To escape the Matrix, you must resolve to believe that what God says about you is true however mush your past or present experience tells you otherwise…to transform our minds we must commit to ascribing more credibility to God than to our brains. Our Matrix-conditioned brains are the problem; they therefore cannot be the foundation of the solution. We have to grasp hold of something that has more credibility than our own brains. We need to have a source of truth that doesn’t depend on our own misprogrammed, organic computer. And this source can only be God’s word, centered on the person of Jesus Christ.
If you are to experience freedom, therefore, God’s word about your true identity in Christ must have more credibility to you than the word of parents, friends, other authorities in your life, and your own past and present experiences. But it’s up to you. You are free to believe it or not.
Monthly Archives: November 2015
11.29.15–>”Faith”
Faith is about what we hold as a substantial reality in our minds associated to an emotion in our hearts that invariably leads to a particular outcome in our behavior.
-Al Larson
11.28.15–>”The Purpose of Theology”
The thing to keep in mind is our goal: transformation in Christ, union with Christ…All true theology helps us toward that end. Anything that doesn’t is better avoided, no matter how clever.
-Frederica Mathewes-Green
Or as my friend Kristin once said: “If it doesn’t throw you into the arms of Jesus, then throw it out!”
11.27.15–>”Forgiving Reality”
At some point you just need to forgive reality for being what it is.
11.26.15–>”Studies Show…”
Gratitudinalness & Paraenesis
On this day of highlighting and celebrating thankfulness, we are reminded that neuroscience is showing us, more and more, the efficacy of gratitude for our brains and well-being. As we’ve said in this forum many times, if you write down just three things you’re thankful for everyday, you will literally rewire your brain in just 21 days!
The latest scientific study I read (passed along to me by my good friend “JV”) said not to worry if you can’t find something to be thankful for. Research has now shown that the mere searching for something to be thankful for releases dopamine and causes neural pathways to fire and wire toward more happiness.
So for us underachievers, this is even better news! All we have to do is make an attempt to find something for which we are thankful, and our brain will take us to a better place even if we can’t think of something.
Life just got a little easier.
All we really do here in this medium is remind each other of the truth, of what we already know, and (mostly) agree upon. Ergo the fancy word you see up above–“Paraenesis.” I just discovered this rich word via a lecture, and the instructor said it’s a reminding of what you already know. Or another definition I saw was “an amicable reminder of moral practices entailed by agreed-upon convictions.”
Those Greeks. Such meaningful words they have.
Is not this what The Ripple Effect is mostly about?
Paraenesis.
As C.S. Lewis wisely said, “We need to be constantly reminded of what we believe.”
Reminder of the day: BE THANKFUL AT ALL TIMES!!!!
And also remember– I love you.
Soli Deo Gloria
11.25.15–>”Grace”
Grace cannot prevail until our lifelong certainty that someone is keeping score has run out of steam and collapsed.
-Robert Farrar Capon
11.24.15–>”The Reign of God”
The Reign of God, which Jesus spoke so much about, comes of itself by God’s power alone, and yet must be apprehended with everything you’ve got, while letting go of all that is not of God (repentence), in order for it to be fully revealed and seen.
11.23.15–>”Priest”
To be a priest is to know that things are not as they should be and yet to care for them the way they are.
-Barbara Brown Taylor
11.22.15–>”Paraenesis”
An amicable reminder of moral practices entailed by agreed-upon convictions.
11.21.15–>”First Real Taste”
She did not know or ask about any of my faults, no prodding into sins of commission or omission of which I may have been guilty. She just hugged me.
It was for me, my first real taste of God’s unconditional love on earth in human form.
-Earl Henslin