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A'ight...lets try this one more time....

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Dark_Lite

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The Church is what all truth is measured against. If you follow the moral example set by the Chuch, it will pretty much tell you how you should be acting.

:)

I'm not trying to convert you to Catholicism, I am just merely showing you an example of how to live the Christian life. Even if you don't agree with Catholic theology, the moral example the Church sets is one to be emulated.
 
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Dark_Lite

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twistedsketch said:
That depends if you're talking about the universal church as a whole or the Roman Catholic Church exclusively, and it also depends on which era of church history you're talking about. The standard is clear in the Bible.

The Catholic Church is the universal Church.

However this is not for this thread and we're not going to get into it here.
 
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sandman

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When I first started to get into the Bible I use to get very frustrated. I was involved with Satanism and therefore I had no doubt that there was a devil and devil spirits, so through sheer logic I knew there had to be a God and not just a God, but one that was more powerful then the devil, just because of how I was rescued; but this Bible confused the heck out of me.

Between myself and another friend we seemed to fumble our way through passages but never really knew what the heck we were reading. To make a long story short God brought the people I needed into my life that taught me how to read the Bible and understand it. The next step in that progression is putting on the Word in my mind, or as the bible calls it Renewing the mind. ”The renewed mind” it truly is the key to power, the key to walking the abundant life, but what is the key to renewing the mind, to believe the Word; that is what I hope to share with you to some degree ………I had to learn the hard way, trial and error but hopefully my experience in what I learned will benefit you and make it easier to walk the walk you were called to.

Now I know everybody is different, and experience is no guarantee for truth but there are certain principles and techniques that pretty much work for everyone because we all have that gray matter between our ears, and that is where it all takes place; in our minds. We are where we are because of our believing, and we are who we are because of what we think speak and do and it all emanates from between the ears. If our thoughts are the seed for our words and deeds…. and if we can control what we think ….our actions will track with our thinking; because we act according to what we believe, and believing ultimately is a byproduct of what we think.

The renewed mind is basically putting on in our minds what God has put in his Word. It’s replacing the junk of the world, with the life giving words from the Word. Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

A good visual: Using a colored substance {coffee or cola} fill clear glass half full with one or the other. Go to the sink and start to slowly run water in the glass letting it overflow ……as the clear water goes in the dark substance begins to lighten up more and more until it becomes clear ….The container represents our minds, the colored substance represents our all the stuff the world has dumped into our minds, the fresh water represents the Word of God. As the fresh water {the Word} goes in the container, the water, {your mind} becomes renewed more and more…… that’s the goal! What we don’t want to do is run clear water one day and coffee the next. Of coarse we can’t stop the world from bombarding us every day with the ungodly negatives, but we don’t have to entertain the things that are thrown at us. Similarly we do have control over many un-edifying things that we have continued to dump in our glass every day by our own choosing. The friends we hang with, the things we watch, the music we listen to, and even the places we go. These are things we do by our own choosing and these things either have a godly effect or an ungodly….just like the glass there is no in between you are dumping one thing or the other into your mind. Don’t make the mistake of thinking those things don’t effect you, they do. And now that you are aware of it just keep a watchful eye and you will see what I am speaking of.

Friends: someone once told me “I have no friends when it comes to the Word” I thought what an idiot, but I have come to realize that is a fairly true statement. What we have is our brothers and sisters in Christ………….The people you call your friends are either going to lead you one way or the other….if they are your brother and sisters in Christ they will lead you in a Christ like direction…….the only other direction is the world…are these your true friends?

The things we watch: This includes TV, movies, video and computer games. Before you get the wrong idea remember I am talking about things we can control…I am naming them not condemning them …totally. …..Just keep in mind that everything has an effect, it is either negative or positive. TV offers us a totally distorted reality, a very distant reality from the truth in the scriptures. Commercials themselves are built on fear, false friendship, false reality, worldly love or sex. Video games aside from the fact that the selection of any half way decent ones is few and far between they are a distortion of true reality and both them and computer games will consume your time immensely.

Just a note: I enjoy good movies even bad ones. I still have a TV although I use it for the purpose God intended it ….to watch football and other sports……….how’s that for justification!!!!!

Music: possibly one of the most powerful tools in the adversary’s arsenal. I won’t go into any details on the brains hemispheric response to music at this time; and obviously I am speaking of worldly music. I can see that you are very into Eminem so let me take a moment to qualify my statement. I never tell people to quit doing this or that or to give up things. If someone had told me that kind of stuff when I got into the Bible I would have told them to take a flying fling through a rolling ring………….people didn’t tell me that stuff, they just loved me where I was at ….All I will do is give you the information to make an informed decision ….what you do and when, is between you and God

There is nothing like music to sooth the soul, but the world is the devils domain, his playground He is not going to provide you with music that is going to edify you or build you up.

II Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.


The music the world will provide you is geared to set your mood, relate to your mood, or to control the mood by evoking emotions of sex, sensuality, hate, worldly love, sadness, pseudo happiness, drugs, promiscuity, greed, lust, power, false worship, …basically everything worldly……. remember it is either godly or not, there is no in between. If you find it hard to control your mind to the Word it’s because of what your feeding your mind……. the stuff your dumping in is controlling your thinking, rather then you controlling what you think.

So, what am I saying………. that all worldly music is bad? I didn’t say that, but if the diet of your mind is not producing the results you desire, check out what you’re feeding your mind. I had a girlfriend once {notice the past tense} who put diesel fuel in my truck ……….the truck quit running. The engine, which ran on regular, could not handle the contamination of fuel. My desire for the truck to run was there, but with the bad fuel all the desire in the world would not change what was in the tank ……….Our minds are the same, we can have all the desire in the world to move and walk with the power of God but if we are running on contaminated fuel from the world we will sputter, cough, and stall out until we change what we are running on. Remember our engine is our mind…we are who we are because of what we think, speak, and do, and all that depends on what type of fuel we are putting in our engines.

I don’t necessarily like long posts and this has progressed longer then I wanted, but in essence that is the layout of your thinking process. In my next post I will give the procedure of how I learned to change my thinking….hopefully it will give you some practical application to work with.
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God Bless
sandman
 
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sandman

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There are three areas I want to touch on concerning the act of renewing the mind The first thing, although not one of the three is understanding the scope of the Bible which is essential for all believers and will help alleviate confusion down the line . The following link will take you to a post I did recently that gives the basic layout of the Bible, this should help in understanding what books are addressed to us and what books are for our learning.



http://www.christianforums.com/showthread.php?p=13613556&postcount=9



The first area I want to deal with is memorization. Now many times when I bring up the word memorization people are like…. Whoa! I can’t do that, but take it from someone who had a hard time remembering where he lived….You can do it…this is why.

You may have heard it said most people use only about 10 percent of their brain at best. Although that conclusion or theory has been challenged with reasonable data, it is a known fact that we as humans have virtually unlimited brain power for processing, storing, and recalling information; and I would feel safe to say that we utilize very little of what is available. No one is at a disadvantage when it comes to using brain power our disadvantage comes from what we believe in and about ourselves and our abilities to memorize recall and process {more on that in the next section}

I have a theory ….only a theory. As one who does not subscribe to the evolution fallacy I truly believe that our minds {being designed by God} are set up to not only to accommodate the Word, but designed specifically for the processing, memorization and believing involved in walking the walk that our Creator saw in his foreknowledge. I have several reasons why I think that, one of which is myself. I mean how else do you explain a glue sniffing, meth shooting, coke snorting, acid dropping, pot smoking, freak like myself being able to memorize the entire New Testament. This is something I have been doing for the past several years and it is in conjunction with the hundreds of other scriptures I have memorized. Actually I am not completely through the NT yet I just finished Hebrews but it is something I do as an aside….just to do it. What are my special abilities …same as you, I have a God given brain. BTW memorizing scripture is a great tool so we can recall those scripture when the need arises, but it means absolutely nothing unless a person is walking the walk. In other words I would rather fellowship with a person who has memorized a few scriptures, who is believing the Word and walking the walk then to fellowship with someone who has memorized the entire Bible and does nothing.

The technique for memorization is primarily repetition. Writing down scripture on a 3x5 reading it 7 times then closing your eyes and repeating it 7 times then reading it 7 more times. Using two of our senses, the visual and audio is helpful in your retention. I would start with 3 scripture a day; ones that you have picked that are applicable to your life. Read the scripture verse first, (i.e. I John 3:2) then the scripture, then the scripture verse again. Keep the 3x5s and go through them every day by reading the scripture once, closing your eyes and repeating it. Then during the day run them through your mind, you may find it helpful to number them. You can do as many scriptures as you like I would suggest starting out with 3 a day for 5 days, for the first month …. or whatever you feel comfortable with. Even one a day by the end of a year you will have memorized 260 scriptures that is like memorizing the books of Ephesians and Philippians.

Other then the fact that we are putting the Word on and putting off the world another reason to memorize scripture as I eluded to above is when a situation arises {the world throws something your way} your mind can go right to scripture.

The healing benefit of the words within the Word is another great reason. I could go on with reasons but the best reason is that God says to put on the Word, and that’s good enough for me.

Lives change when people put on the Word and yours will too “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. John 8:32

The next two areas I want to deal with are truly exciting. They are principles that will work not only for the renewed mind but in every category of life that you want to change, alter, improve on, or excel at, there are not limits except within your mind, for these principles have no ceiling or boundaries. However…I do………. and I will not get to it tonight ….possibly tomorrow but most likely Sunday. (edit - make it Monday)


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God bless

sandman
 
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sandman

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My apologies for not getting this posted when I said, I was called out of town again. I also want to apologize for the length of this post. I have edited this down from it’s original length {about twice as long} but still ended up with a longer then desired script. I have tried to make this as concise as possible and in doing so I may have left open areas of question; if that is the case feel free to PM me.

As I mentioned in my previous post the following principles will work in any category of your life. Primarily we are dealing with the renewed mind so I will focus mainly on that but seeing as we are dealing with human behavior it will be necessary to expound on these principles within that realm

Slim Shady JB made the statement earlier about this stuff being really hard and I guess you could look at it that way, but to me there is always two options, do nothing and get the results we always have, do something and get the results we desire. I have been in the do nothing category and that to me is hard, depressing, frustrating, and exhausting The do something category is ….well it’s exciting to see the changes that you never thought could happen ….but they do.

Throughout the Bible and from believers lips there is one word that is consistent with change, with receiving things from God, with miracles, signs and wonders. All over the word in any language this word produces results when people understand how to make it work. It works irregardless of who or what you are it works for saint and sinner alike, it works because like gravity, God set it {believing}up to work. I love the comparison that God gives us in the book of James. James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also

That says it so succinctly…….. in a nutshell God spells it out plain and simple. The word faith is the Greek word pistis and is translated either faith or believing in this case it is believing. {There are other times that pistis is translated faith referring to the faith of Jesus Christ {Galatians 3:32} but I am not dealing with that now} So faith or believing without works or action is dead. Any believing short of action is just wishful thinking…..it’s dead.

So how do we connect the two how do we operate the law of believing so we can see those radical changes in our lives, so we can accomplish those things of God, so we can walk in that renewed mind resurrection perfection. Maybe your thinking …I’ve tried that, I’ve tried to believe but things didn’t change……I know the feeling and the struggles with trying to force believing …..but it doesn’t work that way.

I made a statement in the previous post dealing with the abilities to memorize; I said “our disadvantage comes from what we believe in and about ourselves and our abilities to memorize recall and process”You see …we were believing but we just didn’t know how to change the mental image that we carry about ourselves. What believing is not: it’s not using the past or the as a criteria for what we want to see happen, it’s not trying to force things, it’s not wishing or wanting……… I think believing is best stated in Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Literally translated this verse says: Now believing is the title deed of things prayed for the evidence they are yours before you have them. It has taken years to build that mental image you see of yourself and believe of yourself, thanks to the input of the world and the people around us. Believing is knowing….it’s knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt it’s yours, you have, it you can do it. When you physically walk you don’t need to think about it, you stand and walk, you believe you can, and you do…Do you do it with crutches in hand in case you fall? Of coarse not, you do it because you know you can do it,………. and so it is with believing.

The only obstacle we need to overcome is that mental image of what we think, the pattern we have lived for so long. Why do the rich get richer and the poor stay poor? It has almost nothing to do with the government or economic times; it has almost everything to do with what they believe and the mental image of their surroundings. That is why so many people who have won the lottery within 5 years are back in the same economic status they were prior to winning; money cannot change the mental image of yourself, it comes from between the ears.

So how do we change? ………..this is what I hope to convey to you in this post. It can be exciting when you begin to actuate the changes in your life. I am going to start with confession but it will be intertwined with mental imaging. I am not talking about confessing your sins …I am speaking about the words that come out of your lips… and the words that you think in your mind. Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35: A good man out of the good treasure (thoughts) of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure (thoughts) bringeth forth evil things.

The heart {kardia} in these verses is the inner most part of a person’s mind, it’s where believing emanates from. What we have in our heart will dictate our lives, our lives being a reflection of what we believe in our heart. The goal is to get the Word of truth embedded in our heart so when we speak/confess the Word and act, it absolutely comes to pass
The confesion I am speaking of is going to be in two parts The first will be confession as in a positive affirmation the second will be the confession from the mouth synchronized with confession from the heart where he word is imbedded.
We need to get the Word of God into the heart kardia so the first step will be to confess or make positive affirmations. This is step one in renewing the mind, reading the word and confessing out loud or in your mind, you are what the word of God says you are, you have what the word of God says you have, you can do what the word of God says you can do, you will be what the Word of God says you will be. This is the act of putting on the Word in your mind; confessing it even though you may not believe it at the time, we confess it because it is true. For so long we have accepted what the world says about us, what others say about us, and what we say about ourselves as truth, forming a picture in our minds/hearts that dictate our lives. It takes a concentrated effort, a deliberate action to get the real truth in our hearts; and the real truth is what the Bible states. Why do we find it easier to believe that we are failures, defeated, and powerless when the Word declares that we are more then conquers through him that loves us, and that we have been given power from on high to walk as lights in this world as Jesus Christ walked; performing signs miracles and wonders. It has everything to do with the mental image that has been painted of us by the world, the one we carry of ourselves, what we believe of ourselves …………….Well it’s time to make the transformation, to break the mold that the world has shaped for you, to change that mental image in every category of our lives: spiritual physical mental and material. In a moment we will get into the additional ways of completely changing your mental image but first I want to touch on the second step of confession; that is when you know in your heart what The Word declares and you confess/speak it with your mouth (out loud or to yourself) and act upon that, you synchronize the two, and you reap the results of the written Word. That in short is step two.
Changing the mental image: In order to change we need to see ourselves differently, a different mental image a different picture of ourselves. In order to institute that change we need to reprogram; this is done through pictures. You may have noticed I have not spoken about goal setting, the reason for this is, goals in and of themselves may inspire change but they do nothing to cauterize the change in the mind. The process of setting goals basically comes from the logic side of our brains, the left side. Our mind thinks in and achieves in pictures, the creative side, the right side. Many people who set goals never achieve them, but those who have achieved have had two elements working together, their goal and a mental or visual picture of the desired change; and for the believer let us not forget prayer.

I am going to use a common word that people haphazardly use all the time albeit most time incorrectly, and I will be no exception. The word is create, which accurately according to biblical usage is “to make something out of nothing in existence” I use the word for descriptive purposes only. As humans we cannot create, only God can, but for literary purposes I choose this word, with this included disclaimer. To be more precise when I use the word create I am speaking of tapping into the law of believing which God set up, which we can utilize through visualization. In a moment I will get into specific steps you can take to cause or create changes in your life.

Our brains are according to the scientific world somewhat divided into two hemispheres, the right and the left. I say somewhat because they are connected by what’s called the corpus callosum a thick bundle of nerves which joins the two hemispheres together, like a network cable. The right side which is referred to as the creative side, is wired to the left side of our body, and vise verse. It is big picture oriented, uses feeling, imagination, fantasy based, impetuous, presents possibilities, the seat of passion and dreams, holistic in thinking, processes information more diffusely and simultaneously, integrates many inputs at once, etc………. it is creative. The left which is referred to as the logic side is: detail oriented, facts rule, reality based, practical, safe, does logical and analytical thinking, specializes in recognizing words and numbers, deals with inputs one at a time, processes information in a linear and sequential manner, etc……it is logical.
So why the brief synopsis on the brain; its to give you an understanding on what’s taking place in the process of information so we can coordinate both sides to create the desired life that God has made available.

The person {body and soul} you are comes from your sub-consciousness; your brain has interpreted the world according to built-in biases and assumes how the world should look, modified by experience. This is information/pictures your mind has processed over the years to formulate the beliefs of who you are and what you are. Is this picture reality? It is our perception of reality, so in a sense perception for each person is a reality. It is what we have processed as reality and it is what determines how we live. {Keep in mind I am speaking of the physical attributes, what makes you, you.} The good news is, for those who want to change; we can by inputting new information, new data, and new pictures. Our brain will gladly accept anything that we give it, and create the world for us. When you think about it our brain has accepted the self-limiting negative information that the world has fed us for years, and we have created our perceived beliefs from that information. By inputting positive, uplifting, un-limiting godly desired information, our brain goes to work creating that new us. Think of yourself as the star, writer, camera operator, producer, and director and ultimately the theater of your own movie…..your life. As you put the picture together your brain will create the picture you produce……….How? I do not know the exact how, except to say that the mind works on the pictures we form of ourselves, and that what we believe will absolutely come to pass in our lives………..it’s a law set up by God.

Application:

The right side {the creative side} of the brain works on pictures. The mind will always create based on the pictures that are in there; so we need to change the picture, it’s your movie I am just going to tell you some ways to set it set it up. What you will be doing is creating for yourself a new you the quickest way I know available today, through goals, confession, vision, and pictures. You need only have a desire to change, a mind, …hopefully one that wasn’t as polluted as mine was, a note book {3 ring is good}, glue {not for sniffing} or tape, scissors, magazines, useable picture books or whatever you deem useable.
First make a list of things/goals you want to have or change in your life, it can be as long as you like. Do not limit your goals….ask yourself: what are your desires? what things do you want to do? attain? or achieve?. Next, pick 5 of the most desired goals from your list I want you to break these goals into specifics…. not for things like I want to be rich, famous, powerful or I want to be like the apostle Paul. Be specific, and break down the goals to pictorial images. Images that can be cut form a magazine, maybe a children’s bible that has pictures you can cut out. (its not sacrilegious) You can do some amazing graphic with the computer a scanner, includingusing your face on the pictures. .
(i.e.) For your spiritual: copy/write a verse on a page find a picture of someone being healed or whatever correlates with the verse you wrote. Then underneath write your confession whatever you wish to see happen in your life. Maybe you want to see yourself walking with Christ find a picture of Christ a picture of you maybe holding hands with Him coordinated with a verse and a desired confession. {{BTW this is not a substitute for reading the Word just so we understand, it is a means to changing the script, the pictures you have believed about yourself. There is no substitute for reading the Word; the words in the Word are spirit and are life and they are healing.}} Another example relationship wise: Find pictures of whatever desired relationship you wish to have, getting married, or improving your communication or relationship with your spouse put that on a page along with the written desired outcome. You can do this with anything jobs, job position, family relations, automobiles, housing, physical health or physical goals. The mind thinks in pictures and coordinated with your confession will create almost exactly that picture you put in it. Your mind cannot tell the difference between reality and the picture. (I don’t need to tell any guy who has looked a Penthouse that.) This is your movie, your putting it together, writing the script for your life use your imagination on putting it together …whatever helps you to visualize the pictures.

Back to the book – I suggest starting with 5 of the most desired specific goals; you can do more or less it’s up to you. I suggest a 3 ring so you can add at will and remove the ones you have attained. Keep your list of goals in the back so you can add to your goals or change them. Cut out pictures from magazines, make {draw} pictures or enhance ones with drawings you cut out to fit your goal, and or use the computer to download or design pictures…… one page per goal, but any page can have more then one picture that fits with that single goal.

Have your confession/goal written at the bottom. You should go through your book at least twice a day. Pray first as with anything in your life, get peaceful which means finding a place to get peaceful meditate {which is to clearly focus on the task at hand} upon each goal see the picture and visualize (in the minds eye) it happening in your life. Don’t get discouraged, stay excited remember Hebrews 11:1. Getting to the point where you can visualize can take some time….but it will happen.

How long will it take to see results depends on you your desire……. a month two months six months I don’t know I am not you, everybody is different. Things start to happen right away because you are setting in motion the changing of your life’s script; when you will begin to see those changes is again an individual thing. I will say, this if you do nothing…. you will get the same results you always have; time will march on whether you do a visual book or not, you may as well determine the direction of your life, rather then your life determine your circumstances, because that’s what will happen; our circumstances are a result or our believing right now.

We are today where we are because of our believing we will be tomorrow where our believing takes us……………………
One more thing – The first page of your book should be a picture of Christ returning for his church…………..of coarse you will not change Gods timetable, but that should always be first and foremost on our list everyday …..it’s our Hope

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God Bless
sandman
 
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