– Good morning, everyone. This morning we're going to the capital city of the human
body, which is the brain. Notice where the capital
city is it's in the skull. With the skeletal system
it's an internal structure causing us to stand upright, but when it comes to the head, the skeletal system now
becomes an external structure. It becomes an external structure because it is now protecting
the most delicate, and yet the most important
organ of the body, but when you have a look
at the head you will see seven avenues of access into the brain. There are two ears, there are two eyes, there are two nostrils,
and there is a mouth. Everything we hear or have ever heard, everything we see or have ever seen, everything we smell, and everything that goes into our mouth whether it be food or drink
has an affect on the brain. Our decisions determine our destiny, so how important that
we know something about the decision-making part of our brain. This is an area that
many people are ignorant. The little book The Ministry of Healing, which I see is at the back in the foyer it says in there on page 127 that the only hope of better things is the education of the
people in right principles.
It's a tragic thing
today that in Australia 50% of Australians have, are, or will suffer from some
form of mental illness, and 1,700 cases of Alzheimer's is being diagnosed every day in Australia. These figures indicate that many people don't understand their brain, and they don't realize that we have more control over what we do, and even what we say than we think we do. So in this short little time
I have with you this morning I'd like to just open
the door a little bit, and show you the parts of our brain where we make our decisions
and what influences them, so we're gonna begin by
looking at the brain.
Now the brain from side on it looks a little bit like this, and there is what's
called the limbic system. The limbic system basically takes up about that part of the brain, and this limbic system is often
called the emotional brain. I think we all know about emotions, and I think we all know that emotions aren't a very good guide because they go up and down like the wind, but there's another part of
our brain that God designed to actually control that limbic system, that emotional part of the brain. To do this we're going to have a look at the brain from top-down. From top-down you will have a
look at the brain like this, and in the front part of the brain, and we're going to call this
the right side of the brain, and the left side of the brain. I think the way you're looking it is. In the right part of the
brain you could call that the I want section that's down there. Sorry, not the I want, the I won't. Now, this is a very
important part of the brain where it's very important is, no, I won't have that cigarette.
No, I won't have that cup of coffee. No, I won't have that big steak, I'll have a bowl of lentils instead. On the left part of the
brain is the I will. The I will part of the
brain is also very important because I will get out of bed
and exercise this morning. I will go to bed early. I will make decisions that
are helpful for my body. So you've got the I won't,
and you've got the I will, and we need a little
bit of balance in there, and that's where we come
to right in the center is the I want part of the brain. What do I want? Do I want a healthy body, and if I want a healthy
body then I can trigger that I won't do that, or I will do that. God designed our brain so
that this part of the brain just here in the center
is where our goals are. It's called the prefrontal cortex, or, sometimes, it's
called the frontal lobe. This is where our will is.
This is where we make our decisions, and the I will or the
I want threaded through the I want that's actually what
should govern our decisions. That's so important because our decisions
determine our destiny. So in the front part of the brain this is where our intellect is. This is where our reasoning powers reside, and this is where judgment takes place. It is in this part of the brain where God communicates with man. In Isaiah 1:18 the Bible says, Come let us reason together. You see, this is where
the reasoning happens. What should I do? Should I stay in bed
and have another hour, or should I get out of bed right now? That influences whether we
do the I will or the I won't. That's the way God planned it.
Unfortunately, there are many things today that people are doing that
are actually clouding, or compromising the path
where our goals our, the part where our intellect,
reason and judgment is. We've been looking at that this week, though, I actually haven't
defined it as such. Dehydration compromises it. Late nights compromise it. Lack of exercise compromises it. Bad food compromises it. Bad air compromises it. So on the other hand
when we're well-hydrated, when we're well-slept, when we've got nourishing
food in our bodies, when we're breathing in fresh air, we're having sunshine every
day then the I want part, in fact, one author
called it the guardian, that's the guardian
that actually influences the wills and the wants
part of the brain which are, of course, affected by the limbic system, which is your emotional, your
feeling part of the brain.
What I'd like to do this morning I'd like to use as my framework the seven mental laws
that govern the brain, and show you how you
can rewire your brain, show you how you can actually change even the way that you
think, isn't that good news? The first law is the
law of cause and effect. Effect follows cause with unvarying degree all through all nature, and never should the effect
be blamed as the cause. I had a lady come to me and she said, "I found the cause of all my problems. "I've got chronic fatigue syndrome." I said, "No, no, "that's not the cause
of all your problems.
"That's actually the effect." Even when someone says
I've got depression. Do you know you can't just get depression? Depression is actually an
effect, it is not a cause. There's a very interesting
book by an American doctor named Dr. Neil Nedley it's
called Depression: The Way Out. Every chapter starts
with someone else's story showing how they conquered depression using some of the simple
principles I'm showing you now, and some of the simple principles I've been showing you all week. Dehydration affects depression. Late nights affect depression. So you can see what
we're doing this morning we're pulling those eight physical laws we looked at this week, and we're pulling the
eight mental laws together. We should always have
our detective hat on. Recently, I consulted a private
detective and I said to him, "Oh, you're a private detective, so am I." I love the detective work of discovering why someone has a certain condition. It's Newton's third law of motion. To every action, there is an
equal and an opposite reaction.
Proverbs 26:2 states that the curse caused this shall not come. You know what that means? No problem happens without a cause. There is always a reason. In fact, to say someone just has something is to defy basic science. So we should always be looking
at the cause of a problem, and, sometimes, the problem for depression could be too much coffee, dehydration, so that's the best place to start.
When someone comes to me
wanting help with depression do you know that's what I do I said, start drinking more water. Start easing off your coffee. You could stop your coffee straightaway, but you might suffer, a clear indication that
it's not doing you any good. I say start going to bed early. Start limiting your technology time. Start seriously assessing
what you're watching, and the affect it's having on your brain. Start exercising. "But I don't feel like exercising." Yes, that's your limbic emotional brain, but what do you want? I want to feel good, I want
to conquer my depression, so I will go and exercise. Can you see how that all
threads into each other? The second law is the law of choice. The law of choice as you
can see is determined in that I want the frontal
lobe part of the brain your guardian where your goals are.
This is what you feel like doing, but this is what you want, so that influences your decisions. When you're well-slept, well-hydrated, well-sunned, well-exercised, well-fed, that I want part of the
brain is a lot stronger, but we've got something else
coming here, and that's habit. You've heard of habit? Habit can be our best
friends or our worst enemies. To understand habit I'm
gonna draw your brain cell. Here's your brain cell
it's your nerve cell, and we have one trillion
of these in our brain. They're the dendrites, so
the receiving stations, and this is the arm that
comes out of the nerve cell. These are the little filaments on the end they're the boutons. Here is the next nerve cell. Our nervous system is
an electrical system, and it does not touch, they
do not touch each other. They communicate with each other via little chemical
messengers in the brain. These little chemical messengers
jump from cell to cell. The chemical messengers come in they're encapsulated in the nucleus, and then they're sent down the arm.
They come into the boutons, and then they're released
out to the next nerve cells. Now, those messages can be
traveling anywhere between two and 200 miles an hour. Wow, in a crisis anyone
that's been in a war zone they know you're moving and
you're moving very fast. Now, even though you're just sitting here your brain cells can be moving fast because you're considering everything that you're hearing right now. When you are hearing the
things you're hearing your brain is processing
it through your I want. In fact, you're probably
hearing some things, and you're probably thinking to yourself I won't have that coffee anymore, or maybe you're hearing some things, and you might start to say,
yeah, I'm gonna do that.
I'm gonna go to bed earlier
tonight so that I can… I will get up and I will… Can you see it all threads through that. It's an amazing brain. In fact, science still
doesn't totally understand the full functioning of the brain. If someone says do you have a computer? You have, you've got the most
amazing computer on the planet which is the brain, and did you know that
everything you're hearing today you will be processing.
You'll be processing through your what you want through your goals. You'll be processing it through your intellect, reason and judgment, and you'll be putting in certain spots. When you go to sleep tonight, ideally, you'll be able to get
to bed by nine tonight. What a joy someone's been
keeping you up all week. You haven't been able
to get to bed 'til 9:30. When you go to sleep tonight between the hours of
nine p.m. and two a.m. then your brain starts processing, and filing the things
that you heard today.
It's an amazing process. How does it know where to put it? It knows where to put it because where you'll want to put it. So if you hear that
coffee's no good, in fact, it interferes with those
neurotransmitters in the brain causing a chemical imbalance in the brain if you hear that and you
think, well, I don't care. I want my coffee. I will have it.
When you go to bed tonight
it's gonna put it in the spot I will continue to have it, you see that? But if you're convicted
right now and think, nah, I don't want an
imbalance in my brain. By the grace and by the
grace of God I will stop. Can you see it's probably all happening in your brains right now
I can't read your brain. No one else can read your brain.
Only the God in heaven
can read your brain. Do you know that when you make a decision I'm not gonna do that anymore. I'm not gonna watch
those late night movies. I'm not gonna play those
games late at night anymore because I want my brain to
have its rest and reviving. Do you know as soon as
you make that decision God says, heard you, got you,
and I'm gonna help you do it. In fact, there's a lovely verse
that's in Philippians 4:13 it says, I can do all do
all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.
There's a power outside of ourselves that can come and help, and that's where we make that decision. God gave us a wonderful
thing when he gave us choice. You see, God is not in every man. You would never say God was in Hitler, Mugabe, Stalin, no, no, no. God gave mankind choice
and what a gamble is that. You see, God is a gentleman
he will never force entry. In Revelations 3:20 there's
a lovely little illustration that shows God standing
at the door and knocking. He said, "Behold I stand
at your door and knock, "and if any man hear my
voice and opens the door," he said, "I'll come in." How do we open the door? It's right here, what do you want? I will open that door, he will come in.
I won't open that door, I
want to do my own thing. God says, okay, he's a gentleman, but it does explain the heartache that we see on planet earth. Some people say how could
God allow that to happen? Unfortunately, God gave mankind choice. He didn't want robots. Do you want people to love
because they choose to love you, or they've got to love that person. It doesn't happen, does it? In fact, there's a name for
forced love and that is rape. In fact, there is no love there at all. No, God is a gentleman,
he woes us, he knocks. In my next lecture I'm
gonna show you how he won me because I was a long way away from God when I was a teenager and in my early 20s. No, he knocks, and God wants
us to hear and open the door according to reason,
intellect, and judgment, that makes sense.
When you get to know a
person what do you do? You spend time with them. You tell them your life, you listen. How do you listen to God? Do you know when he speaks to us? Very early in the morning. So how do you hear that voice? You have to go to bed
early the night before. There's a verse that's
in Isaiah 50:4, it says, the Lord God hath given me
the tongue of the learned that I may know how to
speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned. I love those early, early
hours of the morning. One lady said, "I can't sleep. "I wake up at four every morning." I said, "You don't realize "that's your appointment
with the God of heaven." That's when he speaks to
you that still, quiet voice, but he gives us the choice, and if you're watching things,
if you're on the computers, if you're on the Game Boys,
if you're on the iPads, Facebook late at night guess what? He'll be shaking you,
but he can't wake you up.
We got to do our part. God gave us choice, and one choice that can free human beings from much heartache is
the choice to forgive. You see, every soul has had its heartache. Every soul has been hurt. Every person has been used and abused at some time in our life, but it's not what's happened to us. It's what we do with it. No wonder the Bible says
in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, In everything give thanks. I was running down a hill
in Fiji 11 weeks ago. I had 20 students behind me. The girls couldn't keep up with us. I had all the guys around me,
we're running down the hill, and my sarong was getting caught, and I put my eyes away
from my feet for a minute to catch my sarong and
there were loose stones, and my feet went out
from under me and I fell. I fell like this with all
my weight on this arm. Well, that was very, very painful. You know what God wants me to say? Thank you, Father.
I don't understand it it's hurting me, but I thank you because I
believe that out of this God can teach me some great things. I bound it up with a potato poultice. Praise God for natural remedies. I went and I lectured for two hours. My arm just loved to sit there. Chalk, that's hard, this is
in the remote part of Fiji, but, you know, it's amazing what you can do with your left hand. Try cleaning your teeth
with your left hand tonight. It's not easy. Some of the things we go through they open our minds to other things.
The good news is it's 98% better now. In the page 127 of the
Ministry of Healing it says, Nature's process of healing
and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. Well, I tell you what, I'm impatient, and that was just far too slow for me. God was teaching me patience. After 3-1/2 weeks I had an
X-ray it said no broken bones, and after 3-1/2 weeks
I've still got it bound because it hurt, you know,
important to listen to your body. Oh, it loved being bound. I was in Pugwash, Nova Scotia,
I said, "Father in heaven "could I meet a physical
therapist, or something, "that could just give me
some wisdom on this hand." I'm in a meeting and two seats up from me an elderly gentlemen
reached across, he said, "I'm a retired orthopedic surgeon. "Would you like me to look at your arm?" Oh, God is good. How long would it take me
to book in to see that man? How much would I pay? "Yes, I've been an orthopedic
surgeon for 40 years." He had a look at my
hand, he pushed it here, and I nearly hit the roof,
and he did a few things, he said, "You've got traumatic tendinitis "of your extensor pollicis longus." Yes, he was speaking English.
He said, "If you were in
my office I'd cast that." So I went down to the
chemist and I found a brace that kept it straight, praise God. Do you know the Bible says in Psalm 34:19 it says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Do you know whatever you're going through the Lord has an answer. Often we miss out on the answer because we went to bed too late, and we don't hear that morning voice. We have a choice, forgiveness is a choice. Let me tell you the story
of a man who came to us. His name was Doug. I said, "Did you have a
healthy, happy childhood?" He said, "No, I didn't, my
father yelled at me all my life." He was 40, he had prostate cancer.
I said to him, "Oh," sometimes,
that's all you can say, oh. I kept moving on because I could see it really irritated him. He heard all the lectures. He heard about the power of forgiveness. He heard about the fact that forgiveness is the only prescription
in the entire universe that has the power to break the chemical bonds of
hostility, anger and hate. Forgiveness cuts the chains
that bind you to a painful past. Forgiveness gives you wings. He heard that in the lecture. I talked to him later after the lecture.
I said, "Doug, you've heard
about the power of forgiveness. "Have you forgiven?" "You don't understand, he
yelled at me all my life." I said, "I can understand "that must have been very, very hard Doug, "but you've got quite
a serious illness now, "and I believe that for you to heal "you need to forgive your father." "You don't understand, he… " His voice was rising. With fear and trepidation I pushed it a little bit further.
I said, "Doug, it will
only take a minute." "You don't understand," so
I stopped, I backed off. It was getting a little
bit volatile in there. I changed the subject. Two minutes later Doug
said to me, "I've done it." Oh. "Congratulations, Doug." Now, his limbic system,
his emotional brain said, don't do this, can you see that? All his life he'd been harboring this, my father yelled at me,
my father yelled at me, he yelled at me, he yelled
at me, he yelled at me. Can you see what's happening in his brain? What was happening in his
brain was he was developing a very strong habit pathway
of anger towards his father. In fact, the first week I
heard him telling other people, other guests, my father
yelled at me all my life. Can you see it's getting
bigger and bigger? When in the lecture he heard to forgive, you see, it's not a limbic
emotional brain decision, or you'll never do it.
It's an I want decision, what do I want? I want to be free. Notice what he said, "I've done it." No emotion there at
all, how could there be? How could there be? Don't wait for your emotions
they'll hold you back. You see, the third law
of the brain states that your words effect your feelings. So don't wait 'til you feel like it, or you possibly will never do it. Who would want to hold on to that pain? That's why it's so important to know about your limbic system, to know about your
emotional feeling system, and understand that your
guardian, your I want, that's where you make your decisions. In the Bible we see Jesus in the garden. He's praying, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He knew he was about to be crucified. Notice what he ended it with, though. Father, I don't want to
do this in his humanity. Notice what he ended with, nevertheless, not what I want, but what you want, God.
It's all right to express. We've got emotional limbic brains, but what do you want? You want to be free. Doug wanted to be free. He said, "I've done it." I said, "Congratulations, Doug. "You've probably made one of the most "important decisions of your life." When he said I will forgive what's still the strongest pathway? My father yelled at me all my life. Now, the next time he's tempted
with what his father did he has a choice which
pathway will he go down. Because he didn't want to be
burdened with this anymore he used his intellect,
judgment, and his will, his reason, and he said, "I
won't relate that story anymore "because I want to be free from this. "I will go down my new pathway." Every time he was challenged he said, "I have forgiven, "I have forgiven," 'til eventually he had a new pathway, and because he didn't go
down that old pathway anymore it got thinner and thinner.
The research shows it takes 21 days to form a new habit. 21 days of going down the new pathway it's a physical pathway in the brain. 21 days of not going down the old one it gets fainter and fainter. That second week that Doug was with us I didn't hear him relate
the story anymore. Something else had happened, something else that science
shows us today is quite amazing, but that little book
The Ministry of Healing it was written over 100 years ago, and she actually talks about it.
She says grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, and distrust can tend to break down the life forces, and invite decay and death into the body. Doug did not realize he
was actually inviting decay and death into the body. When we cherish, or entertain negativity thorns grow. Thorns grow between the dendrites. You see, when a negative thought comes in let's do it with Doug, when a negative thought comes in my father yelled at me all
my life, it's not fair.
It comes like a breeze through
the branches of your trees, and at that point you can
hold it, or you can let it go. Now, all his life Doug
had been holding onto it. He yelled at me, it's
unfair, he yelled at me, and thorns were growing
and he had prostate cancer. These are your psychosomatic diseases. When he heard this and with
my little bit of a shove, he made a decision, I won't go there anymore, I will forgive. His goals, his reason
intellect judgment said to him it's time to stop. Does it ever say to you it's time to stop. Because him holding onto this
is it hurting his father? His father didn't even know. It's the most selfish
decision you'll ever make, and it's the best selfish
decision you'll make because you let that go, it's not hurting you anymore, freedom. Doug made the decision to forgive.
All right, I will, yes. Whenever he's tempted that day I'll forgive him, I'll forgive him. "You didn't seem to have
any feeling, though. "Does that matter?" "No." Now you might be a little bit shocked at what I'm about to say it's a little bit flippant,
but it's a scientific fact. Fake it 'til you make it. Who are you faking? That limbic wild horse emotional system needs the bridle, needs the
reins, here they are here. Eventually, he felt like it because your words effect your feelings. He obviously didn't feel
like it straightaway because he said, "I've done it," but as the days went on
those feelings changed because your words effect your feelings. That night after he'd made the decision, a little bit of battle a
couple of times that day, but he stood firm. When he went to sleep that night little cells were activated,
they're called glial cells, and your glial cells are
your body's vacuum cleaners.
There are more glial cells in
your brain than nerve cells, and because Doug made
the decision to forgive when he went to sleep between
the hours of nine and two the little glial cells came along, and they vacuum cleaned up all the thorns. Science is now showing that forgiveness has a physiological effect
on our brain to clean it up. When you're lying in bed about
to go to sleep just think, wow, when I'm asleep tonight my body's vacuum cleaners are
gonna clean up all the thorns. My brain is gonna process properly, file system everything
that I did in the day. Amazing things happen when you sleep. What happens if you don't sleep? Sorry, but what if you're
struggling with sleep. Lay there with the lights out with all your Christmas
trees out of the room, all of your technology gone, window open. You got a new pillow,
you got fresh sheets. You're hydrated, lay there, can't sleep, start to list all the
wonderful things in your life. I'm in a bed, I'm not outside in a ditch.
I'm not in a concentration camp, and I wasn't beaten today, and I had a meal today not
like some stories I've read of people in concentration camps who had half a meal a day. There's so much to be thankful for. One lady said, "I haven't got
anything to be thankful for." I said, "I noticed you got two legs. "I've met a man with none." I got eyes that see, you're blind? Do you know what one lady said when she was asked about her blindness. Her name was Fanny Crosby. She wrote many hymns in our hymn books.
They said, "How do you
cope with being blind?" She said, "Oh, it's wonderful. "The first face I will ever see "is the lovely face of Jesus." She was so happy about that. You see, happiness is a choice. We'll put a few more here. Happiness is a choice. We've got no right not
to be happy, no right. If you're not used to smiling
stand in front of the mirror, and practice it, practice it. Just practice it. Ladies that have Botox do it all the time. Their skin is so tight it
pulls the smile, just smile. Have you noticed with
children if you smile you know what it tells them? I love you and everything's all right. "Can I have that?" "Sorry, sweetheart, later," you smile, it tells them everything's
all right, but you're firm. Forgiveness is a choice
just do it, just do it. You'll get better at it. Practice makes perfect,
practice makes permanent. Repetition is the mother of retention, and repetition deepens the impression. These pathways are built in our brain.
We can rewire our brain. Right up until the day we
die we can rewire our brain. If you say it's good, guess what? It will be, and if you say
it's terrible, guess what? It will be that's the choice factor. Forgiveness is a choice
and love is a choice. Love is not depended on feelings because our limbic system,
our emotional brain it goes up and down like the wind.
So 21 years ago when Michael
O'Neill stood in my kitchen, and said, "Look, I've been
thinking about things, "and I think you and
I should get married." I said, "What?" I'd known
this man for about 10 years, we were just acquaintances, and he's in my kitchen
asking me to marry him. I said, "This is very analytical." He said, "Yes, I'm a
very analytical person." I said, "Well, I think
when two people marry "they should love each other." He had to think a bit about that. He said, "Well, I'm very attracted to you, "and I love your character." When he said that I thought, "Really? "I'm very attracted to this
man and I love his character." I just thought you couldn't get near
him with a 10-foot pole. I'd been a single mother for four years. My first husband had been a drug addict.
He'd been a single father for three years. He'd been doing some homework. He'd been assessing
certain women that he knew, and for some reason I went
to the top of the list. He said, "He was gonna
choose the wife analytically "because he knows about this
emotional limbic system." It doesn't mean you choose
someone you don't like. That's why when he said to me,
"I'm very attracted to you," very important, and he said,
"And I love your character." I said, "All right, I
will," just like that, but you've got to
remember we were friends, we were good friends. He said, "Okay, no need to
wait, let's get married." But you actually can't
get married that day. You have to give notice, so we got married 2-1/2 weeks later. Do you know it was very interesting that that afternoon he
walked past the building, and my heart began to beat and I thought, "What's happening?" and I thought, "Oh, that's right, I'm marrying him." I didn't realize what was happening.
When I made the decision I will marry you I actually made the decision
that I would love this man. Now, we're safe to put
our emotions on that. I didn't have to hold him back at all. I've been been married
to Michael for 21 years. It will be 21 years in about two weeks. I love this man. Do you know he's never
raised his voice to me. Do you know he's never got angry with me. Oh, women, don't we love
that, men take note, but, women, never nag because
it never does any good. We've both got a part to play
is that right? Absolutely. There's a book called Have
a New Husband by Friday, and it's by Keith Leman.
A lady was reading the
book and she threw it down halfway through the book and said, "Stupid book, all it's
doing is talking about me." Exactly, your reactions. Love is a choice, and that choice to love can
be fed or it can be denied. There are times when we
must not put our love around an object that is
unsafe, or not ours to take, and love, our love, should
be put around an object that is safe that is ours to do. It should be fed with tender
words and loving deeds. One lady said to me,
"Barbara, it just annoys me "the way you serve your husband. "I'd like to take you home and train you." I said, "But my husband
treats me like a queen." One lady said, "Well, I'm not
gonna treat him like a king "until he treats me like a queen." Well, guess how to get him
to treat you like a queen? You start by treating him like
a king, you're teaching him.
Your words effect your feelings, so be very, very careful on your words. Proverbs 12:18 says, There is that speaketh like
the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. There are some things
that need to be said, but you know what? They need to be said under
the guidance of the guardian, against the guidance of
God who you have invited into your frontal lobe to give you wisdom.
James 1:5 says, If any man lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and
it shall be given him, but let him ask in
faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is
like the ships of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think he will receive anything of the Lord, and that's why it says in Hebrews 4:12, actually down a little bit to verse 16, Let us, therefore, come
boldly to the throne of grace, because we have a God that loves us. Can't your children come
boldly to your throne, into your house? We never knock at our
parent's house, do we? We just go straight in it's our parents. This is our Father. Your words effect your feelings, so be very careful on your words. Your words reveal your feelings, and you can't let them all out. Some say it's your right
to speak your mind. It's your obligation
not to speak your mind. You don't know the effect of
your words on your hearer. The proverb that says,
There is he that speaketh like the piercings of a sword.
Do you know who it's the
piercings of a sword to the most? The speaker, the speaker. The speaker is getting hurt just as much as the one who's receiving them, and when people speak to you like that you know what you say? Poor thing he's got a problem. He's got a problem you don't take it on. Your words reveal your feelings. What happens if you're upset? What if you're upset and angry? Go for a run. "Can't run," have a cold shower. "It's Melbourne," well, it will
have an even better effect. Have a great big glass of water. Have some camomile tea. Calm down, calm that limbic system, that emotional brain down
until your guardian is strong. There are some words that should be said. Colossians 4:6 states, "Let your speech be always
with grace, seasoned with salt, "that you may know how
to answer every man." Your words reveal your feelings, so you got to deal with them back there, back there in the I want section. If you're used to losing it, if you're used to what
do they call hissy fits.
Do you know it's interesting children will never
tantrum for other children. Have you noticed that? They only do it where they get an effect. If you're used to losing it
you can rewire your brain. If you feel it coming run. Run around the block three times. The neighbors will think you're crazy 'cause you still got your nighty on. Do you know that's better
than losing it, yeah? And you'll get better at it.
You'll get better at it. There's a great God of
heaven who says just ask me, and I'll empower you. He will, he's got all power. The 5th law is the law of adaptation. We've got a changeable brain, and because we've got a changeable brain we can rewire our brain. There's two proverbs that talk about it. Interesting to note that
medicine only acknowledged it in the last 30 years. One proverb is Proverbs
13:20 where it says, He that walketh with
wise men shall be wise, but a companion of
fools will be destroyed, because of the law of adaptation.
It's also called
neuroplasticity, soft-wired. The other proverb is
Proverbs 22:24 where it says, make no friendship with an angry man. With a furious man thou shalt not go lest thou learn his ways, because of the law of adaptation. When I go to America people
want me to speak everywhere, and, sometimes, I think
they just want me to speak because of my accent. That was my American
friend having a laugh, but if I lived in America for 10 years I'd probably get a different accent because of the law of adaptation. Because of the law of
adaptation our brain can grow, and our brain can shrink. It is true that there are
things that damage brain cells, and if they're damaged
they don't grow again, but there are three things
today that medicine is showing can stimulate new brain cell growth in the hippocampus part of the brain, three shockers, we
looked at them this week. Three shockers cause a release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Brain-derived neurotrophic
factor is a protein that stimulates neurogenesis.
Neurogenesis means new brain cells. One of the three shockers,
they're shockers, prepare yourself. You're gonna really have to
get to the I will to do them because they're shockers. Fasting, an easy way to do it is to have breakfast like
a king, lunch like a queen, then have an 18 hour fast
through to the next morning, or come to Misty Mountain Health Retreat where we make it really easy for you, and you do two days on
vegetable and fruit juices.
That's a shocker, it's a shock to the body when the food stops
coming, that's one shock. The next shock is
finishing every hot shower with a quick cold. Notice I didn't say long cold, I'm kind. That's a shocker, you'll
go uh-uh, it's a shocker, but it's gonna stimulate
your brain to release the brain derived neurotropic
factor, new brain cells. Number three, high
intensity interval training, running for your life
for 30 seconds up hills, then having a break,
and then doing it again, that's a shocker you
feel like you're dying. So people that have been
attending my lectures all week, and I'm sure you've been
so excited about this you've been doing it are you feeling really smart right now? New brain cells.
Something else can grow. Every time we learn something new we develop another dendrite. I love memorizing it's one
of my favorite things to do. Every time I learn new
verses another dendrite. If you play the piano and learn new pieces there are three things that science shows are the most powerful in
developing new dendrites. One is learning a new language, learning a musical instrument, and memorizing Bible verses because the Word of
God is quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart. That's the Word of God, that's the Bible.
People think I've got a
good memory, I really don't. Now, that lady who played the piano she didn't start playing
yesterday I'm sure, and I didn't start memorizing yesterday. It takes a while. How long does it take to
really solidify in your brain? Probably about 21 days. I learn a verse a week. If I do anymore it gets all jumbled up, and I can't remember anything. So every time you learn something new another dendrite grows. That one brain cell can
develop 70,000 dendrites. I can hardly get my mind around that one.
You know what the research shows? We can be growing new dendrites right up until the day we die, so there are three things we can grow. We can grow new pathways. We can grow new dendrites, and we can even grow new brain cells. God is so good. What about shrink? When you forgive, when you forgive anyone whose ever hurt you in your life your glial cells are activated to mop up all the thorns, and the pathway to that
memory actually shrinks, so it needn't be part
of your daily thoughts. That's the good news. So what's the bad news about shrinking? If you don't use your brain
cells you will lose them. I love the story about the 90-year-old man who learned to play the piano, and the 92-year-old man who
graduated from law school. It's time, students. Number seven, the last law
is the law of diversion. The law of diversion states that when something is so firmly denied as to refuse any hope for it the brain has the ability
to divert to other pursuits.
I love that law because,
sometimes, God closes a door, but what's the saying? When God closes a door he opens a window. An Italian man said to
me, "Nah, nah, nah, nah. "What we say is when God closes
one door he'll open two." Have you found that? When I hurt my arm something
happened to me the week before. I was in Warburton getting
meetings like I have this week, and my right-hand man, he was the man that was with the chairs, he was doing the sound
system, and running around, he had one arm and it was his
left arm, and he was about 63. Every time I looked around he was there, "What do you want me to do now?" I said, "How'd you lose your arm?" He said, "I was seven
years old," and he said, "It was an accident down on the farm, "and I got caught in an
auger," or something.
He said, "When I woke up in hospital," the night after it had happened, or the morning after it
had happened, he said, "I sat up in my bed and I said, "nurse, get me a pen and paper. "I've got to learn to
write with my left hand." It's not what happens to you it's what you do with what happens to you. Happiness isn't things that's
not what's happening to you, it's a choice, it's a choice, and we have so much to
be happy about, yeah? So much to be happy about, so when God closes a door,
and sometimes he does, he'll open a window, so the very week after that happened, I fell down and hurt my hand, and I had no right to complain because I could still use my fingers, and I had another hand, and I had a man memory in my background, who was my best helper he had one arm.
So when God closes a door
say, thank you, Father, because God only ever
does what is best for us. It's like a parent that says to a child, no, you can't go to the
skate park right now. They feel like they're being hard done by, and then 10 minutes later
there's a huge downpour, or 10 minutes later uncle arrives. Then the child realizes that
it was actually a good decision not to go to the skate park. It's a very simple illustration that hardly can be compared with some of the things
that happens in our life, but God knows the end from the beginning. He loves you with an everlasting love, and it is by no accident
that you are here today, and it's by no accident
that I am here today, but he doesn't take away our choice. So you can see by what
I've shown you this morning that you can rewire your brain right up until the day we die.
When we start rewiring our
brain it will not be easy, and I'm sure the lady
that played the piano when she first started playing
it didn't sound very good. Does that mean she gave up? She obviously didn't
because it's very beautiful. It's the same with anything we do. That's where the I will
comes in, I will do this. I will keep at it, and God says I'm so glad
you've made that decision I'll just give you a little
bit of help along the way. So I pray that you'll look
at your brain differently, and my prayer is that you
will take up the challenge to rewire your brain. Rewire your brain so that
you can have a healthier, happier life and that's what God wants. He say, I pray above all
things that you may prosper, and be in health, thank you. (soft music).