HEALING THE MIND
When we hear of healing the mind, our thoughts might go to psychiatry and severe mental illness. The truth is that when our minds are healed, there is reduced stress, there is no depression, there is serenity that grows from the perfect freedom that is the service of God.
When we speak of healing the mind, we are talking about two things. the data recorded in the mind and the way we think with our value system. Jesus sent us to teach others what He taught us. That has a twofold content. He taught us about the Kingdom of God, and He told us to, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness..."
(See tract on Kingdom)He taught us to think Love. He also taught us to think forgiveness, the elasticity of God's love which covers us even as we change. He taught us to think healing. He taught us to think prayer as communication with Abba. He taught us to think of God as Our Father who is THE SOURCE of all things, that we might see everything else as a REsource.
Most of us facing a crisis have a natural tendency to focus on the problem. Jesus has taught us to always be aware of God and His will for us, and above all of His loving power that is able to redeem the situation in which we find ourselves.
There is a popular bracelet that has come out in Christian circles which has four letters to remind us to ask a question. WWJD - What Would Jesus Do? To some it means to work out the answer from what you know about Jesus; but to those who know Him, the answer is always the same. He would ask Abba what He wanted.
When we have established a relationship to God through the healing of the spirit, we would do well to practice talking with Him, listening as well as speaking. It is in solitude that we come to know Him that we might be able to walk with Him in the crowd. We come to know Him on the mountain top so that we might walk with Him in the valleys.
(See tract on Prayer)Jesus Christ is the answer to the question, "Can I know God?" He who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. We are to be made one with them and with one another in their love.
ANSWER AND SOLUTION
An answer is not always a solution. If I have the answer it must still be assimilated into the process of healing to become a solution. The answer to how I can know God is through prayer. The solution comes only when I begin to pray.
I am the problem; Jesus is the answer. He becomes the solution, only as I am willing to open my life to the healing power of His love.
As Christians we have a lot of answers. Every question that the human mind can pose has been answered by God in Jesus Christ. We find the solution as we are willing to give Him access to our lives to make the corrections in the content of our minds, and the way in which we use our knowledge. How do we learn to think Kingdom instead of world?
STUDY AND PRAYER
If we are to learn to think as Jesus taught, we are going to have to study the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to learn about Him. We are to learn what He did and what He taught about His Father. Other books may share insights that are helpful, but the Scriptures are the meat and potatoes of the Christian faith.
If we are to know Jesus, we must engage Him in prayer, the dialog wherein we come to know Jesus as well as Abba. We begin to think as He would have us think. We can begin to say with St. Paul, "We have the mind of Christ." I Cor 2:16
We need to develop the mental habit of turning to God rather than trying to work things out with the world's wisdom. Healing of the mind is more than knowing about God. It is being a child of God to whom God makes Himself known.
REACTION AND RESPONSE
We react to people and things without thought. When we react, we are bound to the person to whom we react, until we forgive them. If we persist in our reaction, we will remain in bondage. Our way to freedom is through forgiveness.
(See tract on Forgiveness)In the freedom we can respond. We can decide what we will do in the relationship. If we are to be free and whole, we would do well to ask God what He wants, and choose to do that in His grace. One good definition of love is, "radical obedience to Jesus Christ that He might make Himself known to others through us." As we enthrone Him as King, we are in the Kingdom He taught us to seek.
(See tract on Discipleship)Questions to Consider
1. Jesus told us to seek the Kingdom. How do we seek it?
2. Are we focused on thinking Kingdom or do we think problem instead?
3. Are we focused on love and forgiveness or on justice, judgment and condemnation of other persons or groups?
4. What Would Jesus Do?
5. Do we pray first or think first?
6. How can we make our minds more available for Jesus to use? If God gave us a mind for Him to use, how do we prepare it for His use when He calls us to be His presence for those to whom He sends us?
7. What does Paul mean when he says, "we have the mind of Christ"?
SUGGESTED EXERCISES
1. Read the Sermon on the Mount. How much of Jesus' teaching do you follow? Pick one portion of the Sermon and seek to assimilate it into your personal life. Ask someone else in the group to pray for your effort. Share your experience of making the change in the way you think and act.
2. Consider some case of illness that is said to be serious and discuss it with a focus on the dis ease. Discuss the same illness with a focus on the Kingdom and God's presence in the circumstances. Make a commitment to think about all illness in terms of God's healing love rather than the world's doubt and anxiety.
3. Find one of the answers that you have heard or read in healing literature. If it is not already a solution in your life, seek to assimilate the answer so that it becomes a solution.
4. Recall a situation in which you have reacted to some person or people around you. If you are angry ask God's grace to forgive them. Now ask God to show you how He wants you to love them. When you have forgiven the person and decided to obey God in that relationship, was there any change in the peace that you felt.
5. The next time someone says they have a headache, think Kingdom. Ask God how He wants you to respond. Ask the person if they would mind your praying for them. Is it a natural thought for you to think prayer rather than aspirin? Discuss the problem of thinking world before Kingdom when we are confronted with need.
6. Ask God to heal your mind by bringing His order into your thinking, so you can think to ask God rather than trying to work out the problems in your life.