October 13, 2023

[Some heartfelt questioning from Rebecca over yesterday's commentary on the Hamas attack of Israel. My response follows..]

 ------ Original Message ------

From: "Rebecca W" <Nevada>
To: "littleflock"
Sent: 10/12/2023 5:40:50 PM
Subject: Re: First Love Readers Circle: Commentary - Blood Mingled with Sacrifices

Hello Chris,

Once again, your message has grounded me to focus on the true spiritual matter of what is happening in Israel. I must admit, I can't turn off the sudden jolt to my heart when I hear about the innocent victims of Hamas. As a mom, my heart cries for the many  children who died in horror. Based on your message, it must be balanced though with a kingdom perspective so one doesn't get caught up in the earthly side of matters. Is this correct? With a heavy heart I just simply cried to the Lord saying, "Lord, you know  what is happening better than I do. Thy will be done in this matter just like in heaven."  I can't help but feel heaviness for the victims. 

Can you give some practical application to help keep the spiritual perspective in focus? I want to pray and stay focused on God's will without my heart taking over. Thanks Chris, for your letters. They are a true blessing to me. 
God bless you and the family.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

------ Forwarded Message ------
From: "littleflock"
To: "Rebecca W" <Nevada>

Thank you for writing Rebecca. I hear your heart, as does the Lord.

Let me speak about kingdom perspective. You framed your question about keeping kingdom / spiritual perspective in terms of "not getting caught up in the earthly side of matters. Is this correct?"

In principle this is indeed correct, but the meaning of "getting caught up in earthly matters" needs clarifying. For we are really talking about --not avoidance of or ignoring hearing about this atrocity, but rather a discipline of the heart in face of such hearing. That discipline is the true meaning of being "deaf" and "blind" (to atrocity) that Jesus displayed according to Isa. 42:19.  

What then is this discipline of heart unto kingdom deafness and blindness? It has to do with the spirit reality that God is not driven by His passion, but His will governs His own passion. In truth, God Himself is grieved about this atrocity, as we all are. But God's grief is subject to His superior intentionality and determination of purpose. His purpose rules His passion in any and every matter pertaining to man. That subjection is a mark of His holiness, which Christ displayed in His image and which we in turn are required to learn by His same Spirit's power. Thus we are commissioned to learn the same subjection of spiritual passion to spiritual determination that the Father radiates from the core of His Being.

This is why Christ was so adamant about being conformed to the Father's will, without regard to the cost to His own spiritual emotion. Every display of Jesus' passion in the theater of conflict over men, particularly His holy grief and anger, (from overthrowing money tables to castigating unrepentant cities), was expressed only under disciplined subjection to the power of the Father's nature of will, determination and purpose. That discipline and government is what kept Him cool under fire and in the face of any contrary news, regardless how emotively horrible.

The discipline we are talking about becomes mandatory as human conflict intensifies into war, and war intensifies into atrocity. In a natural war, military people from soldiers to medics must absolutely learn this discipline naturally. They see unspeakably horrible things on the fields of battle. If they don't learn to overcome their initial emotional offense to seeing blown apart bodies and hearing the screams of the wounded and dying, they can never survive their calling. They would be paralyzed and could not carry out their missions.

The same is true with God's people as we are at war in the spirit over the things of the natural. The problem is that most of God's people are spiritually passion-driven rather than spiritually passion-disciplined under the purpose-ruling nature of the Father. It has been a mistake the last 25 years to define God entirely by His passion as most movements have come to do. This has created flailing wailing intercessors who can't stand even keeled or really hear from the Father in face of human conflict and reports of physical carnage. All they can do is weep and moan and beat-their-breasts before the Throne about the horrors, but can arrive at no authoritative spiritual position to overcome anything. They cannot fulfil divine mission.

The practical answer to your question then is to surrender our spiritual passion for the innocents and for all who are being decimated over to the Father, asking Him to work in us this same subjection to and discipline of Holy grieving, jealousy and outrage under His power of determinative Will, as Christ did. We must obtain holy deafness and blindness in this hour to what is going on. For we are only at the beginning of sorrows. (Everything heard and seen in Israel this last week has already been at America's door, just on a scale of smaller isolated incidents. Eventually martyrdom itself will be here.)

The only way this kingdom dimension of holy trans-sensitivity can be worked in us is by the power of the cross. This is a key purpose as to why we were commanded to carry our cross. Learning holy deafness and blindness to spiritual passion in deference to the Father's superior determination under conditions of human war is absolutely vital if we are to survive and fulfil our calling as overcomers. We are not only a bridal people. We are an army.

See if this can help overcome the weight of deep emotional heaviness over what we have heard.  

Blessings!

Chris A.

 &&&&&&&&&&

Chris Anderson
New Meadow Neck, Rhode Island

First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org

10/23