The Role Of The Mind
(Romans 8:4-6 NKJV) that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. {5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. {6} For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
(Romans 8:4-6 NKJV) that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. {5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. {6} For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The decisive factor in Biblical EQ is the Mind of the believer. If it is set on the flesh and we are carnally minded the result is death. If it is set on the Spirit and we are spiritually minded the result is life and peace. Chapter after chapter of Biblical EQ has demonstrated the truth of those two statements in Romans.
Fight, Flight Or Mastery
When we are faced with a challenging situation we have three possible emotional responses – fight, flight or mastery. “Fight OR Flight” is often an adrenaline based, un-thought-out response that gets us into trouble. Personal mastery is the Jesus response and the most effective way to live.
Fight OR Flight An adrenalin-based response that may be appropriate when dealing with a tiger. Not very useful in the daily lives most of us lead. Blood rushes to the muscles and the body gears up for action. Blood is thus diverted away from the brain. This makes us unable to think clearly or respond wisely.
Cain
(Genesis 4:3-8 NASB) So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. {4} And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; {5} but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. {6} Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? {7} "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." {8} And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Road Rage & Agoraphobia
Road Rage results when the “fight” response is triggered by a minor stimulus. Agoraphobia results when the “flight” response becomes over-activated and leads to panic attacks. Inappropriate aggression and inappropriate fears and “flight” responses are almost in epidemic proportions in many countries. Emotional self-control and mastery is needed.
Jesus & Mastery
Jesus demonstrated mastery of any and every situation He was presented with. At no point in His life did Jesus give in to the adrenalin-filled panic of a fight or flight response. He neither fought the soldiers who arrested him or fled them. Throughout His entire trial demonstrated an amazing degree of personal mastery. His actions were masterful, strong, wise and spiritual. His Spirit-filled mind had total mastery over His flesh and His instincts. This gave Him power, poise and a degree of personal authority that seems to have been the main aspect of His personality that people admired and is frequently commented on in the gospels. (Matthew 7:29, 8:9, 21:23-27, 28:18-20, Mark 1:27, Luke 4:32, Luke 9:1, 10;19, John 5:27, 7:17, 12:49, 14:10, 16:13, 17:2)
Jesus vs. Satan
Jesus was not thrown even by encountering the Devil in person. During the temptation in the wilderness Jesus met the Devil in a face-to-face spiritual encounter of incredible intensity. Jesus neither fled nor fought. Jesus mastered the situation, resisted the temptations and used His authority to deal with the problem. He mastered the temptation to avoid the encounter and thus preserve himself from possible spiritual harm. He faced the dangers of the Devil at full force. He stood His ground against pure evil. Also Jesus did not launch into an aggressive tirade against Satan. There was no raw and red-necked stream of spiritual vitriol directed against the Devil. Instead Jesus defeated Satan through the calm use of God’s authority based on God’s Word. Jesus mastered the situation.
Threatening Situations
The biblical example of Jesus in the wilderness shows us how to react - even if we think a situation is utterly evil and threatens our health, identity and success (as the wilderness temptations did for Jesus). We do not need to get upset and become reactive. Nor do we need to pack our bags and run. We just need to calmly and authoritatively expose that situation to the truth of Scripture and the authority of God. We want to end up moving through life as Jesus moved through Israel, and cope with our pressures and threats as He did.
The Perfect Golf Shot Don’t “bash” the ball. Don’t “drop out” or run away from the situation. Think, select the right club, rehearse the trajectory and shot in your mind, then calmly hit the ball just where you want it. Mental mastery is like golf. Practicing situations over and over until we do not fear them but can move through them with poise and power.
Mastery Is Possible
Mastery is not some elusive state like “sinless perfection”. Mastery is a daily, practical emotional skill that you can practice and use in thousands of ways. You can see it in action every day. You can improve visibly in a few weeks of practice. You already have the skill within you.
The Telephone
Imagine you are having an argument, a real shouting match, you are furious and your face is red and you are thumping the table. Then the telephone rings and you pick it up. As you do so you stop shouting, you become polite, you say “Good morning, how can I help you” etc. You have switched from “fight/flight” to self-mastery in a few seconds! You did this because you knew it was necessary.
The Red Button
In trains in Australia there is a big red Emergency button behind Plexiglas. If you break the glass and press the button the train will come to a stop. You also have a “red button” that can stop the “train” of your fight / flight response. When you picked up the telephone and became nice you chose to press “the red button” and stop your adrenaline filled reaction. You need to become aware of your “red button” and how to use it to remain calm and masterful in all situations.
Excuses…
But they deserve my anger….. But I cannot help running away…. How can I help it if I am surrounded by turkeys… It suddenly comes upon me and I cannot do anything about it…. It feels so much better to “just let them have it”. How else will stupid people learn… Its my nerves, I am fearful by nature… Retreat is so much safer… All of the above are LIES that you have believed.
Counting The Cost…
How much have you lost by blowing up, running away, resigning, writing angry letters, avoiding situations you should face, being fearful etc? If instead you had mastered these situations where would you be today? Has giving into your adrenalin been worth it?
The Mind Gives Victory
You need to switch ON the Spirit-filled mind. You need to switch OFF the adrenalin-filled responses of the flesh. If you focus your mind/attention on your rage, your anger, your fears or your feelings of being slighted you will keep activating the fight-flight response. If you reach for the Red Button and ask God the Holy Spirit to take control of your mind and focus your attention on things above you will find peace , calm and self-mastery
Standing In Line
You are standing in a long line to pay a bill at a bank. You have been there for half an hour, the line is still long and the tellers do not seem very fast or very bright. You are beginning to get really frustrated. You can focus on your irritation and the tellers’ inefficiency and get progressively more upset. Or you can ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and take charge of the situation. This will often flood you with feelings of calm. Take your attention off the irritation. Focus your attention on God.
Defining “The Mind”
By the Mind Paul does not mean various individual thoughts or mind as intellectual activity or a set of intellectual abstractions or the “Sub-conscious” or the dream world. Rather mind is the mental framework of the person. For those of you who enjoy Greek the phren word family phroneo, phronema and phronesis , phronimos is in view here. We use the word Mind this way in the phrases “single-minded” or “open-minded”. The mind is controllable and can be focused by the believer. The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can control, and therefore it is of vital importance.
Paul asks us to set our mind on various things such as the Spirit, things above, and the pursuit of maturity. Thus the mind is that part of our total consciousness and awareness that we have some control over. The mind is what thinks when you do some real thinking. The mind is where you receive and mull over wisdom and where you make real choices about your actions. It is that part of your consciousness that you can control and exert and which bears a close relationship to the “real you”.
“Phren” In The New Testament
The mind in the sense of the phren word family generally means the wisdom and understanding especially of the righteous (Luke 1:17, Ephesians 1:8). This mind be set on various things. When Jesus rebuked Peter he said he was “not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (Matthew 16:23, Mark 8:33), the legalistic Romans nit-picking about food and drink were literally “rules-minded” in the Greek (Romans 14:6). The mind can be set on the flesh or the Spirit (Romans 8:5,6) and things above (Colossians 3:2) or on earthly things (Philippians 2:19), which caused Paul to weep. Due to the renewing and infilling of the Holy Spirit we can even have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16) and when we are humble servants we have a mind like Christ’s (Philippians 2:5). On the other hand we can have a childish mind (1 Corinthians 13:11, 14:20) Unity of mind is important and Christians are to be one-minded and like-minded. (Romans 12:16, 15:5, 2 Corinthians 13:11) This word family can also mean the careful, prudent mind, that which thinks of others, the mindful and thoughtful person (Philippians 1:7, 4:10).
Its Your Choice…
Thus it is clear from the New Testament that the sort of mind we end up with is entirely our choice. We can focus or mind on God’s interests or man’s interests, the Spirit or the flesh, the things above or earthly things. We can choose to be humble, like-minded, unified and thoughtful of others or we can choose to be puffed up, childish, contentious, worldly and carnal.
Only The Mind…
The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can focus and direct therefore it is the only part of us that can give us mastery. A million dollars will not give you personal mastery. People who win the lottery often end up poor because of their lack of personal mastery. The money has not made them masterful. A strong body will not give you mastery except of certain physical skills. Athletes can be enslaved to alcohol or drugs. Education will not give you personal mastery, there are many well educated people who are small-minded and weak-willed. Willpower won’t give you mastery as the will can simply become stubborn and inflexible, unable to adapt to changing situations and thus lead to inevitable defeat. Even religion won’t give you mastery. Many people are enslaved by cults, caught up in bondage to religious guilt or overtaken by idolatry and superstition. Only the adaptable, flexible, trained, focused and disciplined mind can bring mastery.
A Quick Clarification
I am not advocating mentalist philosophies, mind science, Christian Science, or think and grow rich kinds of mental mastery. They are half-truths. The mind is not a terribly significant force in itself. The mind does not have the ability to create heaven or hell as Blake thought. God creates Heaven and Hell. Reality is His creation, not ours. The mind does not create the world but it does enable us to move through it with poise and power. The mind is not God. The mind works best when it is set on God. In biblical terms personal and emotional mastery is a product of the mind set on God and imbued with His Word and authority. The unaided mind operating alone by itself cannot produce mastery of the kind we see in the life of Jesus Christ. For that kind of mastery we need more than positive thinking. We need a direct connection to God and the mind must be resolutely set on God, on the Spirit, on things above, on the Kingdom, and the righteousness thereof.
Three Truths So we see that we are faced with three universal truths: Firstly that personal mastery is the only wise option. Secondly that such mastery is solely a product of the mind. Thirdly that the mind becomes masterful as it is disciplined and focused on something outside itself. This book maintains that the highest degree of mastery can only be attained when the ‘something outside itself” is God. You can achieve a sense of mastery by focusing your mind on fencing or gymnastics or horse-riding but you won’t end up like Jesus just by focusing on those things. The mind must be directed onto Christ. That is its proper place.
Directing The Mind Onto Christ This directing of the mind is a forceful and decisive activity. It is not speculating about Christ or studying or daydreaming about Christ. It is similar to standing outside yourself and directing yourself onto Christ. Like standing at the top of a high-dive tower and looking down and plunging in with total commitment. It’s choosing where your life energies will be focused and your mental processes directed. The whole of the mind is fixed on Christ and directs the total life energies of the believer in that direction. As this focus is attained everything else is entrained, the emotions, the will and the responses.
Mastery Involves Rules
A great writer still has to follow the rules of grammar. A great badminton player still has to follow the laws of the sport. Christians have to follow the commandments of Christ. Mastering the Christian life involves following the rules – but is much more than just merely following the rules. A great chess player follows the rules - but the game is much more than mere rule-keeping. Once the rules become internalized - then real living begins!
Pre-Requisites The absolute prerequisites of spiritual progress are that you are: born-again with a new nature from God that you have the filling of the Holy Spirit and that you are single-mindedly devoted to God in obedience to His word. Unless you are born-again you do not have a new nature. Without the new nature it’s an impossible job. If you are not Spirit-filled and led by the Spirit in your daily life then you will not have power over the flesh (see Galatians 5:16-18) and you will struggle continually and lose continually. If you are not single-minded you will be double-minded and double-minded people receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:5-8).
Practical Techniques
1. Pay attention to your physical state. If you realize that your fists are clenched and your neck is rigid and you are physically tensed up and alerted for danger then try to undo those physical states. Unclench your fists, rub your neck, relax your posture. The fight or flight response is partly a physical response and as we undo its physical correlates it will lose much of its power. Perhaps try and relax or use deep breathing if you are tense, guarded or explosive. Be aware of the magnitude of your emotional responses and the quick “zoom” to anger or anxiety that the fight or flight response produces. Learn to recognize when you are zooming to disaster and practice keeping a lid on it. Take time to think. Use your God-given right to choose your response. Do not just respond on auto-pilot. Once you stop and think you are far more likely to choose a good and much more optimal solution. Disengage. If you have started to move into attack mode pull back the troops! Go for a walk, cool down. Have a pray about it.
2. If you are going into a situation that you know aggravates you (such as dealing with an annoying person) try to make a conscious decision about how you are going to react in that situation. Then rehearse your balanced and biblical reaction over and over in your mind. Perhaps seven times or seventy times seven? (see Matthew 18) Train yourself mentally to react rightly just like professional golfers ‘see the ball going in the hole’ even before they make the shot. Use mental rehearsal to disarm potential conflict situations. In the converse of this - don’t mentally rehearse the wrong response. Don’t see in your mind’s eye a picture of yourself strangling the boss of the phone company. It may be very satisfying but it is not helpful. It is educating yourself in the wrong direction. Use the ‘what would Jesus do?’ question as a quick reference.
3. Question your perceptions of threat. Is this really a life or death issue? Am I getting tensed up over nothing? What does it say about me if I am so easily riled? Or on the flight response: Is it really that bad? Is the world going to end over this? Is this fear, anxiety and emotional reactivity helping me? Has running away from things helped or hindered my life? Learn to find your emotional center and to live from it and to know when it is in balance and out of balance. This is quite difficult for many people. Some people will push you wanting you to explode so they can take advantage of your immature reaction. Be alert to this and deliberately react the opposite way they are pushing you. (1 Corinthians 4:12) For instance when they revile you greet them with a blessing. (1 Peter 2:23 NKJV) who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
4. Remember that when you react rightly to unjust treatment that “great is your reward in heaven”. So rejoice and give yourself a pat on the back when you keep your cool. Positive reinforcement for good behavior. (Matthew 5:11) Do not return evil for evil. (Romans 12:17) Keep a lid on your desire to retaliate. Leave retaliation to the Lord. (Romans 12:19) If we return a blessing instead we will inherit blessing. . (1 Peter 3:9). If people rip you off and insult you don’t escalate it into a life or death struggle over honor and pride. This is what Jesus means when He says “do not resist him who is evil”. (He does not mean that the police should not arrest robbers!) Rather it means “don’t let the evil person push you into a full-scale, adrenalin packed, fight or flight response”. Deny the natural man’s urge to strike back. If he slaps you, turn the other cheek, if he takes your cloak, let him, if he makes you walk a mile, go two. If he says “give me money” let him have some. (Matthew 5:38-42). Deny your reactivity and show you are made of different stuff
5. Don’t let unkind, ungrateful, stingy, mean or small-minded people get to you. God is merciful to the unkind and ungrateful and we have a great reward in heaven when we do likewise. (Luke 6:35) Brush their meanness to one side without taking it too personally and treat them as well as you can with reasonable safety (because some are quite toxic). Do not get your ego hooked into the game of “Christian comparisons”, my church is bigger than your church etc. This only leads to fuming and fighting. Do not let theology push you into fight or flight mode. Only debate under circumstances that are harmless to the hearers (such as with good friends in the ministry) unless of course there is an urgent apologetic reason. Even then your speech should be seasoned with salt.
Practical Techniques - 6 Learn correct responses by modeling mature Christians and by studying the heroes of the faith. Make a personal commitment to grow in this area. Have some friends keep you accountable for your reactions and encourage you to maturity. Enjoy the feeling of grace rather than the feeling of explosive emotional power.
Flight – Into Agoraphobia
Life circumstances cause the person to reach, at some point in their life, a point of nervous exhaustion in which fear that already exists cannot be suppressed or controlled by the will and during which new fears can be easily implanted. Strange frightening thoughts then appear in a tired mind. The person worries about these thoughts. This further activates the fight or flight response and exhausts the person and so they have even less energy to control their fears with. More fears then surface, the person then worries, and so on in a vicious circle. The strange thoughts in the tired mind eventually reach such an intensity that they lead the person to the threshold of panic. A small incident then triggers a full-scale panic attack, which, if this spiral continues, may become the first of many.
Disengaging From Your Fears
Mastering such fear means moving away from the fight or flight response. Instead of trying to fight the fears or run away from them they are just accepted. This position of not fighting and not running away disengages the fight or flight response, lowers the adrenalin levels and helps the person think. They are encouraged to go slowly because the need to “hurry” or take action activates the fight or flight response. They are encouraged to rest, eat properly and recover strength and get over their prior depletion. This enables then to get some perspective on their fears.
Floating Through…
The only way to deal with fear is going through. “Even jelly legs will get you there”. Of great importance is “floating through” difficult experiences. The problem with fearful people is they engage life too tightly. When you grab life too tightly it bounces you round and you end up either struggling with it or fleeing from it. A bit of detachment can lead to peace of mind. “Floating through” can help people survive normally traumatic experiences such as shopping in a large mall. The person floats through the shop door, floats around the store, floats up to the counter, floats out the money and pays for the goods and floats out again. The person is slightly detached but not dissociated from reality and is able to do the task that was impossible before.
Four Key Concepts
1. Face, do not run away.
2. Accept, do not fight
3. Float, do not tense.
4. Let time pass – do not be impatient with time.
Reacting To Spiritual Experiences
Powerful spiritual experiences often invoke the fight or flight response. We need to face them, not run away from them We need to accept them calmly – and evaluate them wisely. We should quietly move through them and not become threatened and aggressive. We should let time pass, weigh them up carefully, and not rush around in response.
An Intimidating Workload
Face the workload, don’t run from it. Simply accept that it has to be done, don’t see it as a threat. Make a list, put it in order of priority and float through it one task at a time. Don’t tense up and become hurried and nervy. Let time pass. Stop watching the clock, if you are working efficiently and doing the jobs in order of priority then time is not the problem.
Solution-Focused Thinking
Focus on finding the solution rather than analyzing the problem. When we focus on the problem we end up blaming, analyzing, and often activate the fight or flight response. When we focus on the solution we use our creativity and our sense of mastery and become constructive people. Paul Problema gets a flat tire, finds the nail, analyzes the nail, works out how the nail got on the road, is still stuck there two weeks later fuming in anger and crusading about nails on roads. Sam Solution gets a flat tire, gets the jack, takes off the wheel, puts on the spare and is driving home ten minutes later. Watches Paul Problema’s campaign on TV and laughs.
Solution Focused Thinking In Action
Just find a solution. Don’t ask why the stream is flooding or sit around analyzing the water quality – just find the bridge and walk across. Avoid the paralysis of analysis. Don’t see problems everywhere. Learn to see solutions everywhere. Big problems sometimes have really simple solutions. If you do what you have always done you will get what you have always got. Ask what is working and do more of it. If it’s not working stop doing it. Don’t fix the blame – fix the problem.
Jesus & Solutions
Jesus had an amazingly solution-focused approach to life. In the gospels Jesus says “nothing is impossible with God” or “all things are possible with God” a total of nine times. Jesus finds solutions for blind people, lepers, demon-possessed Legion, Lazarus in the grave, five thousand hungry listeners and a boat full of disciples on a stormy sea. Whatever the problem there was always a solution and the solution always gave glory to God. The faith of Jesus searched for, found and activated solutions.
Summary
We are to move away from the visceral and self-defeating reactions of the fight or flight response to the noble, practical, solution-focused and faith-filled responses of the sanctified believer. Mastery is the balanced command of our consciousness in every situation so that we act according to the will of God. The instrument for doing this is the mind. The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can focus and deploy. We can use it to stop automatic responses and to master our emotions. We can focus the mind on God and things above and be connected to His eternal power. We can use the mind to give us poise and power when we face our fears. We can search for positive faith-filled solutions to pressing needs so as to give glory to God. Mastery can be practiced and is greatly assisted by solution-focused thinking.
When we are faced with a challenging situation we have three possible emotional responses – fight, flight or mastery. “Fight OR Flight” is often an adrenaline based, un-thought-out response that gets us into trouble. Personal mastery is the Jesus response and the most effective way to live.
Fight OR Flight An adrenalin-based response that may be appropriate when dealing with a tiger. Not very useful in the daily lives most of us lead. Blood rushes to the muscles and the body gears up for action. Blood is thus diverted away from the brain. This makes us unable to think clearly or respond wisely.
Cain
(Genesis 4:3-8 NASB) So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. {4} And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; {5} but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. {6} Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? {7} "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." {8} And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Road Rage & Agoraphobia
Road Rage results when the “fight” response is triggered by a minor stimulus. Agoraphobia results when the “flight” response becomes over-activated and leads to panic attacks. Inappropriate aggression and inappropriate fears and “flight” responses are almost in epidemic proportions in many countries. Emotional self-control and mastery is needed.
Jesus & Mastery
Jesus demonstrated mastery of any and every situation He was presented with. At no point in His life did Jesus give in to the adrenalin-filled panic of a fight or flight response. He neither fought the soldiers who arrested him or fled them. Throughout His entire trial demonstrated an amazing degree of personal mastery. His actions were masterful, strong, wise and spiritual. His Spirit-filled mind had total mastery over His flesh and His instincts. This gave Him power, poise and a degree of personal authority that seems to have been the main aspect of His personality that people admired and is frequently commented on in the gospels. (Matthew 7:29, 8:9, 21:23-27, 28:18-20, Mark 1:27, Luke 4:32, Luke 9:1, 10;19, John 5:27, 7:17, 12:49, 14:10, 16:13, 17:2)
Jesus vs. Satan
Jesus was not thrown even by encountering the Devil in person. During the temptation in the wilderness Jesus met the Devil in a face-to-face spiritual encounter of incredible intensity. Jesus neither fled nor fought. Jesus mastered the situation, resisted the temptations and used His authority to deal with the problem. He mastered the temptation to avoid the encounter and thus preserve himself from possible spiritual harm. He faced the dangers of the Devil at full force. He stood His ground against pure evil. Also Jesus did not launch into an aggressive tirade against Satan. There was no raw and red-necked stream of spiritual vitriol directed against the Devil. Instead Jesus defeated Satan through the calm use of God’s authority based on God’s Word. Jesus mastered the situation.
Threatening Situations
The biblical example of Jesus in the wilderness shows us how to react - even if we think a situation is utterly evil and threatens our health, identity and success (as the wilderness temptations did for Jesus). We do not need to get upset and become reactive. Nor do we need to pack our bags and run. We just need to calmly and authoritatively expose that situation to the truth of Scripture and the authority of God. We want to end up moving through life as Jesus moved through Israel, and cope with our pressures and threats as He did.
The Perfect Golf Shot Don’t “bash” the ball. Don’t “drop out” or run away from the situation. Think, select the right club, rehearse the trajectory and shot in your mind, then calmly hit the ball just where you want it. Mental mastery is like golf. Practicing situations over and over until we do not fear them but can move through them with poise and power.
Mastery Is Possible
Mastery is not some elusive state like “sinless perfection”. Mastery is a daily, practical emotional skill that you can practice and use in thousands of ways. You can see it in action every day. You can improve visibly in a few weeks of practice. You already have the skill within you.
The Telephone
Imagine you are having an argument, a real shouting match, you are furious and your face is red and you are thumping the table. Then the telephone rings and you pick it up. As you do so you stop shouting, you become polite, you say “Good morning, how can I help you” etc. You have switched from “fight/flight” to self-mastery in a few seconds! You did this because you knew it was necessary.
The Red Button
In trains in Australia there is a big red Emergency button behind Plexiglas. If you break the glass and press the button the train will come to a stop. You also have a “red button” that can stop the “train” of your fight / flight response. When you picked up the telephone and became nice you chose to press “the red button” and stop your adrenaline filled reaction. You need to become aware of your “red button” and how to use it to remain calm and masterful in all situations.
Excuses…
But they deserve my anger….. But I cannot help running away…. How can I help it if I am surrounded by turkeys… It suddenly comes upon me and I cannot do anything about it…. It feels so much better to “just let them have it”. How else will stupid people learn… Its my nerves, I am fearful by nature… Retreat is so much safer… All of the above are LIES that you have believed.
Counting The Cost…
How much have you lost by blowing up, running away, resigning, writing angry letters, avoiding situations you should face, being fearful etc? If instead you had mastered these situations where would you be today? Has giving into your adrenalin been worth it?
The Mind Gives Victory
You need to switch ON the Spirit-filled mind. You need to switch OFF the adrenalin-filled responses of the flesh. If you focus your mind/attention on your rage, your anger, your fears or your feelings of being slighted you will keep activating the fight-flight response. If you reach for the Red Button and ask God the Holy Spirit to take control of your mind and focus your attention on things above you will find peace , calm and self-mastery
Standing In Line
You are standing in a long line to pay a bill at a bank. You have been there for half an hour, the line is still long and the tellers do not seem very fast or very bright. You are beginning to get really frustrated. You can focus on your irritation and the tellers’ inefficiency and get progressively more upset. Or you can ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and take charge of the situation. This will often flood you with feelings of calm. Take your attention off the irritation. Focus your attention on God.
Defining “The Mind”
By the Mind Paul does not mean various individual thoughts or mind as intellectual activity or a set of intellectual abstractions or the “Sub-conscious” or the dream world. Rather mind is the mental framework of the person. For those of you who enjoy Greek the phren word family phroneo, phronema and phronesis , phronimos is in view here. We use the word Mind this way in the phrases “single-minded” or “open-minded”. The mind is controllable and can be focused by the believer. The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can control, and therefore it is of vital importance.
Paul asks us to set our mind on various things such as the Spirit, things above, and the pursuit of maturity. Thus the mind is that part of our total consciousness and awareness that we have some control over. The mind is what thinks when you do some real thinking. The mind is where you receive and mull over wisdom and where you make real choices about your actions. It is that part of your consciousness that you can control and exert and which bears a close relationship to the “real you”.
“Phren” In The New Testament
The mind in the sense of the phren word family generally means the wisdom and understanding especially of the righteous (Luke 1:17, Ephesians 1:8). This mind be set on various things. When Jesus rebuked Peter he said he was “not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (Matthew 16:23, Mark 8:33), the legalistic Romans nit-picking about food and drink were literally “rules-minded” in the Greek (Romans 14:6). The mind can be set on the flesh or the Spirit (Romans 8:5,6) and things above (Colossians 3:2) or on earthly things (Philippians 2:19), which caused Paul to weep. Due to the renewing and infilling of the Holy Spirit we can even have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16) and when we are humble servants we have a mind like Christ’s (Philippians 2:5). On the other hand we can have a childish mind (1 Corinthians 13:11, 14:20) Unity of mind is important and Christians are to be one-minded and like-minded. (Romans 12:16, 15:5, 2 Corinthians 13:11) This word family can also mean the careful, prudent mind, that which thinks of others, the mindful and thoughtful person (Philippians 1:7, 4:10).
Its Your Choice…
Thus it is clear from the New Testament that the sort of mind we end up with is entirely our choice. We can focus or mind on God’s interests or man’s interests, the Spirit or the flesh, the things above or earthly things. We can choose to be humble, like-minded, unified and thoughtful of others or we can choose to be puffed up, childish, contentious, worldly and carnal.
Only The Mind…
The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can focus and direct therefore it is the only part of us that can give us mastery. A million dollars will not give you personal mastery. People who win the lottery often end up poor because of their lack of personal mastery. The money has not made them masterful. A strong body will not give you mastery except of certain physical skills. Athletes can be enslaved to alcohol or drugs. Education will not give you personal mastery, there are many well educated people who are small-minded and weak-willed. Willpower won’t give you mastery as the will can simply become stubborn and inflexible, unable to adapt to changing situations and thus lead to inevitable defeat. Even religion won’t give you mastery. Many people are enslaved by cults, caught up in bondage to religious guilt or overtaken by idolatry and superstition. Only the adaptable, flexible, trained, focused and disciplined mind can bring mastery.
A Quick Clarification
I am not advocating mentalist philosophies, mind science, Christian Science, or think and grow rich kinds of mental mastery. They are half-truths. The mind is not a terribly significant force in itself. The mind does not have the ability to create heaven or hell as Blake thought. God creates Heaven and Hell. Reality is His creation, not ours. The mind does not create the world but it does enable us to move through it with poise and power. The mind is not God. The mind works best when it is set on God. In biblical terms personal and emotional mastery is a product of the mind set on God and imbued with His Word and authority. The unaided mind operating alone by itself cannot produce mastery of the kind we see in the life of Jesus Christ. For that kind of mastery we need more than positive thinking. We need a direct connection to God and the mind must be resolutely set on God, on the Spirit, on things above, on the Kingdom, and the righteousness thereof.
Three Truths So we see that we are faced with three universal truths: Firstly that personal mastery is the only wise option. Secondly that such mastery is solely a product of the mind. Thirdly that the mind becomes masterful as it is disciplined and focused on something outside itself. This book maintains that the highest degree of mastery can only be attained when the ‘something outside itself” is God. You can achieve a sense of mastery by focusing your mind on fencing or gymnastics or horse-riding but you won’t end up like Jesus just by focusing on those things. The mind must be directed onto Christ. That is its proper place.
Directing The Mind Onto Christ This directing of the mind is a forceful and decisive activity. It is not speculating about Christ or studying or daydreaming about Christ. It is similar to standing outside yourself and directing yourself onto Christ. Like standing at the top of a high-dive tower and looking down and plunging in with total commitment. It’s choosing where your life energies will be focused and your mental processes directed. The whole of the mind is fixed on Christ and directs the total life energies of the believer in that direction. As this focus is attained everything else is entrained, the emotions, the will and the responses.
Mastery Involves Rules
A great writer still has to follow the rules of grammar. A great badminton player still has to follow the laws of the sport. Christians have to follow the commandments of Christ. Mastering the Christian life involves following the rules – but is much more than just merely following the rules. A great chess player follows the rules - but the game is much more than mere rule-keeping. Once the rules become internalized - then real living begins!
Pre-Requisites The absolute prerequisites of spiritual progress are that you are: born-again with a new nature from God that you have the filling of the Holy Spirit and that you are single-mindedly devoted to God in obedience to His word. Unless you are born-again you do not have a new nature. Without the new nature it’s an impossible job. If you are not Spirit-filled and led by the Spirit in your daily life then you will not have power over the flesh (see Galatians 5:16-18) and you will struggle continually and lose continually. If you are not single-minded you will be double-minded and double-minded people receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:5-8).
Practical Techniques
1. Pay attention to your physical state. If you realize that your fists are clenched and your neck is rigid and you are physically tensed up and alerted for danger then try to undo those physical states. Unclench your fists, rub your neck, relax your posture. The fight or flight response is partly a physical response and as we undo its physical correlates it will lose much of its power. Perhaps try and relax or use deep breathing if you are tense, guarded or explosive. Be aware of the magnitude of your emotional responses and the quick “zoom” to anger or anxiety that the fight or flight response produces. Learn to recognize when you are zooming to disaster and practice keeping a lid on it. Take time to think. Use your God-given right to choose your response. Do not just respond on auto-pilot. Once you stop and think you are far more likely to choose a good and much more optimal solution. Disengage. If you have started to move into attack mode pull back the troops! Go for a walk, cool down. Have a pray about it.
2. If you are going into a situation that you know aggravates you (such as dealing with an annoying person) try to make a conscious decision about how you are going to react in that situation. Then rehearse your balanced and biblical reaction over and over in your mind. Perhaps seven times or seventy times seven? (see Matthew 18) Train yourself mentally to react rightly just like professional golfers ‘see the ball going in the hole’ even before they make the shot. Use mental rehearsal to disarm potential conflict situations. In the converse of this - don’t mentally rehearse the wrong response. Don’t see in your mind’s eye a picture of yourself strangling the boss of the phone company. It may be very satisfying but it is not helpful. It is educating yourself in the wrong direction. Use the ‘what would Jesus do?’ question as a quick reference.
3. Question your perceptions of threat. Is this really a life or death issue? Am I getting tensed up over nothing? What does it say about me if I am so easily riled? Or on the flight response: Is it really that bad? Is the world going to end over this? Is this fear, anxiety and emotional reactivity helping me? Has running away from things helped or hindered my life? Learn to find your emotional center and to live from it and to know when it is in balance and out of balance. This is quite difficult for many people. Some people will push you wanting you to explode so they can take advantage of your immature reaction. Be alert to this and deliberately react the opposite way they are pushing you. (1 Corinthians 4:12) For instance when they revile you greet them with a blessing. (1 Peter 2:23 NKJV) who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
4. Remember that when you react rightly to unjust treatment that “great is your reward in heaven”. So rejoice and give yourself a pat on the back when you keep your cool. Positive reinforcement for good behavior. (Matthew 5:11) Do not return evil for evil. (Romans 12:17) Keep a lid on your desire to retaliate. Leave retaliation to the Lord. (Romans 12:19) If we return a blessing instead we will inherit blessing. . (1 Peter 3:9). If people rip you off and insult you don’t escalate it into a life or death struggle over honor and pride. This is what Jesus means when He says “do not resist him who is evil”. (He does not mean that the police should not arrest robbers!) Rather it means “don’t let the evil person push you into a full-scale, adrenalin packed, fight or flight response”. Deny the natural man’s urge to strike back. If he slaps you, turn the other cheek, if he takes your cloak, let him, if he makes you walk a mile, go two. If he says “give me money” let him have some. (Matthew 5:38-42). Deny your reactivity and show you are made of different stuff
5. Don’t let unkind, ungrateful, stingy, mean or small-minded people get to you. God is merciful to the unkind and ungrateful and we have a great reward in heaven when we do likewise. (Luke 6:35) Brush their meanness to one side without taking it too personally and treat them as well as you can with reasonable safety (because some are quite toxic). Do not get your ego hooked into the game of “Christian comparisons”, my church is bigger than your church etc. This only leads to fuming and fighting. Do not let theology push you into fight or flight mode. Only debate under circumstances that are harmless to the hearers (such as with good friends in the ministry) unless of course there is an urgent apologetic reason. Even then your speech should be seasoned with salt.
Practical Techniques - 6 Learn correct responses by modeling mature Christians and by studying the heroes of the faith. Make a personal commitment to grow in this area. Have some friends keep you accountable for your reactions and encourage you to maturity. Enjoy the feeling of grace rather than the feeling of explosive emotional power.
Flight – Into Agoraphobia
Life circumstances cause the person to reach, at some point in their life, a point of nervous exhaustion in which fear that already exists cannot be suppressed or controlled by the will and during which new fears can be easily implanted. Strange frightening thoughts then appear in a tired mind. The person worries about these thoughts. This further activates the fight or flight response and exhausts the person and so they have even less energy to control their fears with. More fears then surface, the person then worries, and so on in a vicious circle. The strange thoughts in the tired mind eventually reach such an intensity that they lead the person to the threshold of panic. A small incident then triggers a full-scale panic attack, which, if this spiral continues, may become the first of many.
Disengaging From Your Fears
Mastering such fear means moving away from the fight or flight response. Instead of trying to fight the fears or run away from them they are just accepted. This position of not fighting and not running away disengages the fight or flight response, lowers the adrenalin levels and helps the person think. They are encouraged to go slowly because the need to “hurry” or take action activates the fight or flight response. They are encouraged to rest, eat properly and recover strength and get over their prior depletion. This enables then to get some perspective on their fears.
Floating Through…
The only way to deal with fear is going through. “Even jelly legs will get you there”. Of great importance is “floating through” difficult experiences. The problem with fearful people is they engage life too tightly. When you grab life too tightly it bounces you round and you end up either struggling with it or fleeing from it. A bit of detachment can lead to peace of mind. “Floating through” can help people survive normally traumatic experiences such as shopping in a large mall. The person floats through the shop door, floats around the store, floats up to the counter, floats out the money and pays for the goods and floats out again. The person is slightly detached but not dissociated from reality and is able to do the task that was impossible before.
Four Key Concepts
1. Face, do not run away.
2. Accept, do not fight
3. Float, do not tense.
4. Let time pass – do not be impatient with time.
Reacting To Spiritual Experiences
Powerful spiritual experiences often invoke the fight or flight response. We need to face them, not run away from them We need to accept them calmly – and evaluate them wisely. We should quietly move through them and not become threatened and aggressive. We should let time pass, weigh them up carefully, and not rush around in response.
An Intimidating Workload
Face the workload, don’t run from it. Simply accept that it has to be done, don’t see it as a threat. Make a list, put it in order of priority and float through it one task at a time. Don’t tense up and become hurried and nervy. Let time pass. Stop watching the clock, if you are working efficiently and doing the jobs in order of priority then time is not the problem.
Solution-Focused Thinking
Focus on finding the solution rather than analyzing the problem. When we focus on the problem we end up blaming, analyzing, and often activate the fight or flight response. When we focus on the solution we use our creativity and our sense of mastery and become constructive people. Paul Problema gets a flat tire, finds the nail, analyzes the nail, works out how the nail got on the road, is still stuck there two weeks later fuming in anger and crusading about nails on roads. Sam Solution gets a flat tire, gets the jack, takes off the wheel, puts on the spare and is driving home ten minutes later. Watches Paul Problema’s campaign on TV and laughs.
Solution Focused Thinking In Action
Just find a solution. Don’t ask why the stream is flooding or sit around analyzing the water quality – just find the bridge and walk across. Avoid the paralysis of analysis. Don’t see problems everywhere. Learn to see solutions everywhere. Big problems sometimes have really simple solutions. If you do what you have always done you will get what you have always got. Ask what is working and do more of it. If it’s not working stop doing it. Don’t fix the blame – fix the problem.
Jesus & Solutions
Jesus had an amazingly solution-focused approach to life. In the gospels Jesus says “nothing is impossible with God” or “all things are possible with God” a total of nine times. Jesus finds solutions for blind people, lepers, demon-possessed Legion, Lazarus in the grave, five thousand hungry listeners and a boat full of disciples on a stormy sea. Whatever the problem there was always a solution and the solution always gave glory to God. The faith of Jesus searched for, found and activated solutions.
Summary
We are to move away from the visceral and self-defeating reactions of the fight or flight response to the noble, practical, solution-focused and faith-filled responses of the sanctified believer. Mastery is the balanced command of our consciousness in every situation so that we act according to the will of God. The instrument for doing this is the mind. The mind is the only part of our consciousness that we can focus and deploy. We can use it to stop automatic responses and to master our emotions. We can focus the mind on God and things above and be connected to His eternal power. We can use the mind to give us poise and power when we face our fears. We can search for positive faith-filled solutions to pressing needs so as to give glory to God. Mastery can be practiced and is greatly assisted by solution-focused thinking.
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