Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same
attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with
one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
A post from Dr Tim Elmore raised this point that we are prone to fall at the very thing we try to do to help others avoid
"What is it that makes us so prone to fail at the very thing we try to
help others avoid or overcome? Have you noticed this? Leaders, including
myself, can be vulnerable to submit to temptation, moral failure and
even crimes…and not just any crimes or failures…but ones that revolve
around an area we’ve studied, experienced, focused on and become
preoccupied with. So strange. "
He raised the key point of the need to be conscious and alert if our job focuses on fighting against something negative and
doesn’t include fighting for something positive and redemptive. Medically, it can be linked to our Reticular Activating System, in the back of our brains. Our R.A.S. has
one primary function: to cause us to move in the direction of the
dominant thought of the moment.
This is how it is described in a document which explains how the RAS works in psycho-cybernetics:
"There are some interesting points about your RAS that make it an essential tool for achieving goals.
First, you can deliberately program the reticular activating system by choosing the exact messages you send from your consicous mind. For example, you can set goals, or say affirmations, or visualize
your goals. Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal
if we keep on thinking of that goal, and stop thinking any negative
thoughts about it. Of course, if we keep thinking that we can't achieve a
goal, our subconscious will help us NOT achieve it.
Second, your
reticular activating system cannot distinguish between 'real events' and
'synthetic' reality. In other words it tends to believe whatever
message you give it. Imagine that you're going to be giving a speech.
You can practice giving that speech by visualizing it in your mind. This
'pretend' practice should improve your ability to give the speech.
What we need to do is to create a very specific picture of our goal in
our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our subconscious -
which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to
our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have
remained as 'background noise'."
The key bit I believe is really how Dr Elmore and this last paragraph above states, that we have to ensure that we create a positive specific target that we focus our life and mission on, but it should most importantly be a positive God centric thought- not just that of a crime-ridding crusader. If our dominant thought in life is just fighting against the bad stuff, what we focus on will sure get our attention and eventually move us to action and we may well fall into the same sin of what we fight against because we become so entrenched in everything about it.
To prevent us from also falling into the same trap of sin and corruption that we fight against, we need to recognise a need to shift our focus on the positive redemptive work of Christ and be preoccupied with something good to replace the wrong. So, if our goal is to glorify the Father, our RAS will make us function to amend all that is wrong to achieve that goal. (May sound complex and confusing but I'm simplifying it to focus on God's redemption, than to be a sin changer)
What is your dominant thought of the moment?
M.
21 May 2013
Focus on fighting for something positive and redemptive
Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A post from Dr Tim Elmore raised this point that we are prone to fall at the very thing we try to do to help others avoid
"What is it that makes us so prone to fail at the very thing we try to help others avoid or overcome? Have you noticed this? Leaders, including myself, can be vulnerable to submit to temptation, moral failure and even crimes…and not just any crimes or failures…but ones that revolve around an area we’ve studied, experienced, focused on and become preoccupied with. So strange. "
He raised the key point of the need to be conscious and alert if our job focuses on fighting against something negative and doesn’t include fighting for something positive and redemptive. Medically, it can be linked to our Reticular Activating System, in the back of our brains. Our R.A.S. has one primary function: to cause us to move in the direction of the dominant thought of the moment.
This is how it is described in a document which explains how the RAS works in psycho-cybernetics:
"There are some interesting points about your RAS that make it an essential tool for achieving goals.
First, you can deliberately program the reticular activating system by choosing the exact messages you send from your consicous mind. For example, you can set goals, or say affirmations, or visualize your goals. Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal if we keep on thinking of that goal, and stop thinking any negative thoughts about it. Of course, if we keep thinking that we can't achieve a goal, our subconscious will help us NOT achieve it.
Second, your reticular activating system cannot distinguish between 'real events' and 'synthetic' reality. In other words it tends to believe whatever message you give it. Imagine that you're going to be giving a speech. You can practice giving that speech by visualizing it in your mind. This 'pretend' practice should improve your ability to give the speech.
What we need to do is to create a very specific picture of our goal in our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our subconscious - which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have remained as 'background noise'."
The key bit I believe is really how Dr Elmore and this last paragraph above states, that we have to ensure that we create a positive specific target that we focus our life and mission on, but it should most importantly be a positive God centric thought- not just that of a crime-ridding crusader. If our dominant thought in life is just fighting against the bad stuff, what we focus on will sure get our attention and eventually move us to action and we may well fall into the same sin of what we fight against because we become so entrenched in everything about it.
To prevent us from also falling into the same trap of sin and corruption that we fight against, we need to recognise a need to shift our focus on the positive redemptive work of Christ and be preoccupied with something good to replace the wrong. So, if our goal is to glorify the Father, our RAS will make us function to amend all that is wrong to achieve that goal. (May sound complex and confusing but I'm simplifying it to focus on God's redemption, than to be a sin changer)
What is your dominant thought of the moment?
M.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A post from Dr Tim Elmore raised this point that we are prone to fall at the very thing we try to do to help others avoid
"What is it that makes us so prone to fail at the very thing we try to help others avoid or overcome? Have you noticed this? Leaders, including myself, can be vulnerable to submit to temptation, moral failure and even crimes…and not just any crimes or failures…but ones that revolve around an area we’ve studied, experienced, focused on and become preoccupied with. So strange. "
He raised the key point of the need to be conscious and alert if our job focuses on fighting against something negative and doesn’t include fighting for something positive and redemptive. Medically, it can be linked to our Reticular Activating System, in the back of our brains. Our R.A.S. has one primary function: to cause us to move in the direction of the dominant thought of the moment.
This is how it is described in a document which explains how the RAS works in psycho-cybernetics:
"There are some interesting points about your RAS that make it an essential tool for achieving goals.
First, you can deliberately program the reticular activating system by choosing the exact messages you send from your consicous mind. For example, you can set goals, or say affirmations, or visualize your goals. Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal if we keep on thinking of that goal, and stop thinking any negative thoughts about it. Of course, if we keep thinking that we can't achieve a goal, our subconscious will help us NOT achieve it.
Second, your reticular activating system cannot distinguish between 'real events' and 'synthetic' reality. In other words it tends to believe whatever message you give it. Imagine that you're going to be giving a speech. You can practice giving that speech by visualizing it in your mind. This 'pretend' practice should improve your ability to give the speech.
What we need to do is to create a very specific picture of our goal in our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our subconscious - which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have remained as 'background noise'."
The key bit I believe is really how Dr Elmore and this last paragraph above states, that we have to ensure that we create a positive specific target that we focus our life and mission on, but it should most importantly be a positive God centric thought- not just that of a crime-ridding crusader. If our dominant thought in life is just fighting against the bad stuff, what we focus on will sure get our attention and eventually move us to action and we may well fall into the same sin of what we fight against because we become so entrenched in everything about it.
To prevent us from also falling into the same trap of sin and corruption that we fight against, we need to recognise a need to shift our focus on the positive redemptive work of Christ and be preoccupied with something good to replace the wrong. So, if our goal is to glorify the Father, our RAS will make us function to amend all that is wrong to achieve that goal. (May sound complex and confusing but I'm simplifying it to focus on God's redemption, than to be a sin changer)
What is your dominant thought of the moment?
M.
