day 33- the vision to transform my mind’s thoughts (pt. 2)

How are we to replace the ideas and images that move us away from God and his ways? We take an active role in our thinking, joining with the influence of the Holy Spirit and seeking the truth for ourselves. There are two parts of our thinking that make this possible.

Information
1 Thes. 5:19-21 (NLT)
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. [20] Do not scoff at prophecies, [21] but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.

Jesus encourages us to put him to the test. The Christian faith is based on our ability to examine the evidence. We are expected to seek the information that is available to decide for ourselves. The Spirit guides this process, but we are to take the initiative. Putting the Christian worldview to the test as opposed to other religions and philosophies is encouraged. Christian schools, colleges and universities have historically been centers of learning to compare and contrast in the search for the truth. Also, God’s desire for us to know is made ultimately clear in the Bible and it’s centrality in our faith.

The Bible has been translated into 2,287 languages thus far, according to the International Bible Society. Christians want people to read God’s Word for themselves and examine the evidence. The information is there.

Now compare that to a religion like Islam, where the holy book, the Q’uran, is technically only truly the Word of Allah in Arabic. There is not a great movement to compare and contrast what the Q’uran teaches as relates to other faiths and philosophies. In many countries where Islamic law reigns, Bibles are not even allowed to be examined, and it can be a crime to talk about the Christian faith.

Other religions have secret books written in obscure ways that make it very difficult to understand their meaning. The God of the Bible wants people to understand. Seeking the truth of Jesus is an active pursuit.

Intelligence
Reason is a gift from God. As we examine the information available in his Word and in the world around us, we have the capability of understanding for ourselves that the Christian worldview is the best view of reality available. God doesn’t demand our allegiance through blind faith, “…because he said so.” No, God invites us into relationship and creates us in his image so we have the ability to relate. He invites us to use the intelligence he gives us to begin thinking why the bad ideas and images that are Satan’s strongest weapons ought be replaced by the truth of Jesus.

What are aspects of Christian teaching you have a hard time understanding?

day 32- the vision to transform my mind’s thoughts (pt. 1)

The first place we move away from God or toward God is through our thoughts. The devil works through our thinking more than anything else. Good thinking or bad thinking are real possibilities because God gives us the freedom to choose out thoughts.

We can’t control what is in the world but we can control what is in our own thought life. We can choose the content of what we are thinking. We can’t do it perfectly, but we can make progress in filling our thought life more and more with God’s Word and the promises announced there.

Our thinking has four parts. I’ll post on two today and two tomorrow.

Ideas
We have been forming an idea system since we were born. We have been influenced through experience, the teachings of others, and watching the behavior of our family and community. We don’t realize what is reality and what is false reality in our lives. When we look at our ideas we do a reality check.

To transform our personal idea system from one of ruin to one of goodness, we have to replace our ideas with the idea system of Jesus. This is the most difficult and painful process in life. To change our minds.

According to research (click link at Christcast.net), most people have their ideas firmly established when it comes to life, values, and beliefs by the time they are 12-13 years old. It is extraordinarily rare for us to change our thinking after that. It is also essential that we do in order to think more and more like Jesus would think if he were we.

What is a common idea system that moves one away from a life of radical goodness that people buy into? Anyone’s ideas are just as good as anyone else’s. No one can say they are right and someone else is wrong. There is no right or wrong, but only what you personally believe. As long as you are sincere, your ideas are valid. This idea system is called, “Relativism,” and it is very influential in our society.

Images
Along with ideas, images are what fill our minds. They are basic and concrete and they have a powerful effect. Ideas and images are Satan’s main tools against us. What preoccupies our thought life? Ideas and specific images.

Sexual images are overwhelming in society. We see sexualized images in advertisement and the media. Pleasure and power await us as we think of these images. The multi-billion dollar pornography business is a huge tool that Satan uses today to build up his image kingdom.
Jesus uses images to move us from self-worship to self-denial. The most powerful image in this is the cross. To look at a cross is to sense his love, sacrifice, devotion and strength. The cross is a reminder of what he did, but it is also a beckon of hope of what he is doing.

As we are being transformed to be like Jesus, the key is to take the destructive ideas and images we have and replace them with the ideas and images Jesus possesses. We take on the mind of Christ. This is a possibility for life in his Kingdom now.

1 Cor. 2:16 (NLT)
How could they? For,
"Who can know what the Lord is thinking?
Who can give him counsel?"
But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Here is an interesting experiment if you can pull it off. Tomorrow, have a countdown alarm on your watch etc. go off every hour during the day and write down what you were thinking about at that exact moment (or make a mental note!!) Do you see a pattern?

inside out- talk 7

the key to transformation begins with our thinking

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take a stand

confirmation
- a message for teenagers who have publically committed their lives to Jesus witnessed by the congregation
- what does it mean for teens to take a stand for their faith today?

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day 31- an example of what we are up against

How can we have radical transformation of the five parts of who we are? We take steps to change what keeps us from becoming like Jesus. We have the capability of doing this as we partner with Jesus and transform on the inside so we might be like Jesus on the outside. We will go step by step in each of the five areas in detail. I will give a brief sample of what we are up against. (Note I will split the Mind into thoughts and feelings.) I will use anger as the example.

My Heart
I may have grown up in a family where anger is normal and “having a bad temper” is expected.

My Mind’s Thoughts
I find reasons why I should be angry about the situation. I make sure I keep focusing on why I have been wronged.

My Mind’s Feelings
I enjoy the rush of emotion that attaches to my anger. It makes me feel so alive.

My Social Relations
I look for ways I can always have the upper hand with my friends and family members so I am the one who gets to lash out at them when the opportunity arises. I try to place them in anxiety producing situations where they are never really comfortable around me.

My Body
Frowning and scowling are my normal facial characteristics and there is nothing so “good” as to raise my voice or whisper in a bitter tone. I find ways to get the adrenaline flowing and take on a nice red complexion.

My Soul
In all the parts of my being I just keep focusing on my rightness and everyone else’s wrongness. I am like a god of my universe and I am looking for every opportunity to lash out in wrath at those who would question my goodness.

Whew! Glad I got that over with. Soon, the transformation begins.

Most people will be unwilling to die to themselves enough to see lasting transformation in their lives. What makes you think you are any different?

day 30- the means for Kingdom living

The means to live in God’s Kingdom now is to “fool” every part of our normal self that we can actually be transformed. In football, we would call this an “end around.” If you take the direct approach it almost always fails.

This time I am really going to live a godly life! I am going to quit being an angry person. I am going to be patient and I am going do it- right now!

Whenever we take the direct approach, our whole being cries out, “It can’t be done!” Or, “Who do you think you are?!” Or, “I’ll just die if I follow through on this!!”

How do we go about indirectly impacting ourselves to live the transformed life? The spiritual disciplines that Jesus practiced are the key. Through silence and solitude, study, worship and such, we are able to focus on what is there in front of us, and it will naturally be used by the Spirit to change us from the inside. For instance, we don’t say, “From now on I am going to be a loving person,” but rather we say, “I am going to work on becoming the kind of person who can love.”

Have you ever had to make significant changes in your lifestyle for health reasons? What was/is it like?

it's not good to be alone

the key to a healthy marriage...
or-
do you find yourselves disagreeing over things?
good!
Genesis 2

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day 29- intention for Kingdom living

With a clear vision of what kingdom life could be for us, what comes next? Intention. Here is where we start to get bogged down in our spiritual growth. Two things happen. One, we don’t really trust what we say we trust, and two; we don’t really intend to obey what we learn.

1. We must intend to trust Jesus
Here is where thinking it through is so important. There is a whole area of study that is critical to trusting in Jesus. It is called, “Apologetics.” This means, “making a case for,” or “making a defense.” In Christian apologetics, you make a case for your faith in Jesus. In my blog, as well as my website, I deal with apologetics and discipleship. The reason is simple.

You cannot sustain a living, influential faith in Jesus unless you trust in what he says and does. You cannot thrive as a disciple unless you have confidence that the Bible is the Word of God, Jesus is who he says he is, and the Christian worldview is the most reasonable and rational view of reality there is out of all religions and philosophies. Sunday School “Jesus loves me this I know” faith does not survive teenage and adult skepticism in a person who is truly testing out his/her faith. You can get by when times are good, but when crisis and uncertainty hit, which they will, to have confidence in the authenticity of your experience and the evidence of the truth of the Gospel are essential. The good news is Jesus is totally trustworthy.

2. We must intend to obey Jesus
Christians are not really honest on this point. So, often we talk a good faith but we don’t live it. Usually it happens this way. We focus almost entirely on a God of love and forgiveness. Yet, God is equally a God of justice and righteousness (right living). The God that totally loves you is the God that totally expects absolute obedience from you. We emphasize all the accounts in the Bible where Jesus is caring and forgiving but we skip over his call for our radical self-denial. For example, when he tells the woman who is caught in adultery to, “Go, and sin no more,” he wasn’t winking at her when he said it (John 8:1-11).

Yes, we can actually choose not to sin. We can choose to do what is right. It is possible to do this in this life. We can’t choose not to be a sinner and we will fail God, but we can make real progress. We are already a new creation when we place our trust in Jesus and begin to live in his Kingdom now. We do not have to give in to our old human desires for pleasure and power. The fact that we fail at times and fall back into our sinful human ways doesn’t cancel out the equally truthful fact that we can choose not to sin. Unless we go into this whole enterprise intending to live a transformed life we will fail before we get started.

We can live our lives as Jesus would if he were us. He created the means.

What are some ways you are trying to talk yourself out of really believing you don’t actually have to choose to sin in situations of life?

day 28- a vision for Kingdom living

We start with a vision to be a Kingdom person. This is someone who is actively working with God in living a kingdom life. Before we can understand this we need to define “Kingdom.” Dallas defines it this way.

Kingdom of God- the range of God’s effective will

We have confidence that God’s will is done everywhere. Therefore, his Kingdom is infinite because his domain is wherever there is the possibility his choices are accomplished. We pray this frequently.

• Thy Kingdom come
• Thy Will be done
• On earth as it is in heaven

This is the life of our possibility. Where God’s desires and our destiny are identical. We are invited to the greatest cause of the galaxies. To live our lives the way we are designed to live. Think about it this way. Everyone in the world may be working against God’s Kingdom coming because they have given in to a life of self-worship. Yet, if we are working for the sake of God and others, we are being transformed. As a result, creation itself is being transformed because we choose to follow God’s Kingdom vision.

How could we live in any safer, richer, more joyful place than in the reality of what God wants done? Do you think he can accomplish what he intends to accomplish? Then I would suggest we all get on that bus.

Think deeply today about what it means for you to be affecting all of creation.

day 27- VIM

What is VIM? Let me use an example.

For most adults, the one area they wish to change more than most others is losing weight. If you take all the weight loss products and all the health club memberships and all the diet books and all the weight loss programs, you are looking at billions of billions of dollars. Yet, most people simply go through a cycle of losing and gaining. Most people never seem to see permanent results. I would argue that most frequent reason for this is they went directly to means without really considering vision and intention.

In vision you think about what you would look like if you lost weight. Would you be more attractive? The bit of narcissism in all of us would enjoy that. Then you think about what you would feel like if you didn’t have to carry around those extra pounds every day. The aches and pains in your joints. Just the overall dragging that goes on by the end of the day. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to face the world as a “lean, mean, fighting machine?” (If you haven’t seen Stripes, classic Bill Murray) Do you have a vision for weight loss?

The vision is not enough. You can’t just sit there daydreaming about how great it would be to lose weight. You can’t just read testimonials. You have to carefully consider what life would be like as a slimmer you. You have to count the cost. Jesus knows that.

Luke 14:28 (NLT)
"But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills?"

After this careful consideration, if you are truly ready this time, then you state you intentions. Maybe you confide in a friend that this time you really mean it. You have a vision for weight loss. You have the intention to do what it takes to achieve it. Now, the final step is the easiest. How to do it. The means.

Proper diet and exercise are the keys to weight loss. Sleep is also important. A healthy lifestyle includes these three. There are other factors that will help you personally, perhaps even addressing if what is going on in your life makes unhealthy eating a response to emotional stress and such. There are certain disciplines that are helpful as means to guide your accomplishment to lasting weight loss. What is the system for you?

You can see what vision, intention, and means can do for weight loss. What would it look like to change a whole life? Using VIM is really the only way to place yourself under the power of the Holy Spirit for lasting transformation. What is VIM for the life of self-denial?

Think of times you attempted a significant change about yourself in your life. How did it go/ how is it going?

inside out- talk 6

why dieting, quitting smoking, breaking bad habits, etc, almost always fails... and a system that can make the difference wh…

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day 26- partnering with Jesus

In order to have lasting transformation, Jesus chooses to partner with us. Dallas Willard says it this way.

Without Jesus I can do nothing, but if I do nothing, it will certainly be without Jesus.

The path of self-denial is a one of cooperation. Not everyone understands this. I am of a faith tradition that so strongly emphasizes grace (God’s free gift of love) that any effort on our part will smack of “works righteousness.” We are trying to earn God’s love if we talk about doing the right things. The spiritual disciplines are not a focal point of life because they seem to be human effort to earn God’s favor.

As a result of this kind of thinking, after we become Christian, we are supposed to just sit back and be transformed through some kind of spiritual osmosis. That is not the reality of Kingdom life, however. By fearing we would have a "heart attack" if we dare speak of doing something to grow in our faith, we become complacent in our non-response. In the faith tradition of many Christians, it becomes a badge of honor not to do anything.

Trouble is, transformation doesn’t happen this way. This is why the lives of most Christians look the same as non-Christians. Without partnering with Jesus, we are on our own. He will not do our self-denial for us. Oh, we do not doubt we will be in heaven with him someday, but he actually wants to work with us in Kingdom living now.

When are times in your life when you just went through the motions when it came to living out your faith?

day 25- being your best true self

Our love of God directly impacts our love of neighbor. When we receive God’s love for what it is, it becomes possible to love our neighbor as Jesus does. Not for what I can get out of them, but out of genuine generosity. Through this process, the five parts of who I am come into proper alignment. More and more I am living as I am designed to live.

The choices I make out of my heart are for the benefit of others. My mind is filled with thoughts and feelings that focus on good rather than tempt me toward evil. My body is used to worship and glorify God rather than pursue pleasure and power. All of this affects the people I choose to hang out with. In this way my soul is in harmony with God’s intentions.

Specifically, as I am dying to myself, I am becoming the kind of person who does not have a crisis when I don’t get my own way. It does not surprise me or bother me. I am confident that I am perfectly safe in God’s hands and will face life centered within his presence.

As I become an apprentice of Jesus, I am able to live in his kingdom now. Instead of feeling I belong away from God and becoming more and more a person who cannot want him, through death to self I am at home with Jesus and living my life as he would lead it if he were me. This is a reality waiting to be discovered.

Renovation of the heart is possible and it is the only option to truly live when you think about it. I will live as I have been designed to live all along and will be at home with Jesus. I will be my best, true self.

How is this concept of “dying to yourself” different than allowing yourself to be under a “cult leader” or dictator?

day 24- making the unnatural natural

How do you move from a life of radical ruin to a life of radical goodness? You have to get off the throne of your life where you are the ruler and god, and allow Jesus to take his rightful place on the throne. You need to transform all five parts of heart, mind, body, social life, and soul.

That should be easy, right? Just get a little more focused? Just try harder? Actually, you can’t change using the direct approach at all. Either you won’t think you are capable of changing, or your instinct will be you don’t need to change. Self-worship is a powerful force. Everything that makes you, “you,” will scream out, “No!”

We need to take a different approach. Just like in athletics and the arts we need to practice. We need to take a disciplined approach. There are age-old spiritual practices that have been effective for those who have become more like Jesus over the centuries. These “spiritual disciplines,” as they are called, take what is unnatural, self-denial, and make it natural. We address ourselves indirectly, because the direct way will fail. The devil and our own sinful selves’ gang up on us to convince us that there is no way this denial is possible or necessary.

Spiritual disciplines like silence and solitude, prayer, Bible reading, study, journaling, practicing simplicity, worship, and the like, make it possible to become more and more like Jesus. This indirect approach to transformation distracts our natural tendencies to rule in our own lives. Let me give you one example. You are experiencing one of the disciplines that I practice right now.

By reading this, I hope I am being helpful to you. Yet, I’ll let you in on a little secret. This is one of my key spiritual disciplines. I study and think about what I am studying and pass that on to you in a form of journaling, the blog. This has been a good discipline for me and I am honored to be connecting with you.

Consider this: If Jesus is God, why did he practice spiritual disciplines?

in the image of God

what do scientists say about Genesis One?
what is six-day creationism?
is design evident in the universe?
what does it mean to be created in the image of God?
what...

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day 23- loving God and loving neighbor

If we aren’t the central focus of our lives what is? Loving God and loving our neighbor becomes the key. We are created with love of God and neighbor as our purpose. When we think of the deep questions of human life, this is why we were designed.

What is the meaning of life?
What is my purpose?

Loving God and loving your neighbor.

The wildly popular book, The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren, needed only one paragraph to answer the purpose question. The purpose of every single human being is identical. Love God and neighbor. The differences all revolve around the question, “How?”

The life of radical goodness is to give and forgive. Give of yourself for the sake of the other, seek forgiveness when you mess up, and forgive when you are wronged. If we are always giving and forgiving doesn’t that mean our lives become all about losing and sacrifice? In the God and neighbor centered life it is just the opposite. As we reach out we are enhanced and expanded. Jesus said it this way,

Luke 6:37-38 (NLT)
"Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven. [38] If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you."

The path of self-denial is possible because God designed us this way. We are perfectly safe to let God worry about our desires and needs. We don’t have to try to enhance our own lives by always looking out for #1 because God is always looking out for us. We are free to give everything we have and everything we are to God and neighbor. Our very soul is given back to us and we become truly human for the very first time. Just what God has in mind all along.

Does society try to force us into “loving our neighbor?” What might that look like?

day 22- radical goodness begins with love of God

The path to radical ruin is wide and easy. It is made possible by following our own desires.

It looks like this:

-Make choices based on your interests.
-Do what you think best.
-Do whatever your gut instinct tells you.
-Do whatever makes you feel good.
-Don’t worry about how you affect someone else.
-Don’t think about the consequences about anything. Just do it.

This is the life of radical ruin. It looks strangely like the normal life of an animal. Yet, you are not like an animal, in that you have a choice. There is another path you can join. The path to radical goodness.

Created in the image of God, in part, means you can choose.

Here is the choice. Either you choose a life apart from God or a life set apart by God. This is the meaning of the word “holy.” “To be set apart.”

The way to holy living begins and ends with self-denial. This is the anecdote to self-worship. Now, this doesn’t mean self-rejection. It is not designed to take away our dignity and become a doormat for the world, allowing everyone to step all over us.

Self-denial is dying to having to be the center of the universe and allowing Jesus to rule on the throne of your life. Death to self brings life in Christ. The ultimate reference point in your life becomes God. You live according to what he wants rather than what you want.

Living with Jesus on the throne of your life, where he lives for you and through you, brings about a restoration of your very soul. You can do what he wants rather than what you want. You can become the kind of person who lives in his Kingdom now, as he desires you to live. As the words of the ancient psalm proclaim,

Psalm 23:3 (KJV)
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Reflect on how radical ruin is actually a more difficult way to live than radical goodness and why.

a father's love

Sal Haddad talks about God's support during the tragic deaths of his daughters. An amazing testimony given at our men's breakfast by an amazing man.

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inside out- talk 5

heaven and hell
death bed conversion?
making the unnatural natural
more on spiritual transformation...

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day 21- soul ruin

Self-worship affects every part of us. The final impact is on everything we are. The soul, that holds it all together, is in ruin. When we mistake ourselves for God, then God becomes meaningless or an enemy. We cannot want him. If we work against God in every part our being we become the kind of people who cannot want God.

Jesus speaks about hell often. Hell is to be separated from the presence of God forever. When you have soul ruin, hell is the destination. It is not so much God sends people to hell. In many ways, hell becomes a choice. It is the logical destination for those who cannot want God. We are given the choice of being in relationship with God and if we choose to turn away, God honors that. He will never force himself on us.

Often people will speak of death-bed conversions where someone denies God all their life, and before they die they repent and seek him. Is this authentic? That person may have been seeking all along and it just finally surfaced in the light of day, so, yes, I think it is possible.

Yet, probable? No, not likely. If life away from God is the life you are living, being with God is not an option that is within your realm of choice. God has an infinitely flexible will; we do not. No one “just misses out” of heaven. Life without God is a constant choice that keeps a person focused in a destructive direction. In the end, God is faithful to our choices.

Instead of one who trusts saying, “Thy will be done,” God says to the person in soul ruin, “Thy will be done.”

Why do you think many people have a hard time thinking there is a “hell”?