I was listening to a Lisa Bevere podcast today. She was hosting Dr. W. Lee Warren. His opening statements were amazing. Here they are:
“Your brain is never the same two days in a row. It is not even the same two minutes in a row. The problem is most of us think the same things over and over. 80% of the things we think and feel every day are false.”
Here is the link to that podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOaYiIys55E
When you understand this concept, the only dependable thing that we can rely on for truth is God’s Word. And God’s Word is never what we initially think on our own. We literally have to change our minds to believe and follow God and take Him at His Word. There are two things from the Bible that I have been contemplating lately.
- 1 Corinthinans 7, which is a chapter on marriage. Here are the main verses that stand out to me. Verse 17a says, “Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you…” And, verses 20-24 “Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.” And, verse 31, which says, “Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.” To me these scriptures say—be happy in whatever situation the Lord has placed you in and work with it. The Lord is sovereign. He knows what will make us grow into the person we need to be, and the stresses and traumas we experience in these situations will actually help us, if we look at it through the eyes of our LORD and administer self-brain surgery. Dr. Warren says that we can’t grow into mature people unless we do experience stress and trauma and learn to handle them in the right way. And—there is nothing in this world I would rather be than to be a “slave of Christ.”
- The other thing I’ve been contemplating was Jesus and His relationship with Judas Iscariot. Jesus’ ministry took place over approximately 3 years. During that time, Judas Iscariot was called to be one of the disciples. He was given the same authority as the other disciples which included: tell everyone about the Kingdom of God, heal diseases, cast out demons… see Matthew 10 and Luke 9. But Judas Iscariot was given an extra assignment—he was in charge of the money… he was their treasurer. Now Jesus spent all this time with Judas and treated him just like the rest of his disciples while having the foreknowledge that Judas would betray Him. Jesus set the example of how to deal with enemies or those who will cause trouble for us. The following verses gives a bigger picture of what that looked like: —“Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and He exclaimed, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!’ The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom He could mean. The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, ‘Who’s He talking about?’ So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?’ Jesus responded, ‘It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.’ And when He had dipped it, He gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him ‘Hurry and do what you’re going to do.’ None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. So Judas left at once, going out into the night.” John 13:21-30 (NLT)
Here are my takeaways from those verses:
- Jesus was troubled just as we are when someone is mean to us or trying to harm us.
- This is the first time Jesus is giving a clue about Judas. He has not gossiped about him or given any indication that He treated Judas any differently than His other disciples.
- The truth is coming out, but the disciples still don’t understand because Jesus treats everyone fairly. They think Jesus is sending Judas to pay for the food, ect.
- It ends with Judas “going out into the night”, indicating darkness. Judas has chosen darkness over the Light of Life, Jesus.
- Judas was given every opportunity the other disciples were given, plus the extra — care of the money. But no matter how much favor he had—it was never enough. He chose the world and lost his soul.
I’m going to end today with a list of the ten commandments of Self—brain surgery from Dr. Warren’s book on page 107.
- I must relentlessly refuse to participate in my own demise.
- I must believe that feelings are not facts; they are chemical events in my brain.
- I must believe that most of my automatic thoughts are untrue.
- I must believe that my mind is in charge of my brain.
- I must believe that self—brain surgery is not a metaphor; it is the mechanism of transforming my life.
- I must love tomorrow more than I hate how I feel right now.
- I must stop making an operation out of everything.
- I must not perpetuate or start—harmful generational thought or behavioral issues in my life or family.
- I must believe that I’m getting better at what I’m doing.
- I must understand that thoughts become things.
Now take those commands and compare the scripture that says we “should continue to live in the situation God has placed us in.” That means we don’t change our situation, but change our minds about the situation, and how to manage it with Godly principles like not gossiping, and complete dependance on a Sovereign God.
If we have Judas-type characters in our lives, we have to let God handle those and continue to treat everyone kindly and fairly. Jesus knows exactly what we are going through and can give us the strength to handle our situations as He did.
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him:…” Psalm 37:7a (KJV)
And
Have a great week!