The battle for your mind

2 Cor. 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

There is a full on battle for your mind being waged everyday of your life. Images, suggestions, voices, music, TV, movies, etc. Much of this designed to implant Satan's lies in your mind. If he can get you to believe lies he can hold you hostage.

Strongholds are areas of thinking not based on truth but lies. Instead of protecting us, they actually imprison us. Unless we renew our mind, we risk continuing to believe those lies and making important decisions based on deception.

Truth is your weapon. Saturation of your mind in God's word is the key that unlocks the various prison cells cunningly designed by Satan. Expose yourself as much as possible to God's word. Read it. Hear it taught. Obey it. Then you will be free.

John 8:31-32 (NLT) 31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Hostage Part 5-"LIES" this weekend @ NCC

Liar

Satan is the Father of lies. When he speaks, he speaks out of who he is. The Great Deceiver-The one who deceives the whole world. This is how the Bible describes him. Because of Jesus' victory over him at the resurrection, his only power now is the lie and he is a master of it. He has lied from the very beginning and continues today.

Many are literally held hostage to his lies. They believe what is not true and live in a prison of deception. They lose thier identity. They lose thier loved ones. They lose thier hope. Simply because they believe what is not true.

This happened in the Garden of Eden where they "exchanged the truth of God for the lie". The lie is that you can live your life independant of God.

Odds are that even right now you are believing some lie that is holding you back from who know you were meant to be. That is what Satan does he lies and he is good at it.

John 14:6 (NLT) Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

read more http://newcommchurch.blogspot.com/

I wish I were him...

I just watched my son fall asleep. I love doing this. So peaceful. So carefree. His biggest concern? Is Mommy coming home soon? The only person who has it better...my cat. Sam knows I am going to take care of him. He does not worry. Why? He is convinced I love him.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

Outline from my weekend message

Hostage 4 “ANGER”

ARE YOU GIVING THE DEVIL A PLACE?

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26-27

topos (top'-os); opportunity, location, place, room.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:6-7

WRONG WAYS WE HANDLE ANGER

1) SPEW IT.
A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
Proverbs 29:11

A quick-tempered man does foolish things. Proverbs 14:17

2) STEW IT.
The older brother became angry and refused to go in… Luke 15:28

WHAT DO I DO ABOUT MY ANGER?

LET LOVE CONTROL IT.
Love… is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Cor. 13:5

REFUSE TO HAVE FIGHTS.
Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. Proverbs 17:14

… Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20

ASK GOD TO FILL YOU WITH SELF-CONROL.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. [24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:22-24

WITH GOD’S HELPI CAN CHOOSE TO CONTROL MY ANGER

Love controlled anger

Love is self-control and a good temper. Having self-control and a good temper is easier said than done, especially for those individuals who are more prone to irritability for various reasons. Even so, have a temper that is either good or bad is ALWAYS a matter of choice. We can all learn to gain greater control over our tempers and how we react under pressure. Irritations will never cease, nor does our love need to when they come.

Reflection:
What makes me most irritable?
What do I do when I am under more pressure than I feel I can handle?
How do I treat others when I am irritated? Do I get mad when things don't go my way?
Do I have to have the last word? Why?
On a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being severe and 0 being nonexistent, how would I rate my temper?
How would those closest to me rate my temper?

Review the previous blog of how self-control communicates love. Which one(s) do I do often? Which one(s) do I need more work on?

I can accept responsibility for my temper and exercise self-control. I do not need to feel Hostage to a bad temper.

Anger

This week in our Hostage series we look at how Anger can imprison us. Many say anger is just love disappointed. There is good anger and bad anger. For the next several days I will share thoughts on this subject. How you handle your anger is of utmost importance. An uncontrolled outburst of anger can completely alter or even totally destroy someone's life.

Some become easily angered at others, sometimes at the slightest provocation. We might even become hostile and behave in ways we will later regret. Gaining control over our thoughts, feelings and actions when irritated and angry is the best way to keep from acting out in unloving ways.

Controlling our anger is an expression of love. Love is not easily angered. Love can be seen whenever we:

• Take responsibility for our reactions to others


• Do not accuse or blame others for the way we feel


• Treat others graciously although they irritate us


• Keep from saying something hurtful and unnecessary


• Do not take our anger out on those around us


• Think before we speak


• Allow ourselves a time-out to gather ourselves together


• Do not expect more from others than we should

All human failures are the result of a lack of love.~Alfred Adler
We may not be able to control stressors and pressures in our lives, but how we respond to them is up to us.

Enjoying the holiday after a wildly succesful men's retreat

About 75 men went to Zion, Utah this weekend for the "Warrior" men's gathering. Men strengthened existing alliances and made new ones. The gained a hightened awareness of the ultimate battle for the hearts and souls of men. They made key choices about how they will be engaging that battle. I am encouraged today concerning our men. Pray for them as we plan to continue challenging them in the days and weeks ahead.

Ironman metting 6:30pm this Wednesday.

Warrior Men's Retreat

Meet @ NCC Building Fri. @ 5PM
& Return Sun 11:30AM

$80 per man (Age 16 & up)


Activities: Gun Range, ATV's, horseback riding, Repelling, video games, card tournament, gun range, IMAX theater, and more.

This weekend Men will be challenged to Engage the Ultimate Battle for the hearts and souls of men. They will be inspired to develop courage to lead others & they will experience the revolutionary Spirit that sets the world ablaze! AND we spend all day Saturday playing too!

Registered men should be at NCC building @ 5:00 pm sharp on Friday ready to have a blast!

Not registered? Call my assistant today-688-1990

We Lodge @ Best Western Zion Inn
1215 Zion Park Blvd.
Springdale, UT 84767

Dance to the time warp again

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself... Matthew 6:34

Most people do not live in the now. Today is missed. Many either live in regret of things yesterday or live in anxiety about things tomorrow thus today is missed and simply becomes another day regreted.

When we worry, we use our imagination to create a negative future in our mind. We predict a bad tomorrow. Often our worry takes part in making the "imagined" bad tomorrow a reality. We tend to move toward our dominant thought. Worry can be a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is much better to focus on living today in a healthy and productive way. Today is a good day. It has many good possibilities. Take advantage of the moments to love and know the people around you. If you must allow your thoughts to drift to tomorrow, then imagine it being a good one. I think I'm going to go tickle my son now.

Imagine

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Do you meditate? If you worry you do. Worry is simply negative meditation. It is using the power of the mind-the power of imagination to run scenarios where bad things happen.

For the believer, worry is the sin of taking the most powerful gift God has ever given anyone-thier own mind, and using it to dispute His promises and negate His character. It is unbelief.

Why not use the gift of imagination to picture God coming through for you. Why not envision Him being a loving, caring, Father who makes promises and keeps them. He invites me to trust Him and experience His faithfulness. Imagine that.

NCC Men's Retreat Jan. 16-17

Final Men's Promo 300 from Katie Shipp on Vimeo.

Hostage week 2-Worry

4 Reasons Not to Worry

What Does the Bible Say About Worry?

1. Worrying Accomplishes Absolutely Nothing.
Worrying won't help you solve a problem or bring about a solution, so why waste your time and energy on it?

Matthew 6:27-29 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

2. Worrying is Not Good for You.
Worrying is destructive to us in many ways. It becomes a mental burden that causes us to grow physically sick as well as age faster.

Proverbs 12:25 Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

3. Worrying reveals I am not trusting God.

Here's a little formula to remember: Worry replaced by Prayer equals Trust.

Matthew 6:30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

4. Worrying Puts Your Focus in the Wrong Direction.

Even in the difficult times, when it seems like God doesn't care, we can choose to focus our trust toward the Lord and on his kingdom.

Philippians 4:6-7 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Breaking free from Bitter thought life

Over the weekend I spoke of the work of Dr. Leaf in the area of thought anatomy. Here is an excerpt from her website drleaf.net

The process of "bringing all thoughts into captivity"

There are four simple techniques involved:

1. Understanding that thoughts are real and have an actual anatomy

Thoughts are real things: they have a structure in your brain and occupy space. Thoughts are the same as memories. Thoughts and memories look like trees and are called neurons or nerve cells. You build a double memory of everything as a mirror image of each other. This means that the memory on the left side of the brain builds from the detail to the big picture; and the memory on the right side builds from the big picture to the detail. When you put these two perspectives of thought together, you get intelligent understanding taking place. As information comes in from the five senses, you process it in certain structures of your brain, then you grow branches on the "trees" to hold this information in long term memory. In fact, as you reading this, you are growing thoughts, because, thoughts are the result of what we hear and read and see and feel and experience. This means that whatever you grow is part of you, actual branches in your brain that create your attitude and influence your decisions.

2. Increasing conscious awareness of your thoughts and how you are feeling.

Knowledge of the anatomy of thought naturally leads into the process of actively analysing incoming information and thoughts constantly. You should never let a thought or thoughts roam chaotically and unchecked through your head. Examine every thought you have and ask yourself: is this good for me? Is it from God or the devil or my own confused thinking? Conscious awareness of your thinking should become like a habit. A habit takes twenty-one days to create. Today is the first day of that twenty-one...

3. Doing something once you have analysed the thought.

So, technique two is developing a conscious awareness of what you are thinking about. Now technique three is doing something about the thought. This means making a conscious decision to actively accept the thought (if it is good for you) or reject it (if it is bad for you). This means you use your God-given ability of free will (this also has actual structural position in the brain) to do something about the thought you are consciously aware of. Thoughts have as much control as we give them.

4. Building new memories over the old.

This is the really exciting part in dealing with our thought life because, accepting or rejecting the thought is changing the neural circuitry of your brain: you brain is growing while you think ad you have control over the process. Technique four happens when the brain steps in and creates a structural representation of what you have chosen to accept (adds more branches on the tree) and converts what you have chosen to reject into hot air!

Lets see how these four techniques work if you have an unforgiveness in your memory trees towards someone:
Technique one: this unforgiveness looks like a thorn tree and will hurt you - visualize the twisted bitter thorn tree.
Technique two: be consciously aware of this thought of unforgiveness - where it comes from, how long it has been there, and so on.
Technique three: ask the Holy Spirit to help you use your free will to make the wisdom decision to reject unforgiveness and forgive. Picture the unforgiveness disappearing as hot air.
Technique four: now build a new de-thorned memory to replace the thorny unforgiveness with for example, quoting scriptures, singing a worship song, praying for the person, and so on.

Are you bound by bitterness?

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE BITTER
No one wants to admit they are bitter. Sometimes everyone else can tell but us. Let me give you another test. Let me ask you to be honest with yourself and answer a few basic questions:

Does it irritate you when people don't agree with you?
Do you think you are usually right and others are usually wrong?
Do you find yourself giving more criticisms than compliments?
Are you short with people?
Do you ask people "loaded" questions just to irritate them?
Is it difficult to talk to someone who has hurt you in the past without constantly bringing it up again?
Do your conversations tend to turn into arguments?
Do you feel disappointed, mistreated or betrayed?
Do you feel like God has let you down?
Do these kind of questions make you defensive?

This weekend @ NCC I will offer practical help to those held hostage by bitterness.