I have been reading the following book this morning because it helped me a great deal when I was seeking the return of the blessing of entire sanctification, and it was through the advice that, 'you received your sanctification by faith alone, to be restored, just have that faith again'. The book is worth a read, bearing in mind the inconsistency of the western theology he espoused that says it is not sinless perfection. If it is not sinless then it is not entire. The mistakes Wesley spoke about are not sins.
For me the whole "sinless perfection or not" dispute is meaningless, I don't need to be concerned over that. Whether I am living in sinlessness or apparent sinlessness is literally the same to me, in my life experience.
'you received your sanctification by faith alone, to be restored, just have that faith again'.
This is what I believe. Though no faith was required for that cutting away. God just did it.
Romans 5:1-5 KJV
1) Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2) By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3) And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4) And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
The same faith that justifies is the same faith that gives us access into the grace in which we stand. This is the faith in Jesus. We trust in Him, and this gives us peace with God, and lets us stand in grace, which is to me another way to say what we've been discussing.
I want to mention, you've said that you came close to discarding this doctrine, I've come close to accepting it, although I continue to think the reality is a little different. I think this just indicates that we both are giving this it's day in court, as they say.
And I'm still think that being granted ES is remedial, and that if my faith were stronger, I'd be there. It's not lost on me that my 5 weeks major depression was preceded by these 5 weeks ES. Just like about 5 weeks of consuming Ecclesiastes. All the fingerprints of God.
I think He customized each of our lives to be particular to us, for what He knows we need.
Christ died 2,000 years ago, and for all time, it is done once and for all. All we need it to believe this and reject the lies of Satan that it is a gradual thing. If we believe that lie we will never get there (ref my comment about the elderly believers and their terrible diets).
I think it's an "on/off" thing, either we are walking in the Spirit or we are not. I think of ES as consistently walking in the Spirit. I think we can walk in the Spirit for a minute, an hour, a day, a lifetime. I used to think of the fruit of the Spirit as being the gradual improvement of our character, but now I think of it as the description of the person walking in the Spirit.
Any time I'm not walking in love, I'm not walking in the Spirit.
The Lord has graciously granted you a taste of it.
Do not go back: But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Gal. 4:9.
How indeed!
The weak and beggarly elements,
elements is from "stoicheia", the 'basic building blocks', that can put us into bondage. Paul's example is of observing the holy days, and shows this as a desire to be in bondage, later to be named a desire to be under Law. He goes on to talk about Hagar and Sarah, Sinai and the Heavenly Jerusalem, bondage and freedom, flesh, and promise.
We either in our flesh seek out what we can do to improve our standing with God, or we stand in His promise. Trying to improve our standing is declared bondage. We are children of the free woman, according to promise. This again speaks to me of faith, believing in His promise, His great and precious promises, by which we partake the divine nature.
"The fact is, that neither the Bible nor experience proves that a man gets a clean heart when he is converted, but just the contrary. He does have his sins forgiven ; he does receive the witness of adoption into God's own family ; he does have his affections changed. But before he has gone very far he will find his patience mixed up with some degree of impatience, his kindness mixed with wrath, his meekness mixed with anger (which is of the heart, and may not be seen of the world, but of which he is painfully conscious), his humility mixed with pride, his loyalty to Jesus mixed with a shame of the Cross, and, in fact, the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh, in greater or less degree, are all mixed up together.
That does seem to be the experience, and the Bible's teaching.
I'll stop here for the moment, I want to give the rest of your post some more consideration.
Just on small thing to add . . .
(the word " dynamite" comes from the Greek word " power," in Acts i. 8)
Dunamis is often connected with the English "dynamite", although it misconstrues the Greek word to define it like "explosive power" or something like that. The Greek word means "ability". When applied to God, yes, this is mighty power. But it also includes my ability to pick up a pencil. This is one of the issues in defining Greek words by English words derived from them, they don't always carry the the same meaning.
Much love!
