Written by a clincial neuroscientist, psychiatrist and brain imagining expert, this book is a medical, scientific explanation of the power of our thoughts to change our life. I recorded a teaching series last year called "Think About It." The subtitle is "How changing the way you think can transform your life." I wish I'd read this book before I recorded the teachings. Author, Dr. Daniel Amen (no kidding) explains in medical terms many of the things the Bible teaches.
For instance:
Five Steps To Improve Your Brain And Reality:
1. Do Not Believe Every First Thought You Have
Feed your brain accurate information, not just your gut feeling. Correct your perceptions and change your brain.
2. Realize That Your Thoughts Are Extraordinarily Powerful
Every time you have a thought, your brain releases chemicals. A positive thought releases chemicals that help you feel better. When you think miserable, negative thoughts your brain works less efficiently.
3. Recognize That Thoughts Lie, Are Easily Distorted, And Can Rob You Of Joy
People who suffer from depression, anxiety, and panic disorder are filled with automatic negative thoughts (ANT). If you suffer from this problem, it is important to develop an internal automatic anteater to rid yourself of these pests and their nests.
4. Use Your Placebo Effect
Your brain takes what it sees and makes it happen. Change your beliefs, change your brain.
5. Tell Your Brain What You Want, And Match Your Behavior To Get It
Take a sheet of paper and write down your major goals. Next to each heading, write down what's important to you in that area. Let your brain help you develop and implement your life goals.
I don't know if Dr. Amen is a Christian, but at many points in this book he clearly states biblical truths from a medical standpoint.
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This brings up a subject I would like your opinion on. I used to think God spoke to us though circumstances. And my sister says that God speaks to her and always has. She says it's not an audible voice but she just knows it's Him. I say that He speaks to us today only through His word. Thoughts and circumstances change, the word of God does not. He doesn't speak today to us in the age of grace the same way he did Israel.
ReplyDeleteI believe that God speaks to us in a multitude of ways. None of them will contradict what He says in the Bible, but He uses many means to speak today. In fact, I'd say the whole world is His pulpit. I wrote much about this subject in The Godward Gaze.If you can get a copy, it will go into great detail on my thoughts about this. I have no trouble believing that the Holy Spirit can speak to your sister through her thoughts. Obviously, thoughts in our minds aren't infallible. On the other hand, they aren't automatically unreliable either. I've heard "the voice of the Lord" in my mind many times. I've also heard His voice speak to me through friends, circumstances, sermons and songs, art, music, nature . . . the ways are limitless.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Steve. I have often said that God speaks to me in three ways: 1)Through His written Word, the Bible 2)His Spirit to my spirit and 3)people, situtations and circumstances. This third category would include books, etc.
ReplyDeleteOver the past four years God has called for our family to really step out and live by faith. He has taken us away from many of the traditional ways of doing things. It was at this time that the word "confirmation" became prevalent in my life.
Any time that God would speak to me in either of the three ways mentioned above, He would immediately (usually within a 24 hr. period) confirm what He had said not once, but twice using both of the other ways that He speaks to His children. In this, we could move forward boldly in what God was doing in and through our lives.
One of my favorite verses that I have shared many times with people, especially when they question their salvation, is Romans 8:16 "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." NAS I think the words in the KJ is "bears witness".
I would then advise the person to pray and hold God accountable to His Word. Simply ask God to testify to to your spirit the truth of your salvation in Christ.