Excerpt from an email on knowing your influences and learning them well 2

[H]ere's what's practical once regenerated. When you look into Celtic Christianity, or Calvinism or whatever:

"How does the believer cultivate communion with God? ...[T]he answer is found in spiritual duties. [Puritan John] Flavel affirms that God has appointed 'so many ordinances and duties of religion, on purpose to maintain daily communion betwixt Christ and his people.' Flavel's commitment to these 'duties of religion' arises from his conviction that the Holy Spirit uses them to let forth God's 'influences' upon the soul so that we make suitable 'returns' to Him." - J. Stephen Yuille, from his book *The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety*

And in that book the author lists things like 'watchfulness' as what Flavel is talking about regarding spiritual duties. 'Spiritual duties' could be called 'spiritual works.'

So, you know the universal teaching in the Work. Connecting it to 'communion' with God is what makes it real. It could also be described as 'recovering the image of God.'

And what your receive from that is all the promises of the Bible up to becoming an heir of God and being a legal citizen, or subject, in the Kingdom of God.

This Puritan John Flavel is interesting to me because he held the same doctrinal views I've come to regarding covenant theology and so on, and he also obviously has this Puritan-like closeness to Work teaching. I'd never heard of him, but there are so many of those Puritans with their collected works. Flavel's fills six volumes.

ps- But think of the above: if you have even a 'romantic' sense of Celtic history (or whatever) when you push into the Kingdom of God you are connecting with a people, in all time, from all time. This time in a flesh body is short, so see from a higher perspective. See from higher time, and from where you are going and where you'll be in a short time. If you've been given understanding by the Spirit then use it in how you 'run your race'...