Changing the Narrative (Part Four - How)

2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Our beliefs about God and ourselves begin in the mind and it's our beliefs, right or wrong, that inform our actions. The mind can be a literal battleground that left unprotected and or undirected has the ability to influence our actions in ways that we would not choose. Our active thoughts change our emotions and our emotions lead our actions. When our emotions are rooted in truth the actions that follow are often life giving. When they are not the opposite is also true.

The beauty is that God has given us the ability to choose and therein sits the invitation to partner with the process of choosing truth.

2 Corinthians paints a picture of the monitored mind, tells us why it's important and invites us into the process as an ACTIVE participant. It begins with the end in mind by framing the outcome for us.

"to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God"

A. W. Tozer, in The Knowledge of the Holy says, "What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us"

Our view of and understanding of the nature and character of God informs our identity and beliefs, our identity and beliefs inform our actions.

Three Column Journaling is a practical discipline that, if we choose to partner with it, can help us reframe the way we think and enable us to begin to demolish these mental strongholds.

We have the choice of what images spool over and over in our thinking, and the capacity to choose where we place our minds.

Draw three side by side columns in a journal, on a sheet of paper or in a word doc on your computer.

The scripture tells us to "take every thought captive" which we execute in column one.

Column One: Identify the audio tracks

An audio track may be as simple as an awkward feeling when introduced to someone new.

It can be a lingering sense that, "if others knew the real me, they would not like me"

Sometimes it is an emotional flinch when a boss tells us to redo a report, or the tormenting notion, "Why try! you will certainly fail again"

In other cases these narratives are not so subtle and show up in the self talk that plays in the background of our minds almost as if someone else was controlling the play button on an implanted audio track.

Our task here is to begin to identify the core messages so they can be challenged. Column one is the practical application of "taking a thought captive".

The discipline here is to begin paying attention to these internal motions and to capture them by writing them down in column one.

Column Two: Identify The Truth. Once we have began to capture these thoughts in column two we are holding them up against truthful inputs that challenge them.

Truth has to do with God's perspective. That is, what does the scripture say?

If the primary sense of a message is "I am worthless," What is God's perspective? For example the first chapter of Ephesians speaks Eloquently to the identity of Christ-followers ("saint," "adopted," "chosen." etc)

Whatever the core issue, the question is always: what is the objective truth - God's truth- about the message in our minds?

Want a list of sample truths like the Ephesians example? Send me a quick email to jwells@hasl.io with the subject line SAMPLE TRUTHS and I will send you a list.

The other way to choose truth is through tangible first hand experience of times when God showed up in the past. Like mile markers on a long highway there are markers in our lives where our experience of God changed the nature of who we are.

The fitness example here is a "marker" where God, through the Holy Spirit and my active participation has "changed the narrative" and as a result changed my actions. This experience is now a "life marker" I can draw back on in the future to identify truth rooted in experience.

Column Three: Choose Truth ("make them obedient to Christ") Here we are verbally renouncing the lie and choosing truth.

Simply write two things for each entry.

I choose to renounce the lie that....

And by faith I choose to believe that.....

Reordering the mind involves the process of identifying the lie, acknowledging the truth, and then choosing it.

This kind of choosing is not a once-and-for-all proposition; it has to be done repeatedly. As we continue to choose, a new way of being is formed - it is the re-habituation of the inner person. This is what Paul speaks of when he talks about "exchanging our old nature for the new" and "taking off the old self".

The result is "demolished strongholds" and new freedoms - those that naturally belong to one who is being conformed to the image of Christ.

When practiced over time the journaling process begins to take place organically. You build the habit of paying attention and choosing truth as you go about your day.

We will see this very process at work across many aspects of our spiritual formation, especially related to building a truth based image of who God is.

While it might sound crazy there is something magical about choosing out loud. When I first began my career by the grace of God I got hired into a job that was way beyond my proven capabilities. Someone took a chance on me. At the time my internal dialogue was really broken. I thought of myself as " a bankrupt, high school dropout, with no self confidence and very little hope". The challenge with this was that I was also married with four kids and the sole income earner in our household.

At the time David Smith who was a mentor to me, taught me what it meant to choose truth. The process was not only rooted in scripture there is scientific evidence that as we change the narrative we are also changing the neurological pathways in the brain. Frankly, I participated our of desperate need far more that belief. I just trusted the process. As a result I spent countless early mornings and late nights on the way to and from the office alone in the car looking at myself in the rearview mirror, choosing out loud, often times with tears streaming down my face. Over time change happened and I begin to walk more and more into the fullness of all that God has made me to be.

The beauty is that It was evident God was not only blessing me through the process but he was blessing those around me. After all we exist for the sake of others.

The fitness example is proof that this is an ongoing discipline and that I, like you, continue to be a work in progress and an active participant in that work.

I hope this is helpful. I will close out this series in one final short post. But for now.

Stay the course and call or text if I can be of help!

Jeff