If we are to bring forth fruit in the Christian life, or rather, if Christ is to bring forth this fruit through us by the agency of the Holy Spirit, there must be a constant act of faith, of thinking: “Upon the basis of Your promises I am looking for You to fulfill them, Lord Jesus – bring forth Your fruit through me into this poor world to Your praise” (note carefully that it is the presence of God in your life that is making your actions efficacious and fruitful – you are called to obey believing, and God brings forth the fruit). That is what Schaeffer means by “active passivity.” Thus true spirituality is not achieved in your own energy. The “how” of the Christian life (true spirituality) is stated in Romans 6:11 – “Consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (that is the faith perspective; the foundational consid-eration for your entire life). This is the “how” – there is no other. The Christian life is not just a matter of right actions (irrespective of faith), it is a matter of humble submission to will of God with a proper heart perspective (faith), knowing that His Spirit is doing a special work in and through your life in that particular moment – it is the power of the risen Christ, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. . . by faith. You must have confident assurance in the moment that “God is at work in you to will and do His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13; Heb 11:1) – by the way, the faith you exercise one moment doesn’t get credited to the actions you take the next moment; you must consciously exercise faith at all times. Again reflect upon the words of Paul to the Galatians – “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God” (Gal 2:20). So, fruit-bearing Christians “live by faith,” that the “power of God might live in them” in the person of the Holy Spirit – when we live by faith, God is involved in the work. It is then that the believer can say with Paul, “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." (45-59) Johnson KA. Prayer: A helpful aid in recovery from depression. J Relig Health. 2018;57(6):2290-2300. doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0564-8 And so, I went, and they had a nice lunch. And after lunch, I got up and I launched into my biblical discussion on the reality of what the Bible says about tongues. And I could note there was a severe amount of nervousness and movement in the crowd, and I didn’t know why because I thought these gracious just want to know what the other side believes. And so, I continued to wax eloquent about what I believe the Bible was teaching about the cessation of the gift of tongues and that it had no part for today, and that it was a false standard of spirituality and things like that.

Sanctification, according to Schaeffer, is a moment-by-moment dependence on God. It’s an internal reality, not an external gesture. True sanctification is marked by “active passivity”—by opening our hands in faith for God to use us as vehicles for his purposes (93). Schaeffer shows that the Decalogue requires both external obedience and an internal attitude of joy. He focuses on the tenth commandment: do not covet. Christians must obey the law by refusing to covet, but they do this by giving thanks for all things. In the second half of the book, Schaeffer shows how true spirituality involves freedom in this life from the results of the bonds of sin. He focuses on matters of conscience: our thought-life, psychological problems, what he calls the “total person,” our relationships, and the church.Pay attention to how you are feeling: Part of embracing spirituality means also embracing what it means to be human, both the good and the bad. You have to find your own way in life. My way will not be exactly your path. Have an open heart and ears but when the time is right, you need to listen to your own inner being. Focus on what matters. Figure out your own values are and then help others find theirs. This journey wasn’t meant to be taken alone.

Quoting the ad further, it says, “For years Russian and Communist scientists have experienced with subliminal advertising designed to influence unsuspecting consumers to their ideology and propaganda. Now the Lord has revealed to His people how to use it for His glory.” A magnified picture of one of the ties revealed that indeed the words “Jesus saves, Jesus saves, Jesus saves, Jesus saves” were over and over again woven through the fabric. Dedication to God or a higher power translated into less stress reactivity, greater feelings of well-being, and ultimately even a decreased fear of death. Realize that the eternal connectedness is already here. Nothing needs to be done, only to become aware of it again. A Few Final WordsIn the area of “morality” we find exactly the same thing. Man cannot escape the fact of the notionsof a true right and wrong in himself – not just a sociological or hedonistic morality, but true morality,true right and true wrong. Yet beginning with himself he can neither bring forth “absolute standards”nor keep the “poor relative ones” he has set up. Thus in the area of morality, as in the area of rationality, trying to be what he is not, he is crushed and damned by what he is. Man is thus divided against and from himself in every part of his nature – he is divided from himself because of his rebellion – in rationality, in morality, in his thinking, in his acting, in his feeling. . . by rebellion he is divided from God by true moral guilt, and he is damned by what he is – wanting to be God, which obviously he is not, because he is not infinite. At some level of consciousness man cannot forget the fact that he is “finite man” – surely at some point there will be a cry within him, that there must be a real answer in this life to the “separation from himself.” And the answer is an emphatic, “Yes, thank God, there is!” I had the occasion – it was a strange and bizarre one – to be invited to speak at the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Luncheon. That is a charismatic group. They were having their Southern California Luncheon, and somebody in the group thought that I had had the gift of tongues, that somewhere along the line I’d gotten the baptism of the Spirit and spoken in tongues, and they invited me to be the speaker. They asked me to speak on speaking in tongues. This is true. And this was when Jay Letty was still on our church staff, and he went with me. I thought they were just open and wanted to hear the other side; they thought I’d had the gift.