;
- - "Fasting and Praying" in order to win God's favor; and
- - Church attendance, tithing, reading the Bible through in a year, or feeding and housing the poor.
Performance to go and give without God's enablement will wear us out and break our health.
The Judgment Seat of Christ after the Rapture of the Church will not be to reward our performance while we were here on Earth but to celebrate the faithfulness of Christ who enabled us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021 / Week 5
Week 4
Salvation for Going to Heaven (Justification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive It (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:8-9)
The Bible word “repentance” means “change of mind” (especially about God’s Provisions / Plan for our salvation). It is produced in us by faith which is produced in us by the Holy Spirit as we read the Scripture
We inherit a dead spirit (separation from God) at conception. Our spirit is made alive (born again / regenerated) by our experience to be placed (immersed / baptized) by the Holy Spirit into spiritual union with Christ, so that we are in him (Romans 6:3-4).
Giving up our sinful behavior (misidentified by some as “repentance”) is not a precondition for us going to Heaven. We are supported for redemptive outcomes, not mostly by what we exclude from our life that is harmful, but by what we include in our life that is helpful.
We do not bring to God our good works as payment to satisfy his judgment against us, but confess to him our brokenness and dependence upon Christ’s Blood/death on the cross as our only hope for salvation (going to Heaven).
“Belief” in Christ means more than agreeing he exists, but means to trust in (receive) God’s Provision of Christ - his Blood/death on the cross for our justification (for going to Heaven) and his Resurrected Life to live within us for our sanctification (holiness / purity and usefulness to God for his Redemptive Work in the world).
Conviction and grief that we are sinful come from the Holy Spirit; condemnation and guilt come from Satan, the Accuser.
Salvation for Holiness (Sanctification) by Grace (God’s Provision of Christ’s Resurrected Life to live within us) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive it (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Revelation 3:20)
We are increased with tension, discontent, and unhappiness by chasing after stuff. But we are increased with the mind of Christ (Galatians 5:22-23) when we open our heart each day to experience him.
Satan is at work in those who disregard God’s Provisions of Grace to support our health and happiness (Ephesians 2:2). But God is at work in those who love (open their heart to receive) his Provisions, beginning with Christ - his Blood/death for us and Resurrected Life to live within us (included in the meaning of Romans 8:28).
We inherit a sinful heart (mind, emotions, and will) at conception (Psalm 51:5). We are transformed (made holy) by our experience of Christ living within our heart (Romans 12:2).
We do not empty ourself of sinfulness to make room for Christ; rather we open the door of our sinful heart to Christ in order for him to purge sinfulness from us (Psalm 119:130 KJV).
We do not die to sin; rather Christ puts sin to death within us
Our experience of the world loses its excitement the more we experience Christ and the Life he gives.
If having a happy home is a higher priority than experiencing Christ for holiness, we risk not having either.
Salvation for Health and Happiness by Grace (God’s Provisions in Creation [elements in the soil and atmosphere] and Community [leadership support in the home and Church]) through Faith (which enables us) to Receive them (Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Our hope to be healthy and happy in our later years will not be the result of good luck, but because we receive God’s abundant Provisions of Grace into our life each day (Romans 5:17; 1 Corinthians 1:8).
We put our health and the well-being of others at risk when we disregard safety rules and regulations - for example, while driving on the highway, and also when we disregard wise choices for diet, exercise, lifestyle, and supplementation that build our immune system.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home, Church, and Community
God enables husbands, parents, and pastors to provide effectual leadership to those they serve (2 Corinthians 3:6).
It is not the role of wives, children, and church members to provide support leadership to husbands, parents, and pastors.
We speak Truth to hurting people with kindness and care (Ephesians 4:15). That’s because they are not open to receive our support until it becomes their confidence that they are unconditionally loved (valued), especially by God – which is their greatest need.
Hurting people reject our opinion when our presentation of it is unkind, judgmental, condemning, and self-righteous.
Staying quiet about our understanding of Truth allows opposing opinions to thrive. But pounding on persons who disagree with us sabotages our influence.
The consequences of disobedience are:
- Personal brokenness (Romans 8:13),
- Exposure to the work of Satan (“Satan is now at work in those who are disobedient” - Ephesians 2:2), and
- Lost influence as a Resource to support others, especially family.
God
We can know that our possessions are from God if they support us for making choices that are redemptive (increase us in health, especially holiness).
The feel-good things we think are “blessings” from God may be from the god of this world, Satan the Deceiver.
God intervenes to protect the simple (uninformed and weak) from making choices that would destroy them. But more is required of those who better know and understand (Psalm 116:6; Luke 12:48).
God values every person unconditionally. (Belief that some races are more valued by God than others is racism.)
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
We do not have what we need from God because we “ask” (petition) for it, but because we take time each day to receive his Provisions of Grace which produce it.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the Performance Church
Darkness has power to prevail in the world against law and order, but it does not have power to prevail against the Light (Life) of Christ manifesting in and through the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ (the Church) is an organism supported by God (John 15:1). America is an organization (supported by government).
Government executes its duty by punishing criminal behavior, but Christ enables the Church to minister to the brokenness at the root of man’s misbehavior.
The Entertainment / Performance-driven Church will die because it is fueled (stimulated) by sensual excitement and emotions, ultimately resulting in over-stimulation and burnout (because of the tolerance factor), rather than “transformed by the renewal of our mind (understanding of Truth / Scriptural doctrine).”
Individuals existed before government. Government was added by God to support and protect individual freedoms.
Globalism diminishes our national sovereignty and individual freedoms and forecasts the conditions in the world that will exist just before Christ's Second Coming.
The leading signs of the end of this age (the Church Age) are
- lawlessness,
- government control, and
- loss of freedom to
- own or read the Bible,
- peacefully assemble,
- resist burdensome restrictions,
- bear arms in order to protect ourself,
- choose our resources,
- choose our vocation, place to live, and where to travel, and to
- voice our conscience and convictions, including to share the gospel and our experience of Christ, even with family.
Codependency
A codependent relationship is two hurting people using each other for superficial pain relief.
Don Whisnant/ The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 4
Week 3
Salvation for Going to Heaven
We are lost (under God's Judgment), not because of our sin (disobedient behavior), but because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:12-19).
We are saved, not because of our religious behavior to win God's favor, but by trusting God’s Provision of Christ (his Blood/death on the cross) as the only Payment he will accept to satisfy his Judgment against mankind because of Adam’s disobedience.
Salvation for Health, Happiness, and Holiness
We are happier to have little and to be satisfied than to have much but to want more.
Our enjoyment of the world (its ways and wares) diminishes the more we experience the Light of God’s Glory and Grace (Christ).
The ultimate betrayal is using God’s Provisions of Grace to sabotage his Redemptive Plan for our life.
The things we think we want will not make us happy longterm, but God's Provisions of Grace to support our health can have no other outcome.
Reading the Scripture, Hearing and Experiencing Christ (Worship)
Without our experience of the Holy Spirit to enable our understanding of Scripture during our quiet time, we will soon become bored and disinclined to read it.
Leadership/Ministry in the Home and Church
We express our love for God by receiving from him. We express his Love in us for others by giving to help meet their redemptive (health and happiness) needs.
Christ unconditionally values the wicked and seeks opportunity to win them to him.
God raises up Resources and gives us capacity and opportunity to connect to them so that we are supported for everything he calls us to do.
God does not use unkind behavior to help others.
Mocking and name-calling does not help our cause or win those who have a different opinion.
Hurting people are not helped by shaming.
Prideful, angry, judgmental behavior never helped anyone.
God
Little is much when God is in it.
Prayer (The Place of Exchange)
At the Place of Exchange, God provides supports to meet our Redemptive Needs (for health, happiness, holiness, and going to Heaven).
We can receive from God only what he gives.
Government, Religion, Satan, and the Performance Church
Handouts to broken people compound their brokenness.
Entertaining broken people may superficially ease their pain but does not support their healing.
Government (also the performance church) keeps its people sick in order to control them.
Worse than Marxism in America is Performance Christianity in the Church.
By unity, evil means surrender.
Godliness always loses when it compromises with evil.
Satan has more tolerance for performance Christianity (religion) than performance Christianity has for renewal theology (experiencing Christ).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 2021/Week 3
Week 2
Government meeting the addiction needs of a nation may cast out the pain for a moment, but it will be back more angry and demanding, so that the state of the nation is worse than before (Matthew 12:44-45).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A10
Not conservative politics nor the
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A11
In the same way socialism (performance to please government with the hope of a handout) is the natural state of human government, so also performance theology (performance to please God with the hope of earning a “blessing”) is the natural disposition of our religious human nature. But Christ, living his Life within us, transforms our values so that we seek freedom and support to make choices that increase our personal health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A12
The performance-driven, numbers-oriented, fund-raising church cultivates a “wood, hay, and stubble” Christianity, has no merit for redemption (health and happiness), and is exhausting (Matthew 11:28-30; 1 Corinthians 3:12).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A13
In a broken world we are subject to suffer adversity, grief, and loss, but “our comfort (support) in our suffering is this: God’s Provisions preserve our life” (Psalm 119:50), especially of Christ (his Resurrected Life to live within our heart),.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A14
We can bargain with Satan and also scheme in the world to get what we think we need. But we will never have better than what we take time each day to receive from God.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A15
We are healed, not by the Person of God, but by his Provisions which flow from him into our life, beginning with the Blood/death and Resurrected Life of Christ – this, the same as we are supported, not by the utility company, but by the power it produces which we receive that flows into our home.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A16
Week 1
Evil opposed Christ at every turn. When they crucified him, they thought they had won. But evil could not prevail against the Power of the Holy Spirit to resurrect Christ from the grave and then to impart his Resurrected Life to live within his Church (Romans 8:11).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A03
A sign hanging over the highway overpass boasted: “Trump lost!” Evil boasted the same about Christ as they watched him die on the cross. But he was resurrected from the grave and will one day reign in righteousness over all the kingdoms of the Earth. Until then we continue faithful to experience Christ each day so that we are supported in health and happiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A04
When evil came to crucify Christ, his Disciples abandoned him (to save their lives and reputation). Conservative leadership in a broken world can expect the same. Abandonment by friends is not a badge of honor, but hatred by enemies is expected.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A05
"Asking" God (even with fasting and bitter tears) to move Christians to vote their conservative values will not change God’s mind to do anything differently than he is already doing right now - to provide the Resurrected Life of Christ to live within our heart so that we can have his values to guide our choices.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A06
Addicts do not question the character of those who feed their addictions. Better to oppose a raging bull than deny an addict’s vote for his suppliers. Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A07
We will pay with our freedom for the handouts we accept from government.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A08
The wages government pays us to buy our vote will increase our brokenness (included in the meaning of Romans 6:23).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A09
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