DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH-REST DRILL

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Introduction to the Faith-Rest Drill

1. The faith-rest drill was designed by God to bring stability to the life of believers who live in the devils world during the angelic conflict.

2. The faith-rest drill should be applied to the believer’s life every time the believer is under pressure from dangerous, chaotic, disastrous or critical situations.

3. Pressure from dangerous, chaotic, disastrous or critical life situations sends a shock-wave through the soul. The natural REACTIONS are fear, worry, anxiety and panic.

4. Fear, worry, anxiety and panic are REACTIONS to life’s situations, and these REACTIONS do not resolve any life situation. They disorient people to reality.

5. There are three stages to the faith-rest drill.

A. Stage #1: Faith claims a promise.

B. Stage #2: Faith develops a rationale.

C. Stage #3: Faith draws a doctrinal conclusion.

6. Point #5 amplified:

A. Faith claims a promise to resolve fear, worry, anxiety and panic in the souls mentality.

B. Faith develops a doctrinal rationale through reverse concentration.

(Reverse concentration is a technical term for switching concentration away from the circumstances of life to concentration on the doctrine resident in the soul from which a doctrinal rationale will be developed. The doctrinal rationale will be God’s solution for the problem.)

C. Faith draws a doctrinal conclusion and applies that conclusion to the problem of life so that the believer gain control of the situation.

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Faith Claims a Promise

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Faith-Rest and the Stabilized Life

1. When fear, worry, anxiety or panic strike the life because of a dangerous, chaotic, disastrous or critical situation, the mentality and emotions of man go into a spiritual tailspin.

2. Unless recovery is made from that spiritual tailspin, the believer spiritually crashes and burns.

3. The first stage of the faith-rest drill is to claim a pertinent promise from the Word of God. There are over 7,000 promises in the word of God for the believer to claim.

4. No believer can apply doctrine while the mentality of the soul is controlled by fear, worry, anxiety or panic.

5. Fear, worry, anxiety, and panic destabilize the mentality of the soul. The result is an inability to think properly.

6. The first stage of the faith-rest drill, claiming a pertinent promise, stabilizes the mentality so that concentration on doctrine can begin.

7. “Do not fear” relates to the first stage of the faith-rest drill. It is a prerequisite to the second stage of the faith-rest drill which may be called REVERSE CONCENTRATION.

8. Fear, worry, anxiety or panic cannot cope with any situation in life.

9. Fear, worry, anxiety or panic increase weakness and cowardice resulting in irrational solutions.

10. Fear, worry, anxiety or panic opens the door to all types of mental attitude sins.

Stage #2 of the Faith-Rest Drill

1. The second stage of the faith-rest drill is REVERSE CONCENTRATION.

2. The second stage of the faith-rest drill often demands action, but it demands action based on doctrine resident in the believer’s own soul or action based on the authority of doctrine resident in the soul of some other believer.

FAITH-REST = doctrine + application (action)

3. Often the believer does not have the pertinent doctrine resident in his own soul; therefore, the action must be based on the authority of doctrine resident in the soul of some other believer who is stronger in the spiritual life.

4. To link action to doctrine, faith-rest must be applied to the pertinent doctrine the believer knows.

5. when the believer is under pressure, reverse concentration establishes the proper RATIONALE (what am I going to do) to be applied to the pressure situation.

6. The believer needs to develop three doctrinal rationales: (1) the plan of God rationale; (2) the logistical grace rationale; (3) the essence of God rationale.

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The Plan of God Rationale

Using the Plan of God Rationale, the believer applies five principles related to God’s plan for every believer: (1) foreknowledge; (2) predestination; (3) election; (4) justification; and (5) glorification.

A. Foreknowledge: God was thinking about me in eternity past.

B. Predestination:. I have been in the plan of God since eternity past.

C. Election: God has chosen me; therefore, God has a purpose f . or my life.

D. Justification: I possess God’s absolute righteousness through imputation at salvation; therefore, I will never lack anything to sustain me in a crisis.

E. Glorification: My life has meaning, purpose and definition. I will advance to maturity to glorify God in time and eternity.

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The Logistical Grace Rationale

The Logistical Grace Rationale considers the principle that there is no disaster, no difficulty, no trial of life that can remove a person from life until the Lord is ready to remove him, and in the meantime, the doctrinal conclusion is that God will provide whatever is necessary to go through the problem, difficulty, heartache, or tragedy.

1. The definition and description of logistical grace:

A. Logistical grace is divine support for all mankind during the angelic conflict.

B. Unbelievers receive logistical grace support.

C. Believers receive logistical grace support.

D. God the Father provides logistical grace support for all members of the human race, regardless of their spiritual status: saved, unsaved, reversionistic, growing.

E. God the Father provides logistical support for the unbeliever for the purpose of preserving the human race until the angelic conflict is consummated.

F. God the Father provides logistical support for the believer for the purpose of taking the believer to maturity, the position of maximum glorification of God.

G. Divine support for unbelievers is related to the Laws of Divine Establishment: Freedom, Marriage, Family, and Nationalism.

H. Divine support for believers is related to the Gospel and the Royal Family Honor Code.

2. Logistical grace support is based upon the faithfulness of God.

A. Faithfulness in confessing sins: 1 Jn. 1:9.

B. Faithfulness in logistical support: Lam. 3:20-25.

C. Faithfulness based on election to privilege. 1 Cor. 1:9.

D. Faithfulness in testing: 1 Cor. 10:13.

E. Faithfulness to the Royal Family of God: Heb. 10:23.

F. Faithfulness to the reversionistic believer: 2 Tim. 2:13.

G. Faithfulness to the mature believer: Heb. 11:11.

3. The testimony of logistical grace:

A. The testimony of the anthropomorphism: Deut. 33:27.

“The eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the EVERLASTING ARMS.”

B. The testimony of old age: Ps. 37:25.

“I have been young, but now am old, yet, I HAVE NOT SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN OR HIS SEED BEGGING BREAD.”

C. The testimony of David: Ps. 23:1.

“The Lord is the One shepherding me, therefore, I cannot lack anything.”

D. The testimony of Paul: Phil. 4:19.

4. The categories of logistical grace:

A. A life sustaining support regardless of the status quo: Ps. 48:14.

B. Temporal support: food, water, shelter, clothing, environment, time, transportation.

C. Security support: wall of fire, guardian angel, freedom. 1 Pet. 1:5; Zech. 2:5.

D. Spiritual provision: evangelist, missionary, personal witness, pastor teacher, privacy. Eph. 1:3.

5. The logic of logistical grace: Rom. 8:31-32.

6. The logistical grace rationale is related to the faith-rest drill: Mt. 6:25-34. (Worry and fear are two sides of the same coin.)

7. The issue of logistical grace:

A. Faithfulness in logistical grace is the basis for stability in time: 1 Pet. 5:12. 11

“. . . stand fast in it.”

B. Logistical grace is for momentum in the plan of God. Heb. 12:28.

C. Logistical grace continues in reversionism. 2 Cor. 6:1; Gal. 5:4; Heb. 12:15.

8. Logistical grace provision for learning doctrine and advance to maturity:

A. Perpetuation of human life: Ps. 33:18-19; 56:13.

B. God can and often prolongs human life: Ps. 102:19-20, 23-24; 118:18; Prov. 14:27.

C. Formation and preservation of the Canon of Scripture.

D. Laws of Divine Establishment: provides authority and freedom.

1) Authority without freedom is tyranny and legalism.

2) Freedom without authority is anarchy and antinomianism.

E. Divine authorization of the local church.

1) a classroom.

2) a place of academic discipline.

3) no-nonsense.

9. Logistical grace is for the retrogressing and advancing believer: Num. 20:1-12.

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The Essence of God Rationale

The Essence of God Rationale takes each attribute of God and applies that attribute to the crisis in life so that there is a doctrinal conclusion to control the situation because of who and what God is.

1. The essence of God refers to the characteristics of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

2. The essence of God rationale applies the essence of God to the pressure situation.

3. The essence of God:

A. Sovereignty: God the Father made decisions in eternity past to supply my immediate need.

B. Eternal life: God the Father has already given me Hs eternal life.

C. Love: God the Father loves me.

D. Justice: God the Father is fair to me.

E. Absolute Righteousness: I possess God’s righteousness which opens the grace pipeline to me.

F. Omnipotence: I have no problem that God cannot handle.

G. Omniscience: God knew about my problem in eternity past.

H. Omnipresence: God is with me now.

I. Immutable: God never changes, so I can expect Him to do the same for me as He has always done for everyone else.

J. Veracity: God is truth and what I need is truth applied to my situation.

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1. Testing is never punishment for sin.

2. Divine discipline is punishment for sin.

3. People do one of two things under testing: (1) respond, or (2) react.

A. Respond: This is the application of doctrine as a positive solution to the situation.

B. React: This is the production of sin as a negative solution to the situation.

4. Failure to learn and apply the doctrine of logistical grace is the #1 cause of a believer’s failure in spiritual life.

5. God never disciplines a believer by taking away that person’s logistical grace support. God does, however, remove His logistical grace support for the purpose of testing.

6. Two things necessary for a legitimate test:

A. The situation must be HOPELESS.

B. The person must be HELPLESS.

7. Testing is painful, but out of testing comes great blessing.

8. Testing must be distinguished from discipline. The issue in testing is growth. The issue in discipline is sin.

9. All testing that removes logistical grace is designed to focus attention on Christ. All divine discipline is designed to focus attention on confession of sin.

10. The solution to divine discipline is confession of sin. The solution for testing is the three stages of the faith-rest drill.

11. Testing is a field training exercise in the angelic conflict.

12. The crisis personality is a person who can handle crises by applying the three stages of the faith-rest drill to the crisis.

13. The crisis personality is not so preoccupied with the disaster that he/she can only see what has happened.

14. The crisis personality brings the reality of heaven (divine solution) to his/her situation on earth.

15. Doctrine applied to disaster is heaven on earth.

16. God’s timing is perfect. There are no accidents in God’s plan. All crises are for personal benefit in the plan of God.

17. Do not join someone in their self-pity (sinful reaction to testing) when they are being tested. Give them encouragement to apply doctrine.

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Fear and Courage

1. Fear must be converted to courage through the function of the first stage of the faith-rest drill.

2. The mechanics of converting fear to courage: Faith claims a promise. Claiming a promise clears the mentality of fear.

3. Before a person can reverse the concentration and apply doctrine under pressure, that person must stabilize his/her mentality.

4. Fear, worry, anxiety and panic destroy concentration on doctrine.

5. Fear results in the inability to think under pressure.

6. Courage results in the ability to think under pressure.

7. No person can use doctrine under fear.

8. The same concentration by which doctrine is perceived must be used to apply doctrine to your disaster.

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The function of the faith-rest drill does not mean that man does nothing. The function of the faith-rest drill means that man applies pertinent doctrine. Faith is man’s trust in God’s solution found in the word of God. Rest is God’s provision for the man who is willing to trust His solution in times of crisis. Faith-rest does not remove the crisis. Faith-rest stabilizes man in the midst of the crisis.

Promises for the Believer

There are numerous promises in the Bible for the BELIEVER. Promises become mentality stabilizers in times of crisis. This means that God has provided numerous mentality stabilizers for use in the first stage of the faith-rest drill. It is the responsibility of each believer to learn the promises of God’s Word to be used as stabilizing factors in a time of crisis. Hebrews 4:1 declares that believers should fear leaving any one promise unlearned, lest we be found in crisis needing that one promise yet unlearned. The complete function of the faith-rest drill depends on getting started right with an application of a promise to the destabilizing mental attitude sins of fear, worry, anxiety and panic. Remember, promises are only for the first stage of the faith-rest drill. Promises only stabilize the mentality so that reverse concentration can develop a doctrinal rationale that will provide a doctrinal conclusion for control in any crisis.

A Statement on Faith-Rest

Testing and the Faith-Rest Drill

Stage #1 of the Faith-Rest Drill

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#3 Problem-Solving Device – Faith-Rest Technique
“But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a “rewarder” of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Definition of Faith

Faith in its verb form is “to believe” and must have a subject and an object. In salvation, the subject is whosoever and the object is Jesus Christ. (John 3:16) In the Christian life, the subject is the believer and the object is the Word of God. (II Timothy 2:15) Faith is effective in the believer’s life only if faith has the right object. Faith is thinking. The content of what you’re thinking is what determines faith’s effectiveness in your life. There is no limit to the amount of faith that a believer can have, but doctrinal content in the soul is what determines the strength of your faith.
Development of Faith

Faith is developed by the study and application of God’s Word under the control of God the Holy Spirit. Faith is developed by means of growth when a believer begins to consistently use the Problem-Solving Devices, such as Rebound, Filling of the Holy Spirit and the Faith-Rest Technique. Faith can also be developed through suffering. (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:1-3, 12:2; Galatians 5:22-23; I Peter 1:7-9; I John 5:1-5)

The Principle of Faith-Rest

The principle of Faith-Rest is from God, who is perfect. Therefore, the Faith-Rest Technique is perfect. No human deed or work can be added to a perfect provision from God. The believer must cease from human good and enter into a rest where he does no work. The Holy Spirit does the work. The requirement, therefore, for the believer is faith, not human works. Faith is the absence of any human merit, which means, that in and of itself, faith has no value or worth. The value or worth is in the object of our faith. The object of faith for the believer should always be God and His Word.

Faith-Rest is knowing, believing and applying the promises, the principles and the doctrines of the Word of God. (Isaiah 33:6) There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible for the believer. These promises do us no good unless we mix them with faith and apply them to our situation. (Hebrews 4:2) Claiming these promises eliminates mental attitude sins such as fear, worry and anxiety, which cut off Divine Viewpoint Thinking. Faith-Rest will restore Divine Viewpoint Thinking and stabilize the believer in times of pressure and adversity. Faith-Rest results in a relaxed mental attitude. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Satan is going to use everything at his disposal, which includes his world system and Human Viewpoint Thinking, to distract you from your spiritual life. Remember that the spiritual life is a battle. When you spend time worrying, being upset and disgruntled about life, you’re lining up with Satan’s program and you have lost the battle. Peter warns us about the strategy of Satan.

“Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil,

as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may

devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that

the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren

who are in the world.” (I Peter 5:7-9)

Casting means “to make a deposit.” In the case of the believer he is to deposit “all of his cares” or literally “all of his anxieties” on the Lord. In other words, give all your worries to God and leave them there. This means that no one is strong enough to carry his own worries. So stop trying to do the impossible and instead use God’s system, Faith-Rest.

The Mechanics of the Faith Rest Technique

Mechanics means that you have made a resolve – a decision as to future action. This means that you have predetermined in your mind what course of action you will take when a problem arises. The Faith-Rest Technique is a versatile technique for overcoming any difficult situation, any problem or any disaster. By faith the believer applies doctrine logically while resting in the promises of God. By reaching a doctrinal rationale the believer is re-explaining to himself the basic concepts of doctrine that pertain to his relationship with God. This will be necessary in a crisis because emotion will normally take over and suppress proper thinking. You must take deliberate steps to reestablish the control of the Holy Spirit in your soul.

Here is how the Faith-Rest Technique works:

1)    The believer claims a promise. A promise is a guarantee from God that expresses His essence (sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability and veracity). When you lay hold of one of these promises you are able to bring emotion under control, which allows you to think. Before, you were in a state of panic, but now you have peace. This, however, is only the beginning of the drill. Now you must begin to think. (Romans 8:28 – God is working all things together for my good, if I am an advancing believer.)

2)    The believer applies doctrinal rationale. The application of Bible doctrine requires the believer to recall certain doctrines that have been stored in his soul. A rationale is the rational basis for something or an explanation of reasons or principles. It is at this time that the believer explains again to himself the doctrine which is pertinent to the situation. (Romans 8:29-30 – God has a pre-designed plan for my life.)

3)    The believer reaches a doctrinal conclusion. This means that the believer is able to take control of the situation. By asking and answering certain questions pertaining to his spiritual life, the believer takes control and evaluates the circumstances. He can now make good decisions from a position of strength and take action using the good judgment and the wisdom from Bible doctrine stored in his soul. (Romans 8:31-35 – If God is for me, who can be against me or separate me from the love of Christ? Therefore, I can take control using the power of the Holy Spirit to enable me.)

Fear vs. Faith
Everyone is susceptible to fear, even a mature believer. Fear is a mental attitude sin that shuts down thinking and makes application of Bible doctrine impossible. When fear catches us off guard, it is important to know the correct recovery procedure. This is where we put the Faith-Rest Technique into action.

Again, this technique involves claiming a Bible promise, applying a doctrinal rationale and reaching a doctrinal conclusion. This is the reason that it is so important that we all learn theology. The nice stories and “Christian principles” will not sustain us in times of extreme difficulty or disaster. We need Bible Doctrine!

We cannot apply what we do not know. Therefore, we need to be consistent in our intake of God’s Word for the purpose of growth. Growth means learning to use the Word of God resident in our souls to combat and to control our sin nature and the influences of the world system. Since fear is a sin, the first step to recovery from fear is the utilization of I John 1:9. By naming “fear” as our sin, we are forgiven and under the control of the Holy Spirit. Now we are in a position to use the Faith-Rest Technique.
The best illustration of the Faith-Rest Technique is Romans 8:28-32. We can easily follow the progression from claiming a promise, to application, to reaching a conclusion. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that God works all things together for good for those who love Him, for those who are the called ones according to a predetermined plan.” This is the Biblical promise to those who are maturing in their faith (executing God’s plan for their life). This promise is guaranteed by God. When a believer claims this promise, it can reduce a very complicated situation into a very simple one. When we claim this promise, that God is working all things for our good, fear is brought under control because we are now thinking, not emoting.

Once thinking is resumed, we can move on to step two, application. A doctrinal rationale can be any doctrinal truth that you have learned and stored in your memory. In our passage the doctrinal rationale is a series of five related doctrines.

1.     Foreknowledge – God’s awareness of all the assets that He prepared for the believer in eternity-past. This assures us that God was thinking about each of us in eternity -past.

2.     Predestination – God predesigned a plan for us in eternity-past. That plan calls for us to be set apart unto God in time and in eternity.

3.     Election – God chose each Church Age believer to be spiritual royalty. Since Jesus Christ was elected, we share in His election because of our union with Him.

4.     Justification – God declares the believer to be righteous. God actually imputes His righteousness to each believer, setting up the potential for divine blessing in time and in eternity.

5.     Glorification – God will give each believer a glorified body and eternal rewards based on execution of His plan in time.
These five doctrines in Romans 8:29-30 outline God’s plan for every believer of this age. By recalling these doctrines, the believer can remember his place in God’s overall plan, which is another step in driving out fear.

Finally, in Romans 8:31-32, the believer is able to reach a doctrinal conclusion. This passage says, “To what conclusion are we forced? If God be for us, who shall be against us? He Who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up in behalf of us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?”

Reaching the doctrinal conclusion “that God is for us,” allows us to retake control of our situation and restores confidence in God and in our ability to make good decisions. If the problem is too overwhelming, beyond our ability to solve, we are still able to cope by placing ourselves in the mighty hand of God and trusting Him for the solution. (Exodus 14:13)

Utilization of this technique restores the most important ability God has given us: thinking. This technique does not need to be a mechanical, “step one, two, three,” but can be if the situation demands it. The key is to stop fear in its tracks and restore the thinking process by using the Faith-Rest Technique.