Rethink How You Think

"Fun Notes about Rethink How You Think"

• Paul tells us that when we renew our minds and center our thoughts on the right things, we will experience God's peace. Which exceeds anything we can understand (Phil4:7)
• God will give us a solution when we choose to walk in his path.
• God wouldn't offer the possibility of a transformed life if there was no solution, no way we could break the cycle.
• It is not primarily our physical selves that limit us but rather our mindset about our physical limits.
  
• You are what you think.
• ABC: Action, Consequences, and Belief
• God is calling me to be humble, gentle, and loving. I am not working on being more patient, I am working on changing my Prideful and arrogant belief system.
• I need to keep reminding myself to ponder the thought that my impatience is basically a matter of pride and arrogance. (Ephesians 4:2)
• God Plan for our Transformation.
• Paul tells us to "put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy (Eph: 6:13)
• James adds that we are not to turn and run from Satan: we are to "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)
• Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
• The psalmist writes that God will show me the way of life, granting me the Joy of your Presents and the pleasure of living with you forever (Ps.16:11)
• Paul says that when we are on God's path, we all "experience God's peace, which exceed anything we can understand. (Phil:4-7)
• The Battle is on
• God's Plan for Transformation
• Moving from Fear to Love
• Amygdala: almond -shaped structure in the brain, essential for processing emotions such as fear and aggression. 
• If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experience his perfect love. (John 4:18)
• Appraisal: an act of assessing something or someone.
• Why are we so dominated by fear?
• How Meditation Overcome Fear

The Lord is my light, and my salvation so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night. nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at Midday. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you." Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discourage, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don't be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. Who would not fear you, O King of Nations? The title belongs to you alone. There is no one like you. Yes, you came when I called; you told me, do not fear."

• The two Paths Associated with fear.
• What is this Thing Called Love.
• Multidimensional: Multiple dimension or aspect.
• Highest form of love was called Agape: the highest form of love, clarity, and the love of God for (human beings) and of (human being) for God.
• Philia: Love, brotherly kind of Love; Root name: Philadelphia: city of brotherly love.
• Storge: Familial Love: family love 
• Eros: Love and sex; passionate sensual; romantic love.
• Real love requires all 3 components: intimacy, passion, commitment
• What happens in our Brain when we love
• Hypothalamus: Regulating hormone production, bod temperature, hunger, and the sleep-wake cycle.
• Hippocampus: forming new memories, learning, and emotions. Major component of the brain of humans and other vertebrates.
• When we fall in Love, we are literally in an altered state of consciousness; the limbic system is flooded with hormones and neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters: regulate autonomic response like breathing and heart rate, psychological functions such as learning, mood, fear, pleasure, and happiness. 

1. Diffusion: where they fade away
2. Reuptake: where they are reabsorbed and reused by the nerve cell that release them.
3. Degradation: where they are broken down by enzymes with the synapse.

• Dopamine: Reward center, memory, movement, motivation, mood, attention, pleasure and satisfaction, mood regulation, experience of pleasure and pain. 
• Norepinephrine: neurotransmitter and hormone, "Fight or flight" response, working alongside adrenaline to give the body sudden energy in time of stress.
• Phenylethylamine: (PEA) chemical with stimulant effect found in plants, fungi, and animals.
• Infatuation: Shallow Love.
• Remember that everything that goes on in the LIMIC SYSTEM is unconscious. 
• Limic System: emotions, behavior, long-term Memory 
• Nucleus accumbent: reward circuit, pleasure, reinforcement learning, and motivation.
• Lust: Norepinephrine and dopamine "fight or flight" Acute stress responds occurs when in the presence of something mentally or physically terrifying.
• Hormone Oxytocin: cuddle hormone
• Vasopressin: regulates the tonicity of body fluid
• Moving from fear to Love
• Paul: "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wrong. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoice whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never lose faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13 vv. 4-7) 
• Moving from Anger to Forgiveness
• The Problem side of Anger
• Sublimation-the diversion or modification of an instinctual impulse into a culturally higher or socially more acceptable activity.
• Fervor-intense and passionate feeling
• Another thing we can do with deep-seated anger is to just push it down even deeper.
• Repression- the action of subduing someone or something by force.
• Passivity-inactivity, quiescence, or submissiveness-quality or state of being able to cope better with stress without getting overly emotionally involved and allowing it to affect you.
• When angry find a way to express it.
• Cathartic-providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions, causing catharsis.
• Catharsis-the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
• Repressed-restrained, inhibited, or oppressed
• oppressed-subject to harsh and authoritarian treatment
• Authoritarian-favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of government, at the expense of personal freedom.
• Ephesian 4:26, "Be angry, but do not sin in your anger."
• Sinful anger always seems to focus on revenge, or the desire to get even.
• Sinful anger holds grudges
• Anger that is not sinful is also focused primarily on the present and what we are doing about the situation.
• The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out:   Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and, Mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. His anger last only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but Joy comes with the morning. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. Control your temper, for anger label you a fool. A gentle answer deflect anger, but harsh words make Tempers flare. Sensible people control their temper, they earn respect by overlooking wrongs. An angry person starts fight; a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin.
• Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
• Dear Friends, never take revenge. Leave that to righteous anger of God. For the scripture say, " I will take revenge, I will pay them back,'' say the Lord.
• Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper- it only leads to harm.
• Where anger take us?
• Anger that festers at any level eventually turns into bitterness and resentment, when this happens, we are in danger not just spiritually, but our health will be compromised as well.
• Hebrew 12:15: "Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many."
• Where does this poisonous root of bitterness come from?
• How can a root of bitterness grow in us?
• Bitterness is an attitude of prolonged, intense anger, it leads to resentments and to an obsession that won't let go of grudges.
• Anger can result to bitterness which leads us to end up feeling alone, isolated, and misunderstood.
• 95% of cancer, heart attacks, and other terminal diseases was unresolved anger.
• Concocted- make by combining various ingredients
• Gallow-refers to a raised, wooden structure used for hanging criminals.
• You don't destroy the other person with your bitterness-you really end up destroying yourself.
• The role of forgiveness
• Paul gives us the antidote to the root of bitterness; Anger and bitterness kills, and forgiveness heals.
• We might even say that forgiveness is a somewhat selfish act, when we forgive, we are the one who become free from anger, we benefit, not the offender---when they know they have been forgiven, it may trigger in them the need to repent.
• Reconciliation always requires forgiveness on our part and genuine godly sorrow-repentance on the other person's part, Repentance is always necessary for there to be genuine reconciliation between two people.
• Look at the biblical model for conflict. If you have offended someone, Jesus says, "If you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. (Matt. 5:23-24)
• Lord Prayers, Where Jesus tells us to pray to the father to " forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us."(Matt.6:12)
• Matthew 18, Jesus tells us what to do when someone has hurt us, " If another believer Sins against you, go privately and point out the offense." (v.15)
• Being with a gentle confrontation that gives the offending person the opportunity to make amendment to repent. 
• Jesus continues, ' If the other person listens and confess it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again. so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witness." (v.17)
• He finishes by telling us to wash our hands of the matter in other words, if there is no repentance. we are to forgive and move on. 
• Absurdity-the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable.
• Elated- Being happy and excited
• The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of Sin and Rebellion.
• "And forgive us our Sin, as we have forgiven those who sin against us." if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you.
• Peter came to him and asked, Lord how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" "No, not seven times, " Jesus replied, " but seventy times seven!
• You are dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away, Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgives all our Sins. He charges against us and takes it away by nailing it to the cross.
• When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your father in heaven will forgive your sins, too!
• Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
• Where Forgiveness Takes Us
• When Isaiah prophesied about the coming of Jesus as Messiah, he said he would be called "Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa 9:6)
• Both Paul James encourages us that, in spite of circumstances, we can experience peace and joy. Paul writes, " We can rejoice too. when we run into problems and trials." (Rom 5:3) and James tells us, " When trouble comes your way, consider it an opportunity for great Joy" (James 1:2)
• Note that James says trouble gives us and opportunity. For what? To learn or discover in the process God's peace.
• He will Carry us through the problems, and the joy we experience is that with God's help we are going to have a stronger faith on the other side of the problem. 
• Paul was writing from prison, and over and over he tells his readers to rejoice. For example, in Philippians 4:4, he writes," Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again-Rejoice!"
• Then Paul continues with the secret of joy. And it's based on thinking right thoughts. --thoughts about what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent, and worthy of praise. When we do that God's peace will fill our hearts, and we will live life of gratitude and Thankfulness.
• God bless those who work for Peace, for they will be called the children of God. Therefore, since we have been by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. I pray that God, the source of hope will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confidents hope through the power of Holy Spirit.  God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meeting of God's holy people.
• Be joyful, grow to maturity, encourage each other, live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.
• 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 heart and minds as you live in Christ.
• Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.
• Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
• Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart-for as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
• As you fill your soul with meditating on God's word, he will remove your old resentment. He will help you forgive, even when the hurt goes deep within.
• Moving from Loneliness to Connection
• Monotony-Lack of variety and interest; Tedious repetition and routine.
• Seldom- not often; rarely
• Solitude- the state or situation of being alone.
• Acquaintance- a person's knowledge or experience of something.
• Propensity- an inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way. 
• Inclination- a person's natural tendency or urge to act or feel in a particular way, a disposition or propensity.
• disposition-a person's inherent qualities of mind and character
• Propensity- an inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way.
• Our increasing propensity to live an isolated life will compound the problem of loneliness in the coming year.
• Who gets Lonely
• Researcher John Cacioppo has found that there are three factors that contribute to three chronic experiences of loneliness. 
• The 1st favor has to do with our vulnerability to the experience of social disconnect-it's part of our genetic makeup, as well as how our environment has affected our genes. Second, we also differ in our ability to regulate our emotions related to being isolated. It's not just our surface reactions to being isolated but, more importantly, what is going on deep inside of us about it. Third, the experience of loneliness is directly related to how we frame our experiences of isolation. We look to causes and are most time of base as to why we feel lonely. Our ability to properly frame our experience will greatly diminish over time the more we experience loneliness.
• These 3 factors are all interdependent 
• Interdependent - dependent on each other.
• Cognitive: relating to the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thoughts experience, and the sense.
• appraisal-an act of assessing something or someone.
• Almost 30 million people live alone in the United States, a large number of them over sixty-five
• The Brain of the Lonely Person
• A baby's brain at birth has over two hundred billion neurons 
• Gradually about half of the neurons will die so that as the infant becomes an adult, they will end up with around one hundred billion neurons in the brain.
• What happened to the others? The neurons that thrive into adulthood are the ones that connect with other neurons. Those that died didn't connect.
• Research has shown that lonely people suffer significantly more from high blood pressure, immunity issues, and various cardiovascular ailment.
• Ailment- an illness or physical disorder, especially a minor one.
• Cardiovascular- relating to the heart and blood vessels
• epigenetic- Studying of heritable traits, or a stable change of cell function, that happen without change to the DNA sequence.
• If we are wired to connect, just like out brain neurons do, then when we disconnect and experience Chronic loneliness, we are not living the way God designed us to live.
• How do our life experiences and environment feed into our loneliness? By affecting the chemistry of the brain. And our brain chemistry affects what happens with our genes
• One of the hormones released under the stress of loneliness is epinephrine, which tends to arouse us.
• epinephrine- adrenaline, hormone secreted by the adrenal medulla; it is produced in response to stress, such as anger or fear, and acts to increase heart rate, low-pressure, cardiac output, and carbohydrate metabolism. Epinephrine is used medically to stimulate the heart during cardiac arrest and to treat-life -threatening allergic reaction.
• But it also increases our experience of frustration and emotional pain.
• The more stressed we are, the more epinephrine is released into our system.
• Cortisol: is also available in abundance in our system
• Cortisol- is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland, which are located on top of your kidneys. (Referred to as the stress hormone because its level increase in response to stress and other challenges. It regulates metabolism, control blood sugar levels and modulate the immune system response, controlling your body's use of fat protein and carbohydrates, suppressing inflammation, regulates blood pressure.
• Without connection with another person in our life, our output of oxytocin is limited, we can get some released into our system by eating, but its primary release mechanism comes when we connect in a deeper way with another person. 
• Oxytocin-stimulating uterine contractions ad milk let down in childbirth and lactation. Enhancing mood, sexual arousal, trust, bonding, and social recognition in Romantic relationships, parent infant interaction, and group setting. Influencing various emotional, social, and cognitive processes, such as reducing stress and anxiety, promoting well-being, and modulating empathy and memory.
• Studies have shown that when a mother breast-feed her baby, oxytocin is released both in the baby and in the mother.
• The mother -baby bond is built around the mutual release of oxytocin into their systems. 
• When a nursing mother sees her baby, oxytocin will begin to be released, which will the hasten the increase of milk to be made available to the baby.
• Oxytocin is also calming hormone that allows us to better regulate of emotional reaction to our experience. 
• Hasten- be quick to do something 
• Serotonin is another brain substance that is related to comfort and to me elevation of our mood.
• Too much serotonin works to opposite way and sends us into a state of despair.
• Serotonin- also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) , is a monoamine neurotransmitter. It also acts as a hormone, neurotransmitter, serotonin carries messages between nerve cells in your brain.
• There is a region in the brain called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, when we experience physical pain, that part of the brain registers the pain and allows us to experience it, what researchers have found is that the pain of loneliness is registered in that same part of the brain, this means that we experience the emotional pain of loneliness in the same way we would experience physical pain, this is why it is so difficult to escape from reality and pain of loneliness. 
• Cingulate Cortex- is a region of the brain located in the medical aspect of the cerebral cortex, part of the brain.
• Loneliness or depression
• Those who experience loneliness over time usually end up also being depressed.
• Part of the lonely person wants to move toward other people and connect, but another part is terrified of being hurt again, so they withdraw
• Immobilized- act of stopping something or someone from moving.
• The Role of Attachment.
• As adults, people with a sure attachment typically have healthy connection and meaningful relationships; apart from experiencing a trauma as the grow up, they will probably not struggle with the chronic experience of loneliness.
• Mary Ainsworth, who was a student of Bowlby, Identified a fourth attachment style in her subsequent Research. She called it the "fearful attachment"
• Fearful Attachment: is an adult attachment style characterized by a negative internal working model of attachment of oneself and others.
• Breaking the Loneliness Cycle
• So does our attachment style determine the outcome of our struggle with loneliness?
• David in Psalm 68:4-6, Sing praise to him who rides the clouds. His name is the Lord--rejoice in his present! Father to the fatherless, defender of widows--that is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
• When we meditate on these verses, we begin to understand God's concern for our loneliness. He wants us to understand that he is at work in us. When we step out in faith and risk forming social connections that are meaningful to us to the other person, God is there with us.
• Our first step in renewing our mind and heart to understand what God has to say about connection. Our next step in that healing process is to mediate on what God wants us to know about our need to connect with other people.
• Begin your mediation with Psalm 68 passage: Owe nothing to anyone--except for obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law...Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirement of God's law for you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Is there encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in Spirit? Are your hearts ender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interest, but take an interest in others, too. let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially how that the day of his return is drawing near. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. This is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. 
• Here's what non-lonely people do. When they have a negative experience in a relationship, they look at all the aspects of what their part might have been, and then they think of all the possible explanation for the other person's explanation for the other person's behavior. They don't brood or withdraw become negative.
• Even for those who are lonely, there are positive things going on around them. They just don't focus on the positive, choosing instead to focus primarily on the negative.
• Another task in breaking the cycle of loneliness is to practice random acts of kindness.
• At work, the non-lonely people work on forming good relationships with their co-workers. As they do this, they may find their own performance improving, which could lead to a promotion and increase income. In their social life, they have learned how to reframe negative expenses. They don't ignore them and let them fester inside; instead, the balance them with all the positive things that are happening around them.
• Even for those who are lonely, there are positive things going on around them. They just don't focus on the positive, choosing instead to focus primarily on the negative.
• Do random acts of kindness without expecting anything in return
• Butterfly effect: the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic non-linear system can result in large: example, A wrong turn creates a legacy. -inspiring Journey
• So, no matter how small your effect might be, consider it to be the butterfly effect.
• Taking it a step Further
• Breaking the loneliness cycle requires just one other person with whom you are going to develop a friendship.
• Begin with an action
• Think about what interest you
• Philharmonic: devoted to music
• Identify your interest and then begin small
• Find one way to get involved with other people who are interest in what your interest in.
• feeling of loneliness were beginning to fade, executive part of the brain began to push away the feelings of loneliness and started to reward the feelings of connection it was experiencing.
• The Power of Volleyball
• Salvaged: Rescue, from loss at sea
• " God places the lonely in families." But we have to be open and do our part of the healing process as well
• Debilitating: (of a disease or condition) make someone very weak and infirm
• Moving from Lust to Intimacy
• Denomination: a recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church
• Pastorate: the office or period of office, state, Jurisdiction, or tenure of office of pastor.
• The World's Path- what's happening to our culture
• Representative of the pornography industry told congress in 2009 that 20 to 30 percent of the traffic on their sites comes from children. The largest group of children is those between age twelve and seventeen.
• But one out of three visors to all pornographic website is woman.
• Twenty percent of men admit to viewing pornography at work, and 13 percent of woman admit to accessing pornography at work.
• Women more than men keep their pornography use a secret, and 17 percent of women admits to struggling with a pornography addiction. 
• Fifty-three percent of men who have attended Promise Keepers event admit to having viewed pornography during the previous week. 
• Forty-Seven percent of Christians say that pornography is an issue in their home.
• Advent: the arrival a notable person, thing or event.
• Pornography today has become an accepted part of life for much of society, Christians, included. These are statistics related to the hard-core pornographic industry.
• Studies show that women typically are not as oriented to the visual as men.
• For a woman, it is much more tempting to get involved in reading sexually explicit romance novels. They are much more emotional.
• Sadism: tendency to derive pleasure from the pain or suffering of others. 
• Masochistic: deriving sexual gratification from one's own physical pain or humiliation. 
• BDSM: Bondage/Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sadism/Masochism 
• Consumption: Using up of resource
• The lie is that pornography will lead to sexual fulfillment
• In an article published in Psychotherapy Networkers in 2009, Wendy Maltz
• Misgiving: A feeling of doubt or apprehension about the outcome or consequences of something.
• Depiction: the action or result of depicting something. Depict: show or represent by a drawing painting, or other art form.
• Extramarital: Adulterous (especially of sexual relations) occurring outside marriage.
• Commodity: a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper and coffee.
• Allure: the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating.
• Supplant: to take the pace of or substitute for another.
• What happens in our Brain with Pornography
• How can we all compulsive use of pornography an addiction? -But Research shows that like gambling, overeating, and shopping, the continued use of Pornography leads to what is now called a "Process Addiction."
• Process Addiction: compulsive behaviors that an individual engages in and continues to do despite harmful consequences obsessive, compulsive urges to partake in Specific behavior.
• Ventral Tegmental Area: (VTA) Midbrain (Latin for Covering) Reward cognition and orgasm, among others, as well as several psychiatric Disorders When someone is viewing pornography, the hypothalamus and VTA activity are both elevated, which is what cause the Pituitary to release dopamine. 
• Hypothalamus: homeostasis; autonomic nervous system.
• Homeostasis: Mechanism that maintains a stable internal environment despite the changes present in the external environment.
• Pituitary: endocrine gland located at the base of the brain.
• Endocrine: Secrete hormones directly into the blood. Example: Pineal gland, Pituitary gland, Pancreases, Ovaries (in female), Testicles (in Male), Thyroid gland, Parathyroid gland, Hypothalamus, Adrenal Glands
• The anxiety and tension felt while a person is viewing pornography also increase the activity of amygdala.
• Amygdala: region of the brain primarily associated with emotional processes.
• It appears that masturbation is the key in the addiction to pornography and sex.
• First the visual system is activated when a man looks at porn The motor system and the sensory system are turned on through masturbation. Then the neurological system kicks in as the feeling of euphoria results from the release of oxytocin, vasopressin, and dopamine when he ejaculates.
• Regardless of why the man view pornography, the neurological and neurochemical activation reinforces the addictive behaviors.
• Neurological: the branch of medicine that deals with problems affecting the nervous system.
• Neurochemical: relating to chemical processes occurring in nerve tissue and the nervous system. 
• Research has also shown that when someone is involved in pornography, 42 percent of their partners say the use of pornography made them feel unsure and less attractive.
• According to another survey, that more than half of those involved with pornography have lost interest in sexual intercourse, and third of their partners have also lost interest. 
• 68 percent of divorce filing involve one party meeting a new lover over the internet. 
• Fifty-six percent involve one party being obsessively interested in pornography.
• Not every man gets involved with pornography. But a common issue with men is where the problem usually begins--with lust.
• "Is lust Sin," depends on how long you look. Jesus did not treat lust lightly. If lust is an issue, one passage for you to meditate on is found in Matthew 5:27-30; You have heard the commandment that says," You must not commit adultery. " But I say, anyone who even looks a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So, if your eye--even good eye-- causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand-even your stronger hand- causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
• Regimen of memorizing scripture and ask God to bring those passages to mind when you start to have lustful thoughts.
• Here are some additional verses to meditate on in dealing with lustful thoughts, or with a struggle with pornography or explicit novels: My son, obey your father's commands, and don't neglect your mother's instructions... it will keep you from the smooth tongue of promiscuous woman. Don't lust for her beauty. Don't let her coy glances seduce you. For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man wife will cost you your life. Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? So, it is with the man's who sleeps with another man's wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished. Proverbs 6:20,24-29
• The word "porne" is often used in the form of "porneia," which is translated as "fornication" or "sexual immorality"
• Sex, it seemed, was on everyone's mind. If this is your issue begin by meditating on this verse: You say, "Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food."(This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies." Run from sexual Sin! No other Sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence. And I will grieve because many of you have not given up your old sins. You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure.
• Again, the words of Jesus: it is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.
• Paul refers to the desires of our sinful nature and its resulting are very clear: Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility. quarreling. jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambitions, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires...Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.
• Paul also instruct his young pastoral protege, Timothy: Run from anything that stimulates youthful LUSTS. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.
• Both Jesus and Paul contrast a life that involves unbridle lust and the immorality of pornography with a life of purity and righteous living, but God's path takes us on a much bigger Journey. God's path is designed to take us where our sexuality was meant to lead us- to a monogamous, intimate relationship with our spouse.
• Monogamous: A relationship or practice where an individual has only one mate, spouse, or sexual partner at one time.
• God's Design- his path leads to righteous living.
• When the bible says we are created in the image of God, what does that mean? For one, it means that we are created to be in relationships with others.
• The fact that we serve a God who exists as a Trinity means that he is always in relationship within Godhead. 
• God said, " Let us make human being in our image, to be like us." (Gen.1:26), Note that he says" let us" and " to be like us." I've believe the "Us" refers to the father, the son, and Holy Spirit, each of whom is in relationship with the others. 
• Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, say," we pleaded with you, encourage you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his kingdom and glory." (1 Thess 2:12)
• When we were created in God's image, the plan was for us to be like him.
• Paul told the Roman "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious Standards (Rom. 3:23)
• The lies of pornography are evidence of the sinful nature of humankind and of the basic sinfulness of our culture.
• God told eve, " You will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you." (Gen. 3:16)
• Submissive leadership: individual who prefers to avoid conflict and typically agrees with present ideas or request.
• "Summit to one another out of reverence for Christ." (eph.5:21)
•  A man's general passivity is in part responsible for the growth of the pornography industry.
• Passivity: quality of state being passive.
• Passive: accepting or allowing what happens or what others do, without active response or resistance. 
• What's a man to do? 
• Our brain is the source of what we understand, what we perceive, and what we hope to experience.
• The absence of a father in the home has crippled many men, for they have no image of what healthy manhood really looks like. The result is they live in emotional isolation, which only adds to seductiveness of all pornography hidden in their computer.
• So, for a man or a woman to get firmly involved in following God's path requires that we go against the common teachings of our culture. 
• Our brain sets the patterns of our lives.
• So, if we are to understand what the bible means by the man being the head, then he becomes the one who sets the course for his marriage and for all the relationships in his life. 
• Initiator: that causing something to begin.
• Our brain sets the patterns of our lives.
• I say that the wife is basically a responder, she will respond to whatever course the husband will chart. If he is passive, she will take over, if he is a tyrant, she will rebel, if he charts a clear, loving course, she will respond with a sense of feeling secure and loved. 
• When God created man and woman, he created sex, this man will find true intimacy in his marriage.
• So where does he begin?
• But how does a man begin to chart a course on God's Path? There are several areas in a man's life that need to be involved as he seeks to get back on course or stay on course and set a godly pace in his relationship.
• How does he restore the broken image of God within? Obviously, since life is basically about relationships, he begins by building relationships.
• First, the man who is seeking to live a righteous life will always begin by developing relationships with other emotionally health men. 
• A woman learns what it means to be a e woman through her relationships with other women.
• If we lack some of these same- sex preparatory relationships, we will often end up distorting what God intended in our adult male/female relationships.
• Men who are comfortable with other men are usually takes being more comfortable about their relationship with God and, in particular, with Jesus.
• It takes being comfortable in his masculinity for a man to be in love with Jesus.
• Our culture says that men are supposed to be logical, and women are supposed to be emotional.
• Real men do cry, and they aren't ashamed to be seen crying.
• Salvation starts a process of restoring and repairing that damage image.
• Salvation: preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.
• Deliverance: the act of delivering someone or something or the state of being delivered, especially liberation or rescue.
• Deliver: Bring and hand over to the proper recipient or address: provide (something Promised or expected)
• If you are struggling with guilt and shame over your past, focus on these passages and others you find, and meditate on their confidence that your past has been cleansed- washed clean. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth-But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness, If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate wo pleads our case before the father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins. -and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
• Atones: make amends or reparation, to make amends 
• Amends: compensation or redress for wrongdoing 
• How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Have mercy on me, O God ... Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whitter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me--now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God renew a loyal spirit within me.
• We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and savior., Jesus Christ, will be revealed. 
• He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
• In addition, when we talk about lust and pornography, we recognized that God's path is a path of purity.
• "How can a young person {or any person} stay pure? By obeying your word."(Ps 119:9)
• Getting the word of God into our hearts creates and restores the purity of our lives, regardless of the past. Here are some passages that focus on purity: Teach me your way, O Lord, that i may Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. Get Out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord. 
• Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you! Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for you loyalty is divided between God and the world. It cannot be a goal, for it is basically what we experience as a result of something else. 
• The purpose in walking God's path is not to attain happiness as if it is a goal.
• God's way is to seek first his Kingdom, which means we aim for righteous living. His promise is that when we do, we will be fulfilled, and with a sense of fulfillment comes an experience of Joy and happiness.
• Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. For by God's grace, I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentile. I bring you the good news so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God made holy by the Holy Spirit.
• God has called us to live holy lives, not impute lives. For the scriptures say, "you must be holy because I am Holy."
• Impute: attribute a ascribe something (especially something dishonest or dishonorable) to a person or a source. 
• Ascribe: Attribute or assign something to a particular cause, source, or person. 
• In our desire to live righteous lives, it is important to remember that all of our drives--our need for security, our need for sex--are meant to point us to God.
• Remember what Jermiah promised to those who choose the godly path: " you will find rest for your souls." (Jer.6:16)
• Moving from modern Idolatry to Contentment
• There was the division between the Alexandrian believers and believers in Antioch. There was the split in the church between Rome and Eastern Church. Another division came when Martin Luther challenge Rome. And think of all the different denominations that have evolved overtime. With each division, some group walked away from an argument they weren't able to win. 
• Antioch: Ancient Greek City
• Lithograph: Stone and drawing
• Our Typical Definition of Idolatry
• We think also about the first to commandments. The first says, "You must not have any other gods but me." (Exod. 20:3) The second commandment goes further and warns, "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or the sea. you must not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods." (Exod.20:4-5) 
• One path has to do with true faith the worships only God; the other is the path of idolatry. God created us to live on the first path.
• This was his intention in creating us. In Gensis 1:26-28, God said, "Let us make human being in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." So, God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground."
• Scurry: to move quickly, with small, short steps. 
• Govern: to rule over something with authority, to influence or control something, or to act as a law or principle. 
• Humans were created to worship God and to rule over all of creation.
• The apostle Paul understood the result of their disobedience, as Adam and Eve had chosen the path of Idolatry. Paul wrote about people in general, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshipping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles... They traded the truth about God for a lie. So, they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. (Rom. 1:21-23,25)
• Idolatry: the worship of idols.
• One of the results of that reversal is that when we are on the path of idolatry, our souls are never content. 
• But Solomon warned us when he wrote, "everything is wearisome beyond desription. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. " (Eccies. 1:8) What Solomon and Paul are saying is that either we worship and serve God, or we worship and serve what we create as our idols. Since I don't have any statues that I worship, what do I do that can be called idolatry? What do you worship? 
• Modern forms of idolatry
• Our modern definition of idolatry goes beyond images and statues. It has to do with the desires of the heart. Where do I focus my energy? What has captured my imagination and my heart? On what I am building my life? What is it that drives me? To make an idol out of something today means we are giving it love, attention, and energy with nothing much left for God. 
• Foundational to all modern forms of idolatry is the worship of "ME." Its focus is on what I want. Anything I have become addicted to become an idol. 
• Money is probably the most popular idol today but is also was in Jesus's day. 
• In Matthew, Jesus is quoted as saying, " No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matt. 6:24) 
• In his parable of the Sower Jesus states, " The seed that fell among the thorn represents others who hear God's word, But all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced." (Mark 4:18-19)
• Fanatically: Filled with excessive and singe-minded zeal obsessively concerned with something.
• Zeal: is a noun that means intense emotion or energetic pursuit of a goal or cause.
• Idolatry take place when we go beyond being fans to following every detail of the celebrities live. 
• In fact, whatever controls our time and attention becomes our god. 
• Vicariously: experience or realized through, imaginative, or sympathetic participation in the experience of another, or serving instead of someone or something else. 
• Shrines: a place regarded as holy because of it associations with a divinity or a sacred person or relic, marked by a building or other construction.
• Prevalent: generally, or widely accepted, practice, or favored. 
• Here are some passages to meditate on. As you do, relate your meditation to the modern definition of idolatry. Or if you can identify your personal idols, think about them as you meditate. Even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure. You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the scriptures mean when they say that the Spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy [meaning God wants us for himself]? Put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy. for greedy person is an idolator, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these Sins, the anger of God is coming. 
• Immorality: the quality or state of being immoral especially unchastity, or an immoral act or practice. 
• Immoral: not conforming to accepted or morality. 
• Morality: Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.
• Unchastity: relating to or engaging in sexual activity, especially of an illicit or extramarital nature. 
• Illicit: forbidden by law, rules, or custom.
• Extramarital: of relating to or being sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse. 
• Then when they are exiled among the nations, they will remember me. They will recognize how hurt I am by their unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes that long for their idols. Then at last they will hate themselves for all their detestable sin. They will know that I alone am the Lord and that I was serious when I said I would bring this calamity on them. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping Idols. Those who worship false gods turn their back on all God's mercies. And what union can be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
• Ephesus: Ancient Greek City in Anatolia 
• Detestable: deserving intense dislike 
• Calamity: a noun that means a disaster or misfortune that causes great distress or misery. 
• Allegiance: the obligation of feudal vassal to liege Lord.  
• Feudal: according to, resembling, or denoting the system of feudalism. Absurdly outdated or old fashioned. 
• Denoting: be a sign of; indicator or standing as a name for something.
• Martin Luther said that whatever our heart clings to and confides in really our god. 
• Confide: tell someone about a secret or private matter while trusting them not to repeat it to others. 
• It doesn't matter what we say, our life demonstrates our allegiance to our god. 
• So what's the alternative?
• If idolatry a restlessness that results from our seeking to control our lives, then God's path is based on our lives." His will not ours" is more than a motto it is how we are to choose to live.
• All things we have and enjoy coming from his hand. They are not to be taken as "MINE." They are his gifts to us.
• For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength (Phil,4:11-13)
• Paul had learned to be contest in all circumstances because Christ Strengthened him in every circumstance. That's why he could say in Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ" (NIV)
• In addition, Paul wrote to his protege Timothy and said, " The true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth."(1 Tim.6:6)
• Paul is saying that true wealth is having a godly character, and when we develop that, we experience the happiness that comes with contentment. 
• We all suffer from the effects of Adam and Eve's disobedience. That means our natural behavior is to move from honoring and worshiping the Creator to worshiping created things. 
• Abased: to lower in rank, office, prestige, or esteem. behave in a way that belittles or degrades.
• Discontented: dissatisfied, especially with one's circumstance.
• Paul discovered how to be content by shifting from the worship of material things and people to the worship and centrality of God the Creator. Food, money, fame---none of these were his focus. His focus was Soley on worshiping and pleasing Christ.
• Centrality: the quality or fact of being in the middle of somewhere or something. the Quality of being essential or of greatest importance.
• Oftquoted: refers to something or someone that is commonly cited or repeated, often due to the popularity or significance of the statement or source. 
• Philippians 4:13 where Paul say, "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." 
• Paul is giving us the answer to how we can be content in this life. It's like he is saying," I have learned to be content in spite of my circumstance because my relationship with Christ is central to my life. Jesus Christ is the key to my contentment. 
• He wrote earlier in his letter to the Philippians, "For to me living means living for Christ." (Phil.1:21)
• expend: a verb that means to pay out or use up something for a specific purpose. 
• Jesus but in this way: "Wherever your treasure is there the desires of your heart will be also."(Luke 12:34) to help you focus on what it means to live for Christ, spend some time meditating on the following passages. " I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you---NO MAN, WOMAN, CLAN, OR TRIBE--will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bear bitter and poisonous fruit. Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle. Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So, what good is wealth--except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Don't worry about these things, saying, "What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. My Dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, were the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior. 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 exceed anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. So if we have enough food, and clothing, let us be content. But people who ong to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierce themselves with many sorrows. But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
• Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have. For Go has said, " I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." Dear children, keep away from anything that might take Gods place in your hearts. 
• Exile: the state of being barred from one's native county, typically for political or punitive reasons: banished; deportation. 
• With that background, look at what happened in the trial of Jesus before Pilate, as reported by John: Pilate said to the people," Look, here is your King!" "Away with him," they yelled. "Away with him!" Crucify him!" "What?" Crucify your King?" Pilate asked. " We have no King but Ceasar, " the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. (John 19:14-16)  
• When we make anything else King in our lives, we lose any chance at contentment. When we have no King but Jesus, we've found the true source of contentment. 
• Moving from Life's Trials to Joy
• James writes, "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great Joy." (1:2) 
• Juxtaposition: act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect. 
• The difficulty with this passage is compounded by the fact that when many of us are suffering or are struggling with some kind of trouble, our first reaction is to ask, " Where is God?" Then the other common question follows: "Why is this happening to me?" 
• Cynicism: the belief that people are only interested in themselves and are not sincere, or the fact of using someone's feelings or emotions to your own advantage.
• God: how he doesn't desert us in the midst of troubles and how he has something for us to learn through difficult times.
• But then we encounter passages like James 1:3, which says, "You know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow" or Romans 5, where Paul says the same thing: "we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, And endurance develops strength of character; and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
• Both James and Paul are saying that life's trials have a purpose---to produce endurance and strengthen our faith. 
• We don't like trouble. When life's trials hit us, our first instinct is to fight back. We don't think of surrendering. 
• What happens in our Brain when we are hit by one of life's trials what happens when we are confronted with a problem over which we have little or no control? What goes on in our brain? The reaction in our brain is similar to what happens when we experience a lot of stress. 
• Hippocampus: curved shaped structure in the temporal lobe of the brain it is associated primarily with memory and is involved in forming, storing, and processing memory.   
• Pituitary gland: is a small pea-sized gland located at the base of the brain below the hypothalamus, produces several endocrine hormones.
• Life's trials do have a purpose 
• Our painful trials hurt too much, and because they hurt, we feel like we are being punished.
• Leery: cautious or wary due to realistic suspicions.
• Hebrew 12:5-6, which says, "My child, don't male light of the Lord's discipline, and don't give up when he corrects you.  
• For the Lord's discipline those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child."
• Someone has said to me that it is foolish to try to pray our way out of something we behaved our way into.
• no pain no gain.
• Training for excellence is going to involve pain.
• 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, "All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.  
• Life's trials can be a part of the discipline we need in order to experience all that God wants for us.
• They train our soul to do what God designed it to do.
• Hebrews tell us, "It was only right that he [God] should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader " (2:10) and again we read, "even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered" (5:8). We are to follow Jesus' example. 
• We also learn obedience from the things we suffer, if we allow God to be God and know that he wants only the best for us in all circumstance.
• Is my trial from God?
• How can we discern what is the cause of a painful situation?
• I can tell that it is discipline because there will be a relationship between the discipline and the disobedience.
• My response needs to be a rejection of the "why?" question and instead be, "what do I need to learn about myself in this situation? What do I need to change?" When this happens, I can rejoice, for God is saying to me that I am his beloved child.
• If my trial does not fit the discipline, then I can consider it a testing of my faith.
• My trial may simply be due to me living in a sinful world, or it may be bought von directly as an attack by Satan.
• There is joy in this, for there is always a reward.
• God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. 
• Afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (1:2)
• Take some time now and mediate on these passages that will help you understand God's purpose in the trials of your life: "Don't be afraid," Moses answered them, "for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!" 
• Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. 
• He did it to teach you that People do not live by bread alone; rather, we lived by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 
• Let the whole world be bless; our God and loudly sing his praise. Our lives are in his hands, and he keeps our feet from stumbling you have test us, O God; you have purified us like silver. You captured us in your net and laid to burden of slavery on our backs. Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.
• That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying. Our spirits are being renewed every day.
• For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 
• I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. 
• When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. So be truly glad, there is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
• When your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
• For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. 
• Since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 
• When we walk on God's path, we will experience joy. It's like a friend of mine who, whenever a Trial comes along, says, "Oh good. God is going to teach me something new!" That's what Joy is in the midst of the circumstances is all about.
• What happens in our brain when we experience Joy.
• Hypothalamus: small structure deep within the brain helps produce hormones that regulates heartrate, body temperature, hunger, and the sleep-wake cycle.
• Limbic System: aggregation of brain structures that are generally located lateral to the thalamus, underneath the cerebral cortex, and above the brain stem. Function is to process and regulate emotion and regulate emotion and memory while also dealing with sexual stimulation and learning.
• Nucleus accumbens: region in the brain's basal forebrain that plays a critical role in the reward circuit. It is involved in pleasure, reinforcement learning, and the processing of motivation and reward; Dysregulation of this area is often implication in addiction, depression, and other psychiatric disorder.  
• When we experience Joy, dopamine is released into limbic system 
• It's interesting that when we take a pain medication or use an opioid, cocaine, or an amphetamine, the nucleus accumbens does the same thing as when we experience joy: it releases dopamine into the limbic system. 
• God designed our brain for us to experience joy the natural way. He knew that our pain could be regulated by our attitude, in particular the expressions of joy and love. The question is how can we reach the place of Joy without the use of pain pills, alcohol, or illegal drugs? Harold found the answer, and it started with meditating on scripture and then taking action, which for him was a dramatic step. 
• The power of Surrender
• Predicament: a noun that means the character, status, or classification assigned by a predication, or a difficult, perplexing, or trying situation. Difficult, confusing, and unpleasant situation. 
• Gave the problems to God and went to work confident that God was in control.
• Pray and surrender them/problem to God.
• I said to him that he now had an inviting spirit that seemed to draw people to him, whereas before he was so down no one wanted to spend much time with him. In that state of mind, I don't think anyone would have wanted to work with him.
• I ask God for Strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do great things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I ask for Riches, that I may be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing I asked for-- but everything I hope for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among men, most richly blessed. 
• Jesus said, "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." (Luke 9:24)
• If you want to rejoice when life's trials come your way, surrender yourself to God. That doesn't mean you sit and wait. You don't stop; you just keep on keeping on with a surrender heart.
• Instead of asking "why?" or "why me?" ask the question of God, "What do you need for me to learn in this experience?" That is a world changer and a mind renewer. 
• Discursive: digressing from subject to subject; rambling
• Digressing: to move away from the main subject you are writing or talking about
• Doctrine: a belief or set of belief held and taught by a church, political, or other group, teaching, creed, and belief
• The bible can become formative in how you live; you are actually allowing the word to become flesh (John 1:14)
• The writer of Hebrews also urges us to "Stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again." Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding (6:1)
• Accumulate Knowledge refers to the process of collecting and gathering information or understanding about a subject; it can be obtained through experience or study.

Thanks For Reading, Blessing....