A Personal Covenant

The Purpose of My Life

The primary purpose and goal for my life is to be added to God’s Family upon successful spiritual conversion.

Commitment to Personal Mastery and Overcoming

To achieve this goal of conversion, I must constantly work on personal mastery and overcoming, which means adding a spiritual mind (the mind of Christ), reducing my carnal mind, and increasing in character.

I am committed to

• Building Godly character, which means knowing right from wrong and always choosing what is right.
• Applying all the spiritual principles I have been taught.
• Striving to live according to the traits of the Holy Spirit.

Accountability and Responsibility

I will take full accountability for, and ownership of, my mistakes, and for any negative situations I have created, contributed to, or prolonged.

This includes

• Acknowledging my role in any problems.
• Making sincere efforts to correct the behaviors, attitudes, or weaknesses that caused or contributed to any problem; this is my God-given responsibility.

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt to Others

I will constantly give the benefit of the doubt to each brother and sister in the Faith and assume we all share the same spiritual objectives.

Because I do not know everything about the private struggles, challenges, or weaknesses others face, their prayers for God’s help, nor the timing & methods God is using to purge their weaknesses, I must:

• Assume their conversion is sincere and be patient while God works with them—especially when it affects me.
• Apply godly principles in how I think about, respond to, and interact with them.

Principles of Conversion and Character Development

These are underlying spiritual principles for conversion and personal mastery—character development—that I must understand and follow if I am to live by The Faith Once Delivered, properly add Christ’s mind, and reduce my carnal mind. If I am not successful with these, as God determines, I may face the second death.

• Personal responsibility: Regardless of circumstances—who caused them or why—I am responsible for my own actions, reactions, and thoughts.
• Emotional and mental ownership: My happiness, peace of mind, and positive emotional state is my responsibility alone because they are fruits of the Holy Spirit. No one can take nor keep them from me. I cannot blame others for my lack of these things, my reactions, thoughts, or emotions. Others may influence circumstances, making it easier or more difficult for me, but I am accountable to God for my mind.
• Character is developed under pressure: God observes how I control my mind and respond in difficult situations. This is the essence of character development.
• Avoiding blame: Blaming others shifts the focus away from the self and personal accountability, limiting spiritual growth and proper perspective.
• Understanding God’s purpose for trials: As stated in the following section from the Meekness #3 sermon transcript by Mr. Raymond Cole, God allows challenging situations to exist as opportunities for character development. Trials are the tools God uses to correct my personal weaknesses and character deficiencies and to provide me with the opportunity to build the godly character required for salvation.

The Meekness #3 Sermon

Beginning in verse 8, and reading through verse 15. Here it says: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.” So God is asking us to rid ourselves of one of the most significant, in one respect, traits or characteristics of the human mind—that is, of anger. We become deeply embroiled in affairs, especially when they involve us particularly, and wrath is the consequence. The primary reason is that we fret ourselves over a course of action, or the behavior of other people, or their comments, or whatever it may be, concerning ourselves.

And yet, God says that those who are employing the Spirit of God, and doing the right thing, are not going to let these circumstances distress or upset them. They’re not going to fret themselves in any wise to do evil—that is, to speak wrongly or to think wrongly. They are to have control of the mind and to have control of the tongue. “For evildoers shall be cut off.”

Then, obviously, what He is saying here is that we are being tested by these circumstances; for, if we behave acceptably only when circumstances are right, we’re no different than Gentiles, or those who are following the natural behavior of human beings. That isn’t what God wants. So He has allowed these circumstances to prevail and exist to see if we can affect the right kind of control under all circumstances.

When we see ourselves becoming embroiled, when we see ourselves mentally frustrated and ready to strike out, or to say something, can we bring the power of God’s Holy Spirit into play and bring ourselves under control? Then, and then only, do we prove that we are employing God’s Holy Spirit, and indeed do have the mind of Christ.

Mr. Raymond Cole · Psalm 37

Extending Mercy, Patience, and Forbearance

As I work on personal mastery, I must also extend patience, forbearance, longsuffering, mercy, and forgiveness to others as they work through their personal difficulties and weaknesses.

Christ extends mercy and forgiveness to me, and I, in like manner, am required to extend them to others. This does not remove others’ responsibility to correct their wrongs or sins, but it does define how I must treat them, think about them, and respond to them. God knows each one of us is broken, weak, and struggling to improve. I am required to remember that others are no different. For who has already developed perfect character?

Communicating in a God-Approved Manner

It is appropriate to praise God, speak positively, mention facts, express perceptions, or discuss my opinions on needed change. Blaming, criticizing, or speaking negatively toward others, assigning motives, judging intent, or making accusations are not helpful and do not reflect godly conduct. Speech that exposes someone’s sins and weaknesses to others, and which creates a negative or false impression of them, is anti-Christ.

Do I Declare Allegiance to God or the Carnal Mind

God has given each of us the option to choose how we will live our lives. If I choose to orient my heart and mind according to every one of these principles, I will receive more of God’s blessings. I will be declaring that I choose life by loving the Eternal God.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Deuteronomy 30:19–20