It’s so funny because every time I write another post for this series, I’m convinced it will be the last, yet, here we are again. 🙂 I love this topic and feel like I could talk about it forever, but since this blog isn’t called “The Lies we Believe“, I won’t (maybe I’ll write a book about it someday instead).
I have learned so much while writing this series and, as I mentioned before, I feel like God has removed a veil that’s been over my eyes. I honestly didn’t think my mind could be blown anymore, by God on this topic, until I started reading the book Switch on Your Brain, by Dr. Caroline Leaf.
Have you heard of this book? A friend told me about it and it’s seriously amazing! Every page I feel like I want to post something on social media, shout what she’s saying from the rooftops and/or sing the praises of the Lord because I am so in awe of Him. Don’t tune me out, I haven’t lost it, the book is just that good.
Dr. Caroline Leaf is a “communication pathologist who has worked in the area of cognitive neuroscience” since almost as long as I’ve been alive and what she does in this book is proof, through science, what God tells us in the Bible.
...be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ephesians 4:23-24 (NASB)
I have said over and over again in this series, that listening to the voice of the enemy, and not knowing the truth of who we are is killing us. In her book she points out that “many of us walk through life as though we are victims of the events and circumstances of life and biology or whomever we can think of to blame” but ultimately we get to choose what we believe. And believe it or not when you choose to “engage a toxic thought (for example, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc.) – we change [our] DNA, which changes the shape of our brain wiring in a negative direction.”
Isn’t that crazy!? When we choose to listen to the toxic voice of the enemy we are actually changing the shape of our brain in a negative way, which leads to stress, heartache, health problems and countless other things.
God designed humans to observe our own thoughts, catch those that are bad, and get rid of them. The importance of capturing those thoughts cannot be underestimated because research shows that the vast majority of mental and physical illness comes from our thought life rather than the environment and genes.” – Dr. Leaf
You guys, we cannot afford to keep believing the lies, it’s not who we were created to be, and because it’s not God’s design for us, when we hold tightly to those things that aren’t truth, or resist the truth all together, we suffer the consequences in so many areas of our lives!
It’s just not worth it!
When we can discipline ourselves to only hear the voice of truth, and take captive all the lies of the enemy (1 Cor 10:5), we will be walking toward true freedom, setting ourselves free of the world’s burdens. We will actually enjoy life, grab hold of our freedom and effortlessly hand those burdens over to the Lord because we know they’re not ours to carry.
When was the last time you actually felt free? When was the last time you felt like you were actually enjoying this life? That is how you were meant to feel, that is who God created you to be!
God created you for love – to feel loved, to know love, to walk in love. Unfortunately the enemy knows that if you walk in who you were created to be, then he can’t accomplish the destruction that he wants to establish on earth; so he instills lies, fear, doubts, anxiety, and all those other yucky things we hold onto.
[But] we are made in God’s image (Gen 1:26) and have the ‘mind of Christ’ (1 Cor 2:16), [so] our normal state is one of perfection. Science is now able to demonstrate that ‘we are wired for love,’ and fear, which incorporates anything toxic, is therefore not our norm.” – Dr. Leaf
Fear and toxic thoughts are not meant to be normal for us!
My number one reason for wanting to write this post, and share this book with you, is because it’s so important to know that all the things we think are “normal” are not! They are not who we were meant to be. The truth I’ve been talking about for the last few weeks, taking back your Christ-given authority and placing blame back on the enemy – even though those things don’t “feel” normal, that is what’s normal!
Those things don’t “feel” normal right now, because you haven’t been walking in them, but they will become your new norm, once you begin to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” (1 Cor 10:5, NIV). Once you start doing that “you in effect direct your attention to stop the negative impact and rewire healthy new circuits into your brain.” (Dr. Leaf)
And once those new “wires” have been set up in your brain, it will become easier and easier to recognize the lies, the “toxic thoughts” and differentiate them from the truth. It will also be easier to live out a Romans 12:2 life,
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (NIV)
Pursue truth, pursue love, these things are not scary, they are not out of reach, they are WHO YOU WERE MEANT TO BE!
P.S. If you want to purchase the book, you can find it on Amazon.
