It is not the nature of what you are doing that determines its spirituality, but the origin of what you are doing. Not its nature, but its origin!
There was never a moment in the life of the Lord Jesus that was without divine significance, because there was never anything He did, never anything He said, never any step He took which did not spring from a divine origin nothing that was not the activity of the Father in and through the Son. Thirty-three years of availability to the Father, that the Father in and through Him might implement the program that had been established and agreed on between the Father and the Son before ever the world was.
Why did the Father give all things into His hands? Because Jesus Christ was completely Man. And He was completely Man because He was completely available! For the first time since Adam fell into sin, there was on earth a Man as God intended man to be!
Which of His activities were the more spiritual, the Sermon on the Mount, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, or the washing of His disciples' feet? The answer, of course, is that no one activity was more spiritual than another, for all had their origin in the Father, who acted through the Son. "I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).
The Lord Jesus summarized this in John 14:10 - "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." In other words, "I have presented My body to the Father who indwells Me, that He may do His works in My body; and My Father does His works through His Spirit by whom He indwells Me, and through whom I have offered Myself without spot, faultlessly, to my Father." The whole activity of the Lord Jesus on earth as Man was the Father's activity in the Son, through the eternal Spirit through whom His body was presented to the Father.
Spirituality in man is his availability to God for His divine action, and the form of this activity is irrelevant. If it pleases you, always and only, to do what pleases God you can do as you please!
From: The Saving Life of Christ
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Major Ian Thomas (1914 - 2007)
Evangelical writer, theological teacher and founder of the Torchbearers bible schools. These schools are now world-wide in many countries and provide a teaching base on the person of Christ in the believer and basic Biblical exposition of Bible books.Among the many books that he wrote, the most influential have been: "The Saving Life Of Christ" , "The mystery of godliness" and "If I perish, I Perish." His burden in ministry was to express and show the indwelling life of Christ in believers and the rest and power that life will have in us as we trust and have faith.
Recommends these books by Major Ian Thomas:
The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major Ian Thomas
If I Perish, I Perish by Major Ian Thomas
The Mystery of Godliness: Experiencing Christ in Us by Major Ian Thomas
W Ian Thomas was a writer and theological teacher. Thomas is probably best known as an author and as the founder of both Torchbearers International and Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers.
His book, "The Saving Life of Christ", seems to have had a profound affect on Bert Harned, M.D., and the many individuals he has discipled in his lifetime.
Major W. Ian Thomas was born in London, England of middle class parents and was converted at the age of twelve in a Boy's Camp. With the intention of becoming a missionary in Africa, he studied medicine at London University for two years, where as a student of nineteen, in deep discouragement about his Christian life, he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. This discovery precipitated him almost immediately into an evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry which has spread around the world.
Arising from this world wide-ministry, there came into being a Young Peoples Christian Conference Center and Bible School at Capernwray Hall, Carnforth, in the North West of England and from this beginning there developed the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, of which Major Thomas is the Founder and General Director.
There are now Conference Centers and Bible Schools beyond the British Isles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, Costa Rica and additional Headquarters established in the Sudan, Micronesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Major W. Ian Thomas was born in London, England of middle class parents and was converted at the age of twelve in a Boy's Camp. With the intention of becoming a missionary in Africa, he studied medicine at London University for two years, where as a student of nineteen, in deep discouragement about his Christian life, he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. This discovery precipitated him almost immediately into an evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry which has spread around the world.
Arising from this world wide-ministry, there came into being a Young Peoples Christian Conference Center and Bible School at Capernwray Hall, Carnforth, in the North West of England and from this beginning there developed the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, of which Major Thomas is the Founder and General Director.
There are now Conference Centers and Bible Schools beyond the British Isles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, Costa Rica and additional Headquarters established in the Sudan, Micronesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.