The Real Jesus: Paul Maier
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
How Exercise Can Help You Live Longer
By Gretchen Reynolds, NY Times, April 2, 2014
Having unhealthy cholesterol numbers, elevated blood pressure or an expanding waistline substantially increases your chances of developing heart disease. But an encouraging new study finds that exercise may slash that risk, even if your other risk factors stay high. Decades ago, scientists first began linking certain health conditions with heart disease. In the famous Framingham Heart Study, for instance, researchers monitored the health and lifestyles of more than 5,200 adults living in Framingham, Mass., starting in 1948. Using the resulting data, the scientists determined that high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, obesity, age, gender and smoking each had measurable impacts on whether someone would develop cardiovascular disease. From their findings, the researchers developed the Framingham Risk Score, which calculates the likelihood of someone experiencing a heart attack within the next 10 years, based on his or her health numbers, especially blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The Framingham Risk Score calculator does not ask about physical activity. But many studies, including continuing portions of the Framingham study, have conclusively shown that people who exercise have a smaller risk of developing or dying from heart disease than sedentary people. Few of those studies, however, have teased out the unique role of physical activity from those of related lifestyle and health factors. Fit people, after all, may have healthier diets and tend also to have healthy cholesterol profiles, low blood pressure, little inclination to smoke and svelte waistlines (fat around the middle is known to be particularly dangerous for heart health). Those factors could be driving the reduction in heart disease risk, with exercise insufficient by itself to reduce someone’s risk of heart problems. In other words, most past studies did not determine whether exercise would lower someone’s risk of cardiac disease even when that person continued to have high blood pressure or other health problems. So, for a study published in December in PLOS One, researchers at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, set out to better quantify the role of exercise by turning to a trove of existing data about the health of 8,662 Australian men and women. Fifteen years before, these volunteers, then ages 30 to 55, had submitted to cholesterol, blood pressure, waist circumference and other health screenings and completed questionnaires detailing how many minutes they had exercised in the past two weeks and whether the exercise had been easy or relatively vigorous, meaning it had caused them to huff and sweat. Using these numbers, the researchers determined each participant’s Framingham Risk Score at the time of the original measurements. They also divided the group into three categories based on the frequency and intensity of exercise. Someone in the bottom third of exercisers reported never or rarely getting much exercise, apart from an occasional gentle stroll. Those in the middle range reported often walking briskly and occasionally engaging in more vigorous activities, while those in the top category of exercisers said that they worked out almost every day, often vigorously. Then the researchers checked the names of the volunteers against a national death registry in Australia, which delineates someone’s cause of death, if it’s known. Two hundred and eleven of the men and women had died of heart disease in the intervening years. Most had had high Framingham Risk Scores and large waistlines. But exercise habits, too, also appeared to play an outsized role in survival. Over all, people in the lowest exercise category had about twice the risk of dying from heart disease as those in the middle group and six times the risk of those in the group who exercised the most often and vigorously. More surprising, when the researchers controlled for each volunteer’s Framingham risk score and waist size, they found that exercising still significantly reduced people’s risk of dying from heart disease. The benefits were fainter, amounting to about half as much risk reduction as before adjustment for these health factors. But they accrued even among volunteers who had less-than-ideal blood pressure, cholesterol levels or waistlines. Someone with a high Framingham score who exercised had less risk of dying than someone with a similar score who did not. The study’s results do not suggest, of course, that any of us should now willfully ignore cholesterol or other standard risk factors when considering heart health, said Satvinder Dhaliwal, a professor at Curtin University, who with Timothy Welborn and Peter Howat, conducted the study. But the data does suggest that “identifying and increasing physical activity” may be “at least as important as the measurement and treatment of lipids and hypertension,” he said. If you aren’t active, he said, go for a walk. In his study, people who walked often and briskly were far more likely to be alive 15 years later than those who rarely got up and moved. |
Christians and the Big Bang Theory
(We need to remember that the Big Bang Theory is speculative or historical science because it cannot be tested, observed and repeated which is the scientific method.
Internationally renowned astrophysicist George FR Ellis who worked with Stephen Hawking on Big Bang Cosmology gave the following candid admission: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that can explain the observations .... For instance, I can construct a spherically symmetric universe for you with Earth at its center, and you cannot prove otherwise based on observations, (You cannot prove based on the observable evidence that it is wrong) ....you can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.(He said that there is nothing wrong with excluding a spherically symmetrical universe with earth near its center. He excludes it because it is too much like a Biblical model which he does not want his naturalistic cosmology to confirm. It is not that the evidence demands that he exclude the earth-centered universe, but his philosophical biases demand it. Physicist Dr. Russell Humphreys, a Christian, begins his cosmology using the very earth-centered hypothesis with some surprising results which can be found on You Tube.) (Ellis continues.) I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide it. Stephen Hawking while talking about the Big Bang in his book “A Brief History of Time” notes he must start with“a mixture of ideology," (Or in other words philosophical assumptions, which in his case are naturalistic and anti-Biblical). The point to this article is that science has admitted the universe had a beginning point. This fact remains a confirmation of the Genesis account which states that time, space and matter/energy had a single beginning moment!. Dennis)
Breakpoint, April 2, 2014
You’ve likely heard of the Big Bang theory. But you may not have known that until last week, we had no direct evidence of it.
Maybe now we do. As reported in Discovery News, “Scientists found … a key polarization, or orientation, of the microwaves caused by gravitational waves … miniature ripples in the fabric of space.”
The presence of such ripples, they explain, is exactly what we’d expect if the universe had begun with a Big Bang. And the key word is “begun.” You know, as in, “In the beginning.”
As recently as the mid-twentieth century, the scientific consensus on the universe’s beginning was that it had no beginning. The reigning theory, called “Steady State,” or the idea that the cosmos had always existed and always would, went kablooey in the 1940s and 50s when exposed to new evidence, such as cosmic microwave background radiation.
This suggested an explosive beginning, in which the universe as we know it expanded suddenly from an infinitely tiny point of matter and energy called a “singularity.” The nickname “Big Bang” quickly stuck, and most astronomers and physicists have been referring to it as a matter of fact ever since.
So what existed before the Big Bang? Well, scientists tell us that’s a nonsensical question, because the Big Bang didn’t just give birth to the material universe, but to time and space themselves. Not only was there no “what,” “why,” and “how” logically prior to this event; there was neither “when,” nor “where.”
But what if there was a “Who”? That’s the question Leslie A. Wickman raises at CNN.com in a piece entitled, “Does the Big Bang Breakthrough offer proof of God?”
“…this new evidence,” she writes, “strongly suggests that there was a beginning to our universe. If the universe did indeed have a beginning, by the simple logic of cause and effect, there had to be an agent—separate and apart from the effect—that caused it. That sounds a lot like Genesis 1:1 to me…”
The late NASA astrophysicist, Robert Jastrow, put it still more eloquently. Taking evidence for the Big Bang as a given, he remarked in a 1982 interview with Christianity Today that,
“Astronomers…have proven, by their own methods, that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in this cosmos and on the earth.
And they have found that all this happened as a product of forces they cannot hope to discover. That there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact.”
Whether this new evidence will bolster that conclusion remains to be seen. After all, humans demonstrate incredible capacity to explain away evidence in service of pre-ordained conclusions. And Christians should remember that this isn’t definitive proof for the God of the Bible. It’s still a leap from admitting the universe had a beginning to trusting in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to forgive your sins through His Son, Jesus Christ. But we can conclude two important things.
First, materialism isn’t enough. By definition, natural science can only experiment and draw conclusions within the realm of physical reality. When scientists try to push beyond this reality into the emptiness before time and physics, they’re literally dealing with the supernatural.
Second, it shows that scientific consensuses can and do change. With “Steady State” theory as extinct as the dinosaurs, many have had to admit that Christianity was right all along on the supernatural origin of the universe. As Jastrow writes in his book, “The Enchanted Loom”:
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
In the Big Bang, science meets its limits, but so does the materialist worldview. Happily, it is no difficulty to those who know the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega.
Internationally renowned astrophysicist George FR Ellis who worked with Stephen Hawking on Big Bang Cosmology gave the following candid admission: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that can explain the observations .... For instance, I can construct a spherically symmetric universe for you with Earth at its center, and you cannot prove otherwise based on observations, (You cannot prove based on the observable evidence that it is wrong) ....you can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.(He said that there is nothing wrong with excluding a spherically symmetrical universe with earth near its center. He excludes it because it is too much like a Biblical model which he does not want his naturalistic cosmology to confirm. It is not that the evidence demands that he exclude the earth-centered universe, but his philosophical biases demand it. Physicist Dr. Russell Humphreys, a Christian, begins his cosmology using the very earth-centered hypothesis with some surprising results which can be found on You Tube.) (Ellis continues.) I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide it. Stephen Hawking while talking about the Big Bang in his book “A Brief History of Time” notes he must start with“a mixture of ideology," (Or in other words philosophical assumptions, which in his case are naturalistic and anti-Biblical). The point to this article is that science has admitted the universe had a beginning point. This fact remains a confirmation of the Genesis account which states that time, space and matter/energy had a single beginning moment!. Dennis)
Breakpoint, April 2, 2014
You’ve likely heard of the Big Bang theory. But you may not have known that until last week, we had no direct evidence of it.
Maybe now we do. As reported in Discovery News, “Scientists found … a key polarization, or orientation, of the microwaves caused by gravitational waves … miniature ripples in the fabric of space.”
The presence of such ripples, they explain, is exactly what we’d expect if the universe had begun with a Big Bang. And the key word is “begun.” You know, as in, “In the beginning.”
As recently as the mid-twentieth century, the scientific consensus on the universe’s beginning was that it had no beginning. The reigning theory, called “Steady State,” or the idea that the cosmos had always existed and always would, went kablooey in the 1940s and 50s when exposed to new evidence, such as cosmic microwave background radiation.
This suggested an explosive beginning, in which the universe as we know it expanded suddenly from an infinitely tiny point of matter and energy called a “singularity.” The nickname “Big Bang” quickly stuck, and most astronomers and physicists have been referring to it as a matter of fact ever since.
So what existed before the Big Bang? Well, scientists tell us that’s a nonsensical question, because the Big Bang didn’t just give birth to the material universe, but to time and space themselves. Not only was there no “what,” “why,” and “how” logically prior to this event; there was neither “when,” nor “where.”
But what if there was a “Who”? That’s the question Leslie A. Wickman raises at CNN.com in a piece entitled, “Does the Big Bang Breakthrough offer proof of God?”
“…this new evidence,” she writes, “strongly suggests that there was a beginning to our universe. If the universe did indeed have a beginning, by the simple logic of cause and effect, there had to be an agent—separate and apart from the effect—that caused it. That sounds a lot like Genesis 1:1 to me…”
The late NASA astrophysicist, Robert Jastrow, put it still more eloquently. Taking evidence for the Big Bang as a given, he remarked in a 1982 interview with Christianity Today that,
“Astronomers…have proven, by their own methods, that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in this cosmos and on the earth.
And they have found that all this happened as a product of forces they cannot hope to discover. That there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact.”
Whether this new evidence will bolster that conclusion remains to be seen. After all, humans demonstrate incredible capacity to explain away evidence in service of pre-ordained conclusions. And Christians should remember that this isn’t definitive proof for the God of the Bible. It’s still a leap from admitting the universe had a beginning to trusting in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to forgive your sins through His Son, Jesus Christ. But we can conclude two important things.
First, materialism isn’t enough. By definition, natural science can only experiment and draw conclusions within the realm of physical reality. When scientists try to push beyond this reality into the emptiness before time and physics, they’re literally dealing with the supernatural.
Second, it shows that scientific consensuses can and do change. With “Steady State” theory as extinct as the dinosaurs, many have had to admit that Christianity was right all along on the supernatural origin of the universe. As Jastrow writes in his book, “The Enchanted Loom”:
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
In the Big Bang, science meets its limits, but so does the materialist worldview. Happily, it is no difficulty to those who know the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Deixando o Passado
Compilação
Tudo relacionado ao ano que passou, tanto as coisas certas como as erradas, os arrependimentos ou os pesares, está sob os cuidados amorosos de Deus! Mas, graças a Deus, se realmente confiamos no Senhor Jesus Cristo, se entregamos tudo à s Suas mãos, não importa o que tenha acontecido, Ele pode fazer fluir mel das rochas e águas doces do amargo deserto do passado. Neste novo ano Ele pode lhe dar beleza em vez de cinzas e veste de louvor em vez de espÃrito angustiado, gozo pela manhã após o terror a noite! Tudo isso está prometido na Palavra. Que alegria saber que Ele vai fazer tudo isso.[1]—Pertencemos a Ele, e nEle confiamos.—Virginia Brandt Berg[2]
*
Todas as coisas contribuem juntamente para o bem dos que amam a Deus, dos que foram chamados por seu decreto.—Apóstolo Paulo[3]
*
A vida é como uma peça de tapeçaria: Nós somos o fio; os anjos, o tear; Deus, o tecelão. Só Ele, o Tecelão, conhece o desenho final. —Eileen Elias Freeman[4]
*
A vida é repleta de escolhas. Todos os dias há escolhas, grandes e pequenas, e cada dia que passa aumenta o legado de decisões feitas. Dentre elas existem as boas, as ruins, as que têm seu lado bom e seu lado mau, e aquelas que ainda não temos certeza se foram boas ou más. Contudo, todas, invariavelmente, contribuÃram para nos tornarmos o que somos.
Aqui estão alguns princÃpios que me são úteis quando avalio o passado e as coisas que me trouxeram ao ponto em que me encontro hoje.
O nosso futuro não está limitado pelo nosso passado. Independentemente das decisões que tomamos ou que outros tomaram por nós, e do ponto em que estamos agora, o futuro ainda é tão promissor quanto as promessas de Deus. Refiro-me a promessas como: “Se tiverdes fé… nada vos será impossÃvel,”[5] e, “Tudo é possÃvel ao que crê.”[6] Se você não estiver onde quer estar, há tempo para mudar isso. Enquanto há vida, há esperança.
Se alguma escolha que você fez parece ter produzido um resultado ruim ou diferente do que previa, lembre-se que provavelmente ainda não viu o resultado final. O que parece ser uma pedra ou uma serpente ainda pode vir a ser pão ou mesmo uma refeição completa.[7] O diretor de cinema, ator, roteirista e produtor Orson Welles certa vez disse: “Um final feliz depende de onde você para a sua história.” Ou, como alguém disse: “No final tudo dá certo. Se ainda não deu certo é porque ainda não chegou ao final.” Esse princÃpio é certamente verdadeiro para aqueles que amam o Senhor e buscam a Sua orientação, porque Ele prometeu sempre resolver as coisas para o nosso bem no final.[8]
É natural olhar para trás e se lamentar de algumas das coisas que fizemos ou gostarÃamos de ter feito de forma diferente. Deus entende e se solidariza. Mas é um erro ignorar as coisas boas resultantes dessas experiências, tais como a sabedoria, maturidade e todas as lições aprendidas que ajudaram a moldar o nosso caráter e nos preparar para coisas maiores e melhores.
Ao pensar no passado, conte suas bênçãos. Lembre-se de tudo o que é “verdadeiro, honesto, justo, puro e amável” que também compõe a história de sua vida.[9] Graças a Deus pelas boas decisões que você tomou no passado, bem como aquelas que Ele vai ajudá-lo a tomar no futuro. —Maria Fontaine[10]
*
O passado é importante, mas o mais importante para a sua vida hoje é a sua perspectiva do futuro. —Tony Campolo
*
Irmãos, quanto a mim, não julgo que o haja alcançado; mas uma coisa faço, e é que, esquecendo-me das coisas que atrás ficam, e avançando para as que estão diante de mim, prossigo para o alvo, pelo prêmio da soberana vocação de Deus em Cristo Jesus.—Apóstolo Paulo[11]
*
No final do ano, é bom pararmos antes do novo ano começar e nos perguntarmos: “O que eu realizei este ano que passou? Será que fiz o melhor que podia para Jesus, quando Ele fez tanto por mim?” Foi verdadeiramente um ano vivido para Ele, pelo Seu poder, Sua força e Sua orientação, na Sua vontade, e produzindo os frutos do EspÃrito e da Palavra? Foi um ano pelo qual estou grato porque tenho certeza que agradei ao Senhor?
É uma boa oportunidade de contarmos nossas bênçãos. Pelo que você, pessoalmente, está mais agradecido no ano que passou? Qual a sua oração ou o que espera para o novo ano? Que promessa da Palavra de Deus vai clamar para o Ano Novo?
Senhor, ajude-nos no inÃcio deste ano a olharmos adiante com fé. Dê-nos forças para fazer o que o Senhor quer. Guie-nos e oriente-nos, Senhor, conserve-nos na Sua vontade. Dê-nos um bom ano, não importa o que aconteça, que seja um ano vivido ao máximo por Você!—David Brandt Berg
*
A vida só pode ser entendida em retrospectiva, mas ela tem que ser vivida com perspectiva.—Søren Kierkegaard
*
Assim que, se alguém está em Cristo, nova criatura é; as coisas velhas já passaram; eis que tudo se fez novo.—Apóstolo Paulo[12]
Publicado no Âncora em dezembro de 2012. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.
[1] IsaÃas 61:3.
[2] “Esquecer o Passado,” Momentos de Meditação 20.
[3] Romanos 8:28 RC.
[4] The Angels’ Little Instruction Book (Grand Central Publishing, 1994).
[5] Mateus 17:20
[6] Marcos 9:23.
[7] Ver Lucas 11:11–13.
[8] Romanos 8:28.
[9] Ver Filipenses 4:8.
[10] Contato, Janeiro de 2012, Volume 13, Edição 1.
[11] Filipenses 3:13–14.
[12] 2 CorÃntios 5:17.
Tudo relacionado ao ano que passou, tanto as coisas certas como as erradas, os arrependimentos ou os pesares, está sob os cuidados amorosos de Deus! Mas, graças a Deus, se realmente confiamos no Senhor Jesus Cristo, se entregamos tudo à s Suas mãos, não importa o que tenha acontecido, Ele pode fazer fluir mel das rochas e águas doces do amargo deserto do passado. Neste novo ano Ele pode lhe dar beleza em vez de cinzas e veste de louvor em vez de espÃrito angustiado, gozo pela manhã após o terror a noite! Tudo isso está prometido na Palavra. Que alegria saber que Ele vai fazer tudo isso.[1]—Pertencemos a Ele, e nEle confiamos.—Virginia Brandt Berg[2]
*
Todas as coisas contribuem juntamente para o bem dos que amam a Deus, dos que foram chamados por seu decreto.—Apóstolo Paulo[3]
*
A vida é como uma peça de tapeçaria: Nós somos o fio; os anjos, o tear; Deus, o tecelão. Só Ele, o Tecelão, conhece o desenho final. —Eileen Elias Freeman[4]
*
A vida é repleta de escolhas. Todos os dias há escolhas, grandes e pequenas, e cada dia que passa aumenta o legado de decisões feitas. Dentre elas existem as boas, as ruins, as que têm seu lado bom e seu lado mau, e aquelas que ainda não temos certeza se foram boas ou más. Contudo, todas, invariavelmente, contribuÃram para nos tornarmos o que somos.
Aqui estão alguns princÃpios que me são úteis quando avalio o passado e as coisas que me trouxeram ao ponto em que me encontro hoje.
O nosso futuro não está limitado pelo nosso passado. Independentemente das decisões que tomamos ou que outros tomaram por nós, e do ponto em que estamos agora, o futuro ainda é tão promissor quanto as promessas de Deus. Refiro-me a promessas como: “Se tiverdes fé… nada vos será impossÃvel,”[5] e, “Tudo é possÃvel ao que crê.”[6] Se você não estiver onde quer estar, há tempo para mudar isso. Enquanto há vida, há esperança.
Se alguma escolha que você fez parece ter produzido um resultado ruim ou diferente do que previa, lembre-se que provavelmente ainda não viu o resultado final. O que parece ser uma pedra ou uma serpente ainda pode vir a ser pão ou mesmo uma refeição completa.[7] O diretor de cinema, ator, roteirista e produtor Orson Welles certa vez disse: “Um final feliz depende de onde você para a sua história.” Ou, como alguém disse: “No final tudo dá certo. Se ainda não deu certo é porque ainda não chegou ao final.” Esse princÃpio é certamente verdadeiro para aqueles que amam o Senhor e buscam a Sua orientação, porque Ele prometeu sempre resolver as coisas para o nosso bem no final.[8]
É natural olhar para trás e se lamentar de algumas das coisas que fizemos ou gostarÃamos de ter feito de forma diferente. Deus entende e se solidariza. Mas é um erro ignorar as coisas boas resultantes dessas experiências, tais como a sabedoria, maturidade e todas as lições aprendidas que ajudaram a moldar o nosso caráter e nos preparar para coisas maiores e melhores.
Ao pensar no passado, conte suas bênçãos. Lembre-se de tudo o que é “verdadeiro, honesto, justo, puro e amável” que também compõe a história de sua vida.[9] Graças a Deus pelas boas decisões que você tomou no passado, bem como aquelas que Ele vai ajudá-lo a tomar no futuro. —Maria Fontaine[10]
*
O passado é importante, mas o mais importante para a sua vida hoje é a sua perspectiva do futuro. —Tony Campolo
*
Irmãos, quanto a mim, não julgo que o haja alcançado; mas uma coisa faço, e é que, esquecendo-me das coisas que atrás ficam, e avançando para as que estão diante de mim, prossigo para o alvo, pelo prêmio da soberana vocação de Deus em Cristo Jesus.—Apóstolo Paulo[11]
*
No final do ano, é bom pararmos antes do novo ano começar e nos perguntarmos: “O que eu realizei este ano que passou? Será que fiz o melhor que podia para Jesus, quando Ele fez tanto por mim?” Foi verdadeiramente um ano vivido para Ele, pelo Seu poder, Sua força e Sua orientação, na Sua vontade, e produzindo os frutos do EspÃrito e da Palavra? Foi um ano pelo qual estou grato porque tenho certeza que agradei ao Senhor?
É uma boa oportunidade de contarmos nossas bênçãos. Pelo que você, pessoalmente, está mais agradecido no ano que passou? Qual a sua oração ou o que espera para o novo ano? Que promessa da Palavra de Deus vai clamar para o Ano Novo?
Senhor, ajude-nos no inÃcio deste ano a olharmos adiante com fé. Dê-nos forças para fazer o que o Senhor quer. Guie-nos e oriente-nos, Senhor, conserve-nos na Sua vontade. Dê-nos um bom ano, não importa o que aconteça, que seja um ano vivido ao máximo por Você!—David Brandt Berg
*
A vida só pode ser entendida em retrospectiva, mas ela tem que ser vivida com perspectiva.—Søren Kierkegaard
*
Assim que, se alguém está em Cristo, nova criatura é; as coisas velhas já passaram; eis que tudo se fez novo.—Apóstolo Paulo[12]
Publicado no Âncora em dezembro de 2012. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.
[1] IsaÃas 61:3.
[2] “Esquecer o Passado,” Momentos de Meditação 20.
[3] Romanos 8:28 RC.
[4] The Angels’ Little Instruction Book (Grand Central Publishing, 1994).
[5] Mateus 17:20
[6] Marcos 9:23.
[7] Ver Lucas 11:11–13.
[8] Romanos 8:28.
[9] Ver Filipenses 4:8.
[10] Contato, Janeiro de 2012, Volume 13, Edição 1.
[11] Filipenses 3:13–14.
[12] 2 CorÃntios 5:17.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Telling Yourself The Truth- William Backus
MinistryHealth
Support and Resources For Pastors and
Christian Ministry Professionals
Thomas F. Fischer, M.Div., M.S.A., Editor
Based on Backus's Book,
Telling Yourself The Truth
Rev. Wayne Dobratz, M.Div.
Number 73Watch What You Say...To Yourself!
"I must be going crazy. Here I am talking to myself again". So we say to ourselves. But talking to yourself is not a sign of "going crazy" or of "losing your mind." We talk to ourselves every day of our lives. What we say to ourselves when we do so is of crucial importance.
This article is written to help you achieve these two goals:
To help you to listen to your own "self-talk" and to understand that changing it, when necessary, is the way you change the emotion you are experiencing at the moment.
To help you to listen to the "self-talk" of the people you deal with on a daily basis and, when appropriate, to usea Counselor to help these people change their self-talk and perhaps their lives as well.
Dr. William Backus, the author of Self Talk and Telling Yourself The Truth, is a clinical psychologist and also a minister. He calls his method of treatment "Misbelief Therapy." According to Backus, a "misbelief" is a lie that you tell yourself.
Key Insight
"Our emotions are NOT created by what happens to us; rather,
our emotions are created by what we TELL ourselves
about what happens to us."Jerry's Dilemma
As an example, let me tell you the story of Jerry. Jerry’s marriage ended after 15 years and he was forced to live alone, facing a divorce he didn't want. He spent many evenings trying to dull his pain with alcohol. He was so unhappy that he wanted to die because he just couldn't see any other way out of his unhappy circumstances.
Finally, Jerry decided to see a psychotherapist for help. Once in therapy, he gradually began to see that this life didn't have to be over. He started to see God again as the Giver of good, despite his unhappy circumstances.
He explained it this way: One day while I sat groveling in my sorrows, I listened to the words I had been telling myself, things like Oh, what's the use? I'm all alone. Nobody loves me or cares about me. Nobody wants to be with me. I'm rejected and useless... Suddenly I was shocked. I thought, What am I telling myself anyway?
Key Insight:
What ARE You Telling Yourself??? Jerry's Relief
A key to Jerry's healing was that Jerry questioned his self-talk. He recognized something radically wrong with what he had been telling himself and realized that his depression was not due to his impending divorce, but it was due to what he was telling himself about it.
Jerry's Misbeliefs Jerry's Truths
Instead of saying,
"I'm a failure and I'm no good,"
He said:
"The marriage failed. But I am deeply loved by God. Therefore I am important."
Instead of saying,
"I'm so lonely and miserable,"
He said:
"I'm alone but I am not lonely."
Instead of saying,
"I'm separated from my family and there's no joy anymore for me,"
He said:
"I'm separated from my family and that hurts. I can function even though I hurt.
Jerry's Healing And The Truth
As a result he began to change what he had been telling himself. This took some work and determination on his part. It wasn't easy at first. But, because he refused to be a "chump" (as he put it) to a pack of self-destroying lies, he taught himself to confess the truth.
Jerry stopped drinking. He argued with the destructive sentences he had been telling himself. He told himself the truth. His circumstances hadn't changed, but what he told himself about the circumstances changed! He discovered that he had been telling himself a pack of lies, straight from the devil himself.Three Steps Toward Blessedness
Here are the 3 steps Backus suggested to enable you to become the blessed person God wants you to be:
1) Locate your misbeliefs.
2) Remove them (argue against them as Jerry did).
3) Replace your misbeliefs with the truth. (Jerry told himself It's nonsense to say that I am unlovable and useless. I am loved with an everlasting love by the God of the universe. In Him, I have countless talents and uses and I am infinitely valuable to Him).
Key Insight:
The Three Steps
1) Locate your misbeliefs,
2) Remove them, and
3) Replace your misbeliefs with the truth.
Application I: Misbeliefs And Anger The Three Steps And Anger
Let's try the 3-step method with anger. Ok ladies, this one is for you. Marilyn had resented her husband Jack for years. At least once a day, she told herself words like this: I can't stand this any longer and, I'm wasting my time with him. Her husband complained, found fault, made cutting remarks, and compared his wife with younger and more attractive women.
She felt insignificant, inadequate and quite angry. Marilyn didn't tell anyone how she felt, but a perceptive observer would know that something is wrong. She developed headaches which sent her to bed, sobbing with pain. Jack considered her headaches as just a ploy to get attention.
Let's find what Marilyn was telling herself:
1) It was shocking and intolerable to be treated unfairly by her preacher-husband.
2) She was right in demanding her husband treat her and their children with love, tenderness, consideration and kindness.
3) Since Jack was her husband he owed her love.
4) Her husband was terrible to criticize her and compare her unfavorably to other women. This behavior was outrageous and dreadful and absolutely intolerable.The headaches were the cause of her visit to The Center for Psychological Services.
Key Insight
"It is not what people say or do that creates your emotions,
but rather what you tell yourself about what people say or do to you."Marilyn's Truth1) It's terrible to have a husband like Jack Jack is my God-given husband and although I would prefer him to act differently, I can live with him without making continued demands that go unmet anyhow. 2) It's impossible to happy with a husband like Jack It would be nice if he would change, but it is not essential for my happiness. 3) I can't stand it any longer I can live a satisfactory life even if Jack doesn't treat me as I want to be treated. My life can be fulfilling and enjoyable even if he never changes. 4) I'm wasting my life I'm not wasting my life. I'm believing in God to work in Jack's heart and make him the person He wants him to be. I am also believing God is working in my own heart, making me the person He wants me to be.What Marilyn Learned
Marilyn learned that she need not depend upon her husband to make her happy by his behavior toward her. Marilyn couldn't change Jack; all she could do was change her reaction to Jack's behavior and hope that God would change Jack. Soon Marilyn began seeing the better qualities in Jack.
As a result of Marilyn's new behavior, Jack began to enjoy her company more. When Marilyn stopped behaving in punishing ways toward him, he spontaneously reduced his critical and inconsiderate actions.
Often, but not always, relationships change dramatically for the better when one person drops the misbeliefs that generate and perpetuate bitterness and anger. Always the person who works to change misbeliefs will benefit even if the other person does not change.
Key Insight:
The constant repeating of MISBELIEFS is what sustains and perpetuates angry resentment. Constant repeating of the TRUTH generates health and peace. Common Misbeliefs Concerning Anger
1) Anger is bad and if I'm a good Christian, I will never get angry.
2) Anger always means to yell and throw things and do whatever it takes to drain off the emotion.
3) If I do get angry, it's always better for me to swallow the anger than to express it.
4) I have every right to be angry when another person does not live up to my expectations. I have no choice but to stay angry as long as things don't change.
5) It is outrageous and insufferable when others do things I don't like, or if they fail to treat me as well as I ought to be treated.
You may have one or more of these disbeliefs. They are lies and distortions. They have power and they cause suffering. Now here is the truth:
1) Anger is not always bad.
Jesus was angry a number of times and never sinned once. Paul wrote: Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath. (Eph. 4:26) What we do when we are angry can be sinful. He is telling us to deal with the issue promptly.
2) Sometimes it's better to express your anger.
You can say: What you did (said) hurts me and I'm angry about it. I'd like you to stop.
3) Anger does not mean throwing things or yelling.
Our emotions are not a kind of gas or fluid which must be expelled so that we don't explode. Anger is a behavior. Anger is responses of your body and mind to stimuli. When the stimulus is withdrawn, the anger ceases.
4) Anger Is A Choice
I do not have every right to remain angry when another person doesn't live up to my expectations. I do have a choice about whether or not I remain angry.
Key Insight:
When you STOP telling yourself how unfair or unjust your treatment has been and how miserable you are,
you will cease to be angry.Anger And Self-Talk
There is no necessary connection between another person's behavior and your anger. You are angry because of your own self-talk, not because of another person's behavior. Other people cannot force you to remain in a stew over their behavior. This is something you do to yourself. You make yourself angry by what you tell yourself.
We waste a lot of time and energy when we brood over the offenses of others against us. After all, we believe that human nature is quite capable of evil. Then why are we so surprised when someone hurts us? Again, you can't be hurt or angered until you help the offending person hurt or anger you by what you tell yourself. The simple brief emotion of anger is normal. The anger which explodes into rage or stews in bitterness is maladaptive and sinful.When Anger Is A Problem
Anger becomes a problem when it is made worse or perpetuated by disbeliefs, disbeliefs such as I must never get angry. This one leads to the self-deceptive words I'm not angry, when one is plainly doing hostile, angry things and even hurting others.
Christians are often prime targets for such deception, thinking that they must be nice people--always smiling, above all, super people who are perpetually happy no matter what. When they are hurt and react with genuine anger, they hide it and cover it up with religious sounding words, smiles, grins, shrugs and silence. That's what Jack & Marilyn were doing.
Key Insight:
Do not let angry misbeliefs have any room in your mind without IMMEDIATELY coming against them with the truth.
Application 2: Misbeliefs And Depression
Counselors often deal with depressed people. You know of the violence that such people can inflict upon innocent people. But depression usually doesn’t show up in that dramatic of a fashion. Depressed people are usually a lot more quiet about it and we may not even know they are depressed until the suicide threat or attempt is made. Maybe we should learn a little more about it and the role that self-talk plays in depression.The Misbelief in Depression
Depression has been called the "common cold" of the Mental Health field. Just about everyone will encounter it at one time during life. The Counselors say that Depression is Anger turned inward. It again is inevitably intertwined with your self-talk, assuming that this depression is not organically based. Symptoms often are: Lack of Sleep, No energy, No interest in life, Morning being the worst time of the day, etc.
In spite of the inability of the person to explain how he got that way, it is extremely rare for depression to occur without provocation. The disbeliefs that cause depression can become activated by a single event. The event represents a loss of some kind--a death in the family, loss of health, financial reversal, an accident, a divorce and situations where rejection, fear, and low self-esteem are triggered.
Any of these events can be an opportunity for the Old evil foe to slip a few suggestions into a person's self-talk. A college student may tell himself: "Boy, you sure a dumb. You failed your math exam. What are you doing in college anyhow? Look at all the money you're wasting! You'll never make it!"The Depressive Triad
1) Devaluation of self: "Boy, you sure are dumb."
2) Devaluation of the situation: "Lately life has been a drag; Nothing is worth doing; I don't know why I get out of bed!"
3) Devaluation of one's prospects for the future: "You'll never make it. You'll never amount to anything. Life is hopeless."
Let's apply the depressive triad as it relates to various misbeliefs.
Application 3: Dealing With MisbeliefsTwo Misbeliefs
When we lose someone or something important to us, we will feel hurt, yes; but if the hurt deepens to despondency and depression and remains that way for weeks or months, the cause is not the loss but the misbelief. Two misbeliefs under gird this kind of thinking:
1) God is not the source of life. Man is.
The untruth here is that nothing and nobody but God is crucial to anyone. This truth is revealed in the First Commandment. As Luther said, "We should fear, love and trust in God above allthings."
2) Since I lost "____", my world has nothing left any more.
Many of us have told ourselves that we couldn't live without someone or something. Then we lose that person or thing and we do recover. The truth is a person can lose health, reputation, vision, hearing, legs, hands, even family members, money, homes, physical attractiveness, life goals and plans--and yet recover and go on living a rewarding and meaningful life.
Apply The Three-Step MethodNow let's get some practice in what Dr. Backus has taught us. First let's review the 3-step method for Telling Yourself The Truth..
The Three Steps
1) Locate your misbeliefs,
2) Remove them, and
3) Replace your misbeliefs with the truth.
Toward "Blessedness"
We all want to be happy--the Bill of Rights guarantees Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Keeping in mind that happiness is most often tied to what happens to you, we need a way to cope with what happens to us so that we may have the joy that God promises us in His Word.
The Bible uses the term "blessed." Blessed--fortunate, happy, enviable--is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly....But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord and on His law--the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God.
Those who have been catechized in the Lutheran Church have probably memorized the keys to happiness in the Sixth Petition of Luther's Catechism. After we pray: Lead us not into temptation, Martin Luther taught us:
"What does this mean?
God indeed tempts no one to sin, but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world and our flesh may not deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair and other great shame and vice, and though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally overcome and obtain the victory." (from Luther's Small Catechism, CPH)Truth Is The Key
Jesus in John 8:31-32 said,
"If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (NIV).
Misbelief therapy involves putting the truth into our value systems, our demands, our expectations and our assumptions, as well as into the words we tell ourselves. Jesus Christ is the living Truth. When we inject the truth into our every thought, taking a therapeutic broom and sweeping away the lies and misbeliefs which have enslaved us, we find our lives greatly changed for the better.
While it is true that this is the method Dr. Backus and a number of other counselors follow, one need not necessarily call for an appointment. No, Dr. Backus, along with writer Marie Chapian, have done us the service of putting many of his insights into a book that we may become our own counselors, so that we may live happily with that person with whom you must spend the rest of your life--yourself.
The idea is for you to talk to yourself in such a way as to be your own therapist. Of course, some will need the services of a Professional and others will need help from a group or from a friend.
Dr. Backus and his staff have done follow-up studies with clients with whom he has used his Misbelief Therapy over a 6-month period. The results were gratifying. 95% of the clients treated at the Center had improved. That compares to 67% with other methods of therapy. The difference, Dr. Backus says, is the Word of God. These skills truly are skills you will want to use for the rest of your life.
Part IV: Misbeliefs In Life
A. Anxiety/Fear
What is Anxiety? Anxiety is:
1) Fear in the absence of real danger,
2) Overestimation of the probability of danger and exaggeration of its degree of terribleness, and
3) Imagined negative results.
Some Scriptures that are helpful for telling yourself the truth if you suffer from anxiety. These include, for example, II Corinthians 4:17, Luke. 10:19 and 11:9, James 4:7, I John 4:4, and Isaiah. 40:31. In spite of these and other clear witnesses of Scriptures, anxiety can still play a haunting role in your life.
Now let’s look at an example of how misbeliefs play a role in the life of others. The following examples demonstrates that both adults and children encounter the effects of misbelief in their lives.Misbelief In Anxiety: Suzy
Suzy is stacking the dishes in the dishwasher for her mother when she accidentally drops one and breaks it. Her heart pounds. She knows this means punishment. Suzy has been conditioned to feel this way. When her mother enters the kitchen and sees the broken glass, she calls Suzy clumsy, careless and useless, raves about the glass being fine crystal, and wallops her.
Suzy feels the same fear when she is out among people. She can't stay upright on her roller skates. As a result, the other children ridicule her. Her father often calls her lazy and her mother yells when she doesn't perform according to her expectations.Carol's Dilemma
Suzy teaches herself how to be anxious. So does Carol, a 22-year-old young woman. She has spent several years of her life piling up anxiety responses. She is riddled with fears and can't force herself to go out and get a job. In desperation, her parents insist that she see a Psychologist.
"I can't get a job," she says. "I've tried and I just can't. I hate job interviews; They scare me." "Why is that?" the Counselor asks. "Well, they're awful, that's why. The job market is tight and there are so few openings."
By her 8th session, Carol is able to identify her thoughts and beliefs. She identifies the feared objects as other people. Her inability to land a job is not due to the job market but due to the anxiety she suffers at the thought of going out and being with people. She fears what people could do to her.
"Carol, you said you hated being in crowds." That's right, I really do hate it. "What could a crowd do to you?" Well, they might make fun of me or laugh at me. "Would that be terrible?" Yes, it would be horrible. I would hate that. "Would it really be the end of the world for you if someone laughed or made fun of you?" Well, I'd hate it, but I guess it actually wouldn't be the end of the world.Carol's Big Step
Carol didn't realize it, but she had just made a big and very important step of progress, one that you can also make if you suffer from anxiety.
1) Carol listened to herself and heard what was really going on in her mind.
2) By listening she realized she had been telling herself that to be laughed at and made fun of would be horrible and terrible--A misbelief.
3) She then argued that misbelief with the truth by telling herself that although she wouldn't like the situation, it would not be the end of the world.
B. The Truth About "Awfulizing"
People who suffer from anxiety tell themselves, "If the thing I worry about actually happened, it would wipe me out. It would be awful, horrible."
Dr. Albert Ellis, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Rational Psychotherapy, calls this "awfulizing." Anxious people do a lot of it. Little Suzy tells herself: It would be awful if my classmates were mean to me. Carol worries about being in a crowd of people because she fears they might make fun of her or laugh at her. She will overcome this lie only if she De-awfulizes the thought in her mind and replaces it with the truth.
Some common lies are:
1) He/she/they might not like me. That would be terrible.
2) I might not meet people's expectations of me. That would be terrible.
3) I might be rejected. That would be terrible.
4) I might fail. That would be terrible.
5) I might say or do something dumb. That would be terrible.
6) Once I've gained happiness, I might lose it. That would be terrible.
7) I might not look as good as other people. That would be terrible.
8) He/She/They might discover what a nothing I really am. That would be terrible.
9) Nobody will ever love me. That would be terrible.
10) I might get hurt. That would be terrible.
11) I might be asked to do something I don't know how to do. That would be terrible.
12) I might lose everything I've got. That would be terrible.
13) I could die. That would be terrible.
C. Externally-Driven MisbeliefsThe Central Theme: What Others Think
The central theme running through the misbeliefs in anxiety is that what other people think of me is of such crucial importance that I must anticipate it in advance of all my actions. I must do all I can in order to prevent others from thinking badly of me. If they think badly of me, it will be a mortal blow to me. It would be terrible.
Nearly all anxious people believe and tell themselves that they are in danger of other people's reactions to them. These words, like all misbeliefs, are lies from the enemy. While we are certainly glad if others think well of us and love us, we can still live very well if we don't have the affection and approval of all other people.
Key Insight:
"Jesus never said, 'Love others INSTEAD of your self.
What He did say was, 'Love others AS yourself.' "
The Bible does not tell us to please everyone on earth. It does not tell us to work overtime trying to get people to love us. Jesus never told us to go out and take a course on how to get people to like us. He told us to love Him, trust Him, have faith in Him, glorify Him, and to genuinely care about others.Whom Do We Want To Please?
The price an anxious person pays to please people is too great. Jesus, above all others, demonstrated that if a person is really serious about pleasing God, there will be times when his behavior will be just the opposite of what people expect of him. See Luke 6:26.
Jesus himself wasn't loved by everyone and still isn't. Many found fault with Him and He was perfect! When He was here on earth He made the leaders and molders of public opinion quite upset with His social behavior. He befriended prostitutes and tax collectors and thieves and sought them out. That did not make him Mr. Popular with the religious folk of the day.
People found fault with the way He talked and worshiped; they even criticized the way he ate. But He wasn't devastated by what others thought of Him because He kept His eye on His Father in heaven and on doing His will.
In fact, Jesus had joy through it all and He says to us My joy I give unto you. Paul knew this joy too and he knew how to handle criticism and he knew how to talk himself out of anxiety. (See I Corinthians 4).Conclusion
We need to remember that some anxiety is hereditary and can be conquered only with medication. Some people will conquer their anxiety only by consultation with the a trained professional, either a clinical Psychologist or a Psychiatrist. Many others have anxiety purely because of the lies they are telling themselves.It is important that individuals suffering such anxiety see a good therapist skilled in Cognitive Psychology (many do). If individuals are working on themselves, they must learn to journal, i.e. to place the misbelief in one column and the truth in the other (as in the example of Jerry above). They must also deal with their misbeliefs on a regular basis in the way Backus described or they will find this method unworkable. You can't "do it in your head." Wherever possible, Scripture must be used to oppose the Misbeliefs, as Backus does in his book.
Concluding Insight
NOBODY other than you has the power to make you miserable.
That power is YOURS alone.
YOU make yourself miserable by the things you tell yourself.Rev. Wayne Dobratz
Addenda:
Telling Yourself The Truth
It is almost impossible to battle misbeliefs in your head. Learn to journal your misbeliefs and the truths that you tell yourself to combat them. The best way to do this is to draw yourself a table in your notebook similar to the one below. Wherever possible, use the truth of God's Word to combat your misbeliefs.
MISBELIEFS TRUTHS
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.
7. 7.
From The Editor:
Pastors and other professionals may tend to ignore the need for professional assistance. In some cases the application of a self-help cognitive approach may not work without necessary professional support and guidance.
The consequences for overlooking necessary intervention can be devastating especially in on-going circumstances. If your anxiety is obsessive, dominating your thinking, and or interfering with your life, do not even try to deal with it by yourself.
Save yourself the potentially excruciating pain of deep anxiety by dealing with it in the presence of a competent professional early on. It's better to have sought professional guidance and found it unnecessary than to have deemed it unnecessary and never gone at all.
May God bless your discovery of the Truth in your life!
Thomas F. Fischer
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Support and Resources For Pastors and
Christian Ministry Professionals
Thomas F. Fischer, M.Div., M.S.A., Editor
Based on Backus's Book,
Telling Yourself The Truth
Rev. Wayne Dobratz, M.Div.
Number 73Watch What You Say...To Yourself!
"I must be going crazy. Here I am talking to myself again". So we say to ourselves. But talking to yourself is not a sign of "going crazy" or of "losing your mind." We talk to ourselves every day of our lives. What we say to ourselves when we do so is of crucial importance.
This article is written to help you achieve these two goals:
To help you to listen to your own "self-talk" and to understand that changing it, when necessary, is the way you change the emotion you are experiencing at the moment.
To help you to listen to the "self-talk" of the people you deal with on a daily basis and, when appropriate, to usea Counselor to help these people change their self-talk and perhaps their lives as well.
Dr. William Backus, the author of Self Talk and Telling Yourself The Truth, is a clinical psychologist and also a minister. He calls his method of treatment "Misbelief Therapy." According to Backus, a "misbelief" is a lie that you tell yourself.
Key Insight
"Our emotions are NOT created by what happens to us; rather,
our emotions are created by what we TELL ourselves
about what happens to us."Jerry's Dilemma
As an example, let me tell you the story of Jerry. Jerry’s marriage ended after 15 years and he was forced to live alone, facing a divorce he didn't want. He spent many evenings trying to dull his pain with alcohol. He was so unhappy that he wanted to die because he just couldn't see any other way out of his unhappy circumstances.
Finally, Jerry decided to see a psychotherapist for help. Once in therapy, he gradually began to see that this life didn't have to be over. He started to see God again as the Giver of good, despite his unhappy circumstances.
He explained it this way: One day while I sat groveling in my sorrows, I listened to the words I had been telling myself, things like Oh, what's the use? I'm all alone. Nobody loves me or cares about me. Nobody wants to be with me. I'm rejected and useless... Suddenly I was shocked. I thought, What am I telling myself anyway?
Key Insight:
What ARE You Telling Yourself??? Jerry's Relief
A key to Jerry's healing was that Jerry questioned his self-talk. He recognized something radically wrong with what he had been telling himself and realized that his depression was not due to his impending divorce, but it was due to what he was telling himself about it.
Jerry's Misbeliefs Jerry's Truths
Instead of saying,
"I'm a failure and I'm no good,"
He said:
"The marriage failed. But I am deeply loved by God. Therefore I am important."
Instead of saying,
"I'm so lonely and miserable,"
He said:
"I'm alone but I am not lonely."
Instead of saying,
"I'm separated from my family and there's no joy anymore for me,"
He said:
"I'm separated from my family and that hurts. I can function even though I hurt.
Jerry's Healing And The Truth
As a result he began to change what he had been telling himself. This took some work and determination on his part. It wasn't easy at first. But, because he refused to be a "chump" (as he put it) to a pack of self-destroying lies, he taught himself to confess the truth.
Jerry stopped drinking. He argued with the destructive sentences he had been telling himself. He told himself the truth. His circumstances hadn't changed, but what he told himself about the circumstances changed! He discovered that he had been telling himself a pack of lies, straight from the devil himself.Three Steps Toward Blessedness
Here are the 3 steps Backus suggested to enable you to become the blessed person God wants you to be:
1) Locate your misbeliefs.
2) Remove them (argue against them as Jerry did).
3) Replace your misbeliefs with the truth. (Jerry told himself It's nonsense to say that I am unlovable and useless. I am loved with an everlasting love by the God of the universe. In Him, I have countless talents and uses and I am infinitely valuable to Him).
Key Insight:
The Three Steps
1) Locate your misbeliefs,
2) Remove them, and
3) Replace your misbeliefs with the truth.
Application I: Misbeliefs And Anger The Three Steps And Anger
Let's try the 3-step method with anger. Ok ladies, this one is for you. Marilyn had resented her husband Jack for years. At least once a day, she told herself words like this: I can't stand this any longer and, I'm wasting my time with him. Her husband complained, found fault, made cutting remarks, and compared his wife with younger and more attractive women.
She felt insignificant, inadequate and quite angry. Marilyn didn't tell anyone how she felt, but a perceptive observer would know that something is wrong. She developed headaches which sent her to bed, sobbing with pain. Jack considered her headaches as just a ploy to get attention.
Let's find what Marilyn was telling herself:
1) It was shocking and intolerable to be treated unfairly by her preacher-husband.
2) She was right in demanding her husband treat her and their children with love, tenderness, consideration and kindness.
3) Since Jack was her husband he owed her love.
4) Her husband was terrible to criticize her and compare her unfavorably to other women. This behavior was outrageous and dreadful and absolutely intolerable.The headaches were the cause of her visit to The Center for Psychological Services.
Key Insight
"It is not what people say or do that creates your emotions,
but rather what you tell yourself about what people say or do to you."Marilyn's Truth1) It's terrible to have a husband like Jack Jack is my God-given husband and although I would prefer him to act differently, I can live with him without making continued demands that go unmet anyhow. 2) It's impossible to happy with a husband like Jack It would be nice if he would change, but it is not essential for my happiness. 3) I can't stand it any longer I can live a satisfactory life even if Jack doesn't treat me as I want to be treated. My life can be fulfilling and enjoyable even if he never changes. 4) I'm wasting my life I'm not wasting my life. I'm believing in God to work in Jack's heart and make him the person He wants him to be. I am also believing God is working in my own heart, making me the person He wants me to be.What Marilyn Learned
Marilyn learned that she need not depend upon her husband to make her happy by his behavior toward her. Marilyn couldn't change Jack; all she could do was change her reaction to Jack's behavior and hope that God would change Jack. Soon Marilyn began seeing the better qualities in Jack.
As a result of Marilyn's new behavior, Jack began to enjoy her company more. When Marilyn stopped behaving in punishing ways toward him, he spontaneously reduced his critical and inconsiderate actions.
Often, but not always, relationships change dramatically for the better when one person drops the misbeliefs that generate and perpetuate bitterness and anger. Always the person who works to change misbeliefs will benefit even if the other person does not change.
Key Insight:
The constant repeating of MISBELIEFS is what sustains and perpetuates angry resentment. Constant repeating of the TRUTH generates health and peace. Common Misbeliefs Concerning Anger
1) Anger is bad and if I'm a good Christian, I will never get angry.
2) Anger always means to yell and throw things and do whatever it takes to drain off the emotion.
3) If I do get angry, it's always better for me to swallow the anger than to express it.
4) I have every right to be angry when another person does not live up to my expectations. I have no choice but to stay angry as long as things don't change.
5) It is outrageous and insufferable when others do things I don't like, or if they fail to treat me as well as I ought to be treated.
You may have one or more of these disbeliefs. They are lies and distortions. They have power and they cause suffering. Now here is the truth:
1) Anger is not always bad.
Jesus was angry a number of times and never sinned once. Paul wrote: Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath. (Eph. 4:26) What we do when we are angry can be sinful. He is telling us to deal with the issue promptly.
2) Sometimes it's better to express your anger.
You can say: What you did (said) hurts me and I'm angry about it. I'd like you to stop.
3) Anger does not mean throwing things or yelling.
Our emotions are not a kind of gas or fluid which must be expelled so that we don't explode. Anger is a behavior. Anger is responses of your body and mind to stimuli. When the stimulus is withdrawn, the anger ceases.
4) Anger Is A Choice
I do not have every right to remain angry when another person doesn't live up to my expectations. I do have a choice about whether or not I remain angry.
Key Insight:
When you STOP telling yourself how unfair or unjust your treatment has been and how miserable you are,
you will cease to be angry.Anger And Self-Talk
There is no necessary connection between another person's behavior and your anger. You are angry because of your own self-talk, not because of another person's behavior. Other people cannot force you to remain in a stew over their behavior. This is something you do to yourself. You make yourself angry by what you tell yourself.
We waste a lot of time and energy when we brood over the offenses of others against us. After all, we believe that human nature is quite capable of evil. Then why are we so surprised when someone hurts us? Again, you can't be hurt or angered until you help the offending person hurt or anger you by what you tell yourself. The simple brief emotion of anger is normal. The anger which explodes into rage or stews in bitterness is maladaptive and sinful.When Anger Is A Problem
Anger becomes a problem when it is made worse or perpetuated by disbeliefs, disbeliefs such as I must never get angry. This one leads to the self-deceptive words I'm not angry, when one is plainly doing hostile, angry things and even hurting others.
Christians are often prime targets for such deception, thinking that they must be nice people--always smiling, above all, super people who are perpetually happy no matter what. When they are hurt and react with genuine anger, they hide it and cover it up with religious sounding words, smiles, grins, shrugs and silence. That's what Jack & Marilyn were doing.
Key Insight:
Do not let angry misbeliefs have any room in your mind without IMMEDIATELY coming against them with the truth.
Application 2: Misbeliefs And Depression
Counselors often deal with depressed people. You know of the violence that such people can inflict upon innocent people. But depression usually doesn’t show up in that dramatic of a fashion. Depressed people are usually a lot more quiet about it and we may not even know they are depressed until the suicide threat or attempt is made. Maybe we should learn a little more about it and the role that self-talk plays in depression.The Misbelief in Depression
Depression has been called the "common cold" of the Mental Health field. Just about everyone will encounter it at one time during life. The Counselors say that Depression is Anger turned inward. It again is inevitably intertwined with your self-talk, assuming that this depression is not organically based. Symptoms often are: Lack of Sleep, No energy, No interest in life, Morning being the worst time of the day, etc.
In spite of the inability of the person to explain how he got that way, it is extremely rare for depression to occur without provocation. The disbeliefs that cause depression can become activated by a single event. The event represents a loss of some kind--a death in the family, loss of health, financial reversal, an accident, a divorce and situations where rejection, fear, and low self-esteem are triggered.
Any of these events can be an opportunity for the Old evil foe to slip a few suggestions into a person's self-talk. A college student may tell himself: "Boy, you sure a dumb. You failed your math exam. What are you doing in college anyhow? Look at all the money you're wasting! You'll never make it!"The Depressive Triad
1) Devaluation of self: "Boy, you sure are dumb."
2) Devaluation of the situation: "Lately life has been a drag; Nothing is worth doing; I don't know why I get out of bed!"
3) Devaluation of one's prospects for the future: "You'll never make it. You'll never amount to anything. Life is hopeless."
Let's apply the depressive triad as it relates to various misbeliefs.
Application 3: Dealing With MisbeliefsTwo Misbeliefs
When we lose someone or something important to us, we will feel hurt, yes; but if the hurt deepens to despondency and depression and remains that way for weeks or months, the cause is not the loss but the misbelief. Two misbeliefs under gird this kind of thinking:
1) God is not the source of life. Man is.
The untruth here is that nothing and nobody but God is crucial to anyone. This truth is revealed in the First Commandment. As Luther said, "We should fear, love and trust in God above allthings."
2) Since I lost "____", my world has nothing left any more.
Many of us have told ourselves that we couldn't live without someone or something. Then we lose that person or thing and we do recover. The truth is a person can lose health, reputation, vision, hearing, legs, hands, even family members, money, homes, physical attractiveness, life goals and plans--and yet recover and go on living a rewarding and meaningful life.
Apply The Three-Step MethodNow let's get some practice in what Dr. Backus has taught us. First let's review the 3-step method for Telling Yourself The Truth..
The Three Steps
1) Locate your misbeliefs,
2) Remove them, and
3) Replace your misbeliefs with the truth.
Toward "Blessedness"
We all want to be happy--the Bill of Rights guarantees Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Keeping in mind that happiness is most often tied to what happens to you, we need a way to cope with what happens to us so that we may have the joy that God promises us in His Word.
The Bible uses the term "blessed." Blessed--fortunate, happy, enviable--is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly....But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord and on His law--the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God.
Those who have been catechized in the Lutheran Church have probably memorized the keys to happiness in the Sixth Petition of Luther's Catechism. After we pray: Lead us not into temptation, Martin Luther taught us:
"What does this mean?
God indeed tempts no one to sin, but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world and our flesh may not deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair and other great shame and vice, and though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally overcome and obtain the victory." (from Luther's Small Catechism, CPH)Truth Is The Key
Jesus in John 8:31-32 said,
"If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (NIV).
Misbelief therapy involves putting the truth into our value systems, our demands, our expectations and our assumptions, as well as into the words we tell ourselves. Jesus Christ is the living Truth. When we inject the truth into our every thought, taking a therapeutic broom and sweeping away the lies and misbeliefs which have enslaved us, we find our lives greatly changed for the better.
While it is true that this is the method Dr. Backus and a number of other counselors follow, one need not necessarily call for an appointment. No, Dr. Backus, along with writer Marie Chapian, have done us the service of putting many of his insights into a book that we may become our own counselors, so that we may live happily with that person with whom you must spend the rest of your life--yourself.
The idea is for you to talk to yourself in such a way as to be your own therapist. Of course, some will need the services of a Professional and others will need help from a group or from a friend.
Dr. Backus and his staff have done follow-up studies with clients with whom he has used his Misbelief Therapy over a 6-month period. The results were gratifying. 95% of the clients treated at the Center had improved. That compares to 67% with other methods of therapy. The difference, Dr. Backus says, is the Word of God. These skills truly are skills you will want to use for the rest of your life.
Part IV: Misbeliefs In Life
A. Anxiety/Fear
What is Anxiety? Anxiety is:
1) Fear in the absence of real danger,
2) Overestimation of the probability of danger and exaggeration of its degree of terribleness, and
3) Imagined negative results.
Some Scriptures that are helpful for telling yourself the truth if you suffer from anxiety. These include, for example, II Corinthians 4:17, Luke. 10:19 and 11:9, James 4:7, I John 4:4, and Isaiah. 40:31. In spite of these and other clear witnesses of Scriptures, anxiety can still play a haunting role in your life.
Now let’s look at an example of how misbeliefs play a role in the life of others. The following examples demonstrates that both adults and children encounter the effects of misbelief in their lives.Misbelief In Anxiety: Suzy
Suzy is stacking the dishes in the dishwasher for her mother when she accidentally drops one and breaks it. Her heart pounds. She knows this means punishment. Suzy has been conditioned to feel this way. When her mother enters the kitchen and sees the broken glass, she calls Suzy clumsy, careless and useless, raves about the glass being fine crystal, and wallops her.
Suzy feels the same fear when she is out among people. She can't stay upright on her roller skates. As a result, the other children ridicule her. Her father often calls her lazy and her mother yells when she doesn't perform according to her expectations.Carol's Dilemma
Suzy teaches herself how to be anxious. So does Carol, a 22-year-old young woman. She has spent several years of her life piling up anxiety responses. She is riddled with fears and can't force herself to go out and get a job. In desperation, her parents insist that she see a Psychologist.
"I can't get a job," she says. "I've tried and I just can't. I hate job interviews; They scare me." "Why is that?" the Counselor asks. "Well, they're awful, that's why. The job market is tight and there are so few openings."
By her 8th session, Carol is able to identify her thoughts and beliefs. She identifies the feared objects as other people. Her inability to land a job is not due to the job market but due to the anxiety she suffers at the thought of going out and being with people. She fears what people could do to her.
"Carol, you said you hated being in crowds." That's right, I really do hate it. "What could a crowd do to you?" Well, they might make fun of me or laugh at me. "Would that be terrible?" Yes, it would be horrible. I would hate that. "Would it really be the end of the world for you if someone laughed or made fun of you?" Well, I'd hate it, but I guess it actually wouldn't be the end of the world.Carol's Big Step
Carol didn't realize it, but she had just made a big and very important step of progress, one that you can also make if you suffer from anxiety.
1) Carol listened to herself and heard what was really going on in her mind.
2) By listening she realized she had been telling herself that to be laughed at and made fun of would be horrible and terrible--A misbelief.
3) She then argued that misbelief with the truth by telling herself that although she wouldn't like the situation, it would not be the end of the world.
B. The Truth About "Awfulizing"
People who suffer from anxiety tell themselves, "If the thing I worry about actually happened, it would wipe me out. It would be awful, horrible."
Dr. Albert Ellis, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Rational Psychotherapy, calls this "awfulizing." Anxious people do a lot of it. Little Suzy tells herself: It would be awful if my classmates were mean to me. Carol worries about being in a crowd of people because she fears they might make fun of her or laugh at her. She will overcome this lie only if she De-awfulizes the thought in her mind and replaces it with the truth.
Some common lies are:
1) He/she/they might not like me. That would be terrible.
2) I might not meet people's expectations of me. That would be terrible.
3) I might be rejected. That would be terrible.
4) I might fail. That would be terrible.
5) I might say or do something dumb. That would be terrible.
6) Once I've gained happiness, I might lose it. That would be terrible.
7) I might not look as good as other people. That would be terrible.
8) He/She/They might discover what a nothing I really am. That would be terrible.
9) Nobody will ever love me. That would be terrible.
10) I might get hurt. That would be terrible.
11) I might be asked to do something I don't know how to do. That would be terrible.
12) I might lose everything I've got. That would be terrible.
13) I could die. That would be terrible.
C. Externally-Driven MisbeliefsThe Central Theme: What Others Think
The central theme running through the misbeliefs in anxiety is that what other people think of me is of such crucial importance that I must anticipate it in advance of all my actions. I must do all I can in order to prevent others from thinking badly of me. If they think badly of me, it will be a mortal blow to me. It would be terrible.
Nearly all anxious people believe and tell themselves that they are in danger of other people's reactions to them. These words, like all misbeliefs, are lies from the enemy. While we are certainly glad if others think well of us and love us, we can still live very well if we don't have the affection and approval of all other people.
Key Insight:
"Jesus never said, 'Love others INSTEAD of your self.
What He did say was, 'Love others AS yourself.' "
The Bible does not tell us to please everyone on earth. It does not tell us to work overtime trying to get people to love us. Jesus never told us to go out and take a course on how to get people to like us. He told us to love Him, trust Him, have faith in Him, glorify Him, and to genuinely care about others.Whom Do We Want To Please?
The price an anxious person pays to please people is too great. Jesus, above all others, demonstrated that if a person is really serious about pleasing God, there will be times when his behavior will be just the opposite of what people expect of him. See Luke 6:26.
Jesus himself wasn't loved by everyone and still isn't. Many found fault with Him and He was perfect! When He was here on earth He made the leaders and molders of public opinion quite upset with His social behavior. He befriended prostitutes and tax collectors and thieves and sought them out. That did not make him Mr. Popular with the religious folk of the day.
People found fault with the way He talked and worshiped; they even criticized the way he ate. But He wasn't devastated by what others thought of Him because He kept His eye on His Father in heaven and on doing His will.
In fact, Jesus had joy through it all and He says to us My joy I give unto you. Paul knew this joy too and he knew how to handle criticism and he knew how to talk himself out of anxiety. (See I Corinthians 4).Conclusion
We need to remember that some anxiety is hereditary and can be conquered only with medication. Some people will conquer their anxiety only by consultation with the a trained professional, either a clinical Psychologist or a Psychiatrist. Many others have anxiety purely because of the lies they are telling themselves.It is important that individuals suffering such anxiety see a good therapist skilled in Cognitive Psychology (many do). If individuals are working on themselves, they must learn to journal, i.e. to place the misbelief in one column and the truth in the other (as in the example of Jerry above). They must also deal with their misbeliefs on a regular basis in the way Backus described or they will find this method unworkable. You can't "do it in your head." Wherever possible, Scripture must be used to oppose the Misbeliefs, as Backus does in his book.
Concluding Insight
NOBODY other than you has the power to make you miserable.
That power is YOURS alone.
YOU make yourself miserable by the things you tell yourself.Rev. Wayne Dobratz
Addenda:
Telling Yourself The Truth
It is almost impossible to battle misbeliefs in your head. Learn to journal your misbeliefs and the truths that you tell yourself to combat them. The best way to do this is to draw yourself a table in your notebook similar to the one below. Wherever possible, use the truth of God's Word to combat your misbeliefs.
MISBELIEFS TRUTHS
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.
7. 7.
From The Editor:
Pastors and other professionals may tend to ignore the need for professional assistance. In some cases the application of a self-help cognitive approach may not work without necessary professional support and guidance.
The consequences for overlooking necessary intervention can be devastating especially in on-going circumstances. If your anxiety is obsessive, dominating your thinking, and or interfering with your life, do not even try to deal with it by yourself.
Save yourself the potentially excruciating pain of deep anxiety by dealing with it in the presence of a competent professional early on. It's better to have sought professional guidance and found it unnecessary than to have deemed it unnecessary and never gone at all.
May God bless your discovery of the Truth in your life!
Thomas F. Fischer
Topical Index Articles 1-49 Articles 50-99 Articles 100-149 Articles 150-199
Articles 200-249 Articles 250-299 Articles 300-349 Articles 350-399
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Amor irresistÃvel
Palavras de Jesus
Vocês, porém, são geração eleita, sacerdócio real, nação santa, povo exclusivo de Deus, para anunciar as grandezas daquele que os chamou das trevas para a sua maravilhosa luz.—1 Pedro 2:9[1]
*
Porque Deus nos escolheu nele antes da criação do mundo, para sermos santos e irrepreensÃveis em sua presença. Em amor nos predestinou para sermos adotados como filhos por meio de Jesus Cristo, conforme o bom propósito da sua vontade, para o louvor da sua gloriosa graça, a qual nos deu gratuitamente no Amado.—Efésios 1:4–6[2]
Envolvido em amor
Se você estivesse diante de Mim no espÃrito, seria envolvido e dominado pelo Meu Amor de tal maneira que toda a dor, os pesares e os mal-entendidos do passado e do presente desvaneceriam por completo! Meu Amor por você é tão grande que não deixa lugar para dor ou condenação. Se estivesse diante de Mim no espÃrito, sentiria apenas plena aceitação e amor, ao ver que tudo foi perdoado. Em Mim não há temor. Dissipo todo o medo e no Meu amor não há temor.
Apesar de você ainda estar na carne, Confie em Mim, que o Meu amor por você agora não é menor do que será quando você chegar ao Céu e estiver diante de Mim. Você já está perdoado e não há nenhuma acusação contra você. Você é o Meu amado.
Então, encontre no Meu amor perfeita paz, tranquilidade e consolo.
*
Eu a amei com amor eterno; com amor leal a atrai.—Jeremias 31:3[3]
*
Eu a amei com amor eterno. Antes de existir o tempo Eu já a conhecia. Durante anos e anos você vagou em um mundo sem sentido, em busca de amor e esperança. Eu a acompanhei esse tempo todo, desejando ansiosamente aconchegá-la em um abraço carinhoso.
No momento certo, Me revelei a você. Tirei-a do desespero e a coloquei sobre um firme alicerce. Houve ocasiões quando você se sentiu nua e totalmente vulnerável diante da luz reveladora da Minha presença. Eu a envolvi com um manto protetor, Meu manto de justiça. Cantei para você uma canção de amor cujo inÃcio e fim estão ocultos pela eternidade. Dei sentido aos seus pensamentos e harmonia ao seu coração. Cante Comigo a Minha canção e juntos atrairemos outros das trevas para a Minha maravilhosa luz.[4]
*
É grande o meu prazer no Senhor! Regozija-se a minha alma em meu Deus! Pois Ele me vestiu com as vestes da salvação e sobre mim pôs o manto da justiça, qual noivo que adorna a cabeça como um sacerdote, qual noiva que se enfeita com joias.—Isaias 61:10[5]
Amor perfeito
Nada quebrará o vÃnculo de amor que tenho com você. Nada pode se interpor entre nós. Nada pode Me separar de você, pois o Meu amor é mais forte do que qualquer coisa. As muitas águas não podem apagá-lo, dúvidas não podem removê-lo, nada pode manchá-lo, pois é mais forte do que qualquer uma dessas coisas.
Ao buscar e descobrir o Meu amor, ao nadar no Meu amor e se deleitar no êxtase e na alegria que quero lhe dar, entenderá por que os mártires conseguiram morrer por este amor. Para eles, era maior do que qualquer tribulação, maior do que qualquer perseguição ou problema. Era tão forte que tinham certeza de sua existência, mesmo quando não conseguiam senti-lo. Era mais forte do que qualquer circunstância ou batalha, pois essas coisas passariam, mas o Meu amor não passaria.
Se Me buscar de todo o coração, Me encontrará, pois serei achado por você, e quero aproximá-lo de Mim. Quando Me buscar na Palavra, Me encontrará, pois serei achado por você.
O meu cálice transborda[6]
No dia de Pentecostes derramei o Meu EspÃrito, que se manifestou pelo dom de lÃnguas e profecia, mas o “maior destes é o amor”.[7] É um dom maior do que os outros. Também derramo Meus outros dons de cura, de profecia, de lÃnguas, mas o amor é o maior de todos!
É um dom que derramo como vagalhões e grandes ondas no mar! Podem exercitar esses dons quando pisarem nas águas por fé, viverem no meu amor, disserem palavras de amor e realizarem esses atos de amor. Isso os levará avante e os susterá em meio de grandes trevas e de grande tribulação. O Meu amor os susterá e protegerá.
O Meu amor não tem limites. Pois sou amor e nada Me pode conter. Dou generosamente em grande abundância, por todos os lados. Você vem a Mim com um copo, mas quero abrir canais para você, canais contÃnuos do Meu amor. Se olhar para Mim e Me buscar primeiro, se Me puser em primeiro lugar e se aproximar de Mim de todo o coração, vai transbordar com o Meu amor. Seu copo não ficará vazio. Vai transbordar! Vai estar sempre transbordando. Você não terá apenas o seu mÃsero pouquinho, mas uma abundância incomensurável do Meu Amor para dividir com os outros, para derramar, para dar. E à medida que der, mais lhe será dado. Pelas águas que derramar Eu encherei você com mais, porque não existe limite para Mim nem para o Meu amor!
Como filho único
Eu amo todos os Meus filhos do mesmo jeito. Cada um é precioso para mim e amo cada um como se fosse o único. Cada um é como um filho único para Mim. É assim que derramo o Meu amor, minha atenção, afeto, provisão e proteção: como se fosse Meu filho único.
Sou dedicado a cada um dos Meus filhos com uma fidelidade infinita, como uma mãe para com seu filho único. Vela por ele fielmente, cuida dele, da sua educação, supre o que ele precisa, atende ao desejo que tem de amor, encorajamento e instrução. Ela vela pelo seu único filho com grande admiração, orgulho e encontra uma alegria tremenda à medida que ele cresce, amadurece e realiza os seus sonhos. Assim como essa mãe ama o seu único filho, Eu também amo cada um dos Meus filhos como se fosse o único, com muito amor, devoção e atenção.
*
Tudo o que tenho é teu e tudo o que tens é meu. E eu tenho sido glorificado por meio deles. Digo estas coisas enquanto ainda estou no mundo, para que eles tenham a plenitude da minha alegria. Santifica-os na verdade; a tua palavra é a verdade. Dei-lhes a glória que me deste, para que eles sejam um, assim como nós somos um: eu neles e tu em mim. Que eles sejam levados à plena unidade, para que o mundo saiba que tu me enviaste, e os amaste como igualmente me amaste.—João 17:10, 13, 17, 22–23[8]
Publicado originalmente em 1997, salvo indicação contrária. Adaptado e republicado em fevereiro 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.
[1] NVI.
[2] NVI.
[3] NVI.
[4] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
[5] NVI.
[6] Salmo 23:5.
[7] 1 CorÃntios 13:13.
[8] NVI.
Vocês, porém, são geração eleita, sacerdócio real, nação santa, povo exclusivo de Deus, para anunciar as grandezas daquele que os chamou das trevas para a sua maravilhosa luz.—1 Pedro 2:9[1]
*
Porque Deus nos escolheu nele antes da criação do mundo, para sermos santos e irrepreensÃveis em sua presença. Em amor nos predestinou para sermos adotados como filhos por meio de Jesus Cristo, conforme o bom propósito da sua vontade, para o louvor da sua gloriosa graça, a qual nos deu gratuitamente no Amado.—Efésios 1:4–6[2]
Envolvido em amor
Se você estivesse diante de Mim no espÃrito, seria envolvido e dominado pelo Meu Amor de tal maneira que toda a dor, os pesares e os mal-entendidos do passado e do presente desvaneceriam por completo! Meu Amor por você é tão grande que não deixa lugar para dor ou condenação. Se estivesse diante de Mim no espÃrito, sentiria apenas plena aceitação e amor, ao ver que tudo foi perdoado. Em Mim não há temor. Dissipo todo o medo e no Meu amor não há temor.
Apesar de você ainda estar na carne, Confie em Mim, que o Meu amor por você agora não é menor do que será quando você chegar ao Céu e estiver diante de Mim. Você já está perdoado e não há nenhuma acusação contra você. Você é o Meu amado.
Então, encontre no Meu amor perfeita paz, tranquilidade e consolo.
*
Eu a amei com amor eterno; com amor leal a atrai.—Jeremias 31:3[3]
*
Eu a amei com amor eterno. Antes de existir o tempo Eu já a conhecia. Durante anos e anos você vagou em um mundo sem sentido, em busca de amor e esperança. Eu a acompanhei esse tempo todo, desejando ansiosamente aconchegá-la em um abraço carinhoso.
No momento certo, Me revelei a você. Tirei-a do desespero e a coloquei sobre um firme alicerce. Houve ocasiões quando você se sentiu nua e totalmente vulnerável diante da luz reveladora da Minha presença. Eu a envolvi com um manto protetor, Meu manto de justiça. Cantei para você uma canção de amor cujo inÃcio e fim estão ocultos pela eternidade. Dei sentido aos seus pensamentos e harmonia ao seu coração. Cante Comigo a Minha canção e juntos atrairemos outros das trevas para a Minha maravilhosa luz.[4]
*
É grande o meu prazer no Senhor! Regozija-se a minha alma em meu Deus! Pois Ele me vestiu com as vestes da salvação e sobre mim pôs o manto da justiça, qual noivo que adorna a cabeça como um sacerdote, qual noiva que se enfeita com joias.—Isaias 61:10[5]
Amor perfeito
Nada quebrará o vÃnculo de amor que tenho com você. Nada pode se interpor entre nós. Nada pode Me separar de você, pois o Meu amor é mais forte do que qualquer coisa. As muitas águas não podem apagá-lo, dúvidas não podem removê-lo, nada pode manchá-lo, pois é mais forte do que qualquer uma dessas coisas.
Ao buscar e descobrir o Meu amor, ao nadar no Meu amor e se deleitar no êxtase e na alegria que quero lhe dar, entenderá por que os mártires conseguiram morrer por este amor. Para eles, era maior do que qualquer tribulação, maior do que qualquer perseguição ou problema. Era tão forte que tinham certeza de sua existência, mesmo quando não conseguiam senti-lo. Era mais forte do que qualquer circunstância ou batalha, pois essas coisas passariam, mas o Meu amor não passaria.
Se Me buscar de todo o coração, Me encontrará, pois serei achado por você, e quero aproximá-lo de Mim. Quando Me buscar na Palavra, Me encontrará, pois serei achado por você.
O meu cálice transborda[6]
No dia de Pentecostes derramei o Meu EspÃrito, que se manifestou pelo dom de lÃnguas e profecia, mas o “maior destes é o amor”.[7] É um dom maior do que os outros. Também derramo Meus outros dons de cura, de profecia, de lÃnguas, mas o amor é o maior de todos!
É um dom que derramo como vagalhões e grandes ondas no mar! Podem exercitar esses dons quando pisarem nas águas por fé, viverem no meu amor, disserem palavras de amor e realizarem esses atos de amor. Isso os levará avante e os susterá em meio de grandes trevas e de grande tribulação. O Meu amor os susterá e protegerá.
O Meu amor não tem limites. Pois sou amor e nada Me pode conter. Dou generosamente em grande abundância, por todos os lados. Você vem a Mim com um copo, mas quero abrir canais para você, canais contÃnuos do Meu amor. Se olhar para Mim e Me buscar primeiro, se Me puser em primeiro lugar e se aproximar de Mim de todo o coração, vai transbordar com o Meu amor. Seu copo não ficará vazio. Vai transbordar! Vai estar sempre transbordando. Você não terá apenas o seu mÃsero pouquinho, mas uma abundância incomensurável do Meu Amor para dividir com os outros, para derramar, para dar. E à medida que der, mais lhe será dado. Pelas águas que derramar Eu encherei você com mais, porque não existe limite para Mim nem para o Meu amor!
Como filho único
Eu amo todos os Meus filhos do mesmo jeito. Cada um é precioso para mim e amo cada um como se fosse o único. Cada um é como um filho único para Mim. É assim que derramo o Meu amor, minha atenção, afeto, provisão e proteção: como se fosse Meu filho único.
Sou dedicado a cada um dos Meus filhos com uma fidelidade infinita, como uma mãe para com seu filho único. Vela por ele fielmente, cuida dele, da sua educação, supre o que ele precisa, atende ao desejo que tem de amor, encorajamento e instrução. Ela vela pelo seu único filho com grande admiração, orgulho e encontra uma alegria tremenda à medida que ele cresce, amadurece e realiza os seus sonhos. Assim como essa mãe ama o seu único filho, Eu também amo cada um dos Meus filhos como se fosse o único, com muito amor, devoção e atenção.
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Tudo o que tenho é teu e tudo o que tens é meu. E eu tenho sido glorificado por meio deles. Digo estas coisas enquanto ainda estou no mundo, para que eles tenham a plenitude da minha alegria. Santifica-os na verdade; a tua palavra é a verdade. Dei-lhes a glória que me deste, para que eles sejam um, assim como nós somos um: eu neles e tu em mim. Que eles sejam levados à plena unidade, para que o mundo saiba que tu me enviaste, e os amaste como igualmente me amaste.—João 17:10, 13, 17, 22–23[8]
Publicado originalmente em 1997, salvo indicação contrária. Adaptado e republicado em fevereiro 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.
[1] NVI.
[2] NVI.
[3] NVI.
[4] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
[5] NVI.
[6] Salmo 23:5.
[7] 1 CorÃntios 13:13.
[8] NVI.
