firewalls, finalizing... forever
I woke this morning tired. Too late to bed... I went back to bed in a few minutes and got about two more hours of sleep. When consciousness returned I was refreshed and refreshed again as God gave me a word of wisdom. As I regained my alertness, my mind perceived some thought. It was a lie, and likely a temptation from without. I rejected it as such immediately. And, it seemed as a reward for doing so, God sent the sweetness of this word into my soul.
Mankind is "damaged goods". The damage comes from sin. As a result our souls are confused, and broken, dysfunctional. Every part of us is not operating exactly as it should, that is, in harmony with all the other parts. It should act to please God, because that is why we are created !!! Revelation 4:11 ( information? call 411) Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Watchman Nee said it well in describing our soul as fractured. The parts are there: mind, heart, and body (strength). And we who are saved have the Holy Spirit too. But we experience no small amount of inner conflict. Our thoughts accuse us and even condemn us but we go right on doing that which brings it to us. Our minds are fogged over, trying to somehow determine what is happening to us and our loved ones and in the world, and why. Even we who rejoice in the God of our salvation grope for understanding of the Word of God. Try as we may, we do not always find our way through to peace, or to repentance.
My experience has been wonderful. I say so looking back over 57 years of life. It is God my Father, Yeshua the Messiah who has given me an in Spired heart to say it IS wonderful. Nor just wonderful: full of wonder, but also full of a sure hope in God. The years have also had much terror, even horror, certainly too much sin and sinning. But God is faithful and will not let me or you be tempted above that which we can endure and escape, even should it take 30 or more years. My born again birthday is November 1976. It has been a long process, as humans judge time. But now God is letting this plant bloom. Praise Him !!!
Now to the meat of the word of wisdom: Initially I saw my mind as a Compact Disk, the writable/erasable variety. When all the data is placed thereon, then the finalize button is pushed and the data is permanently installed onto the disk and may no longer be rewritten or erased. That is why it is important to review the disks contents before finalizing. You won't have options after this is done. God allows data to be placed on the disk, into our mind as it were. Now as I write, the Lord shows me my mind as a buffer. Those of you who know computer schtuff know that a buffer is where data is sent temporarily to be processed, to worked with, manipulated. After the process is completed, the data is stored in memory. From there it can be accessed by the buffer again and again for additional tweaking, or by the operator as software. The Lord showed that my heart is the memory. "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19) The computer is more complex than a CD recorder. I'm not by any means an expert, but I think that data in computer memory is never finally finalized. It can always be returned to the buffer where it can be worked on again and again. Data may be protected, that is from unauthorized access, from loss. It can be backed up with copies of it's files.
The soul is a bit different than a computer, yet the term "artificial intelligence" makes much sense. It shows that the computer's intelligence has a human design, just as the human soul has a Divine Designer. Transfer of data between mind and heart takes place at the speed of thought. And I think that speed is variable. It is subject to a host of opposing influences which would hinder the processing and destroy it, and perhaps more importantly corrupt it. It is also subject to ones own will. It is enhanced if our "data" has integrity and our "files" are "clean". We can either cooperate with God in our data processing, that is to say, our thoughts and meditations, or we can oppose God and ourselves by ignoring Him willfully or unwittingly, thereby remaining in the snare of the adversary. "...in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-25
Now to the crux: One day God will finalize us each and everyone. By faith we are now finalized, and awaiting the eternal fullness of His salvation. See yourself as a "compact disk" again. On the day of our death we will wait for Him to push the button. He will do it and after doing so, our soul and all its essence will appear before Him. If we are saved, if He knows us, we will see Him face to face and He will "finalize" us permanently and eternally as beings bearing the fullness of the image of Jesus. I believe that this process will be that in which He gently washes away every tear, removes any splinters in our eyes, and establishes our souls in His Kingdom finally and eternally glorified in estate and body. Please don't get me wrong, I dont believe we will become Divine. Yet we will become perfect, 100% PERFECT and unable to even think one hundredth of a sinful thought let alone do a sin.
On the other hand, if you are found to be a goat, He will not know you. The data on your hard drive and the software operating it will be someone elses, and I think you must see that someone else is Satan. If you have died with Satan's program operating your soul, you will remain Satan's laptop forever. And though some say God will not, I know He will let your PC soul operate in sin, in hell, and in ruinous destruction and torment for all eternity. You will spew out blasphemous data while the current of hell's fire run through your circuits, and the worms of eternity afflict your files with ease and alacrity, corrupting your every output.
So the word of wisdom is just this:
Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
That is the King James Version. But it is not original with England's King, nor is it original from me. It is God's word of wisdom, albeit revealed to me to exposit as I have. No true wisdom is original with man, all wisdom and every good and perfect gift comes from above, from God the Father, who is without any shadow or turning of corruption.
It might be almost as well said : "guard your soul". Be careful what you allow to approach you at your "keyboard", it is there you open the portal to your buffer. Be very careful what you admit to your buffer. Be careful that you quickly and effectively process the enormous amounts of garbage data that the world and the devil throw around. Process that garbage right into the trash file and empty it immediately. If you don't the garbage will stink, rot, and infect your soul with its corruption. And out of your heart and mind will spew just what is festering in your memory, in the deep places of your souls being. "Garbage in, garbage out", so the apt saying goes. It won't be pretty. The Devil is aiming it right at your heart, and at your mind, seeking to take you captive to his will and way of operating. Dont let it happen that you become and remain corrupted. It has been reiterated by countless souls in God's church for centuries. From the New International Version:
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
The Severy paraphrase has it thus: Check yo-self befo u wreck yo-self, and do it often. The 5 second rule says that if you look on a beautiful woman for more than 5 seconds it has likely become the sin of lust. I add that whatever sight or thought you improperly entertain may begin to attach itself to your hard drive, corrupting other files, and making a pathway for more evil. Some of us (moi) have been steeped, and steeped ourselves in lust, bigotry, pride and hypocrisy. They become default settings predisposing us to respond to our world and our brothers in sin. - 5 seconds- If you respond within 5 seconds, dismissing all evil thinking as it tempts you, you will be guarding your heart. Eventually 5 seconds will become default, and you can install the 4 second firewall, then the 3, the 2, and the one- until the pooh literally bounces off. Fortify your firewall by installing the original YHWH Security program, otherwise known as the Holy Bible, the Word of God. As you read the Word, let it (Him) do the surgery it (He) alone can do.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
By allowing God to be with you, in your memory and your mind, He is able to operate with His "software", and the files He will build will be beautiful, clean, and full of His Glory !!!!! Oh, Hallelu Jah, Blessed be the Name, Baruch ha Shem Yeshua ha Mashiach . Thank you Jesus, my Lord and my God. Amen !!!
© Copyright 2006 By David B. Severy For use ONLY in its entirety by whosoever will seek permission.
