Renewing our mind means

to take off the old and put on the new.  Renewing our mind means to remove our perspective and see His perspective.  It means to see as He sees.  I love getting a fresh perspective.  A new point of view makes it a lot easier to change.  New perspectives create motivation.  Seeing things the way they truly are often times creates energy.  That's why this blog is called Chariots of Fire.  It's about God opening our eyes to help us see where He is, what He is doing and working in our mission.

2 Kings 6:17 (New International Version, ©2010)

 ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

An irresistible urge to act

One of my cousins emailed me today and stated she had been praying for clarity and direction.  Her email reminded me of a prayer we had recently for clarity, courage and an irresistible urge to act.  Thank God for answering that prayer!

By faith

I read Hebrews 11 last night and was reminded how much God loves faith.   The sixth verse of the first chapter states " ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

I have heard Andy Stanley ask the following question: "What would someone, who is you, do, if they were 100% confident God was with them?"   Faith is such a wonderful gift.  I think it takes practice to live by faith if we haven't always done so.

Without discomfort we can't

get stronger.  The only way to build strength is to make ourselves uncomfortable.  Before a mission trip to Haiti (when I was in college), our campus pastor told me, "we have to be uncomfortable with our comfortableness."  That quote has stuck with me for quite some time.

As a Physical Therapist, I recognize the need for people to welcome feeling uncomfortable (pain, fatigue, burning, discomfort, dizzy) in order to make progress.  Trials (events that make us uncomfortable) are opportunities to get stronger.

Addicted to comfort

I just read a statement from some friends of ours at livereadynow.com.  They wrote "We all like to be comfortable; in fact, pain is usually an indication that something is wrong. However, we can actually become addicted to comfort, and find ourselves unwilling to live without it.

We can easily begin to make decisions based on the comfort level involved instead of basing them on wisdom. This is dangerous!

Many times in a crisis situation the right decision is not the one that is immediately comfortable. It is a good idea to practice being uncomfortable, and not letting it bother you."

I never thought of the possibility of being addicted to comfort.  I certainly believe it is possible.  Of course, we know, it's not about our comfort, but our character.

Transformation details below:

Here are some links regarding things that happened at our latest Transformation gathering.

Jeremy's Thoughts
Don't forget to pray for the Jason and Melissa family (remember your calendars).
Jonas' Thoughts
Memory Verses (Recommendations)

Toni and Olivia singing

What is the mission statement of Transformation? The Mission Statement of Transformation is to encourage one another to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through sharing with one another in prayer, scripture memorization, reading the bible, accountability, praising God, serving and giving.

What is the vision of Transformation?  The vision of Transformation is that all participants will grow in their God given gifts to be confident workers in their mission fields. 

What is the first goal of Transformation? The first major goal of Transformation is that all attendees, who are old enough (over 5 years old), will have five new bible verses memorized by the end of the year.

Looking forward to the next one!

The truth is, I can't

but He can.  If it's about association and not imitation, then how do we associate?  I love the sound of being "transformed." In Romans, Paul states we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  How does renewing our minds allow us to be transformed?   John 8:31-32 states, ..."if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

In his podcast on Character, Andy Stanley states things like attending church and prayer won't set us free.  While those are helpful things to do, He states Jesus said knowing the truth will set us free.  So we have to learn the truth and be able to spit it out when we are in all kinds of circumstances.  Scripture memorization, I think, is a very helpful way to be able to do this.

Just stay close!

How hard can it be?  Do we really have to learn to abide?  When I stop and think about it, I believe we do.  I remember when we went to the Columbus Zoo this summer with a group of friends.  We were with a family and their 8 year old boy with lots of excitement and energy.  He was so excited that he became distracted by the attractions and was not able to stay close.  He became lost.   After lots of searching and contacting security, we were able to find him.  Fortunately, he was ok.

Christ, being the vine, encourgaes us (the branches) to remain in Him or stay close.  This has to be learned because we get distracted.  We have lots of excitement and energy and sometimes get so anxious that we stray.  Sometimes we think, "if I don't do something, nothing will happen."  Andy Stanley refers to this belief as the "if I don't, it won't" way of thinking. 

Transformation: Is it conscious or unconscious?

I find myself asking this question about how we maintain balance walking.  Is walking a conscious or unconscious activity?  Is walking a reflexive event or is it controlled by our minds.  We have to make the decision to walk, but once we get moving, do we consciously tell each muscle when to contract and relax to help us adjust to the changes in our environment and remain upright?  I find that people with balance problems usually have a control problem.  They are trying to take conscious control over a mostly unconscious (reflexive) event.  Often times, they try to take too much control over their balance because they don't trust their balance system.  They end up moving similar to a person who is walking on ice.  Our balance is much better when it is left at the unconscious reflexive level.

Is spiritual transformation conscious or unconscious?  Can we consciously will ourselves to be transformed?  If Christ's character is not manufactured by us, but produced through us then it is more unconscious.  Consciously, we have to learn to abide or stay close.  When walking, we have to make a choice to get up and move and we also have a certain amount of conscious control over the health of our bodies, but then once we are up, most of walking is unconscious.  Spiritually, we make a choice to follow Christ and to do things that help us stay close to him.  Then, if we hold to the vine, then the vine will produce fruit through us.  Perhaps being transformed spiritually is similar to staying upright.  The more conscious control we try to take over the phenomenon, the more unnatural and messed up it will be.

Like Christ

So if we can't be like Michael Jordan, can we really be like Christ?  What about if I pray enough, read enough bible verses, serve enough and be good enough, can I be like Christ?  I don't think so.  I mean, I can do some of the things Christ did; like recite scripture, pray, serve and love others.  But, could I ever truly become like Christ?  There is something Christ has to offer that Michael Jordan can't.   

Andy Stanley states, "you cannot manufacture the character of Christ because the character of Jesus Christ must come from Jesus Christ"  The focus needs to shift from us trying to become like Christ to abiding in Christ.  If He is the vine and we are the branches, then the branch needs to hold on and stay close.  No one ever heard of the branch trying to become the vine.  However, the vine nourishes the branch and the branch can produce fruit.

Like Mike

Remember the Gatorade commercial that talked about flying, moving and groving just like Michael Jordan?  I remember watching that on "Channel One" in home room my freshman year in High School.  It always got me pumped up.  I loved it when that commercial came on.  I waited for it every morning.  I felt a shot of adrenaline after watching that commercial (and I was a wrestler not a basketball player).  I think the idea was that if we drank Gatorade, we might somehow become like Mike.  Well, no matter how hard we worked, or how many bottles of Gatorade we drank, we were not going to be like Mike. We could do some things Michael Jordan did, like; shoot a basketball, run up and down a basketball court, make jump shots, wear Air Jordan shoes and...drink Gatorade.  But, we would never do these things just like Mike. Michael Jordan was blessed with genetic gifts that allowed him to do the amazing things he did.

At "The Exchanged Life" series in 2009 at First Christian Church, I heard Dr. John Geib provide the above illustration and ask the following question: what if, though, Michael Jordan could have somehow came and lived inside of us?  What if he could have taken over our bodies?  How would that have changed our ability to play basketball?