WHY DO I STILL BELIEVE THESE LIES?
From our first days of cognitive development, all the way through childhood, and into adulthood; we have encountered the trials of life. Poor communication, what is said and what is left unsaid, can cause vain imaginations, disappointment, shame, and fear. Since hurting people hurt people, these trials can come through the ignorance and woundedness of care-givers, close friends, even random people who have experienced their own share of neglect, abuse, and rejection (1 Peter 1:18, Mark 10:14, Matthew 18:6 & Mark 9:42). These trials can can be perpetuated due to a lack of knowledge, a lack of prayer and intercession, and by not pursuing the relationship with God made possible to us through the sacrificial life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus (1 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24, John 15:7). When we experience these trials, if we are not healed or grounded in God's Word and His love, our subconscious mind, which is not the moral acting part of our mind, records them as threats or rewards, telling us to hide, shut down, fight, run, or repeat. We might find ourselves running to unhealthy things perceived as good, because of how they make us temporarily and repeatedly feel. And, we might fight against good things that can help us. This makes it very easy for unseen enemies to capitalize on brokenness unless our minds are renewed, we know the truth, and live according to God's wisdom and guidance. It should come as no surprise how easily we could get mixed messages about identity and worth over time. It is just like what you saw represented in the last video: you go around all your life collecting negative beliefs about yourself and that false identity weighs us down.
Neurotheology: Where science and scripture become one.
Our subconscious mind keeps our brain looping through these negative beliefs while our unseen enemies do all they can to keep us from finding the truth. But once we slow down, and acknowledge our need for help, it is a first step to reprogramming these subconscious loops with Truth, something the Bible calls, "Renewing our mind." And there are many ways to do this: Taking this journey is a great start! Learning God's story and meditating consistently on the promises He made to us is outlined in Scripture (Romans 12:2, Philippains 4:8, Psalm 1:2, and so many more). Teasing this out with a group or a trusted friend is very helpful. And, seeking the help of an experienced like-minded counselor or therapist who can employ or share successful transformative tools is another great idea, and sometimes necessary for deeper work and lasting results, depending on the level of trauma one carries.
God has provided everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). This includes the way God made your mind and body with parts that are finely attuned to His voice and to threat. John 10:4-5 tells us that we know and recognize the voice of God and we will not follow a stranger because we are not attuned to their voice. It's like when a banking employee is trained to spot a fake bill, they do not study the fake, they study real bills. We are called to focus on God's character, displayed through Jesus. We can increase in knowing God's voice by knowing His character and ways through His written Word, the Bible; and by the practice of hearing His spoken word, and in that order (John 8:32, 10:27). Romans 10:17 tells us that faith is developed by hearing God's voice, and our hearing is developed by the Word of God: what He recorded for all mankind for all time through the Bible.
Mankind was created with standard issue parts for a continuous relationship with God. All the parts of our brain interact with the various states and parts of the mind, which neuroscience has identified as the following:
* The unconscious part/state - (not awake, comatose, dissociative, unaware, autonomic process such as breathing, heartbeat, etc. and where thoughts and memories remain when we are not thinking about them, works with the subconscious).
* The subconscious part - (like a hard-drive where survival and habit programs are learned and stored from age 0-7 almost exclusively, then beyond as other parts mature and engage, contains beliefs, habits, and coping skills, sees things literally, knows the world through the five senses, understands through positive metaphor and picture, stores long term memory, is amoral, uses the past to inform choices and reactions in the present, controls the muscular system and muscle tone).
* The conscious part/state - (being awake, alert, aware; creativity, sees and processes in abstract, sets goals & judges results, main personality, truest part of self, moral compass, self-governing, where desires and wishes are formed, stores short term memory, and connection for spirituality),
* The superconscious part - (human spirit, intuition, connection to Divinity, connected to the cells of the body, also outside the body in the surrounding field). The superconscious is a higher level of your mind that gives you creative ideas, deep insights, and intuitive understanding. It’s the part of you that produces “aha!” moments or sudden clarity when you’re not actively thinking about something - in stillness. Does that remind you of a scripture? "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Can you see how the voice of God connects to your conscious mind through the superconscious part?
Our brain is like a tuning fork broadcasting vibrational frequencies. Our thoughts are emanating from the mind outside the body and can now be detected, observed, and studied through magnetoencephalography. The energy of your consciousness is not only stored in your head, but broadcast into the surrounding Field. The Field is all around us and extends all over the created world, including the Universe. This is where energy interacts with other surrounding energy. We interact with and to other human emotions, thoughts, intentions as well as that in the unseen realm. Dark forces, known as demons (Energeia - Greek), can interact with our consciousness in this way. But the good news, shared most recently by numerous neuroscientists, is that God is literally hardwired Himself into our brain & mind. This makes Hebrews 13:5 come to life: as God promises to never leave nor forsake us. My favorite passage in Proverbs 3:5-6 also comes to mind: "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways ACKNOWLEDGE Him, and He shall direct your paths". He's there, waiting to be acknowledged. Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not know." He's not far away all. The veil between where He dwells and where we are is barely noticeable the closer you get to Him in relationship.
One neuroscientist, after his extensive research and who lays no claim to Christianity wrote, "God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief." Numerous other neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, and neurobiologists have come to similar conclusions. We were MADE: specifically designed, to connect to and be in relationship with God, and He made this possible through Jesus' atoning sacrifice for us. He did this because of the way our brain and mind changed at the time of the fall. Sure, Adam and Eve probably had a subconscious mind, but it was in complete agreement with their conscious mind, with no conflict until their hour of temptation came through interaction with the enemy in the form of the serpent. God knew this was going to happen, and He knew that part of us would need grace and healing. This fact puts flashing lights on Revelation 13:8 where Jesus is called "The lamb slain from the foundation of the world", Romans 5:8, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" and John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes on Him [his atoning work for us to be able to draw near to God] should not perish but have everlasting life." God provided help for our propensity to stumble in our way and miss the mark, and because of dark entities, accessible to our struggles, and set on our demise. Now, for all time, we not only have a mind we can attune to the Divine (as God speaks to everyone - that is how we came to know Him in the first place), but we also can have continuous access to God's Holy Spirit, send to dwell with us (to work with and through our superconscious mind) and in us once Jesus ascended back to the Father (John16:7).
To understand walking in step with God's Holy Spirit verses walking in the flesh (subconscious programs), as spoken of in Galatians 5:16, let's take a look at how the parts of our brain process. Why do we battle our "flesh" more often than not? It is a result of basic math. Think of the mind as a car. When the conscious mind is the driver it has its hands on the wheel. And when it does, it will drive us to wishes, desires, aspirations and obedience to God's voice. But, interestingly, when the conscious mind is thinking, it lets go of the wheel. Who, then, has the wheel? It is your subconscious auto pilot and it will affect and direct your biology based on the program you downloaded from your environment. So when you’re thinking, your behavior is coming from a program, and most of them are disempowering and self-sabotaging beliefs. The subconscious mind is thinking and accessing programs 95% of the time. So we are not manifesting our wishes and desires 95% of the time. If the programs you got from other people do not support you, then 95% of the time you’ll be sabotaging yourself. This is by the Apostle Paul in Romans 7: 19-25...
"For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is on longer I who do it, but sin (program survival loops & evil influence) that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being (conscious mind), but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that swells in my members (subconscious mind). Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Again, God has stationed access to Himself in the human brain and mind, and Jesus paid the price for all the times we miss the mark, (the definition of sin) due to our subconscious programming. Once we are born again (believing on Jesus' atoning sacrifice and being in relationship with Him), we no longer have to worry about the Sin problem. The price for Sin was paid, we are all forgiven, and we can be healed and renew our minds AND those who put their trust in Jesus Christ through salvation have more help by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and will spend eternity in God's presence here and now, after we die, and when Jesus Christ returns to create a new heaven and earth as one, like the Garden of Eden. For whatever did or didn't happen or exist before Genesis 1:1 (which is being debated to this day), it is where heaven and earth were one, and so it will be again.
Are you getting a clearer picture of our struggle, and the hope we have of enjoying the Mind of Christ? Wouldn't it be nice to stop worrying about where we stand and focus on renewing our mind and successfully being all we are meant to be in this life?
If you're ready to move forward, I want to invite you to connect some dots by comparing yourself to the main character of the following 24 minute short film. As you watch, imagine yourself as this main character, named Punchinello. When you're finished, proceed on with your journey.