Worship
“Thin” by Housefires featuring Kirby Kaple
Scripture
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” -Mark 12:30, ESV
Introduction
Over the past couple of weeks, Dr. Alexandria Watkins and I have co-authored these devotionals based on the above Scripture. When we sat together over breakfast a couple of months ago, she was sharing with me the neurobiology of spirituality that she had studied during the writing of her doctorate thesis. She began to unwrap for me the connection and effects of prayer and the brain. God began to spark in my spirit the beautiful intersection between science and His Word. That is how all four of these devotionals came to fruition. I love the brilliance of God as He created our brains to respond to prayer, His Words, worship, and intimacy with Him. Enjoy this revelatory devotional as we love the Lord with all of our minds. Read Alexandria’s contribution below.
Neural Pathways
Our brains never stop developing, and we have the capacity to develop an unlimited number of neural pathways for constant renewal of the mind. We can establish new neural grooves within our brain by thinking specific thoughts. Research shows that frequent and repetitive thoughts can actually change your brain’s physiology (especially when we reinforce our thoughts by speaking them out loud or writing them down). This is why it is so important to speak life and not death. Romans 12:2, ESV, tells us to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” A negative message that is heard repeatedly becomes etched into our brains and inhibits transformation. One can inhibit progressive transformation by creating a new neural channel for negative messages to be conducted within the brain, giving way for a negative lens to be placed on our thoughts.
Biblical Example of Neural Transformation
I believe Jesus understood the neural pathways and the power of speaking life into others. Jesus spoke life into Peter’s identity and forecasted his future by describing him as the “rock,” and in due time Peter developed a neural channel that allowed him to understand and step into his new name (Matthew 16:18). I believe Peter used prayer and meditation to saturate his mind with the very words of God—whom he had walked with for three years—as they ruminated in his mind and spirit. This act of loving God with all his mind allowed him to align with God and come into agreement with who he was supposed to be and the destiny Jesus spoke to him.
A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Peter must have felt mentally liberated as his love for Jesus grew more and more. That love allowed him to create new neural pathways that expanded his knowledge of Jesus and allowed him to come into agreement with who God said he was.
The Neuroscience of Prayer
How does loving God with all our mind affect our brain?
- The frontal lobe (behind the forehead): The frontal lobe is stimulated when we focus our attention and pray. Did you know that if we regularly pray for at least 12 minutes a day we have the potential to curtail the age-related deterioration of the frontal lobe?
- The anterior cingulate (behind the frontal lobe): Per Dr. Andrew Newberg, this area of the brain is known as our “neurological heart.” Prayer increases our neurological heart, and it is activated when we empathize, feel compassion, and have an awareness of other people’s feelings. This is the area of the brain that separates human beings from animals.
- The parietal lobes (behind and just above the ears): This area of the brain is decommissioned by religious experiences (worshipping, praying, etc.), thus diminishing our sense of self. Activation of this area of the brain allows us to feel more connected with other believers, more at one with God and what He’s doing in the world.
- The limbic system (at the top of the spinal cord): This is the primitive part of the brain. It’s the most rugged part of our brains (birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals have this type of arrangement in their brain). Prayer deactivates this region of the brain, specifically the amygdala (where our fight-or-flight response comes from). Deactivation of this region through prayer reduces stress and increases a feeling of comfort. Praying can deactivate the emotions that originate from this region of the brain.
These are the emotions associated with this region of the brain and deactivated through prayer:
- Anger
- Guilt
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Fear
- Resentment
- Pessimism
Our frontal lobe and anterior cingulate are associated with compassion, reason, positive emotions, and logic. These areas of the brain can be damaged when the limbic system is activated by negative images and thoughts, resentment, anger, etc. It has been shown that prayer can deactivate the limbic system and activate the areas of the brain that promote health.
Did you know:
- Loving God and loving your neighbor slows down the aging process of the brain?
- Resolving doubts and conflict decreases damaging effects on the brain?
- Worshipping through music and singing bolsters your brain activity, thus decreasing frontal lobe deterioration?
- Your memory can be enhanced by visualizing God in a positive way, reflecting on bible passages, and praying meaningful prayers?
- Loving God with all your mind and praying prayers of gratitude and victory and envisioning a positive future increases compassion and diminishes stress, depression, and anxiety? It also decreases our heart rate and blood pressure, which will ultimately extend our lives.
The Transformation Process
Intimacy leads to transformation!
“… be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2)” is a command with a promise attached! We will be renewed and healed as our minds are transformed with truth, in His presence, and in a relationship of intimacy with Him. It’s safe in this secret place of communion with Him! And it’s the place we are called to. He knew exactly how He made us, and His invitation to come away with Him is for a reason. We need, more than ever, to take hold of His thoughts and believe what He is saying.
We are in pursuit of our lives being fully consumed by Christ alone. He does not withhold Himself from us, but we can withhold ourselves from Him without even knowing we are doing it. Many of these places of subconsciously saying, “Don’t touch that, Jesus,” become strongholds that need—actually need—a deep touch from Him.
In her book “Praying God’s Word,” Beth Moore says this about strongholds:
“A stronghold is anything that exalts itself in our minds, “pretending” to be bigger or more powerful than our God. It steals much of our focus and causes us to feel overpowered. Controlled. Mastered. Whether the stronghold is an addiction, unforgiveness toward a person who has hurt us, or despair over a loss, it is something that consumes so much of our emotional and mental energy that abundant life is strangled—our callings remain largely unfulfilled and our believing lives are virtually ineffective. Needless to say, these are the enemy’s precise goals.”
It’s time for strongholds to come falling down!
The Ultimate Purpose
Sisters, we have been anointed to tear down strongholds and anything that sets itself against the knowledge of who Christ is (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). It’s in this place of prayer, living in His presence that we are truly transformed and all things come into submission to Him. He has equipped and supplied us with everything we need to tear down strongholds, walk in truth and wholeness, and operate with the mind of Christ, loving Him with all we are. It’s such a profound thought to me that our surrender to Him is transformative to not only our minds but our entire lives.
It’s time to believe in the love that God has for us. It’s time to find our residency right smack dab in His presence. It’s time to believe that His promises and His heart is for us. Our minds need to be renewed to believe these things are true of us. Religion has hindered us to merely know about God without experiencing the true depth of experientially knowing Him. It’s in this fullness of life that guilt and shame and anger and depression and doubt find their place of deliverance and healing. And we begin to let God’s thoughts about us be the most important thoughts.
“The power of the transformed mind is that it rightly divides between fact and fiction, according to your faith in God. So when your rent is due and a thought comes to your mind that says, No provision is coming; you’re going to be homeless, the renewed mind assigns that thought to the fiction room because it is opposed to the Word of God. The transformed mind accesses the “reality” compartment of the renewed mind to decide what to “believe” and adjusts your soul’s emotional state accordingly. Because you have meditated on the Word of God, your mind is able to go to the “reality compartment” and access the words of Jesus … .” -Kris Vallotton, “Spiritual Intelligence”
There’s impossibility God wants us to stand in, believe for, and pray in. Our minds expand as He takes us from faith to faith and glory to glory. We are renewed in the waiting and transformed in intimacy. This is our mandate in this hour. We move out from our place of intimacy and go where He’s going! I pray that your surrendered YES to His invitation to dine with Him will transform every aspect of your life and your love for Him!
Let me close with this quote from this glorious book I am enjoying.
“… our love is what Jesus desires the most from us. It’s the dearest thing to His heart, which is why He made loving Him the greatest of all commandments. It’s breathtaking to think that out of everything God could have chosen, He longs most for our love. Jesus wants you to fall recklessly in love with Him at this very moment. Your love is what He passionately yearns for. Will you give it to Him? Love always gives what their beloved desires, because love longs to please.” -Michael Koulianos, “The Jesus Book: Fall Recklessly in Love with Jesus”
Transform our minds, Jesus, to love You and believe that You really do love us first, without any limit or reservation or hesitation.
A Few Key Notes
- If you’ve ever wondered if God could be speaking through your dreams, join us for a three-part workshop on dream interpretations through a biblical lens led by Kathy Gray, who has studied dream interpretation for 20 years. You can attend in-person or over Zoom. Email me at [email protected] to register.
Dates: May 18, June 1, and June 8
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Hope Center, 2001 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, TX 75075
Cost: $50
- Sign up for an Arise short-term mission team as we share the love of Jesus with the lost and the broken. Training will be available. Apply on East-West’s website.
North America (men and women): August 12-17
Europe (women only): September 30-October 10
- Two new Arise studies will begin this summer! Join in-person or over Zoom as we dive deeper into our identities as children of God and learn to wield the weapons the Lord has given us. Sign up by emailing me at [email protected].
Forged for Battle: Battle Training to Stand Your Ground in a Turbulent World
Led by Patrice Vines
Dates: June 10-July 22
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Lewisville, Texas
“The Supernatural Ways of Royalty” by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson
Led by Julie King
Dates: June 18-July 16
Time: 10-11:15 a.m.
Location: Lewisville, Texas
