There are no short cut’s around God’s instruction to be Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind. Ephesians 4:23 However, there are 7 ways that God provides to make the process easy, enjoyable and in many cases instant.
I provide an outline and description of each way and then through the next 7 WUPA’S I explain the details for each. Please hear me loud and clear – none of these will work unless you fully commit to doing the work yourself.
One of the fundamental flaws of any class or person
is the failure to continue working on their education,
for it is education that makes the difference between
dreams deferred and dreams realized. Dr. Freeman Hrabowski
But, education alone is not enough.
The sheer volume of information (books, quotes, methods, strategies, tactics, concepts, theories and so forth) that are readily available today is staggering. Getting educated in todays world is easy, but there is a serious problem that must be addressed by Christ’s Body of Men.
Consider this – almost all of the information available is ill conceived, illegitimate, incomplete, un-whole, un-right, anti-truth and anti-christ. Almost all of it comes out of or has it’s roots in the knowledge of good and evil. This makes an education conceived with this knowledge dangerous and deadly.
I’m actively involved with social media, facebook, twitter, google+ and so on. The sheer volume of information that moves within these 3 networks alone is mind blowing. The alarming part is the prolific amount of anti-truth or anti-christ messages that are being distributed by christian men and women. Sad, but most of what is passed on is not being filtered or proven to be the truth (Christ).
Not long ago a whole group of older christian folk (pastors, ministers and their followers), people I know and love were pushing around messages via email that were unwittingly laced with hate toward our president and certain key members of his administration. They were in a trance, held captive by anti-christ because they forgot to filter what they read and heard through Christ.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that the internet and technology is giving the masses a voice. However, if you really open your eyes and look, you can see that most people are just parroting, mimicking and modeling whoever is in their circle without putting in any work themselves to determine if what they are promoting is truth. That is why we as Christ’s Body of Men need a powerful filter to process the sheer volume of information we take in on a daily basis.
Filtering – a lens or screen that sifts out all the impurities.
Get your brain around this truth – If you squeeze, through a powerful filter, the whole of all of the information available on the planet today, there would only be one volume of information left. The Bible – God’s very cool and complete instruction book.
And if you squeezed the whole of the bible through the most powerful filter in the universe (Christ) you’d have a very small, very simple, exceedingly joyful handbook with only a few pages from which to live your life by.
So please hear me, the only filter that can sift out all the impurities is Christ!
Christ is the filter. Christ is the Truth. There is no other truth
Warning, warning, warning! It is your responsibility, not Jesus, to get yourself trained and disciplined to filter the anti-christ out of your life and world through Christ the only Truth.
That means you have to get yourself trained to look through Christ when processing the world and the millions of bits of information you take in on an hourly basis. That means you have to get yourself trained to filter the stuff said by your family, your co-workers, your pastor and every other influencer in your life. In many cases men, it means you have to choose to disconnect from certain people, from certain television shows and websites and yes from certain streams of information floating through your social networks.
And in some cases it means you need to change your church, your job, your friends and in some cases family members.
What is the lens of Christ and how do I use him as my filter?
That may be the most powerful question you’ve ever asked!
Imagine being able to see through Christ’s eyes, being able to think with his mind, being able to ask the questions that he would ask and you just used Christ as your filter.
Jesus clearly modeled what it takes to be a man’s man. He set the example for how to be his powerful body of men. He demonstrated what is required to become Whole and Complete and to Thrive.
Perhaps the most powerful filter he demonstrated was the filter of asking powerful questions. Powerful questions are like piercing light, they penetrate the dark recesses of our minds and obliterate anything that is dark or evil or un-right.
The questions you have to train and discipline yourself to ask are simple – How would Christ see this and what would his response be. You know Christ questioned everyone and everything. He was demonstrating by the questions that he asked that one of the most powerful filters we have are great questions.
Nothing distinguishes and sets a man apart greater than great questions.
When he encountered anti-christ and by the way almost everywhere he went he encountered anti-christ, his response was in almost all cases a powerful question. Powerful questions cause men to wake up, it snaps them out of their trance.
Perhaps the most powerful question of all – Does this thought or belief if acted on create Life for all, is it in the highest interest for all? (from the lowliest man to the most prestigious). If it doesn’t then you can be certain that it is not Truth (Christ) but anti-truth, anti-christ. How do I know this? Because that is who God is – everything he does is in the highest interest of all or he doesn’t do it. Remember, God is whole and complete and everything he does creates more whole and complete.
Alright there are 7 very practical and effective ways way to be renewed.
Engage in all of them and there will a quick and powerful transformation, leave some out and….
1. Get Quiet with God – It is impossible to see and to hear God, if you are always on the move. You have to get still in your mind in order to see and hear him. This was Christ’s model and #1 priority!
Remember what Jesus said: I only do what I see my father doing and I only say what I hear my father saying. He saw and he heard because he stopped and quieted his mind.
2. Get coached – You are not supposed to go it alone. Christ had God, The Disciples had Christ and the Followers had the Disciples. This is Christ’s model and 2nd priority! It is abundantly clear
that Jesus’ direct order to the disciples was that they go into the world and make other disciples or disciplined men. Your level of growth will be in direct proportion to the coach you hire to
disciple you. Hire a weak coach and you will be weak, hire a powerful coach and you will become powerful.
3. Read to Renew – this requires work because reading is an acquired skill that only becomes delightful as a result of engaging in the act of reading. The more you read, the more delightful it will become
until one day you will wake up and realize that you love to read. There is no reason in this day and age to not be highly accomplished at reading. You just need the right training.
4. Listen to Displace – Every man on this planet should have an Ipod filled with the absolute best information on the planet. Put the ipod in your pocket, put the ear buds inside your shirt and train yourself
to fill all the nooks and crannies of your day with good listening. Drive time, waiting rooms, mowing the yard, physical activities all provide space for great listening
5. Writing to Prove – The act of writing forces you to prove what you know, what you think and believe. Furthermore the act of writing is therapeutic. Writing is also an acquired skill that becomes easier and
easier with use. The more you write the easier it becomes to write.
6. Hang out to Model – Associating with high caliber people is vital to your growth and transformation. You have to purposefully surround yourself with the right people and now with technology you can be
with people without leaving the comfort of your office or home. I coach many people via Skype video and G+ Hang outs. There are no excuses anymore, hanging with top notch stellar people is easy.
7. Personal Marketing – Properly written affirmations if stated regularly will displace many of the old outdated deficient thoughts that are embedded in your subconscious. If Madison ave. can create an advertising campaign that can and does influence you to buy stuff then you can create a custom personalized campaign to do the same
Whether you like it or want to acknowledge it or not, you must stay engaged in the act of continual education or you and those around you will suffer and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.
Life is long my friends – Get Engaged in the Discipline of Renewing your Mind, Make it Your Highest Priority and Come Fully Alive, Become Whole and Complete and Thrive Now!
Tomorrows WUPA will be about how to make quiet time with God your number 1 priority.
