Question #1:
Am I processing my learning from rest… or stress?
Graham:
Stress is always an inside job. We are in the process of learning how to put off our old nature and put on the new nature of Jesus. Our old nature is a product of our negative experiences and environment. It supplies head-noise, the background tape that runs on a loop incessantly in our thinking.
All our stress is already on that tape. When situations arise that are difficult for us, the button gets pressed and the old messages about ourselves get played. Stress is the result.
Our new nature is a product of heaven. It's the way God thinks about us in Christ. He has nothing but approval and love for us because that's why He put us into Christ in the first place - so that we could be accepted in the Beloved. That is a place of rest and peace.
So when old is colliding with new in my learning, I don't want to process my learning from a place of stress. I want to put all that aside and begin to worship until how God sees me becomes bigger than anything else. I give thanks with my whole heart until it overwhelms me. I give thanks until I become thanks. I read my Inheritance Words and my promises.
THEN, when rest rises from the Prince of Peace that lives in me - I'm ready to think about who I am and who I am becoming in Christ.
Never process your learning or your circumstances from a place of stress. You'll cover far more ground from a place of rest in 10 minutes than you would in hours of stress influenced thinking!
For more on this, I think you would enjoy this episode of my talk, "Capturing the Thoughts of God," from Mind of a Saint. In it, I talk about why the real you is not stressed.
Click here to listen:
https://www.brillianttv.com/mind-of-a-saint/season:1/videos/moas-session6-part2
Question #2:
I am trying to stop comparison and I am trying to stop learning everything and trying to figure it all out instead of resting in Jesus... how can i best do this?
Graham:
I have discovered over the years that resting in the truth is actually a pre-requisite for becoming it. In the world we want to understand everything before we receive it. Often that leads us to a logical receptivity of truth rather than a relational acceptance.
The Truth that sets us free is a Person living in us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word is in us, relating to us, empowering us, and working in us both to will and to do for His Good Pleasure.
The process of receptivity that has worked so well for me is:
#To rejoice in the Truth first, to love the idea of God talking to me.
#To joyfully imagine God relating to me in this place that is opening up.
#To identify what this Truth is replacing and be excited at the prospect of that happening.
#To think about the wonderful implications for The Lord and I to come together in agreement.
# To relax in Him. I am His Workmanship created in Christ Jesus. He works in me to will and to do.
So resting in Him is a key part of responding to what He is doing. If I try before resting, I make myself
vulnerable to the striving of self effort. God initiates and we respond. Responsibility is our response to His
ability to make us like Him.
This process for me is about being overwhelmed by His joy in the Truth. It is about an experience of John 15:11. The Delight of God in us and His lovingkindness towards us are powerful receptors that enable us to joyfully engage in Presence.
Often people want to understand the truth before they receive it; which of course is reasonable and logical. It's how the world works. We are in the world but not of it. We are in The Kingdom and the Kingdom is in us.
In the Kingdom different rules apply. Relational learning is primarily about discovering the nature of God towards me in the situation that seeks to envelop me. His Delight empowers me to have an encounter with Him that strips my circumstance of the power to adversely affect me. When trust is present faith is so much easier. Faith comes by hearing Gods heart for me; AND Faith works by love. We love the learning by engaging with the process of what God wants to be for us now! His Delight and our Rejoicing always go hand in hand. It's Exciting!!
Phew. That's a big response to a question you never asked! My role in this community is to take years off everyone's development, and to be excited about who people are becoming and empower the best way to get there fast. God is in the business of redeeming time and I would love everyone to be constantly thrilled and amazed at who God is for them regardless of circumstances.
Thanks for reading this. Enjoy all your great thoughts.