In Your Right Mind… Part 2 Changing Your Mind
Last week I ENCOURAGED (hehe… ministry of…) you to take a tour of your Command Center…which is your mind. I also encouraged you NOT to do it alone because our mind can be the scariest place, especially if we haven’t noticed it’s condition lately.
This week I want to delve into who/what determines the mind’s condition, and how we can change our mind into a Right Mind simply by putting on our Commander’s wardrobe and taking up our role of the authority to command.
We’ve already established that YOU are the Commander. So what makes you the Commander you are today? What guides your choices either in action &/or reaction to the life you have today?
Some might call it your mind-set but I want to give it the honor of its position in each of our lives.
I want to call it our TREASURE… and Matthew 6:21 says “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Therefor… we may as well call the heart of the Commander, the throne room, where he/she sits and views the treasures which he/she has determined are to be protected and valued and grown and multiplied in life. And where he/she informs the Command Center of the mandates to be followed in order to care for these treasures at all costs.
Are you screaming at me yet? “I HATE my life, I DO NOT “treasure” anything about it!!”
Our treasures may be covered up, or dressed to look like something more acceptable, or even invisible to our view… But…
They are there!
You are the Commander and you have set the mandates your Command Center is using based upon the “treasure” in your throne room
I am not judging!
I am only speaking the truth… in love… to everyone of us. Ephesians 4:14-15 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.
When I act or react in anger and/or hate, there is a “treasure” I am protecting, valuing or growing. Maybe it’s my treasure of the pride that I take in being the best at something. Maybe it’s my treasure of fear that I “grow” when I worry and fret about being abandoned.
The same is true of positive reactions, when I enjoy a certain jewel, my actions will reflect an eagerness to continue “polishing and admiring” my treasure. Any reaction… positive or negative… is the result of our view of our treasures stored in our heart, our throne room. Our reactions are the results of our Command Center attempting to follow the mandates of it’s Commander.
Whether a treasure is hidden from you or you are in denial as to what the particular gemstone is, the treasure inspires the Commander to choose his/her mandate to the Command Center. The mandate’s purpose being to protect, value & grow ALL of our stored treasure!
There are three essentials that are required in a command wardrobe should a Commander desire to live in his/her Right Mind. Whether you believe as I do that God is the Highest General to each of the Commanders He has created and ONLY He can assure you of THE Right Mind, or you believe you independently rule yourself and can make that determination without God, these three essentials wardrobe elements are critical to a mind that is capable of living in the reality of this life.
Inspection… Confession… Training…
Inspecting… with honesty!
In “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, he says, “if I were honest with myself which I always try to be…”We need to be blatantly, bluntly, reality seeing, honest with ourselves first, so that we might not be hypocrites when asking others to do the same.
Honesty is NOT judgement… in other words I do not seek a description of ME because a particular treasure is found in my throne room. This is not a time of whipping myself or others for being… human.
This is a time to inspect and take inventory of the treasures found in my heart.
Confession…
Once you have knowledge of what is mandating the “lifestyle” of your command center, you then need to confess your claim to it (own it) or order removal of each treasure you no longer want to protect, value, grow or multiply.
Again… As with inspection… This is not a time of judgement… Should’ve… Would’ve… Could’ve (which are tools of guilt used by judges) are not useful in confessions of what you will or will not protect, value, grow or multiply… Speak truth… Confess your command! Let your yes be yes and your no be no… OWN IT!
And then… Training…
Training your Command Center to let loose of the old mandates and recalibrate it’s ways for the changes to come. Training Up in the way you should go… Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it. Once again NOT with judgement… but with parental love of the Commander.
Why do I keep harping on NO JUDGING??
Some of us are so hell-bent on making ourselves road kill before we even take the journey, which I admit is a long, sometimes treacherous, sometimes overwhelming journey. But really… is it wise to make the journey impossible?
The rule of THIS journey to refurbish our Command Center, to change and come into our Right Mind is LOVE…
the rule of Inspection… Confession… and Training is… LOVE!
Not the world’s brand of love…
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This brand of love NEVER FAILS!!
Just so you know… this is not a quick trip to the Mind Market… You can’t “buy” the essential wardrobe to create with ease a great Command Center with all the latest bells & whistles… much less buy the love required to ring the bells and blow the whistles…
Inspection & Confession & Training are not one time events. All three require the diligence of the Commander to wear the wardrobe well, to be watchful and aware and quick to command. You are the Commander…
Will you take the authority given to you to live in your Right Mind?… A mind willing to face life with courage, knowing that you have the ability to think and plan and react with the wisdom and understanding of love.
With opportunity of peace with yourself, will you gladly receive the responsibility of free will to own this life with it’s challenges and imperfections, knowing that NO ONE can do your life better than you!
A Right Mind isn’t necessarily “right” all the time but a Right Mind doesn’t give up pursuing rightness while living with (and being at peace with) the one you are most dependent upon… your own.
After all, we are told and I heartily agree, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste!” So don’t…
From here we can begin searching for and learning to use well, the tools available to grow and maintain a not perfect Command Center, but one that is pleasant, useful, growing up, and becoming the one YOU need in order to live your life well.
But get ready… this could be war…
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible