The Mind: Our Most Powerful Tool

By Jeff Fry based on "If you want to walk on water …" by John Ortberg

Rumored notes from hospital charts (probably written by some sleepy intern or frazzled nurse):

• The patient refused autopsy.

• Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

• Note: Patient recovering from forehead cut. Patient became very angry when given an enema by mistake.

• Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

• On the second day, the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.

• The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.

• The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

• She is numb from her toes down.

• While in ER, she was examined, x-rated, and sent home.

• The skin was moist and dry.

• Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.

• Patient was alert and unresponsive.

• Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.

• She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.

• I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.

• The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

• Skin: Somewhat pale but present.

• Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

Thesis: We must constantly focus our minds on Jesus to draw on the power of Jesus.

I.       Intro

A.   I don't like heights.  Anybody else like that?  Can you remember a time in your life when you were high up and fearful?

B.   I remember two distinct times in my life when it was necessary to focus my mind in order to overcome my fear of heights.

1.     One was when I was about 22 years old and I went repelling for the first time in my life.  As many of you know repelling involves walking over a cliff backwards while being tied to a sturdy rope which is holding all your weight.  As soon as I looked down the face of the cliff and saw the long drop down to the bottom fear grabbed me so that I couldn't move.    

2.     The other time was when I was climbing the stairs of the old John the Baptist cathedral in Poland.  This cathedral has a spiral staircase consisting of about 400 steps you have to traverse until you get to the top.  As soon as I looked down the spiral my stomach felt a little nauseas and my body felt weak with fear.

3.     The mind is a powerful thing.

C.   Why are we so weak spiritually?  Why are we so fleshly?  Because we don't take control of our mind and give it to God to redeem.

D.   The Bible teaches us that ever since Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, every person who came into the world from that point on inherited some of Adam's sin.  If you read Genesis carefully one interesting thing to notice is that before Adam sinned and disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, there was no indication of fearful thoughts or shameful thoughts in Adam.  Yet immediately after Adam sinned the Bible records that Adam was afraid. 

1.     Genesis 3:6ff " she took some [of the fruit] and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it…[then soon afterward it says]  …. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" ¹⁰ He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

2.     Fear had entered the picture with sin.  Sin has now tainted the human mind with fear.  And now we need to renew our minds to rid us of the effects of sin on it.

a)    Do you want to know what the basic message of the Bible is?

(1)    This is the message of the Bible - that sinful, tainted, corrupted man can be regenerated, renewed, remade again by Christ if he/she  humbly opens himself to Christ and allows Christ's spirit to come into his life and take up residence thus meaning that the man will submit to Christ's goodness and plan for him. 

E.   In other words without Christ we are left in our sin-tainted state, effected by the side-effects of sin such as fear, shame, guilt, discouragement, depression, inadequacy, low self-worth, deceit, criticalness, impatience, revenge, meanness, selfishness, pessimism, restlessness, and lack of belief and trust in God. 

F.     Without trusting in  and submitting oneself to Christ there is little hope in overcoming these negative emotions and having victory over them. 

G.  And so today I would like to say …

II.    We must constantly focus our minds on Jesus to experience the power of Jesus

A.   State

1.     Over the last thirty years or so the most dominant movement in American psychology is what is known as cognitive psychology - built around the truth that the way you think is the single most determinative thing about you:

a)    The way you think creates your attitudes;

b)    the way you think shapes your emotions;

c)     the way you think governs your behaviour;

d)    the way you think deeply influences your immune system and vulnerability to illness. 

e)     Everything about you flows out of the way you think.

2.     The Bible says the same thing:

a)    In the book of Romans 12:2 it says," Do not conform any longer 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.

b)    Not only does this verse command us to renew our minds, but it says that only then when your mind is renewed will you have the ability to discern God's will.

(1)  The price you pay for focusing your mind on garbage is lack of discernment leading to

(a)    Wrong decisions

(b)   Lack of guidance

(c)    Among others

(2)  When I was studying computer science at university we had a saying "Garbage In Garbage Out".  If the data you put into the computer was garbage (no good) then your results would also be garbage.

c)     The Bible, being God's truth, is a good source to focus your mind on.

(1)  Psalm 1:2 says, "  But his delight [ie. the delight of the blessed man] is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."

d)    1 Thess. 5:17  "pray continually"  Prayer is "talking with god" and involves setting your mind on God while you talk with Him.

3.     Yet, amazingly enough we do very little to monitor what goes into our mind.  How much do you monitor what you read, what you watch on tele, what sort of films you watch?

a)    Our tv is full of violence, crime, hate, murder and other forms of graphic violence. 

b)    If that isn't bad enough think about our films.  They are loaded with the same material.  Even worse many of them have scenes of illicit sex.

c)     Then we wonder why two teenagers walk into their high school in Littleton Colorado one day carrying trench coats lined with guns and firearms and open fire on their classmates and teachers killing 13 of them.  Or more recently why a young university student at Virginia Tech does a similar thing and kills 33 fellow students and then takes his own life.

d)    We fail to realize that where we focus our mind makes a difference.

4.     What we need to do is harness the power of our mind for the good.

5.     Let's look at one man who sought to do exactly that.

B.   Illustrate

1.     Frank Laubach devoted his whole life to learning to focus on Jesus.  He was a sociologist, educator, and missionary to the Philippines in the early twentieth century whose career fell apart when he was in his forties.  He lost the vocational opportunity he most desired.  His plans for the Maranao people of the Philippines were utterly rejected.  He and his wife lost three children to malaria, so she took their remaining child and moved a thousand miles away leaving him desparately lonely.  In his despair Laubach heard from God.  God said,

a)    "My child … you have failed because you do not really love these Maranaos.  You feel superior to them because you are white.  If you forget you are an American and think only how I love them, they will respond.

b)    We are all ministers like Frank Laubach with our own Maranaos people to reach - ie. those who live around us.  And do you want a foolproof way to reach them - love them like Christ loves them.  And they will respond.

2.     Laubach's response was, "Drive me out of myself and come and take possession of me and think your thoughts in my mind".   Laubach devoted the rest of his life to seeking to live each moment in conscious awareness of God's presence and carrying on a rich friendship with him.  The Maranaos noticed the change in Frank Laubach and eventually Laubach won the Maranaos to Christ. 

C.   Apply

1.     Some of Laubach's practices which have been helpful in my own life are:

a)    To continually set my mind on Christ throughout the day.  Laubach set as his goal to set his mind on Christ, to remind himself that he is Christ's , every minute of the day even if for only a second during that minute.

b)    In a social setting whisper "God" or "Jesus" quietly as you glance at each person near you.  Practice "double vision" as Christ does - see the person as he/she is and the person as Christ wants him to be.

c)     I try to set my mind on God as my head hits the pillow each night thinking about my day and how God was evident in it - when did I sense God's presence today the most?

2.     Some things I want to learn from Laubach which I haven't yet been able to apply are:

a)    To wake up with Christ each day.  To set my mind on Him as I awake.  You can tell I'm not a morning person!  Lauback suggests putting a picture of Christ somewhere where you will see it in the morning when you wake up.  Let your eyes fix on it in the morning and wake up focused on Jesus.  Take a few minutes before you get out of bed to "wake up with Jesus".  Maybe thank Him for the day, pray to Him for anything you have coming up that day that needs prayer, etc..

b)    At mealtime have an extra chair to remind you of Him and his presence with you.  As you see it, touch it , remember his words to you, "Lo I am with you always …" (Matthew 28:20)

c)     While reading a book or a magazine read it to him!  "Have you ever opened a letter [or more likely clicked on e-mail these days] and read it with Jesus, realizing that he smiles with us at the fun, rejoices with us in the successes, and weeps with us in the tragedies?  If not you have missed one of life's sweetest experiences."

III.  Conclusion

A.   When Sarah and I were visiting Germany for a friend's wedding we stopped to visit Wittenberg, Germany where the reformation of the church started.  One of the key principles of the reformation was a return to the person of Christ.  Instead of focusing on all the man-made rules and regulations in the church in the middle Ages, the reformation pointed people to Christ.

B.   Martin Luther, one of the leaders of the reformation, pointed the people back to Christ and away from the falsehood of idols, relics, and manmade solutions for the washing away of sin.

C.   I picked up a postcard of  a famous painting made in 1547 of Luther preaching at the city church in Wittenberg during the reformation. 

1.     Notice he has the Bible in front of him

2.     Notice also that he is pointing to Christ

3.     Notice the people there in front of him as he preaches

4.     Notice also that he is pointing to Christ on the cross.

a)    The reformers called this the "cross-work" of Christ. 

b)    As this painting depicts, Luther's preaching pointed the people to Christ - nothing more and nothing less.

D.   What a great reminder this is for us as we go into the summer - to set our minds constantly on Christ.

1.     Did you know that Christ is present from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation. 

a)    And all in between these two chapters the Bible is pointing toward Christ, our saviour.

For questions, comments or further discussion contact:

Rev Jeff Fry
Darwin Park Community Church
jeff@darwin-park-community-church.org.uk