The love for Christ will rewire our souls; John 14:15; Rom 12:2; Psa 23:3

John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

 

This passage begins with the fact that the ascension leads to a new ministry of God the Holy Spirit (vv. 15-17). So as the Lord has already communicated to them, it is essential that He leave earth after the cross is accomplished and it is to their’s as well as our benefit that He do so.  

 

/“If” is a 3^rd class condition (maybe you do and maybe you do not). All believers do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Capacity to love Jesus Christ is based on the intake of Bible doctrine.\

 

If you are not taking in Bible doctrine on a consistent basis you have no capacity to love the Lord Jesus Christ. The word of God is the mind of Jesus Christ and you cannot love someone that you don’t know.

 

/“you love me” - present active subjunctive of a)gapaw[agapao] which is a mental attitude love. This emphasizes occupation with Christ as well as concentration upon Him.\

 

As we have seen love is humility, RMA, lack of MAS, and objectivity. All of this is included but since agapao love is here directed toward Christ it signifies that we should be concentrating on Him and occupied with Him and, as we do in the Lord’s supper, we remember Him.

 

Since the verb is in the present this means a daily occupation, concentration, and remembrance of Christ.

 

/As my soul remembers the sweet fragrance of memories with Christ, is occupied with Him now, and looks forward to more times with Him in the future, I cannot focus on the flesh or the world.\

 

In any habit, the longer you stay away from it the more you realize that you don’t need it as much as you once thought. That is true for good habits and bad. The longer you stay away from BD class the more you will realize that you don’t really need it. The same is true for bad habits.

 

The more time spent in the plan of God and less time spent in the flesh and the world system will reveal to you that you didn’t need the flesh or the world as much as you once thought.

 

We are certainly creatures of habit.

 

Multiple studies have shown that habits are engraved in the brain in the form of paved biochemical environments that allow for rapid response given the proper cues.

 

/The soul is the real you. It is composed of a nous [mind - processes information] and a kardia [heart - knowledge that defines you]. The brain is the hard wiring that results from the soul.\

 

You may think of the soul as the software and the brain as the hardware that can be reprogrammed if the software changes. Many drugs are designed to change the hardware without affecting the software. When the drug is out of the system the hardware resorts back to its old wiring. There is nothing wrong with certain drugs if they are needed. Many advancements have been made in brain chemistry, but many times these drugs are unproven and over prescribed when it is the soul that must change. One of the best addiction centers in the country is in Malibu where they change behaviour, prescribe only needed drugs, change body chemistry through exercise, and even change diet. This is only to serve as an example. The word of God is the best medicine and it will change you - body, mind, and soul.

 

Because these neural pathways are set or engraved [what we have termed “wheel tracks”] when a certain cue is observed an extremely rapid response is produced. It only takes a fraction of a second since electrons move at close to the speed of light.

 

God has given us doctrine so that this response will be wisdom often times. However, if one desires to change these pathways or wheel tracks, science once again catches up to the Bible.

 

First: It’s not easy. Anyone who says that it’s easy to change is selling you something. I have worked closely with addiction and have watched people do the same thing over and over even though it always means extreme pain in the end.

 

The Bible says that Christ’s yoke is easy and light because He is the One who carried it. That does not mean that change is like turning a switch on or off. When someone believes in Christ their biggest problem [destiny in the LOF] goes away, but many other problems have just begun.

 

HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

 

HEB 4:16Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

 

In the process of change, from occupation with self, with others, or with the world to occupation with Christ there are often going to be times where help is needed. The help from God comes with mercy and grace from the throne, which we approach during doctrine class and during prayer when we are concentrating under the F/HS.

 

Science has also shown that the key to rewiring our brains’ engraved pathways is repetition in the use of another pathway. Patients are told to write down a list of the good that comes from the other pathway. They are then told to read that list in the morning, plan a regiment like a step program, tell others about it, read the list again, plan the next step, and on and on it is all just a matter of repetition.

 

Once again science catches up with the Bible. However, while limited success in found by addicts in that psychological system, much greater success is found by those who submit themselves to the repetition of the word of God. The reason is simple. The word of God is alive and the process of change is supernatural. Yet still we are stubborn creatures of habit, so it still takes time.

 

One psychologist that I read said it was imperative for the patient to believe in himself. This is another source of failure since after years of operating in the old habits and seeing that change is so difficult and even under the most sincere and well motivated desire the change is temporary and the old habit comes back with a vengeance. It is difficult to believe in ones’ self, and rightly so, we are sick and weak from the bottom of our feet to the top of our heads.

 

God’s solution to this is as simple as it is astounding. He doesn’t ask us to believe in ourselves; actually He says quite the opposite, to lose yourself.

 

Then He says that He believes in us. Not because of anything about us, nor is what He believes is not based on blind faith, but on what was done on the cross, which makes it fact. He sees in us who we are in Christ, in our position and He never loses sight of that, no matter what habits we have. We all have EP/EO under election and predestination and so, even when failing and in the throws of our bad habits, He asks us to rest.

    

HEB 4:9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. [all the people of God]

 

The Sabbath is not just any rest. The Sabbath rest is a rest that occurs only after God has finished His work and on the cross it is finished.

 

HEB 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

 

HEB 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.[lack of faith in the grace of God]

 

Psychology has simply borrowed God’s common sense and taken all the power out of it, making it purely human and that’s why it seldom works. The power is in the word. Power and strength come from thinking and God’s thinking is the greatest power.

 

HEB 4:12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart [so that you see them].

 

HEB 4:13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do [including your positional righteousness].

 

Because of our condition as fallen creatures, one hearing of the alive and powerful word is not going to be enough. Everyone who has attempted to enact a mental change has found this to be true. Repetition is the key to changing engraved brain chemistry.

 

/ROM 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed [passive] by the renewing [present - continual] of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. \

 

By means of the word of God, metabolized by the Spirit of God, our minds are transformed and our habits are changed because the knowledge in our hearts becomes metabolized knowledge of God’s thoughts.

 

One of the greatest habits to change is occupation with self or others when every circumstance is followed by the question, “How does that affect me?” By the word of God this changes to occupation with Christ, where circumstances are followed by the question, “How does that affect the glorification of my Lord?”

 

/Ps 23:3

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake. \

 

For His title’s sake - glorification of TLJC.