In your Right Mind… Part 1
Where does one start with encouragement? I would never want to discourage (hehe) anyone to “just do it” but… Proverbs 24:3-4 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches… It seems to me that there may be better results if we seek wisdom, understanding & knowledge before “doing it”.
Whether you are the receiver or the giver (or both if you are practicing on yourself), the message of encouragement must
enter… flow through… and be assigned a response and action allowed.
It can all happen silently, violently, loudly or secretly. But it DOES happen!
And it all is the plan of our Creator God…
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man different than all the other creatures. He made man in Their (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) image.
I don’t know all of the wondrous differences but the one that processes thoughts and words and actions is our mind… our brain (which will now be known for our purposes as the Command Center). Within this computer like body part, God placed the core of His greatest creation gift… free will. Humans were given the ability and the responsibility to choose… to take in information, to analyze or ignore it, assign it’s place of influence or rejection, and then to respond through the body with the impact of such a process, by launching the chosen assignment.
I know, I know, it doesn’t f-e-e-l like there is much of a choice and it certainly isn’t free since for every action “there is an equal and opposite reaction” (Newton’s 3rd law)… there is cause and effect!
And what about those who can’t “think straight” due to medical challenges &/or birth defects. I know… it doesn’t look like a choice but within the abilities given each person there is the ability & responsibility to choose action(s) & reaction(s) to the life God has given.
And because God knows every one of us intimately… Psalm 139:15-16 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
He should be the ONLY ONE to judge whether or not an individual is operating in free will… Psalm 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
Ok, back to the Command Center. Since the advent of sin, we… it… has suffered damage. What we consider “unable” could be (and probably is) the results of abuse & abandonment from YEARS of being pummeled with messages of hate and threats of violence. The memories that surely belong in the furnaces of hell, are allowed to roam and effect not only our choice of actions and reactions but also to become the Authority for planning & ordering such actions and reactions.
We must journey into our Command Center and prepare to take back our ability and our responsibility. Before we can learn to use the tools we MUST take possession of the body that will be learning to use and using them.
We must be retrained in Commanding the Control Center.
It won’t be pretty nor easy… It won’t be “natural”… but if we don’t begin with us than what do we have to offer. And if we don’t begin… than who shall minister?
A great life-changing event for me, has been finding and living in “my right mind”! When I met Jesus, He and I took a walk through my Command Center, which houses who I am, what I do, and the storage of all the desires of my heart.
He showed me God’s document stating that since the creation of time I was fearfully and wonderfully made and known intimately by God as the OWNER of THIS (and only this) Command Center.
When I looked into Jesus’ eyes and saw how proud and excited He was to show me how much I and my Command Center were loved, I was…
Anxious to give it ALL to Him but He said no, love requires you to freely choose to love back.
I was ashamed at the destruction of the glory of God’s creation gift that I had allowed and participated in. I judged myself as unworthy and of no value to Jesus. But He said He was not there to judge but to save.
I was both astonished and appalled that He intended me to keep my ownership authority and “keep on keeping on” the life I have been given.
No doubt I had failed… many times. And WILL assuredly fail again but He expects me to GROW UP…
But not by myself…
Jesus does not shove me aside and say “He will do it Himself!” with an attitude of angry impatience for my bumbling attempts to live rightly…
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.
He takes me as a newborn babe (born-again) and cares for me, protects me, wrestles (and tickles & plays) with me, reads to me, talks with me, sings with me and shows me how I can take control and refurbish my Command Center…
Not alone… but with Him…
Luke 1:37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
As I said… Life-changing…
Too much for one little blog!
But THIS is the ONLY place to start… Let Jesus walk with you through your Command Center… listen and learn from the Master – our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!
Next Wednesday we will look at some of the tools available to use in ministry…
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible