Pursuit for the Mind!
Toy aisle with Grant- Wal-Mart
Transformers
Humans want to be more, to be a part of something bigger
Christians are designed to transform, to become more
This is called Spiritual Transformation and it starts in the mind
2 Disciplines of the Mind:
1. Meditation
How many of you have ever meditated?
How many of you think it is wrong? Hard? Weird?
Scripture
Ps. 1:2; 63:6; 119:48, 97
2 Hebrew words: Hagah and Siach; used nearly 58 times in the OT
What is meditation?
“Christian meditation is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey His word.”
Too many Christians won’t shut up and listen
1 Kings 19:9-13
What’s the purpose?
Thomas a Kempis- “we are growing into a familiar friendship with Jesus”
You learn people’s voice the closer you get to them
Isn’t meditation New Age or Eastern?
Chart to compare them!
Who is it for?
Everyone
Israel’s mistake- 1 Sam. 8:7
Our mistake- the preacher and leaders
Meditation is threatening because it boldly calls us into the living presence of God.
2. Study
Your mind has been trained!
TV, books, movies, school, music
Your behaviors follow
4 Steps to study:
Repetition
“Regularly channels the mind in a specific direction, thus ingraining habits of thought”
“Ingrained habits of thought can be formed by repetition alone, thus changing behavior”
Romans 12:2
Memory Verses, Psychocybernetics, TV (murders, sex, etc.)
Php. 4:8
Concentration
1st highlighted part under concentration
It’s hard to concentrate today
Radio on, TV and a book, noise in the house, things to do
When we repeatedly focus the mind, center our attention on the subject, we understand what we are studying.
Comprehension- “what we are studying”
Feeling of “Eureka”
Reading something over and over
New level of growth and freedom
Leads to insight and discernment
Reflection- “significance of what we are studying”
Reflect on Scripture
How does it apply to me?
Requires humility
We are the student, not the teacher
The accumulation of information is not the same as knowledge
So what?
Spiritual transformation begins in the mind
These practices help transform your mind- Rom. 12:2
Changed behavior is the result of your encounter with the living God
Don’t you want to encounter God?
You can by beginning some spiritual disciplines today!
