Lose the Stress....

....gain a relaxed spirit.

Wow!, I just flunked this chapter in Arterburn's (2007) book. He asks five questions that relate to the level of stress in our lives:

1. Do you have effective ways of relaxing?
2. Do you regularly exercise?
3. How sensibly do you eat?
4. How well do you manage your time?
5. Are you getting enough sleep?

How do you stack up to these questions?

Arterburn (2007) states:

You'd have to be living on another planet not to know that stress affects your body in negative ways. Because stress is something we all experience, we all need to learn effective ways to manage or reduce it..... Are there habits and pratices you could change today that would make you feel better? The answer is probably yes.

Since the name of this blog is "authentic, striving to be real", I am not even going to begin to suggest that I have this area of my life under control. However, that should not stop us from taking a serious look at the five questions that Arterburn places before his readers. I think I know what I need to do in this area....I am going to take one of the questions that I feel will have the greatest impact and seek to live it out.

Will you consider doing the same?

Lose the Emotional Confusion.... (PART 3)

....gain the clarity of peace.

Another state of emotion that Arterburn (2007) highlights is rejection. Rejection so often is one of the more painful states since it typically involves someone very close. It takes many forms and even after the shock of rejection wanes, it can leave some very stubborn and nasty lies in its wake. Arterburn touches on this concept when he states:

You see, the enemy used emotional pain to implant lies--that no one will want or love you; that people will only hurt you; that if only you were better...all lies!

I don't fully understand why rejection seems to cut to the very core of our being, but Arterburn does remind his readers of the following:

The truth is that there is someone who is completely trustworthy and who will never reject you. Your acceptance has nothing to do with your actions or your appearance. Jesus unconditionally loves you because you are His. He identifies with your pain. According to Isaiah 53, Christ was despised, rejected, and a man of sorrow. Because of His great love for you, He suffered the pain of rejection and crucified it once for all on the cross.

Bottom-line, rejection has the potential of carrying emotional confusion. To begin cutting through the confusion, realize that even Jesus was rejected.

Lord, rejection hurts deeply. Help me to fully understand that even you experienced rejection. Expose the stubborn lies that are seeking to embed in my thought life due to the rejection. Fill me with your peace.

Lose the Emotional Confusion.... (PART 2)

....gain the clarity to peace.

Be sure to look back at the previous post for greater understanding of this one. While Arterburn (2007) hightlights many emotional states, I would like to focus attention on two that easily entrap many folks: inadequacy and insecurity. Crassly stated, inadequacy tells us that we really don't measure up and insecurity reminds us of our many vulnerabilities.

Arterburn states:

You are inadequate because you are human. [....] If you start to look at your emotions and find that inadequacy is at the top of the list, give up on trying to feel better about yourself and start focusing on feeling better about God. Look at what God has done through you. Look at what God has allowed to happen in your life even though you did not have it all together or have all that others had.

I am going to take the liberty of paraphrasing (maybe, embellishing) Arterburn on the matter of inadequacy; here it goes:

If you have bought the deception that you have to be darn near perfect for God to ever use you, give it up.....you will never be good enough. Remember, we are human. But get this-- God would like to use us anyway, even with all of our imperfections. I know, it makes no sense that God wants to use me or you to build His kingdom, but that's just the way it is. Maybe you and I should worry less about measuring up and just start looking for what God may simply want to do through us.

Regarding insecurity, Arterburn states:

The only place you are truly secure is in your relationship with God. A multitude of scriptures speak to who we are in Christ-- we are loved, forgiven, saved by grace through faith, joint heirs with Christ, blessed with all spirtual blessings, sons and daughters of God, complete in Him, and so much more.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God make us his chosen people. He put his mark on us to show that we are his, and he put his Spirit in our hearts to be a guarantee for all he has promised (NCV)

Here goes another Fox paraphrase:

You really think anything in this world is going to provide lasting security? I can tell you right now, the only real security in this world is in our relationship with God. It's your choice....you can either base your security on your feelings or on what God's Word says. I'm choosing His Word!

Lord, when those feelings of inadequacy and insecurity rise in my spirit, help me to apply your Word to my life.

Lose the Emotional Confusion....

....gain the clarity of peace.

"Clarity" is such a great word; and "clarity of peace" is even better.

Take just a moment and try to define the two phrases, "emotional confusion" and "clarity of peace." Can you see yourself in either of the two phrases or even in both? Do you prefer one over the other? Seriously.

You may be thinking, who would prefer "emotional confusion" over "clarity of peace." Plenty of folks. Just look around....you and I both know miserable people.

Anyhow, Arterburn (2007) states:

Our emotions are very much part of who we are and how we perceive the world, but all too often we give our emotions too much control in our lives. We need to get better understanding of them, so we can manage them in better accordance with God's will.

Arterburn then follows this statement with some of the main emotional states that cause us trouble. So, for the next few days, I will be making my way through these emotional states and maybe you and I will pick up a few pointers so that we will be able to see more clearly.

Lose the Negative Thoughts....

....gain a renewed mind.

Arterburn (2007) states:

Renewing the mind is different from positive thinking in that truth must be experienced from the One who is truth. [....] Although we are saved and our spirits are made new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), our minds are still in need of renewal. Yet we cannot be free of the lies and distorted thinking on our own power. A renewed mind comes as we receive truth from Christ and deeply plant His Word in our hearts.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are told to take our thoughts captive: "We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ" (MSG).

How do we live this out within the context of the continual onslaught of negative thinking at every turn these days? Just as soon as we wake up in the morning, it begins. Walk into any institution and negative thinking has won the day. So what can we do?

Well, the easiest way to lose negative thinking is to ditch the source. Actively move away from folks who are clouded with negativity. But, what if the negative thinking is from within?

I like Arterburn's idea of treating any negative thinking like spam mail on a computer. He states that "the thoughts just show up and keep on coming. As with email, the trick is not to click on the thoughts to open them. Instead, delete them instantly and avoid giving negative thoughts a foothold in your mind, because they are messengers of Satan, not God."

Lose the Unhealthy Self-Image.... (PART 2)

....gain a mental makeover.

Arterburn (2007) states:

Thoughts lead to feelings. Feelings lead to actions. Actions influence our perceptions, which then influence our thoughts. It's a vicious cycle. What we think affects how we feel, which affects how we respond. Thus, many negative feelings can be avoided by changing the thought that prompts the feeling. If, for example, I feel sad because I purposely think, "nobody cares about me," I can change my sad feelings by changing the thought to a more positive and realistic one- "God cares about me even when others don't." Because this thought is reassuring and doesn't make me feel sad, I'm unlikely to respond in a negative way.

We must RISE to a new level of thinking.

*Reduce negative thoughts and self-degrading statements.
*Increase our awareness of God and our esteem and acceptance of the bodies were were given.
*Substitute positive thoughts for negative ones.
*Eliminate errors and lies from our thinking.

Here's the deal- feelings don't lie....they are consistently aligned with some thought (barring chemical imbalances or major life traumas/circumstances). In other words, thoughts come first, and then feelings follow. While I am no psychologist, I do think that too often we are swayed and blown off course by our feelings. Arterburn's "mental makeover" then seeks to implant the ideas that we should be very mindful of the negative thinking, be aware of God's thoughts concerning us, proactively engage in more positive thinking and actively combat errors and lies in our thinking patterns.

This is good, but needs to be stronger.

Take every feeling captive that is harming us.
Understand the "thought" that is fueling the feeling.
Re-align the thought based upon God's Word.
Determine to believe and speak God's truth over the enemy's lies.

If you are tracking the acronyms....Arterburn's RISE sounds much better than my TURD. But, hopefully, mine put a smile on your face and maybe you might be inclined to activate a TURD whenever you are experiencing stinkin' thinkin'.

Lose the Unhealthy Self-Image.... (PART 1)

....gain a mental makeover.

Arterburn (2007) states:

If you struggle with negative self-image, the solution is surgery within the heart.

One important step in the process is the renewing of the mind, or changing how you view yourself, God, and others. To start, let us address these three key areas.

Body Image
In Genesis 1:26-27, God explains that we are made in His image and reflect His likeness. He declared His created design "good,".... However, we do make mistakes when we don't take care of our bodies. Eating too much food and getting too little exercise are actually abuses against the human body that are a direct result of the human will. Our bodies are not our enemies, our wills are.

Identity
Our acceptance, security, and significance are to be found in Christ. If we look to any other source for our true identity, we'll be disappointed by the result. The root of all image problems is related to identity. Our identities must be fully secure in Christ. We belong to Him, and we must not allow ourselves to be defined otherwise.

Worth
God's love for us has nothing to do with appearances or weight. We are His beloved, and we are valued and esteemed because of Him, not because of the way we look. He looks at our hearts and wants to capture them. We were bought with a price: the precious blood of the Lamb. Value is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it. Christ obviously values each of us a great deal in that He gave His life for us.

God's Word makes it very clear that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Consequently, the renewing of our minds has to focus on truth. God's Word is the greatest source of truth and so it stands that we must take on God's view of our identity and worth.

Lord, help me to internalize the truth that the source of my identity is in you. Show me other sources of identity that I have relied upon. Guide me in speaking your truth into my mind.