Mind Matter: Matters to Mind

MIND MATTER: MATTERS TO MIND!

There is an old saying: "Mind over Matter".

Which kind of means; that if you think hard enough, long enough and don't give up... anything can happen!

Let's consider a few statements from the world at large and from Holy Writ.

"I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge." Napoleon Hill

"The brain is the only part of the human machine that doesn't wear out. Probably it's because the brain is the only part that is not overworked." Unknown

There is much for us to learn within the subject of our mind. There seems to be a never-ending stream of interest, fact, fiction, logic, physical, psychological, normal, extreme, paranormal, spiritual, and every other conceivable thought, whether scientific, psychiatric, neuroscience, medical or not that wants us to know the latest theory, investigation, or new truth, having to do with this inner space between our ears encased in the fragile tent of the cranium. Reality states that it still remains a vast mystery!

The brain is made up of 'matter', as a matter of fact it is made up of nerve cells or "nervous cells". The nerve cells are unique in shape. A nerve cell has a bulb-like cell body attached to a long nerve fiber, like a wire, that actually carries very tiny electrical signals. These signals form the information that tells us what we feel, think, see, and touch. They also instruct our body's movement and function. There are something like 2000 signals firing per second.

Weighing just three pounds, your brain is the most complex and least understood part of your body. About 80 percent of your brain is actually water, but the rest of it is taken up by both physical and biochemical structures. Although it's not an extraordinary organ in terms of size, it is in terms of power. Dr. M. Roizen

"What the mind applies itself to, the mind considers. What the mind continuously considers, the mind believes. What the mind believes, eventually the mind will do!" Unknown

"Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them". Rom.1:28-32

The above scripture gives a full account of the lengths that the mind will go and along the way convince itself that it is right in all its unholy dealings.

Scripture has much to say about, how we think, the thoughts we consider, and how the mind works.

Scripture takes us on a journey, from faith, fear, failure, fact, fiction, fickleness, fallibility, foresight, falsehood, feeding, flexibility, formulation, function, foolishness, full of itself and fulfillment; all the way to thinking about and envisioning the future.

In the movie series of Star Wars, Luke Skywalker crash lands his flyer into a swamp where he meets a rather unusual little fellow named Yoda. But when he first encounters him he had already formed a picture in his mind of what a "Great warrior" is, and dismisses Yoda as a nuisance. He slowly begins to discover who Yoda actually is, and that he himself is not what or who he believes. You know the rest of the story.

"Limits exist only in the mind." Unknown

In the movie The Matrix, Nemo doesn't have a clue to who he really is and his own journey into becoming a saving force for mankind over the machines. He learns quickly, and along the way he has his own personal struggles. The only one who really believes, is his friend and mentor, Morpheus.

In these movies there are quite a lot of spiritual overtones and suggested thought about numerous conflicting questions, leaving us all just a little bit more curious about life, who we might be or are destined to become, or we just succumb to the now and the hereafter, all the while saying, "Who cares?".

"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose Wisely." Unknown

We know very little of the life of Jesus while he was growing up. There are only a couple of scriptures that tell us of some events. There is no daily journal from which to form a picture; but from the scriptures relating to his family and how he was spoken of, we see that he led a seemingly hidden life with regard to his divinity. He was the elder brother and rightful heir and helped hold the family together.

So some questions arise...

In his humanness, did he have to come to a place of knowing and believing who he was and that he was the actual Son of God, Messiah and saviour of the world? Were there things in his mind that would have pressured his belief in himself? He said to us that he was 'tempted in all areas' just like us. What might have been some of the issues he would have had to overcome?

The scriptures show us that his family, friends, neighbours and townsfolk had a hard time seeing him other than the carpenter's son, when he announced the fulfilling of scripture to them in the temple. (This shows us that he led a normal existence prior to his ministry.) There was an unbelief in their mind already. And what about us? Do we want to believe that there was no inner struggle? No dealing with a thought life of extreme pressure against his divinity? Many have a tendency to extract his humanness from everyday life.

We don't want to consider the fact that he had to think about life every day, family, business, work, money, food, dealing with siblings, a father and mother and life as a Jewish boy growing up in a Hebrew environment. He would have gone to Hebrew school, and would have celebrated a bar mitzvah.

A few things we can deduce is he was not like Joseph of old, who not only was the favourite son, but he had a tendency to run off at the mouth. Nor was he like the prodigal, claiming his full right of inheritance and squandering it on himself. Jesus seemingly made no gesture to his insight and divine inheritance, and went about his daily human son-ship until a prescribed time.

"What you THINK about reveals what you ARE. Sometimes we need to do a check-up from the neck-up." Unknown

So, we look at Jesus' life, pre-fisher of men, pre-teacher, prophet, and rabbi and we see a man similar to us, an ordinary human, walking through life experiences as a peaceful and confident person. Then the day approaches, the time to unveil the true nature of not only his heart, but his spirit, and his Messianic inheritance. His mind was set, filled, unwavering, determined, full of knowledge, insight, revelation. No one had to coach him, direct him, or tell him otherwise. He knew he had a mission of the greatest importance that would change the way of the Israeli religious order from that moment and into eternity. I say the Israeli order because he was not sent to us! Not yet! We would have to find our way to him. But in him was life and his was the light of men.

We had to come to a conclusion in our mind, that he really had the words of life. We had to think about it, review it, meditate on it, and make a calculated decision. We did not enter into this deal with our eyes closed and our emotions raw and needy. We made a choice! We all said, "I want what you have to give me Jesus, I want an eternal destiny, I want to be touched by truth, I believe you are the way, the truth, and the life, that leads to the Father in heaven. I accept your death on a cross for my personal atonement, and that you loved me that much to die in my place. Now let me live for you!"

"Change your thoughts and you change your world." Norman Vincent Peale

The above phrase is written by someone who believed in the thought life. That through our thoughts, meditations, what we dwell on will account for who we become and where we get to in this life.

"Life and death is in the power of the tongue."

"From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied.The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Prov.18.20,21

"The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." James 3.6

Whatever you love to speak about is what will fill your belly.

"The water we drink has to be purified, but look at the trash we feed our minds." Unknown

The mind is the computer, with a great faculty of memory; the heart is the storehouse of what goes on within the mind and memory, but our tongue is the viaduct that spews it's poison. When the tongue is turned inward and against oneself the result is a slow descent into the grave. It is a graveyard of dead bones and emptiness that eventually fills every corner of the mind.

"Some minds are like concrete, all mixed up and permanently set." Unknown

Many Christians think that they can move about through life by simply willing life into their minds; without coming to a place of renewal. They drink from the well of salvation, but it never changes who they really are. Why is that? Why couldn't the Pharisee mindset welcome the words of life in Christ? They also drank from the same well? Why is there so much division in the body of Christ, if we are all sanctified by the same shed blood?

Salvation is not enough! Sanctification is the process within the soul life to help us get to the Spirit. But the spirit can be other than the Spirit of God. Jesus warned that there are many spirits out there, and we must have discernment. Discernment comes by way of knowing in your mind, having revelation in your spirit, knowing the way. Knowing the way is only possible through knowing the man, the Son, Messiah, Christ Jesus, which equals relationship, not religious thought, nor just religious conviction.

"Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigours of the mind." Leonardo da Vinci

Do you want to stop doing a wrong habit? What does it take? Firstly believing it can be done? Do you want to better your life position? Then you have to believe it can be accomplished! Does it require work? Yes, a lot of work. Changing your thought patterns, toxic mindset(s), belief cycle, is like taking down a fifty acre forest, dragging out every log, digging up every tree stump and roots, removing the dead wood and stones, rocks, boulders, and getting the ground even and then planting a vineyard in its place. But the first thoughts have to be, that it can be completed!

The work after that is the keeping of the vineyard from growing over again and keeping the little foxes from spoiling the grapes. These are metaphors for continuing to be responsible for what you feed your mind and what eventually settles into the treasure house of the heart.

Our forefathers came to North America, and the greater percentage of them came with nothing and they believed that there was a life and better way ahead for them, than where they just come from. There was no going back. Many tried to fulfill the dream, many died, but not all. We represent the heritage of the hard work that went before us. If we neglect that heritage we will send our future into a place of dissension.

"It is psychological law that whatever we desire to accomplish we must impress upon the subjective or subconscious mind." Orison SwettMarden

We are subject to what we believe, what we hold onto, and what we eventually and continually speak out of our mouths.

Jesus said, "But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matt. 12.36,37

Is it possible that we will become responsible, not only for what we might have said about others, in judgement, unforgiveness, slander etc, but what about what we might have spoken over ourselves and the judgements we made against our own mind, body, soul or spirit?

The example we are to be to our world; whatever and whoever we are in contact with is that we are to love one another as much as we love ourselves. It is very difficult to love others in the power and purity of Agape love if we don't have a pure spiritual affection for who we are in Christ. We cannot make a mockery of the Spirit filled life by living in self judgement and condemnation. These are the contaminants and toxins we must cleanse our inner world of.

Toxins within the mind, range in strength, power, action, reaction, much the same as contaminants all around us. We have the simple things similar to minor germs that give us colds and flu, to major upheavals in fresh water systems, when, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes etc. cause after effects that are more life threatening sometimes than the actual natural disaster, because they can last longer, having a more devastating effect on life. Diseases like; cholera, diphtheria, smallpox, hepatitis, typhoid fever are major killers, just to name a few.

Life within the mind is even more vulnerable than the earth about us. Toxins start with a thought planted, then that thought is meditated upon, and repeated over and over. Just think about how Hitler convinced a whole nation that they were right. It took them a very long time to figure out that he was wrong and to denounce the thought process that brought about such atrocities and death.

The mind is the fragile ground where seeds get planted on a 24/7, 2000 plus signals per second landscape. How do we govern and watch over such a diverse inner planetary cosmos? Jesus spoke greatly about the thoughts of the heart, because what starts within the mind either through our hearing, visualizing, sensing, reading and meditations will grow into a living tree within the deep recesses of the mind and from these trees will come a fruit of good or evil. It all started in the first garden, through a lie and it has never stopped corrupting the heart and poisoning the mind of man.

"Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither —whatever they do prospers." Ps.1.1-3

Our meditations are the formula to the tree of life within our heart and mind. The streams of water become the life well of well-being from the inside out. The leaves on that tree are wholesome memories that will prosper us. Firstly through our inner man, our soul, heart and spirit. We will bring prosperity to others in the words that we speak and the fruit of our lips will in turn flourish us.

But outside of the tree of life are other trees.

There is a Tree of Self-defeat, where the branches hold:

o Emptiness, Alienation, Apathy, Interpersonal Conflict, Crime, Dependency, Alcoholism, Drug Addiction

The roots are filled with:

o Fear, Insecurity, Resentment, Jealousy, Mistrust, Hostility, Guilt and Self-pity

"From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled;with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied.The tongue has the power of life and death,and those who love it will eat its fruit." Prov.18.20,21

The only real interest the devils of this world have in us, is to overthrow our mind. Why? Because they know and understand the real power that is there for us to grasp hold of and that when a child of God walks in his God given inheritance, right of law in the universe of Heaven, that there is nothing that can stop the fullness of Christ from being completed. The lie from the garden has never lost its power over mankind, but it can be overcome. Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world."

Jesus is waiting for all those who will be victorious overcomers at the end of each of our lives. Overcoming is impossible without believing it is possible. Jesus continually mentioned the fact of hearing, obeying and acting upon his words.

Why do you think he was so adamant in stressing this point? Because he knew the heart, mind and spirit of man if left to continue the way that things were going in the world of God's law makers and religious mindset. The words of the prophets of old, who represented the voice of God had become perverted and had lost their power to bring about the vital change needed if a remnant of truth was going to survive. Jesus coming as the "living word", was the only real saving grace for men's minds, hearts, soul and spirit. The return to the tree of life being represented in and through Christ was the power to break the lie cast in the beginning. Christ being the light for mankind was to remove every shadow that the darkness had cast over men's minds. Mankind would have a redeeming hope, not in the action of a flesh made righteousness, but a blood bought righteousness made by the only one who had the real power to make the redemption and atonement possible.

So we begin to see how important words, mindsets, beliefs, become to each one of us. Christ being the very nature of God's word in living flesh and Spirit and his encounter with us, not by mind manipulation, not by distortion, not by subliminal dominance, not by enforcement of the law, not by a suppressive fear of do or die; but by our choice to believe there is a way, accept that there is a divine truth, trust that there is a life to follow and that continuously choosing the will of Christ and the word of God in us would fulfill the assignment it was sent to accomplish. The conclusion of the revelation formed in God's heart for us would bring us to the joyous ending intended. God putting faith in us has placed the power in our hands.

The power of the choice to love him, with ALL our heart, ALL our soul and ALL OUR MIND...

Can we say, "I love you Lord", without firstly thinking about it in our mind and coming to a sound conclusion?

Can we say, "I love you Lord", in our heart, without contemplation, desire, and an attitude of faith?

Can we say, "I love you Lord", with our soul, and not have emotion stirring us, to song and joy and feelings of peace and contentment.

Can we say, "I love you Lord", and not love our neighbour, truly as we love ourselves.

These are the facts and factors of how we each individually deal with the thought process, toxins, attitudes, action and reaction of the mind, which is given freely for the sole purpose of our governing it under Kingdom authority.

There is no other religious order upon the face of the earth that gives back to us this ingenious plan of world domination through and by the power of loving, with a sound mind, fulfilled heart, and joyous soul. If we could only catch the full Spirit of it all in Christ, what a colossal difference it would make.

I leave you with this:

"But we have the mind of Christ" 1Cor.2.6

"Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus..." Phil.2.5

(Quotes on the mind from: proverbia.net)

All scripture NIV