Excite Him to Move Mountains
11/15/2022
“Radio” = our spinning, chattering, or analytical noisy thoughts that are not of Christ
Turning away from the radio is a little bit like saying goodbye to a dying pet. The comfort and companionship we get from our old friend the radio—is very hard to let go of. “Man’s best friend” is not really a pet, but the radio. Just as an animal that is reliable and always with us when no one else is around is therapeutic, so is our radio of self-indulgence, self-justification, accusation and judgment, mopey, looping, fantasies, comparison, pride, fears, and more.
It IS hard to say goodbye to our constant companion, our therapy pet, our radio. The withdrawal symptoms are fascinatingly difficult and painful.
And yet… Jesus won’t compete with a willing addiction to your radio.
“Inner silence is for our race a difficult achievement. There is a chattering part of the mind which continues, until it is corrected, to chatter on even in the holiest places.” -C.S. Lewis
I’m sorry about all of this from the just-ended plane trip, but it almost feels like heresy to say KAREN CARPENTER IS ACTUALLY WRONG. :) She’s been feeding us the wrong thoughts: “I know I need to be in love.” “I know there’s someone out there for me.” “I’m wide awake at 4 a.m., not a friend in sight.”
Sure, “being in love” is fun, but it can be a short term, undependable drug fix, if we are reliant on the “feeling” and “circumstance” to get those warm fuzzies from the outside rather than the Inside.
Don’t “need” someone to love you, just love and Accept the love of God inside of you. Don’t “need” for someone to make you feel secure or for something to make you feel secure, just know the Inner-secure.
The Life of a Believer is inside of you, not outside of you.
To someone earlier today:
Would you PLEASE let go of all the yakking to yourself inside your brain? It’s NOT you, it is just a “radio station” playing noise into your skull. Step OUT of it and into the quiet where Jesus is. You don’t have to “solve” it. Just stop listening to it. You are arguing with a radio station! How dumb is that?! Let it go. Lean back into Jesus, Prince of Peace. The ONLY sounds there are worship and whispers.
Do you want to be admired? Do you want your “needs” fulfilled? What even ARE those things?!
Lust? Fear? Pride? Vanity? They are nothing. Just a radio station in your brain you can TURN OFF. It’s not YOU. They have “nothing in you.”
We don’t let a horse we are riding go wherever it wants. We learn how to interface. Control the radio, the thoughts that are pushing themselves on you! They don’t know ANYTHING!
Do I want to feel loved? That can’t be dependent on any person, or event.
Do I want to feel happy? That’s surely not based on anything external AT ALL. Turn off all of the “radio-thoughts” and “feeling-craving” and “security-seeking” in your brain! You can’t win by arguing with the radio.
Would you PLEASE let go of all the yakking to yourself inside your brain? It’s NOT you, it is just a “radio station” playing noise into your skull. Step OUT of it and into the quiet where Jesus is. You don’t have to “solve” it. Just stop listening to it. You are arguing with a radio station! How dumb is that?! Let it go. Lean back into Jesus, Prince of Peace. The ONLY sounds there are worship and whispers.
This is why “Music” of any pleasant genre can fill up our mind temporarily, bring up memories to replace the argumentative noise, and “make us feel better.” If we are learning truths from Jesus songs’ lyrics, that’s a more sustainable situation. But, we all know any pleasant or exciting or memorable lyrics and melody might replace the grating mind-accusations and mind-arguments, temporarily. This is important evidence that our circumstances or other people and their responses towards us don’t “really” necessitate any reactions and feelings within us. The internal talk is not really “us”--and it’s a choice to allow that yakking in our skull to cause panic, fear, depression, pride, or a “fix-it” mentality.
Since the goal is NOT to be “happy” instead of miserable, we don’t want to ONLY “sweep the house clean” but rather be Clean to be the Wind of the Spirit to do “the greater works” of Jesus and see His Truth flowing like a mighty River down the streets of the towns and cities of this earth.
God is looking for those with FAITH as described above, who “trust fully and fall backwards into His arms,” TO EXCITE HIM TO MOVE MOUNTAINS. Fall back.
“Father, let your Spirit flow inside me til all that will not praise You is undone.” “Brother of the Son” -Don Fransisco
Some Examples
Below are some examples of “allowing the radio to blare and echo in our minds” that probably ALL of us do... These SHOULD be responded to emphatically and vertically and instantly with, “Jesus, I trust you to lead and teach and change me through any of this, no matter if there’s some or a lot or no truth to this! I won’t spend any more time tolerating the brain, and guilt, and fear, or pride, or lust, or love of the world ‘what if’ and ‘if then’ ‘imagination’ cycles in my brain/your brain I/you have. I’m casting it DOWN now and will not allow any more repeats.”
“It’s my fault.”
“It’s not my fault.”
“I’m overweight, so I need to be self-conscious.”
“I think I look good.”
“It’s not fair.”
“They don’t like me. They don’t respect me.”
“I’m not going to make it.”
“They think they’re special.”
“I can’t ever live up to that.”
“I can’t ever stop that - it’s just who I am.”
“They aren’t as __ as I am.”
“I hate my life.”
“God can’t forgive me.”
“I’m a failure.”
“I have nothing to offer.”
“It will always be like this.”
“He/she doesn’t love me.”
“They are a clique.”
“I wish I could have __.”
“They are prideful.”
“He/she is a liar.”
“I know more than they know.”
“They’re stupid.”
“I’m stupid.”
“I’m bored.”
“I want more more more adventure.”
“It won’t hurt this one time.”
“I wonder what it would be like if __.”
“Everybody has flaws. Everybody sins. So what’s the big deal. That’s legalism.”
“They think they’re better than everyone.”
“Every time I do ___ I’m a bad person and I can’t stop so I’m hopeless.”
“If I just play out in my mind all the worst case scenarios of health and safety, then I can in myself prevent the guilt I would have if something bad happened.”
“Do I look like I’m doing a good job raising children? Am I doing it right? She is doing a better job than me. What are they thinking about how I’m handling this situation? I can’t help with their children because mine have these problems.”
“How do I appear in mind and body to other people? I’m not funny enough, I’m not ‘happy’ enough, I’m not *looking* like I’m ‘connecting’ enough with Heaven things.”
“I’ve tried and failed so many times.”
“I should be able to do it all, and I can’t, and I’m such a burden.”
“I want to help but why would they listen to me because I have ____ problem.”
“They don’t understand.” “They don’t care.”
“They probably won’t hear me.” “I’ll be misunderstood.”
“I don’t know all the details, so I can’t help.” “I might mess something up.” “I’m no use to anyone.”
“They can always express themselves so much better than me.”
When you start writing them out it’s so obvious how self-centered it all can be (even though in the moment the lies try to say otherwise.)
The Answer is always SHUT IT DOWN and be Vertical. You can CAST DOWN the imagination. It exalts itself to remove Jesus’ lordship!
Again: Respond emphatically and vertically and instantly with, “Jesus, I trust you to lead and teach and change me through any of this, no matter if there’s some or a lot or no truth to this! I won’t spend any more time tolerating the brain, and guilt, and fear, or pride, or lust, or love of the world ‘what if’ and ‘if then’ ‘imagination’ cycles in my brain/your brain I/you have. I’m casting it DOWN now and will not allow any more repeats.”
Jesus Alone!!!
“The victorious Christian neither exalts nor downgrades himself. His interests have shifted from self to Christ. What he is or is not no longer concerns him. He believes that he has been crucified with Christ and he is not willing either to praise or deprecate such a man.” (A.W. Tozer)
The victorious Christian shuts down the radio of talk, talk, talk trying to understand himself and how he should feel about himself and his circumstances and failures. “I should feel bad, bad, bad because...” No. Rather, I am on a journey of BECOMING and my job is to keep my focus on Him and tune out the chatter of self talk. “I’m bad, I’m blind, I’m being punished, God is angry with me, I’m a failure, it’s hopeless.” Blah blah. No. The victorious Christian doesn’t think about himself. It no longer concerns him.
“The radio” is not just negative self talk and dark thoughts. But the radio that needs turned off can also be a different kind of dark thought: ambitions, things we want, things that might happen to us that are so-called exciting, imaginary promotions, imaginary accomplishments, imaginary wins of various kinds, imaginary relationships etc. That too is a radio that needs turned off. Leave it in God’s hands please?
Ok. You all now know what to do! Again:
Respond emphatically and vertically and instantly with, “Jesus, I trust you to lead and teach and change me through any of this, no matter if there’s some or a lot or no truth to this! I won’t spend any more time tolerating the brain, and guilt, and fear, or pride, or lust, or love of the world ‘what if’ and ‘if then’ ‘imagination’ cycles in my brain/your brain I/you have. I’m casting it DOWN now and will not allow any more repeats.”
A Dinner Conversation
Casting Down Imaginations
What follows is a conversation during dinner regarding this topic (please excuse the noise from the restaurant's patrons, or you may read the transcript below it)...
A: Are there times when junk is blaring in your ears when it would be helpful to tell somebody else so that you can have help? But I know that it’s bad seed for anybody (me or them) simply because it’s the “radio.”
B: If you find yourself helpless against it (which is not really true) but if that's how it's playing out because you're not getting it done, then you have to be pretty careful who you share it with. Find an equipper that can help you dissect it and sort it out and (weave?) it down. In general, you know what is a sinful thought. You know the things that defy Jesus. You know what imaginations are that need to be cast down, not played with. Paul talked about "casting down imaginations,” not sharing imaginations. While there might be a place if you just have no ability whatsoever to deal with it, then the equipper can help you do that.
Mostly it's your job to cast down imaginations because you know it's not Jesus. And the more you argue with it, the more you're turning the radio up not down. "I need to fix this problem in my head because I have all these thoughts about people or about things or whatever.." If you're arguing with the radio in your head all you're really doing is turning the radio up. Right? Cast down imaginations. Don't argue with imaginations. There's not much left to talk about with other people if you're not having any thoughts because you're not allowing any thoughts. That's got to be a choice. Right? Cast down imaginations unless you decide to converse with your imaginations. No, just cast them down.
C: Is the radio also “feelings” too? Like just feeling sad or depressed. Not just thoughts in your head, but also feelings.
B: So there are no thoughts associated with the feelings?
C: I don't know. Sometimes I'm just feeling sad.
B: But no thoughts associated with it?
C: Maybe… I don't know. I can't think of anything specific right now.
B: Usually emotions look for thoughts to attach themselves to. So if I'm really upset with something. “I'm just upset. I'm just upset.” Well, I want to look for someBODY to blame. I want to look for someTHING to blame. But the feeling happened first, and then I tried to find a way to justify the feeling. “Well, I wouldn't feel this way if they hadn't done this or that..” or “If I had this thing that I want, but I don’t." You can have all those feelings just hormonally. You feel sad, but you're going to do your best to serve Jesus anyway.
“I'm kind of feeling a little melancholy today, a little sad, a little whatever.” But then you start attaching ideas to it. “I feel sad because I'm lonely.” That's where you've gone really wrong - because you feel sad with or without being lonely. Do not try to find words to explain why you feel that way. The hormones and the feelings - they come up all by themselves. They don't need any help. Then you start justifying them because "It's their fault,” or "If I only had this, I wouldn't feel that." You start doing that stuff - that's the radio that you've introduced to your life that didn't even need to be there.
I go through any given day, and I have depression and this and that. But I don't have to find something to blame for it. I have it all by itself. I don't need an excuse to feel depressed. I just do. If I look for an excuse to feel depressed, that's when the radio gets turned up. I start getting edgy. On the road I get frustrated with somebody that cut me off. I'm building my own nightmare because I felt an emotion that everybody feels, and then I looked to justify it or excuse it or explain it. That's where the imaginations come in.
Emotions don't require thoughts. When you add thoughts to the emotions, that's when you're starting to get yourself in trouble. You don't need to explain it. Just get rid of it. Just move on. If I'm a little depressed, I can serve God just fine that way. But if I feel a little depressed, and I start blaming something or someone for it - now I've introduced a complication that WILL start playing out in how I react to people. "Well, that's not fair because..." Shut your mouth. “That's not fair because…" Shut up! That's the radio. You've got to shut the radio off. You can feel those feelings. They kind of come and go because you’re a bag of chemicals. Of course, they're going to come and go.
Some people's brains turn on and off - the dopamine and the serotonin and the cortisol. You've got this stuff going on. No big deal. Everybody has that. There's no crime in feeling this or feeling that. It's when you start associating words and ideas and people and things that you're going to get yourself in trouble - or searching for a way to make it better. There's another one, right? I feel depressed, therefore I need to eat. Therefore I need to turn on the television. Therefore I need to …… You start trying to find a way to curb it, you're just automatically sowing seeds that are going to damage you. A best-case scenario is you’re damaged. A worst case scenario is you've committed (spiritual) suicide. Don't try to make yourself feel better. Stop looking for ways to feel better. That's not necessary. You don't have to feel better. You just have to serve well.
Just think of this - you're a slave of Jesus. “Well, I'm in a bad mood today, Jesus. I've decided not to be a slave today." What are you talking about? Jesus doesn't take a survey of who is feeling good today before He asks His slaves to do something. There's no survey required. You're a slave. Just do it and shut up. Do it. And when you've done all, you're still an unprofitable servant. It doesn't matter how much it cost you or how you felt. Since when do slaves tell masters how they're feeling today. Who cares? So everybody is a bag of chemicals.
And everybody is going to go through stuff. Some of it is in the pituitary gland. Some of it's here, some of it’s there. It's just how we are. We're chemical beings. No big deal. Just don't try to find a way to change it in the outside world by getting affection, by getting respect, by drugs, by entertainment. Do not look for solutions there. Just be a Worshipper. "I won't offer to God that which cost me nothing." If I'm feeling crummy and I worship, I get more points than if I'm feeling good and I worship. Take your points and go home. Don't look for some way to feel better because Jesus isn't in that. You don't become a better slave or a better servant only by doing it when you feel good. It's when you feel the worst that you get the most points. Take your points and go home. Quit whining about it and trying to feel better all the time.
It's ironic but it turns out that most of the time when you serve and love anyway, you do kind of feel better. Not because you feel good, but because you forget that you feel bad. That's a big difference. "I feel better now." Well as soon as you say that, you're going to feel bad again. But if you forget that you feel bad because you're serving and loving - that's the best-case scenario because you are no longer in the equation. You're not trying to feel good or not feel bad. You're just trying to be a servant of God. Be His hands and His feet. That's all that really matters. The radio is all about you. How could it be anything but you? The radio is all about you.
A: Sometimes it's both ways for me. One of my own things is negativity - “You're this.."
B: That’s the radio. Stop it!
A: And then it's the other side - "I'm not this, I'm.." and then it's “You're prideful..”
B: You’re arguing with the radio. Picture yourself in front of a TV. You turn on the TV and you sit with your nose on the TV and you start arguing with it. That's stupid! That's what you're doing when you do that in your head. You’re arguing with the radio.
C: And then I think, "Ok I'm not going to continue. I'm just going to get out and get my eyes on other people.” But then I think - “Oh, you're just ignoring everything. You're ignoring the root now.”
B: Here’s what it is. I am ignoring the radio. Now tell me truth, and I'll do it. Tell me truth, and I'll do it. Ignore the radio. Obey truth. They're two separate things entirely. None of them are a judgment or a compliment of you. It doesn't have anything to do with you. You're just a vessel.
C: It seems almost like there are things you're making up in your head.
B: Sure, where else is it coming from? You did it.
C: Like I hear something, and then I'm making things up about myself. These are just things I'm making up about myself. It's all this made-up stuff. When I step back it's like not only is it stupid - it's imaginary.
B: It’s Snuffleupagus. It's just imaginary, for sure. So Snuffleupagus told you something and you believed him? You're crazy! But let's say a real person said something to you. They're just trying to drag you down or hurt you. Or maybe they're trying to help you, and it just struck you the wrong way. You still have the capability of turning off the radio and saying, “Hey, if I need to change, I'll change. No big deal. I’m neutral in this matter. I don't exist in this discussion. I'm neutral in this. If I need to change, I'll change. God help me, I'll change. You and God help me change.” No big deal. But when you start cycling through - “That means I'm bad..” or “What about…" or “I'll never change..” That's the imagination that needs cast down. That's the radio. So spread the word. I'm not saying this just for your benefit. I'm saying this so you can help others.
C: When I think or say things like "I'm just junk." But the blood of Jesus shows me my worth. He died for me. There isn't anything else good in me, but I know that my worth is His blood. I’m not garbage.
B: Right. Except for and apart from His blood you are garbage. But it doesn't matter because He did die. That's a historic fact. That's a documented historical fact. He did spill His blood. It's not a theory. That's history. He did it. He declared your value. We all know your value apart from that. But He gave you value by that action, by that step. He adopted you as His child and gave you His name. C’mon. That’s Big Stuff.
A: Why do we do this if we know there is nothing good in us? Why when something does come to us like, “Why did you do this?” Why are we offended? That's what I tell myself - why do you feel offense when you already know that it's worse than you know? It's worse than you see.
B: That’s something you've got to resolve case by case because it's going to keep coming back - a thousand times. That's how satan plays his game. What's he going to do? Give up? Do you really think satan is going to give up? Ha Ha Ha.