Your Life Follows Your Thoughts

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Your Life Follows Your Thoughts


Brandon: I readjusted this layout to better fit the formatting needed when I print. If you will just keep all your text within the blue margin lines on this page, I shouldn’t have any more issues ☺. Thanks! Dr. Brandon Park | June 12, 2016

Your brain is the most complex thing in the universe. Your brain is the most complex thing in the universe. • The average brain weighs about 3 lbs., yet it contains 100 billion nerve cells. • Each nerve cell is connected to other nerve cells with 10,000 individual connections. • There are 5 trillion chemical reactions happening inside your brain every second. • This information is traveling at 268 miles per hour. • Even though your brain is only 2% of your body’s weight, it uses 20-20% of your total calories. Dr. Duane Gish has observed that “the human brain is the most complex arrangement of matter in the universe.” Psalm 138:13-14 – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Proverbs 23:7 summarizes so well the over-arching significance of the mind as far as God is concerned: “For as a man thinks within himself, so is he.” Your life will move in the ________________ of your most __________________ thoughts. A lot of Christians are not living at their potential or even enjoying their life because of “stinking thinking.” Their minds are a mess because they are constantly dwelling on harmful, negative thoughts. The root cause of their problems is that they are not allowing God to control their thought life. If we think negative, discouraging thoughts, we will lead negative, discouraging lives. We must be extremely careful of what we allow our minds to ______________ on. Your mind is the Enemy’s favorite area to work in. Satan knows that if he can control what we think, he can manipulate our entire life. What Enhances Brain Health? Dr. Daniel Amen 1. Positive _____________ ____________________ – Proverbs 22:24-25. People’s behavior is contagious. If you spend time with those who have healthy habits and thinking patterns, you will pick that up too. 2. New ____________________ – Proverbs 4:1-2. Whenever you learn something new, your brain is making new connections. When you stop learning, your brain actually starts to disconnect itself. 3. Great ____________ – 1 Corinthians 6:19. You are either consuming the nutrients that are helping you or the toxins that are killing you. 4. _______________ – Mark 6:31. When you get less than 7 hours of sleep you have lower blood flow to the brain. 5. __________________ – Proverbs 10:4. Physical fitness increases blood flow to the brain. 6. Healthy ________________ – Joshua 14:12-15. We need new “mountains” to climb and new projects to tackle. There is both good and bad stress. Stress is how your brain and body reacts to how you’re thinking. Stage 1 is positive stress – your neurons are lining up and you’re being productive. Stage 2 is negative stress – you start thinking negative thoughts about what you’re doing. Stage 3 is when you stay in negative stress too long and you have neurochemical chaos. The result is illness and disease. 7. _________________ – Joshua 1:8. When people meditate, it drastically increases activity in the prefrontal lobe. 8. ____________________ – Psalm 100:1-5. If you write down three things you’re happy for every day on a daily basis, you’ll notice a significant increase in your level of happiness within three weeks. 9. _________ Killing – Automated Negative Thoughts – Job 3:25. Don’t believe everything that comes to your mind. Constantly ask yourself, “Is that thought true?” Scientists say that _______% of our mental, behavioral, and physical illnesses we have today come from our thought life. Your choice (your reaction) determines if stress will make or break you.

Dr. Daniel Amen explains how every thought you have sends an electrical signal to your brain that can be recorded, analyzed, and visualized on a nuclear brain scan. He proves that our thoughts literally possess physical properties and are therefore tangibly real. He says, “Every cell in your body is affected by every thought you have.” The thoughts that you think literally become a part of your biology. “A joyful heart is good medicine; but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” – Proverbs 17:22 Read Romans 12:1-2. How do you “renew” your mind? There are three things we must do when negative thoughts come:

1. ____________ them: Stay on the offensive and be aggressive.

Sin comes from within us – the choices that we make. The Enemy makes evil ______________; we are the ones who make evil ______________. Every time we make a bad decision, we wire that toxic thought into our brain. Your toxic thoughts and bad behavior are not who you _______; it is who you have ___________. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.” That is not who you are – you were made in God’s image – it is who you have become. If you’ve hard-wired it in, you can hard-wire it out. Deuteronomy 30:19, “I lay before you life and death; blessing and cursing. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” When people make bad choices/decisions, those thought processes literally get hard-wired into our brains and it affects the physical structure of the brain. We design the __________________ of our brain – either in a positive or negative direction. Titus 1:15, “To those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” Whatever you think about the most will grow. This is what Scripture calls a “stronghold” It’s toxic thinking that has become hardwired into our brain, and now we are living out of that newly developed reality. How do people get controlled by evil? Evil has no way of working or existing until you believe a lie. Evil has no control over you until you react to it. And it’s your reaction that takes it inside of you and makes it a physical reality inside your brain.

2. ___________ them: Meditate on truth to substitute negative thoughts.

Your brain was once thought of as a machine that could not be changed. However, new discoveries have led to what scientists call neuroplasticity. This basically means that you are not stuck with the brain you have. It can change and regrow. God has also built in the principle of neurogenesis – new nerve cells are birthed daily for our benefit. This means if you start making good decisions today, you can drastically improve your brain’s function within ________ months. God has designed your brain to follow the direction of your mind, which is to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:6, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” We _______________ our brain, our brain does not control us. For every behavior we experience, our brain creates a neurological pathway. As behavior is repeated, those pathways become increasingly more stable (ex: dirt road vs. interstate highway). So in order to change our behavior, we must reprogram our brain. That requires the deconstruction of existing highways, and it’s a process that takes time. The Bible says we are to 1.) take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and 2.) to commit daily to the renewing of our mind through the power of God’s Word. In time, the result is the formation of an entirely new neurological roadmap, leading you to the life you were meant to live.

3. _______________ in just the opposite of what Satan is telling you.

Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.” When you are negative, you are in agreement with the ________________, but when you are positive you are in agreement with _________. Zechariah says we should be “prisoners of hope…” (Zechariah 9:12). Even when it looks impossible, we should hold our heads up high and remember that we serve the God of the Possible. You need to quit thinking about how big your problems are and start thinking about how big your God is. The ______________ we make our God, the ________________ our problems will become. Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace the mind [that is] dependent [on You], for it is trusting in You.”

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Brandon: I readjusted this layout to better fit the formatting needed when I print. If you will just keep all your text within the blue margin lines on this page, I shouldn’t have any more issues ☺. Thanks! Dr. Brandon Park | June 12, 2016

Your brain is the most complex thing in the universe. Your brain is the most complex thing in the universe. • The average brain weighs about 3 lbs., yet it contains 100 billion nerve cells. • Each nerve cell is connected to other nerve cells with 10,000 individual connections. • There are 5 trillion chemical reactions happening inside your brain every second. • This information is traveling at 268 miles per hour. • Even though your brain is only 2% of your body’s weight, it uses 20-20% of your total calories. Dr. Duane Gish has observed that “the human brain is the most complex arrangement of matter in the universe.” Psalm 138:13-14 – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Proverbs 23:7 summarizes so well the over-arching significance of the mind as far as God is concerned: “For as a man thinks within himself, so is he.” direction dominant Your life will move in the ________________ of your most __________________ thoughts. A lot of Christians are not living at their potential or even enjoying their life because of “stinking thinking.” Their minds are a mess because they are constantly dwelling on harmful, negative thoughts. The root cause of their problems is that they are not allowing God to control their thought life. If we think negative, discouraging thoughts, we will lead negative, discouraging lives. We must be extremely careful of what we allow our minds to ______________ on. Your mind is dwell the Enemy’s favorite area to work in. Satan knows that if he can control what we think, he can manipulate our entire life. What Enhances Brain Health? Dr. Daniel Amen social connections 1. Positive _____________ ____________________ – Proverbs 22:24-25. People’s behavior is contagious. If you spend time with those who have healthy habits and thinking patterns, you will pick that up too. learning 2. New ____________________ – Proverbs 4:1-2. Whenever you learn something new, your brain is making new connections. When you stop learning, your brain actually starts to disconnect itself. diet 3. Great ____________ – 1 Corinthians 6:19. You are either consuming the nutrients that are helping you or the toxins that are killing you. Sleep 4. _______________ – Mark 6:31. When you get less than 7 hours of sleep you have lower blood flow to the brain. Exercise 5. __________________ – Proverbs 10:4. Physical fitness increases blood flow to the brain. stress 6. Healthy ________________ – Joshua 14:12-15. We need new “mountains” to climb and new projects to tackle. There is both good and bad stress. Stress is how your brain and body reacts to how you’re thinking. Stage 1 is positive stress – your neurons are lining up and you’re being productive. Stage 2 is negative stress – you start thinking negative thoughts about what you’re doing. Stage 3 is when you stay in negative stress too long and you have neurochemical chaos. The result is illness and disease. Meditation 7. _________________ – Joshua 1:8. When people meditate, it drastically increases activity in the prefrontal lobe. Gratitude 8. ____________________ – Psalm 100:1-5. If you write down three things you’re happy for every day on a daily basis, you’ll notice a significant increase in your level of happiness within three weeks. ANT 9. _________ Killing – Automated Negative Thoughts – Job 3:25. Don’t believe everything that comes to your mind. Constantly ask yourself, “Is that thought true?” 75 Scientists say that _______% of our mental, behavioral, and physical illnesses we have today come from our thought life. Your choice (your reaction) determines if stress will make or break you.

Dr. Daniel Amen explains how every thought you have sends an electrical signal to your brain that can be recorded, analyzed, and visualized on a nuclear brain scan. He proves that our thoughts literally possess physical properties and are therefore tangibly real. He says, “Every cell in your body is affected by every thought you have.” The thoughts that you think literally become a part of your biology. “A joyful heart is good medicine; but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” – Proverbs 17:22 Read Romans 12:1-2. How do you “renew” your mind? There are three things we must do when negative thoughts come: Reject 1. ____________ them: Stay on the offensive and be aggressive. Sin comes from within us – the choices that we make. The Enemy makes evil ______________; possible actual we are the ones who make evil ______________. Every time we make a bad decision, we wire that toxic thought into our brain. are become Your toxic thoughts and bad behavior are not who you _______; it is who you have ___________. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.” That is not who you are – you were made in God’s image – it is who you have become. If you’ve hard-wired it in, you can hard-wire it out. Deuteronomy 30:19, “I lay before you life and death; blessing and cursing. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” When people make bad choices/decisions, those thought processes literally get hard-wired into our brains and it affects the physical structure of the brain. landscape We design the __________________ of our brain – either in a positive or negative direction. Titus 1:15, “To those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” Whatever you think about the most will grow. This is what Scripture calls a “stronghold” It’s toxic thinking that has become hardwired into our brain, and now we are living out of that newly developed reality. How do people get controlled by evil? Evil has no way of working or existing until you believe a lie. Evil has no control over you until you react to it. And it’s your reaction that takes it inside of you and makes it a physical reality inside your brain. Replace 2. ___________ them: Meditate on truth to substitute negative thoughts. Your brain was once thought of as a machine that could not be changed. However, new discoveries have led to what scientists call neuroplasticity. This basically means that you are not stuck with the brain you have. It can change and regrow. God has also built in the principle of neurogenesis – new nerve cells are birthed daily for our benefit. This means if you start making good decisions today, two you can drastically improve your brain’s function within ________ months. God has designed your brain to follow the direction of your mind, which is to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:6, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” control We _______________ our brain, our brain does not control us. For every behavior we experience, our brain creates a neurological pathway. As behavior is repeated, those pathways become increasingly more stable (ex: dirt road vs. interstate highway). So in order to change our behavior, we must reprogram our brain. That requires the deconstruction of existing highways, and it’s a process that takes time. The Bible says we are to 1.) take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and 2.) to commit daily to the renewing of our mind through the power of God’s Word. In time, the result is the formation of an entirely new neurological roadmap, leading you to the life you were meant to live. Respond 3. _______________ in just the opposite of what Satan is telling you. Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.” enemy When you are negative, you are in agreement with the ________________, but when you are God positive you are in agreement with _________. Zechariah says we should be “prisoners of hope…” (Zechariah 9:12). Even when it looks impossible, we should hold our heads up high and remember that we serve the God of the Possible. You need to quit thinking about how big your problems are and start thinking about how big your God is. The ______________ we make our God, the ________________ our problems will become. greater smaller Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace the mind [that is] dependent [on You], for it is trusting in You.”