July 31 Devotion - Renewing My Mind- Step 5-Dream On!

Step 5: Dream On!

Detoxing your brain doesn’t only take place when you are awake. When you are dreaming, different parts of your body/mind are exchanging information, and your glial cells are cleaning up your memory networks.

(Glial cell: A supportive cell in the central nervous system -- the brain and spinal cord. Glial cells do not conduct electrical impulses (as opposed to neurons, which do). The glial cells surround neurons and provide support for them and insulation between them. Glial cells are capable of extensive signaling in response to a diversity of stimuli. Bidirectional communication exists between glial cells and neurons, and between glial cells and vascular cells. The four main functions of glial cells are to surround neurons and hold them in place, to supply nutrients and oxygen to neurons, to insulate one neuron from another, and to destroy pathogens and remove dead neurons. They also modulate neurotransmission.)

We all dream, it’s a physiological process. The reality is that many of us suppress our dreams because of the emotions they evoke. Yet our dreams challenge us to sort our emotional lives. Be advised: the more turbulent and disturbing your dreams, the more work you have to do on your thought life. Dreams not only have content but feelings as well. Any badly built memories are cleaned up at this stage as well.

The critical first step to using your dreams to detox your thoughts is simply to remember them. Capturing the dream in some form such as writing it down as soon as you wake up can be enlightening and help you to control your thoughts.

On a physiological level, your dream state allows the psychosomatic network to retune itself and get ready for the demands of your waking life.

For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction.
 

إِنَّ اللهَ يَتَكَلَّمُ بِطَرِيقَةٍ أَوْ بِأُخْرَى وَإِنْ كَانَ الإِنْسَانُ لاَ يُدْرِكُهَا.

 ¹⁵ يَتَكَلَّمُ فِي حُلْمٍ، فِي رُؤْيَا اللَّيْلِ عِنْدَمَا يَغْشَى النَّاسَ سَبَاتٌ عَمِيقٌ.

 ¹⁶ عِنْدَئِذٍ يَفْتَحُ آذَانَ النَّاسِ وَيُرْعِبُهُمْ بِتَحْذِيرَاتِهِ،

Job 33:14-16

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
       That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
      Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
      Your young men shall see visions,
      Your old men shall dream dreams.

يَقُولُ اللهُ : فِي الأَيَّامِ الأَخِيرَةِ سَأَسْكُبُ رُوحِي عَلَى جَمِيعِ الْبَشَرِ، فَيَتَنَبَّأُ بَنُوكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ، وَيَرَى شَبَابُكُمْ رًُؤى، وَيَحْلُمُ شُيُوخُكُمْ أَحْلاَماً.

Acts 2:17

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. Lord, let my dreams be an opportunity to hear Your voice and to renew my thoughts and be transformed to the image You hold of me. My heavenly Father, while I sleep tonight open my ears and seal Your instructions. Help me to see, feel, and believe the transformation that You are planning for my entire life. God help detox my brain and bring all my thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
هادمين ظنونا وكل علو يرتفع ضد معرفة الله ومستأسرين كل فكر الى طاعة المسيح

Jesus loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

July 27 Devotion - Renewing My Mind Step 4 - Take Responsibility and Take Control

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

ولا تشاكلوا هذا الدهر. بل تغيّروا عن شكلكم بتجديد اذهانكم لتختبروا ما هي ارادة الله الصالحة المرضية الكاملة.

Romans 12:2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

وَقَالَ: «إِنَّ مَلَكُوتَ اللهِ يُشَبَّهُ بِإِنْسَانٍ يُلْقِي الْبِذَارَ عَلَى الأَرْضِ،

  ثُمَّ يَنَامُ لَيْلاً وَيَقُومُ نَهَاراً فِيمَا الْبِذَارُ يَطْلُعُ وَيَنْمُو، وَهُوَ لاَ يَدْرِي كَيْفَ يَحْدُثُ الأَمْرُ.

 فَالأَرْضُ مِنْ ذَاتِهَا تُعْطِي الثَّمَرَ، فَتُطْلِعُ أَوَّلاً عُشْبَةً، ثُمَّ سُنْبُلَةً، ثُمَّ قَمْحاً مِلْءَ السُّنْبُلَةِ.

  وَلَكِنْ حَالَمَا يَنْضَجُ الثَّمَرُ، يُعْمِلُ فِيهِ الْمِنْجَلَ إِذْ يَكُونُ الْحَصَادُ قَدْ حَانَ».

Mark 4:26-29

This parable that Jesus said can be used to illustrate the power of the ‘subconscious mind’ to "germinate", grow, a thought form, where it can eventually manifest as the object of the Thought Form, after which it can be harvested and experienced.

The "ground" is a metaphor for the "garden" of the ‘subconscious mind’ where seeds, are sown, either consciously or unconsciously.

The fertile ground of the ‘subconscious mind’ never judges which seeds are "good" and which seeds are "bad", the garden of the ‘subconscious mind’ will accept, nurture and bring the seeds to fruition regardless, even though "he himself does not know how".

So the fertile "ground" of the ‘subconscious mind’ is where either "good" seeds are sown, or "bad" seeds are unconsciously sown by reacting to events perceived by the senses, resulting in "weeds" cluttering up the life of the person. Jesus goes on to say "But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

In summary, this parable may be used to teach the great truth about the existence of the fertile garden of the ‘subconscious mind’, and its infinite powers to accept a "seed", a Thought Form, particularly just before sleep or in an altered state of consciousness, and to do whatever needs to be done to bring the seed to fruition where it can be experienced, although most people still "do not know how".

In the last devotions I wrote:

In the next 10 devotions I will share with you 10 steps to detoxify the brain. I am learning about these steps and learning to apply them.

These steps are adapted from a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian author, and other teachings I learned.

Step 1: Consciously Control Your Thoughts

Step 2: Frame Your World with Your Words

Step 3: Express Those Emotions

Step 4: Take Responsibility and Take Control

The mind is like a flow of information as it moves among the cells, organs and systems of the body. Information flow is metacognitive (beyond consciousness), yet it impacts the conscious level.

Research shows that the metacognitive level is responsible for 90% of what’s happening in the mind, and the cognitive level is responsible for only 10%.

Your individuality implies and carries with it the taking of responsibility for your actions: you must consciously force the metacognitive and cognitive levels to interact. You can do this by consciously thinking about what is in your mind which allows you literally to access  the psychosomatic (body-mind) network where your memories are stored and redirect them. Start by bringing your awareness to past experiences and conditioning, and then lay the groundwork so that you can grow new memories over the old ones. Ask God to help you through prayer.

 "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,"

Proverbs 23:7

Our action has to be:

bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10: 5

 I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. Lord, help me to master my subconscious mind, to be able to read the programs written on the software of my mind and change it through conditioning and writing of new programs. Help me to keep doing this until I begin to function out of these new paradigms based on your teachings, commandments and wisdom. God change the way I think in my heart so that I can change. Guide me and strengthen me to seek Your face and get to know You and Your thoughts; bringing all my thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

هادمين ظنونا وكل علو يرتفع ضد معرفة الله ومستأسرين كل فكر الى طاعة المسيح

One of the recipients of the series on ‘renewing my mind’ gave me feedback which I would like to share as it may help us all:

“Until each one of us realizes how many thoughts go through the mind in a minute and makes a conscious decision to watch that flow nothing will happen.  I personally need to quieten my mind and talk myself into doing that - almost like a meditation exercise.  Then when I am in that concentrating/reflective mode I am able to listen to The Holy Spirit and the voice from within. 

It is a long journey and non-stop awareness, practise, honesty and feedback to yourself and it is easy to fall into the wrong trap or let go and be captive to the wrong thought sometime simply to avoid work or effort for the right thought. 

I always repeat a mantra "as you think so shall you be" starting my day with messages to myself setting the day up for me. Thanking God, asking for blessings and help to guide and control the day and that alone gives a silent message to the mind and the brain that all is good and God is in control and is blessing all and every bit within me."

 Jesus Loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

July 26 Devotion- Renewing My Mind- Step 3 Express Those Emotions

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

ولا تشاكلوا هذا الدهر. بل تغيّروا عن شكلكم بتجديد اذهانكم لتختبروا ما هي ارادة الله الصالحة المرضية الكاملة.

Romans 12:2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

In the last devotions I wrote:

In the next 10 devotions I will share with you 10 steps to detoxify the brain with the objective of renewing our brain.

 I am learning about these steps and learning to apply them.

These steps are adapted from a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian author, and other teachings I learned.

Step 1: Consciously Control Your Thoughts

Step 2: Frame Your World with Your Words

The Apostle Paul was dealing with difficult emotions. They were so powerful that we can imagine that they were tearing him apart. He chose to express his emotions, not out loud to himself, not to a group of friends, no; he put them in writing for the whole world to see for thousands of years. We can deduct that there is a big value of expressing our emotions and not bottling them up inside as some of us do. Let’s read his feelings:

 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

إِذَنْ، أَجِدُ نَفْسِي، أَنَا الَّذِي يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَعْمَلَ مَا هُوَ صَالِحٌ، خَاضِعاً لِهَذَا النَّامُوسِ:

  أَنَّ لَدَيَّ الشَّرَّ. فَإِنَّنِي، وَفْقاً لِلإِنْسَانِ الْبَاطِنِ فِيَّ، أَبْتَهِجُ بِشَرِيعَةِ اللهِ.

  وَلكِنَّنِي أَرَى فِي أَعْضَائِي نَامُوساً آخَرَ يُحَارِبُ الشَّرِيعَةَ الَّتِي يُرِيدُهَا عَقْلِي، وَيَجْعَلُنِي أَسِيراً لِنَامُوسِ الْخَطِيئَةِ الْكَائِنِ فِي أَعْضَائِي.

Step 3: Express Those Emotions

If you repress and hide toxic emotions, the time will come when those buried emotions will suddenly come pouring out, and of course, it will happen at the most inopportune time, because buried emotions are not controlled, thoughtful emotions.

 Signs of suppressed emotions (beside illness in your body), include:

Irritability, short temper, over-reactivity, anxiety, frustration, fear, impulse, a desire for control, perfectionism, self doubt.

Realize that The Bible tells us “In your anger do not sin” Ephesians 4:26 and ‘an angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.’ Proverbs 29:22. We need to be able to express our emotions in a controlled and effective manner.

Don’t deny your feelings. Acknowledge them, face them and deal with them in a positive way as soon as you can. Expressing emotions in a healthy way is an important step in detoxing the brain.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:                                                                                                                                                  Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. Lord, help me to acknowledge my feelings and express them to you in prayer, may the Holy Spirit indwelling in me give me healing and support to do the right thing according to your will.  Help me Lord to be able to express my emotions to my brethren in an effective constructive way that is according to a win-win approach. Heavenly Father, please continue to teach me to renew my mind so that I can be transformed to be Christlike, to feel Your joy, to live Your good and pleasing will for my life. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, to Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.” Psalm 16:2
قُلْتُ لِلرَّبِّ: «أَنْتَ سَيِّدِي. خَيْرِي لاَ شَيْءَ غَيْرُكَ».

Jesus loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

July 25 Devotion- Renewing My Mind- Step 2

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

وَخِتَاماً، أَيُّهَا الإِخْوَةُ: كُلُّ مَا كَانَ حَقّاً، وَكُلُّ مَا كَانَ شَرِيفاً، وَكُلُّ مَا كَانَ عَادِلاً، وَكُلُّ مَا كَانَ طَاهِراً وَكُلُّ مَا كَانَ مُسْتَحَبّاً، وَكُلُّ مَا كَانَ حَسَنَ السُّمْعَةِ، وَكُلُّ مَا كَانَ فِيهِ فَضِيلَةٌ وَخَصْلَةٌ حَمِيدَةٌ، فَاشْغِلُوا أَفْكَارَكُمْ بِهِ.

                                                          Philippians 4:8

In the last devotion I wrote:

In the next 10 devotions I will share with you 10 steps to detoxify the brain. I am learning about these steps and learning to apply them.

These steps are adapted from a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian author and other teachings I learned.

Step 1: Consciously Control Your Thoughts (See devotion dated July 24)

Step 2: Frame Your World with Your Words

The words that you speak are electromagnetic life forces that come from a thought inside your brain and have a big impact on your thoughts and your health and attitude. The words are influenced by your 5 senses. The 5 senses form the connection between the external world and your mind’s internal world.

When you make negative statements, you release negative chemicals, which lead to negative memories that grow stronger and become negative strongholds that control your attitude and life.

Your positive words have to be backed up with honesty and integrity, -what in psychological words is called congruence. What you say and do on the outside must reflect what you think on the inside.

When you start speaking positive words out of positive thinking, you grow a beautiful new memory over the painful old one. The old memory will not go away but will be dominated by the new one.

You can be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Romans 12:2

 If you do not do this process with integrity and congruence, then the positive statements will fade in time and the negative stronghold will gain supremacy again. It is congruent thinking that creates necessary changes in the brain.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. Lord, help me to stop leaning on my own abilities and to depend totally on Your wisdom and power through The Holy Spirit working in me. Heavenly Father, please continue to teach me to renew my mind and have positive memories dominate over the old memories. Teach me to be congruent O’ Lord, help me to think positive, noble, lovely and admirable thoughts and strengthen me through the Holy Spirit to be congruent and to ‘walk my talk’; so that I can be transformed to be Christlike, to feel Your joy, to live Your good and pleasing will for my life. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, to Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.” Psalm 16:2
قُلْتُ لِلرَّبِّ: «أَنْتَ سَيِّدِي. خَيْرِي لاَ شَيْءَ غَيْرُكَ».
Jesus loves you
In Him,
Wagdi Henein

July 24 Devotion- Renewing My Mind- Step 1

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

ولا تشاكلوا هذا الدهر. بل تغيّروا عن شكلكم بتجديد اذهانكم لتختبروا ما هي ارادة الله الصالحة المرضية الكاملة.

Romans 12:2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

I have read this bible verse many times and wanted to renew my mind. I did not know how. I am learning how.

In order to renew my mind I first need to unlearn things that are totally based on worldly wisdom. Then I need to replace them with God’s teachings and accepting Jesus as my Lord (over my life) and as my Saviour. Salvation is only through Christ.

I believe that I can experience God’s good and pleasing will for my life when I:

·     Surrender to God

·     Let The Holy Spirit work in me and direct me  

·     Clean up (detoxify) my mind

·     Constantly read the Bible and meditate on God’s word

·     Pray without ceasing

·     Get my thoughts, behaviour, and attitude and boundaries aligned with God’s word

In the next 10 devotions I will share with you 10 steps to clean up or detoxify the brain. I am learning to apply them.

These steps are adapted from a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian author and other teachings I learned.

Step 1: Consciously Control Your Thoughts

It is essential that you learn about your mental processes and get actively involved in changing them.

Demanding unrealistic performance from yourself and others puts your mind and body in stress mode and this has a negative effect on your health. We need to depend on The Holy Spirit living within us in order to be able to live the Christian life.

When you receive a thought, filter it. If it is helpful accept it, if it is not helpful reject it. You should: ask, answer and discuss your thoughts out loud with yourself.

Never let thoughts wander through your mind unchecked. If they are toxic they will eventually make you sick. Thoughts are real things with substance and need to be controlled.

Until you have your thoughts and attitudes under control, no amount of knowledge, skill, or medication can help you truly detox. You will need courage and perseverance to confront and control your thoughts and to build healthy boundaries for yourself and in your relationships.

One of the real dangers of toxic thoughts is that they build toxic memories. The first step to stop building toxic memories is to filter the thoughts in the early stages. Toxic memories can be replaced by reprogramming and replacing them with pleasant memories. This will require many recordings of the pleasant memory until the negative memory is erased.

Research shows that intelligence is not static but can be enhanced (or reduced) by your neurochemistry. You control your neurochemistry by your thought life; therefore you can make yourself healthier and smarter and more able to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. Lord, help me to stop leaning on my own abilities and to depend totally on Your wisdom and power through The Holy Spirit working in me. Heavenly Father, please continue to teach me to renew my mind so that I can be transformed to be Christlike, to feel Your joy, to live Your good and pleasing will for my life. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, to Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.” Psalm 16:2
قُلْتُ لِلرَّبِّ: «أَنْتَ سَيِّدِي. خَيْرِي لاَ شَيْءَ غَيْرُكَ».

Jesus loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

July 23 Devotion- Ordered Steps

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.

من قبل الرب تتثبت خطوات الانسان وفي طريقه يسرّ.

Psalm 37:23 

We all need God’s support; even the most powerful must be supported by the Lord, without His support their strength and courage will be of no avail.

When we seek God and surrender to Jesus as our Lord and Saviour; our steps are established by The LORD and we will delight in His choice for our lives.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for                                                                                                          yourself:                                                                                                                                                                   Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. I praise You and glorify You. Jesus You are my Lord and Saviour. Lord, by Your grace and The Holy Spirit, establish and guide my steps. Help me to stay in faith and put You first in my life. I trust that You are at work in my life even during times when I don't understand it. I am confident that Your guidance has placed me where I am supposed to be right now. Give me the strength and courage to do what is right in Your sight to Your delight. Thank You that Through Your grace and mercy You care so much about every detail of my life. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, to Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.
لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ أَوَانٌ، وَلِكُلِّ أَمْرٍ تَحْتَ السَّمَاءِ زَمَانٌ
واعوض لكم عن السنين التي اكلها الجراد

Ecclesiastes 3:1, Joel 2:25

Jesus loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein