|
REAL POWER: MAXING OUT ON GOD'S LOVE |
BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF
YOUR MIND
The mind is the door through which
the power of God’s love enters your life. That’s why the Bible says,
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” In order to have a new
life, you need a new way of thinking.
No matter what path you walk to
personal transformation, all paths eventually converge on the mind.
That doesn’t mean all paths lead to God. It does mean that God
designed your mind to be the door through which you enter the world of
change. You can change your life by changing what you put into your
mind.
The power of the mind is so great
that there is considerable confusion regarding its role in
spirituality. For many people, the mind becomes a stumbling block.
They elevate it to such a high position that they appear to worship at
the altar of the mind. Others turn their back on it, believing that
religious faith and the mind are in conflict, and they choose faith.
Those who worship at the altar of the
mind often believe their mind is everything. They elevate it almost
to the status of God. They preach a gospel of mental omnipotence that
is supposed to cure all ailments. If they can just get things
straight in their mind, everything will be fine.
Those who have an adversarial
relationship between their mind and faith, struggle to bring their
unruly mind into submission. Often they hold their mind in contempt,
because many of their thoughts make them uncomfortable. They hope
their spirituality will give them control over their unwanted,
disturbing, and frightening thoughts. They try to ignore their mind,
hoping it will go away, or at least stop irritating them with thoughts
they don’t want to think. They try to divorce themselves from their
mind claiming all they need to do is live by faith. If they have
enough faith, everything will turn out fine.
The truth lies between these two
extremes.
God designed your mind to be the door
through which the power of his love flows into your life. Your mind
is where God’s love is brought to bear on the problems of life. When
you fill your mind with the power of God’s love, miraculous things
happen. But it wasn’t the mind that made them take place. It was
God’s love that made the miracle come to pass.
THE BATTLEGROUND
Your mind is a battleground where two
superpowers vie for control of your life. One superpower is called
reason, and the other is called emotion.
Sometimes reason holds the upper hand
and rules. More frequently, emotion overwhelms the power of reason
and takes control. The sound and fury of emotion drowns out the voice
of reason. Unfortunately, people who continually ride the roller
coaster of emotion end up in a state of exhaustion. Their life
spirals out of control, and they wonder what happened.
What happened is they are casualties
in the battle between reason and emotion. Emotion won the battle, and
they suffer the consequences. They feel sick inside and are worn out
from the wild ride. They have discovered an important fact. The two
superpowers of the mind must be kept in balance if they want to enjoy
their life. Both reason and emotion have their proper time and
place. Reason should be their guide, and emotion should make the trip
enjoyable. Emotion should add spice and flavor to life, but not be in
control.
Although you have only one brain,
your mind functions as if you have both a rational mind and an
emotional mind. When the Bible says that you must be transformed by
the renewing of your mind, it means you need both a new way of
thinking and a new way of feeling. The Bible also recognizes that
people think with their heart as well as with their head. That’s why
the Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Your heart is your home. It's
where you live. To a great extent, your emotions rule your
heart. The Cardinal Law of The Heart is that feeling is
believing. You can tell when you really believe something
because you feel it in your heart. Whether that feeling and belief are
correct or not is a completely different issue. If you feel it,
you believe it, and it controls your life. Until you feel something in
your heart, you don't really believe it, and it doesn't direct your
life.
Your heart is your home, and you
should feel comfortable there. It should feel good to be at home with
yourself. If you don't feel good inside, you need to make some
changes in the way you think so that you can change the way you feel.
Your heart is like a calculator that
sums up everything in your life. After it adds everything up, it tells
you how to feel. When you feel bad, you need to change what you put
into your mind so that things add up differently. When you count your
blessings, and fill your mind with good things, your heart adds
everything up, and you feel great. You must put good things into your
mind if you want to feel good on the inside. There is no other
way.
DON’T FORGET THAT YOU
ARE A CREATURE OF EMOTION
Most people believe they are
creatures of reason when they are actually creatures of emotion.
If you were a creature of reason,
then changing only your rational mind would change your life. You
could solve all your problems by going to school and taking a course
in logic. Every problem would have a logical answer. Drug and
alcohol addiction would disappear, because it doesn’t make sense to
destroy yourself with chemicals. All forms of illogical and
self-destructive behavior would vanish when exposed to the power of
reason. Counseling would be easy and success would be guaranteed.
The answers to all of life’s problems would be found in logic.
GO TO NEXT PAGE
Excerpt:
REAL POWER - MAXING OUT ON GOD'S LOVE
David J. Abbott M.D.
THE POSITIVE WEB RING
The Positive Web Ring has twelve
positive web sites. Each site lifts you up, pushes your mind in a
positive direction, and makes it easier to live your dreams. The
Positive Web Ring has something positive for everyone. There's
adventure,
positive
self-talk,
positive
spirituality,
positive
graphics,
positive music,
positive
podcasts, and much more.
If you are fighting against
depression, visit
EradicateDepression.com.
If you struggle with negative
thinking, visit
NoNegativeThinking.com.
The wheel of change always turns in the direction of what you put into
your mind, and the Positive Web Ring fills your mind with good things.
Give your mind a push in a positive direction today. Cruise your way
to a positive life. If you really want to be positive, nobody can
stop you.
PositiveWebRing.com
PositiveSelfTalk.com
PositiveThinkingRadio.com
PositiveGraphics.com
PositiveChristianRadio.com
PositiveButterflies.com
EradicateDepression.com
MaximumStrength PositiveThinking.com
ZeroToleranceToNegativeThinking.com
TooManyDrummers.com
GodLovesU.com
Maxingout.com
NoNegativeThinking.com
RED SEA CHRONICLES DVD
When Dr. Dave isn't working as a flying doctor for the Indian Health
Service, He is sailing around the world on his sailboat. Find
out what it's like to sail on the ocean of your dreams by watching
Captain Dave's DVD.
Red Sea
Chronicles DVD Previews
|
