The Divine Quest: God's ultimate design and purpose for every believer

By Richard C Durfield

The Bible states that after Jesus made one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God from that time forward (henceforth), expecting until His enemies are "made" His footstool. Jesus has given the Body of Christ power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Is He expecting

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637690772

Book preview

Durfield_FrontCover_Version2_6.19.21.jpg

The

Divine

Quest

Richard C. Durfield

The Divine Quest

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2021 by Richard Durfield

Cover design by: Grant Swank

All scripture quotations are taken from King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-63769-076-5

E-ISBN: 978-1-63769-077-2

DEDICATION

To my Best Friend, Who has been my Guide, Protector, Provider, and constant Companion for almost eighty years, and Who has inspired any and all words of truth contained within these pages. And to my beloved wife, Renée, who is heaven’s most precious gift to me on earth. My earthly companion for almost fifty-five years who continues to treat me as though she were married to Christ—regardless of how undeserving I might be. And to all the precious saints who walked with us during our many years of pastoring.

PREFACE

Coming to Christ initiates a quest to be conformed to His image

Richard Durfield

Today, we are living in the most challenging time this world has ever seen. A time when those in control of the world’s resources have conspired with the leaders of the world against Christ and all those who are called by His name. We are admonished in 2 Corinthians 10:6 to be ready to revenge all disobedience once our obedience is fulfilled. The moment Jesus uttered the words, it is finished, His work on earth had been completed, and He had finished the work His Father had given Him to do. Now, according to Hebrews 10:12-13, He is seated at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines the word expecting as …a reaching out in readiness to receive something. Jesus is waiting to receive the reward of His sacrifice.

The Divine Quest is an in-depth study of Scriptures that address how the Lord’s expectation will be met. This book represents decades of seeking God for truth that can only come by revelation, not simply relying on what is learned in a Bible school or seminary. Even though God has allowed me to earn graduate and undergraduate degrees in theology, I am convinced that truth can only be derived through personal devotion to God and diligence in His Word. To know Him has been my foremost passion from an early age. I can recall my grandmother holding me on her lap while teaching me simple truths from our huge family Bible. By God’s grace, that passion has never ebbed so that He has allowed me to experience an ever-unfolding knowledge of Him and His Word.

In anticipation of the next move of the Holy Spirit, there is an urgency in the hearts of saints throughout the world to know Him and the power of His resurrection as never before. Our hearts are crying, Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let them also that hate Him, flee before Him. In our warfare against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, we must make sure that we are clothed with the whole armor of God. No longer can we simply wait for Jesus to return to remove the threat or to remove us from the threat? Remember, Jesus prayed that the Father would not take us out of the world but that He would keep us from the evil. Spiritual warfare is not an option for believers. When Jesus said, in the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world; He was emphasizing our adversarial relationship with the world. He said, if the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. The fact that He overcame the world means that in Him, each of us can also overcome it, for whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world. All that He asks is that we simply trust and obey.

In Revelation, each of the seven churches of Asia was given a promise, but each of the promises was addressed to the overcomers. Repeatedly He said, to him that overcomes…, even to the churches that had failed miserably. Notice the promise given to the Laodicean church that He described as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. He said to them, to him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His Throne. What amazing grace! Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I (we) press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Child of God, we were born to be conquerors and created to have dominion over all the earth. But how can we expect to overcome the problems of tomorrow if we are failing today?

If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein you trust they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?

Jeremiah 12:5

He is a very foolish warrior indeed who believes that all is well regardless of his failure to put on the whole armor of God. Only the properly attired saint can stand against the wiles of the devil today so that he might also withstand in the evil day of tomorrow.

Preparation is the key to successful warfare. This book is devoted to the preparation of the believer.

It is my prayer that The Divine Quest will provide a stimulus for righteous living in each person drawn to its pages. The grim reality that a major portion of today’s Church is faced with dreadful persecution is testimony to the fact that God’s people have not been exempted from the violence that the Kingdom of God has suffered through the ages. But the fact that they have excelled in numbers as well as Christian virtue is convincing evidence that such trials can only make the Church stronger. May God grant that each of us may hear that which the Spirit is saying to the churches and walk in the light of that which He reveals so that we might gain abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

INTRODUCTION

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of His that has called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 1:2-4

The ultimate goal of every believer must be to partake of the Lord’s divine nature. Though worded differently, this theme is repeated throughout the New Testament. It is what the Apostle Paul meant when he spoke of being conformed to the image of His Son… (Romans 8:29). It is the mark that he pressed toward and the prize that he sought to attain. This and this alone is our high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The Divine Quest is the author’s attempt to share insights that God has revealed in his personal quest that spans more than seventy years. These truths have been penned by men and women far more eloquent, but each of us must attempt to share with others that which God has shared with them—regardless of how feeble that attempt may be.

Though not as widely known as some of his counterparts, John Wright Follette ranks among the greatest Bible expositors of all time. In his book, Broken Bread, he shares the following insight on the theme under consideration,

The Christian character which God desires to manifest through us is not like a gift or an isolated experience which may be realized in a moment. The new birth is that and so is the Baptism of the Spirit. Both are spoken of as gifts—and gifts may be received and possessed immediately. But Christian character comes by process, building, growth, and continual development.i

So, as we share these insights together, it is with and hope and expectation that The Divine Quest will assist each reader in their own process of building, growth, and continual development.

He who has faith without works has nothing; he who has faith without love is nothing

— Richard C. Durfield

In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the Apostle Peter, speaking with the authority of one who had received the keys of the kingdom, reveals the secret of an abundant entrance into that kingdom. He admonishes the believer to give diligence to make his calling and election SURE. That assurance is the direct result of Peter’s step-by-step building program for the life of the believer, which begins with a gift of the Spirit (faith) and concludes with the fruit of the Spirit (love).

…add to your faith VIRTUE;

and to virtue, KNOWLEDGE;

and to knowledge, TEMPERANCE;

and to temperance, PATIENCE;

and to patience, GODLINESS;

and to godliness, BROTHERLY KINDNESS;

and to brotherly kindness, LOVE (agape).

This seven-step building process mentioned by the Apostle Peter is the key that will unlock the door of an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He says, …for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He also promises that the person who does them "shall never fall!"

The process begins with the measure of faith mentioned in Romans 12:3 as a foundation. It is upon this foundation that the seven character traits are to be established. Faith alone cannot satisfy the longing of a holy and righteous Father Who desires that we be perfect even as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). He who has faith without works has nothing; he who has faith without love is nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). Faith cannot stand alone. It must produce fruit, or it has failed.

All that God imparts to the believer may be designated in two distinct categories—gifts of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit. For example, Romans 5:17 speaks of the gift of righteousness, which is free and without works. The gift of righteousness is imputed to the believer for the purpose of justification. On the other hand, Hebrews 12:11 speaks of the fruit of righteousness, which is for the purpose of sanctification. Imputed righteousness means that God views the person through the righteousness of Christ; it does not imply that the person has been made righteous. Being made righteous occurs in the process of sanctification, not justification. The fruit of the Spirit can be realized only in those who are exercised by the chastening of the Father. We are admonished not to despise the chastening of the Father or faint when we are rebuked of Him. Chastening distinguishes the true son of God from one who is illegitimate (Hebrews 12:8). Only a true son will endure chastening because his nature has been changed, and his character is being developed. The illegitimate son (bastard) is one who bears his mother’s name (nature) rather than that of his Father (Hebrews 12:7-8).

If we are to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust, we must be partakers of the divine nature. The one who qualifies to escape the world’s corruption has automatically qualified to escape the days of vengeance which shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against the church.

He also prayed that we NOT be taken out of the world but kept from the world’s evil.

We cannot be called OVERCOMERS unless we first conquer evil. We are saved from SIN first; our physical well-being is secondary. Let us rest assured that if we lay hold of the spiritual principles that will make our calling and election sure, God will see to it that we withstand in the evil day.

To dwell in the secret place of the Most High is to dwell in the most secure refuge and fortress that God has to offer. The only person who is in danger of failing to escape is the person who has neglected the virtues of His great salvation.

A closer look at the seven character traits which are to be added to our faith should provide a successful remedy for all who desire an answer to the question: How shall we make the Lord’s enemies His footstool? (Hebrews 10:12-13).

1. VIRTUE (ἀρετή-aretē) [moral excellence]. To be a person of virtue is to maintain a pure conscience toward God and