9 Things To Keep In Mind Daily
August 30, 2013 Leave a comment
“Dear friends, you are like visitors and strangers in this world. So I beg you to keep your lives free from the evil things you want to do, those desires that fight against your true selves. People who don’t believe are living all around you. They may say that you are doing wrong. So live such good lives that they will see the good you do, and they will give glory to God on the day he comes. Be willing to serve the people who have authority in this world. Do this for the Lord. Obey the king, the highest authority. And obey the leaders who are sent by the king. They are sent to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do good. When you do good, you stop ignorant people from saying foolish things about you. This is what God wants. Live like free people, but don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Live as those who are serving God. Show respect for all people. Love your brothers and sisters in God’s family. Respect God, and honor the king.” 1 Peter 2:11-17 ERV
I love to read books especially a book that can help me become a better person. In my bookshelf are books on leadership, motivation, discipline, psychology, Christianity etc. One time I was helping a friend who was suffering from “panic attacks”. I did not know that this psychological dilemma ever existed. Try to search the web about the subject if you really want to know what it is. I could not give a friendly counsel at that time since I did not even know or aware of the disorder. All I did was open my ears and listen for hours about his story. So the next day, I went to a bookstore (Half Price Bookstore, my favorite place) and picked a $9.99 book entitled “When Panic Attacks” by Dr. David Burns. I finished reading the thick book in a week and took a lot of notes. I felt like I was so educated after reading the entire book. (If you are suffering from panic attacks or some form of panic symptoms, you might want to read this book). It’s not a ‘cure it all’ book but at least you will learn about the psychology of the disorder and some remedies to help you to get back on your feet. It’s good to know the inner workings of the illness. The reason why I’ve mentioned it here is not to promote the book or psychology but to share what happened after reading the book.
No, I did not cure my friend with it and I have not even heard from him for months.
Ive learned that panic attacks are the effect of the things that we do and think. It is like a hidden underground volcano which are collecting enough energy later to be released to the surface of the earth. Our mind is very tricky, elusive and deceiving and even neuroscientists are still puzzled by what our minds can think and produce. Try to do something bad for a week and do it repeatedly and you will realize that your peaceful mind will disappear. Try to think of negative things all day like – the world is going to end, or think that you will lose your job, or think that you will have cancer or think that you will suffer a severe medical illness or try to think that you really is a bad person and you are worthless and has no value and purpose in life. Or try to think that you cannot succeed since you failed more than once already. By the end of the day, I promise that you will end up panicky, frightened, terrified and down. Repeat this step the rest of your life and you will have a 100% chance of getting a “panic attack” disorder and you will always feel miserable and bitter and angry towards yourself, others and to the whole world.
After reading the book, I sat down in a prayerful mood and contemplated and ask God to enlighten me and give me wisdom on how to deal with the panic disorder. I waited for hours for God’s enlightenment and out of nowhere these words came to my heart “my Words is enough”. At first it was not clear to me of what it means. I could not comprehend or connect it to what I was asking about. Later in the day, the meaning of the statement becomes clearer. The Holy Spirit was telling me that life’s difficult issues was already addressed in His Words – the Bible.
I spent hours digging information to help someone but the answer to the issue was just right there in Bible.
I could not disagree. Even until now, every time I opened my Bible every morning, I can see that it is telling me something. The Bible indeed contains all the answers but the problem with the message of the Bible is not so clearly stated and even if it is translated to a very common language, still the message is hidden in a layer of confusion that only a receptive and open heart can comprehend.
As for a counsel to a troubled friend, from now on, I will stick with this statement — What the Word says about your issues? Then the next step is just to obey what is written. That’s it and you will be all healed and restored. Of course this takes time, but from the bottom of my heart, the fix to our troubled life is already written and is ready for us to take in.
For a micro life improvement activity, even by just executing #2 below is more than enough to get us out from a bad situation. Evil things includes: lying, cheating, not being honest to self and others, holding grudges, unforgivingness , violating the law of the land etc.
Here’s a few list of things to study and do. I believe that the message/context of each sentence is already clear. Feel free to study each line and then tell yourself to do it.
1. Live like visitors and strangers
2. Keep away from doing evil things
3. Be willing to serve to those above you.
4. Obey your superiors or authority
5. Live like free people
6. Live to serve God (not man)
7. Show respect for all people (don’t be selective)
8. Love your brothers and sisters (this is the hardest)
9. Respect and Honor God (#9 overrides #1-8)
See it at YouVersion.com: