WE MUST DEPLOY OUR MIND IN HELPFUL WAYS
Last week we said that the Christian life, and the spiritual warfare that it inevitably involves, is a battle for the mind. If that battle goes well, our Christian life goes well. If that battle goes poorly, our Christian life goes poorly. Therefore, a top priority in the Christian life, which we looked at
last week, is to guard the mind from that which is harmful. That is a
defensive strategy, designed
to protect.
This week we will look at
ways to deploy the mind, which are
offensive steps designed
to advance.
The Bible says a good deal about how to use the mind for strategic purposes. But I have found that the principles in the Bible hit home even more powerfully when melded with recent observations made by neuroscientists.
Research has revealed that…
- Structured repetition of helpful information,
- Guided and focused attention, and
- Strategic feeding of our minds
…will foster improved cognitive functioning, emotional health, and mental and spiritual perception. (
Switch on Your Brain, Dr. Caroline Leaf)
When we integrate that information from neuroscience with what we know from Scripture, we see this correlation:
- Memorization (structured repetition of helpful information)
- Meditation (guided and focused attention)
- Study (strategic feeding of our minds)
By coupling
neurological research with
biblical truth, we find that
we can deploy our mind in three helpful ways.
- Structured Repetition/Memorization.
Repetition is the key to mental ownership. As we repeat vital information (which has been boiled down to its irreducible minimum), the mental activity creates protein pockets in the brain that store the information, and wears pathways in the brain to make that information accessible to other information stored elsewhere in the brain. This is a powerful process that puts information “at the ready” in our brains to provide answers to questions, insight into difficulties, and options for opportunities.
In addition, the repetition drives the information into our subconscious, transforming our innate attitudes, values and behavior. We feed our subconscious and then our subconscious feeds us.
Memorizing Scripture so well that you do not have to struggle to recall it is a powerful weapon for success in the spiritual war in which we all find ourselves.
- Focused attention/Meditation
While memorization of Scripture is a vital and powerful practice, it is made exponentially more powerful by meditating on it. The protein pockets in the brain that house memory become even larger, the pathways that connect that information with other information in the brain become even deeper, and the ability to answer questions, have insight into difficulties and to see options for opportunities becomes even greater.
- Strategic feeding/Study.
A third vital component of deploying the mind in helpful ways is to study additional information that will further your biblical goals and purposes in life. All truth is God’s truth, and there is a wealth of information from godly Bible teachers, Christian authors, bloggers and other authorities that is consistent with Scripture and helps us understand how to more fully apply truth to our lives.
We cannot live something until we know it. Knowledge is power. The more we know, and the more we reinforce that knowledge through repetition, the more powerful we become in living strategic and intentional lives. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” To the degree that we do not know truth, we will be vulnerable to ignorance and deception. To the degree that we do know truth, we can deploy our minds in effective ways to further our biblical goals and purposes in life.
Conclusion
We started out by saying that the Christian life, and the spiritual warfare that it inevitably involves, is a battle for the mind. Essential to that battle is the protection of the mind by keeping out bad things, by not creating bad things in our minds, and by not nurturing bad things, regardless of how they got into our minds.
But after we have protected our minds, we can go way beyond mere protection, to becoming formidable offensive spiritual weapons in God’s army by memorizing, meditating, and studying Scripture and truth. Following these three steps to deploying the mind, we rise to higher levels of functioning than before, and we take giant steps forward in our ability answer questions, solve problems, and see options for opportunities.
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