Hi,
I keep making bets with God and Jesus in my head. I'm worried they will hold me to them. I'm not trying to make any bets. They just pop into my head. They cause me a lot of distress. They also make me feel like I can't go to school because I made bets about my grades.
Does anyone have any advice about this?
Thank you,
SnowTiger
Consider the following...
John 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Notice that after all that, when He turned His attention to her, He did not give her new focus and sense of self, but instead led her to that conclusion about herself from within herself.
First, he rescued her out of all that.
Obviously, she saw all that take place.
He then first paces her experience - "he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?"
He then further helped her with what He was attempting to lead her into coming from her, by further strengthening her sense of it, by His Words "hath no man condemned thee?"
Result?
A new sense of herself from within herself!
"She said, No man, Lord."
He then followed that with even more of it - "And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."
The following is similar to that.
One way for solving for the problem you are experiencing is to consciously do what could be referred to as redirectionalizing a thing through a pacing of it, followed by a leading of it into a different direction, or focus.
To pace a thing is to pace it, or agree with it - "woman, where are those thine accusers?"
Followed by using that very agreement as a means of leading it into a different focus - "hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."
To lead it, is to change its focus and by that you change its direction and its impact.
An example:
Say that someone suffers from a debilitating social anxiety such as the sense, voice, and or feeling that "I am constantly being scrutinized by others!!!"
The thing to do is to pace or agree with it.
Followed leading its sense in a different, much more desired direction by adding an end to it like "because people are naturally curious about one another..." and so on.
You then consciously rehearse it, until, as with a song, once it is memorized; it becomes your automatic pattern.
In other words, instead of just allowing this that is driving you batty to just play on its own, you take control of it by making it conscious.
In the above example, you would consciously rehearse deliberately repeating what it is you are hearing in your head or whatever, together with an empowering "BECAUSE" ending that you consciously add to it.
I once helped someone who stuttered really badly to overcome doing so, simply by suggesting that he practice stuttering on purpose.
Sort of like the opposite of when you consciously attempt to concentrate on a thing, or say, to relax.
That fact that you are attempting to do so consciously, will often interfere with this (concentration and or relaxation) which is normally an unconscious activity.
Same principle - make your automatic pattern conscious and that tends to greatly nullify it.
Then add to it a conscious repetition of where you want it to end up.
What you have been doing has been attempting to battle a focus that is automatic for you.
Well, now you have a means of turning its automatic aspect into your desired focus.
Anyway, hope that helps.
Rom. 5: 6-8.
