THE GREAT SUSTAINER

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. —Psalms 55:22

HE SUSTAINS US THROUGH THE PASSIONATE PURSUIT OF THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 
2  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 
3  and every spirit that does not confess [a]that Jesus [b]Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
4  You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 
5  They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 
6  We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. —1 John 4:1 - 6

6  We are [children] of God. Whoever is learning to know God [progressively to perceive, recognize, and understand God by observation and experience, and to get an ever-clearer knowledge of Him] listens to us; and he who is not of God does not listen or pay attention to us. By this we know (recognize) the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.
7  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him].
8  He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. —1 John 4:6 - 8 (AMPC)

1. The pursuit of knowing Him must be through a lens of sonship/daughtership with a childlike heart.

5  They proceed from the world and are of the world; therefore it is out of the world [its whole economy morally considered] that they speak, and the world listens (pays attention) to them.
6  We are [children] of God. —1 John 4:5 - 6a

And said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3

1  Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.
2  For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death. —Romans 8:1 - 2 (AMPC)

14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15  For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!
16  The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
17  And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. —Romans 8:14 - 17 (AMPC)

2. He sustains us through the pursuit of Him.

Whoever is learning to know God [progressively to perceive, recognize, and understand God by observation and experience, —1 John 4:6b (AMPC)

16  Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 
17  got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 
18  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 
19 So when they had rowed about [a]three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 
20  But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 
21  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. —John 6:16 - 21

Then they were quite willing and glad for Him to come into the boat. And now the boat went at once to the land they had steered toward. [And immediately they reached the shore toward which they had been slowly making their way.] —John 6:21 (AMPC)

3. He sustains us through the passionate, fully devoted truth of Him (The Spirit of Truth).

…listens to us; and he who is not of God does not listen or pay attention to us. By this we know (recognize) the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error. —1 John 4:6c (AMPC)

7  But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.
8  Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),
9  And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.
10  [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]
11  That if possible I may attain to the [[c]spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].
12  Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me andmade me His own.
13  I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14  I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. —Philippians 3:7 - 14