Let me quickly recap Part 1.
1. The process of total DNA remodel begins at
salvation. When we accept Christ as our
Savior he begins the process of Sanctification in our lives.
2. When we come to Christ we often have flawed
beliefs about God. Our spiritual foundation must be rebuilt or shored up.
We will continue to see the process God takes to totally
remodel our spiritual DNA as we follow the process a contractor takes when remodeling
an old house.
3. The next step is to remove all the faulty wiring
and plumbing. God does this in us by
transforming our minds and setting us free from the slavery of sin. Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and
customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing
the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is
good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans
6:6 “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin
might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
4.To continue, the contractor goes room by room
checking every nook and cranny to determine if there is damage that needs to be
repaired. Many times they even tear
holes in walls to check for mold or structural damage. God does this by checking every area of our
life (mind). If we allow him to he will
shine the light of the Holy Spirit into every nook and cranny to see what is
there.
I like to use the analogy of a hallway to
describe how our minds work. For men and
women alike we have rooms along the hallway of our minds that contain each facet
of our life. My hallway for instance has
rooms marked, Scott, Emma and Samuel, friends, church, ministry, extended
family, etc. In each room we keep our
attitudes, opinions, feelings, desires, and needs about each area. Ok, this is where the similarities between
men and women end.
In a man’s mind, each room has a door that
can close tightly and stay closed until it needs to be opened. For example, if a man has a fight with his
wife on the way to church, he is usually able to participate in worship, listen
to the sermon, and even go to the altar for prayer to respond to the sermon. He probably won’t think about the fight again
unless his spouse brings it up (which she probably will!) (I know there are exceptions
to this J.)
Usually the hallway of a man’s mind is
clutter free. I think this is why they
can be so logical and less emotional on the whole than women.
It is a totally different story in a woman’s
mind. We tend to leave all our doors open
at once. The stuff in our rooms usually
spills out into our hallway, leaving clutter and emotions out for us to trip
over as we go through our daily lives. Using
the example of the fight on the way to church, we can see the differences
between men and women’s hallways more clearly.
If a woman has a fight with her husband on the way to church, typically,
she will stew and think it over line by line, who said what and why. She will then find it difficult to focus on
worship and if she does enter in, she will feel like a hypocrite: 1) because
she knows her attitude toward her spouse is not right, 2) because she realizes
that she is not focusing her attention on worshiping God but on the
fight. She will probably be distracted
during the sermon and when it is over, if she goes to the altar at all, she
will be focusing her prayer on the issue from the fight not responding to the message
at all. I believe this is why most women
tend to be more emotional and less logical than men.
We've all seen a house with damaged walls, chipping
paint, mold and mildew on the shower, cracked or totally broken windows. The same holds true in our spiritual
life. Whether you are a man or woman, in
your rooms you will find damaged walls, chipped paint, broken windows, mold and
mildew (scares) from hurts, abuses, neglect, poor choices, etc. It is to these areas that the Holy Spirit, if
allowed, will gravitate. He will do one
of the following with each wound he finds:
a.
Reveal the truth to counteract the lie we've
believed about the wound. For example, many who have been abused believe it was
their fault. This is not true! It is a lie of the enemy (the father of
lies). John 8:44 “For you are the
children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does.
He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character;
for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Let’s look at the following example from scripture. 1 Samuel 19:1-5 Saul now urged his servants
and his son Jonathan to assassinate David. But Jonathan, because of his strong
affection for David, told him what his father was planning. “Tomorrow morning,”
he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields. I’ll ask my
father to go out there with me, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll tell
you everything I can find out.” The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father
about David, saying many good things about him. “The king must not sin against
his servant David,” Jonathan said. “He’s never done anything to harm you. He
has always helped you in any way he could. Have you forgotten about the time he
risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great
victory to all Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why
should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at
all!” We see here that Saul was abusive
toward David; however, David had done nothing to Saul. Remodel:
abuse is never the victim’s fault!!!!
b.
He will change our perspective on the events
surrounding the hurt. We see in this
happen clearly in the book of Job. Job 3:20-26 , “Oh, why give light to those
in misery,
and life to those who are bitter?
They long for death, and it won’t come. They search for death more
eagerly than for hidden treasure. They’re filled with joy when they finally
die,
and rejoice when they find the grave. Why is life given to those with no
future, those God has surrounded with difficulties? I cannot eat for sighing; my
groans pour out like water.
What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. I
have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.” Here we see that Job was struggling to
understand what was happening to him. He
spoke out of his hurt and confusion.
While he never blamed God for his condition, he struggled to know how to
react.
We
then read the end of the story as God changes Job’s perspective. Job 42:1-6, Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything, and no one
can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such
ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things
far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some
questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you
before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I
said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.“ Remodel: sometimes it is necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to
change our perspective on past hurts in order to be free from the effects of
that hurt.
No comments:
Post a Comment