David wrote many Psalms that give us glimpses of his emotions. Psalm 31 is so picturesque. Verse 9 says, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body!” Did you notice how his physical being was attached to his spiritual being? Verse 10 says it was because of his iniquity. His words are graphic. Do you ever sigh? What does sighing indicate?

Verse 10 says, “For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.” Do your bones ever ache? David wrote Psalm 51 after he sinned with Bathsheba. Verse 8 says, “Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.”

Years ago the Holy Spirit gave me a new song that really instructed my heart. It helped me understand the mind and body connection. Here it is in its entirety. It is called Rejoicing Bones.

When I thought about my circumstances I became gloomy inside. My heart was getting heavy and my peace destroyed.Then in Your Word You revealed the secret of health. My bones are affected when my heart is in despair.

You said renew your mind. Rejoice in Me. I change not. There’s no shadow in Me. No matter what happens I remain the same.

So I turned my gaze from what was dragging me down. I looked to You my victorious One. My heart began to rise like yeast in dough and my mouth opened in song.

In You I can rejoice. For You are my strength. I look away from sin to the spotless Lamb. All my sins are cleansed in Your precious blood. My heart sings through a rush of love. Yes my heart is filled with joy in You that nothing can destroy. I rejoice in You my eternal strength. My joy is full when I look to You.

When our emotions drag us down it affects  our health. Psalm 100 is a Psalm of thanksgiving. Verse 3 brings everything in our lives back into right perspective. It says, “Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” What does our Good Shepherd do? Psalm 23:2-3 says that He makes us lie down in green pastures, He takes us to still waters, and He restores our soul.

Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. Think of it as a braid: our mind leads off, and our will and emotions follow. When your emotions plummet, what do you do first? Who or what you turn to in an indication of your heart’s belief about yourself. The Lord taught me years ago to ask myself this question when I am overwrought. ‘What do you believe about yourself right now?’ Our emotions are signals of what is inside. Emotions are like a thermometer. They take our ‘internal’ temperature. They fluctuate or ebb and flow. They help us recognize that there can be spiritual roots to disease.

Have you ever gotten stuck with negative thoughts in your mind? Have you ever rehearsed something from your past over and over?  Have you ever created scenes in your mind of what a conversation might look like? According to what I have heard about brain health, that would explain mind-ruts.

The neuro connections that we repeat over and over, fire together and wire together in a solid neuro connection. Ugh. I remember back in 1975. I would put my hands on both sides of my head and yell ‘stop’ because my mind kept circling the wagons. It was a horrible time for me. In those days I knew nothing about stress and health. I was boiling in a cauldron of stress at work. It took its toll.

Futile thoughts are like the hamster in the wheel. All the frenzied activity is for nought. Rehearsing a negative dialogue is a destructive form of meditation. It is satan’s counterfeit of the secret dialogue of biblical meditation. It would definitely affect our brain’s function in a negative way, and certainly in our brain’s communication to our body.

Ephesians 4:23 Amplified says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).” This is God’s RX to gain freedom from anxiety produced depression. Depression reduces neuroplasticity. We can change this downward trajectory by rewiring new pathways through mind renewal, and community. Our brain needs stimulation through music, reading, games, nutrition, and social interaction.

Watch how Asaph reversed his depression. Psalm 77:2 said that his soul refused to be comforted. Verse 3 said that his soul complained and his spirit was overwhelmed. Verse 6 says, “I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.” Verse 10 says, “And I said, This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.” Verse 12 I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds.”

We exercise our brain by retraining it. We build our brain’s capacity by challenging it. Memorizing a verse takes repetition. Each time we say it, we are creating and strengthening new pathways. Our brain recognizes the change and saves it. I have verses wired in from my childhood. 

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good like medicine…” Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance…” We upgrade from depressed to cheerful when we ‘wire’ in His word, and then meditate on it in our heart. Our heart is our belief center. We disconnect the old, as we wire in the new. Since meditation lowers cortisol, it radically improves our health. 

Psalm 119 has eight verses about meditating on God’s word. Psalm 4:4 says, “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.” Meditating exercises our heart and our brain. Joshua 1:8 says that meditating brings success and prosperity. Psalm 1:3 says that it will cause us to be like a tree, drinking in the life-flow of pure water. We will bear abundant fruit for His glory, and whatever we do will prosper.

Inflammatory disease is on the rise worldwide. Why? We are what we think and eat. I have been gathering strategic scientific information that I want to share with you from a biblical perspective. Psalm 103:5 says, “Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” We can take this two ways. God gives us His word to put into our mouths. He also gives us good, natural foods to enhance our health.

Here is a verse that I have known and have used in counseling for many years. However, this morning the Holy Spirit opened my understanding through my gathering. Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression…” The second part of the verse is God’s RX. It says, “…but a good word makes it glad.” 

Our brain does not distinguish between real or perceived fear. Therefore any fear causes our brain to send out fight or flight signals to our body. Our body instantly responds with an increase of adrenaline. Our heart rate goes up, our breathing increases, and our digestive system slows or stops. Continual fear causes chronic stress. Stress increases cortisol which produces inflammation. Inflammation causes our brain to degenerate. Here is what neuroscientists have recently discovered about the gut connection and the brain. A healthy gut, which is also part of our immune system, produces feel good neurotransmitters like serotonin. 

This is my paraphrase of the above verse. Anxiety, fear, and worry are stressors. They increase cortisol. which causes inflammation, which decreases the feel good neurotransmitters. Depression is the fruit. As an aside, COVID produces inflammatory bacteria in the gut at an exponential rate. Regular exercise offsets inflammation, and keeps our immune system robust.

Here is God’s RX for inflammation. Meditating in God’s word offsets stress. Meditating is part of renewing our mind. The word, neurogenesis, is what neuroscientists have coined for the creation of new brain cells. I have this verse on my refrigerator. I often stop and read it. Psalm 139:14 TPT says, “I thank You, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything You do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly You know me, Lord!”

When we renew our mind through Scripture, we make new neuro connections. What fires together wires together. I copied this for you: neurons in the brain adapt during the learning process, a mechanism which is called neuronal plasticity. Our brain is a marvelous creation. Even if you have numerous toxic connections in your brain, you can change them! As we rehearse a verse over and over and meditate about it, we are building new neuro connections. What we think affects our health either negatively or positively.

Here is a great verse to meditate on if you are given to anxiety, fear, or worry. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” You can meditate on perfect, then peace. By connecting your two meditations, you have caused your brain to fire together so it can wire together. The next time you feel anxious, the Holy Spirit will instantly bring up this verse and calm your brain before it can send out fight or flight signals. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

In Luke 14:28-33 Jesus explained what He meant by counting the cost. Verse 27 says, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Then He gave two illustrations for counting the cost. One intending to build a tower, and a king going to make war. Then He challenged them with His words in verse 33. “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” As I thought about what He means by forsaking all, this acrostic popped into my mind.

Simply

Engaging

Lustful

Flesh

That brought me to question myself. What am I clinging to that I need to forsake? Here is another question. What clings to me that I have not shaken off? What am I sowing without counting the cost?

Twice in the Luke passage He addressed being His disciple. My immediate verse about being His disciple goes to John 15. Verse 8 says, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” Now let’s couple that with John 8:31-32. It says, “…If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Let me highlight my recap of one piece of disciple-evidence. As we abide in God’s word it becomes our experiential truth. It is the abiding that bears much fruit which glorifies the Father. Intimate communion (abiding) is enveloped in love that nourishes our whole being. He communicates to our heart which affects our belief system.

Have you counted the cost lately? I listened to some leading neuroscientists talk about the brain. Neuro connections are key to mental health. Bitterness drips acid on connections that erode them. Negative dialogue creates toxicity. Our brains are so masterfully created! We need to be good stewards of what the Lord has given us.

James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 says to take every thought captive. When we disobey, we are in sin. Sin blocks heart to Heart communication. The Lord is pure and holy. We purify our heart when we hide His word in it. Psalm 12:6 says, “The words of the Lord are pure words…” 

Matthew 5:8 Amplified says, “Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous–possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward circumstances) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!

Let me take my paga in another direction. Are you a self seeder when you are overwhelmed? David was. 1 Samuel 30 is a great chapter to glean personal application from. This is how I picture it in my mind. David and his men were exhausted. As they began to climb the last hill towards Ziklag, they knew that they were almost home. They crested the hill and saw their town was burned and there was no one around. Verse 4 says that they, “…lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” Can you relate?

What would you have done? Since David was the leader, his men turned against him. They were going to stone him! In the light of that understanding verse 6 says, “…But David strengthened himself in the Lord.” David was a self seeder. His relationship with the Lord sustained him through this cataclysmic event.

When you are overwhelmed, what do you do? Are you a self seeder? Do you have His propagating seed in your heart? If Psalm 61:1-2 was hidden in your heart it would give you inner strength. The Holy Spirit would bring it to your mind and sustain you with it. It says, “Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

Psalm 18:1-3 gives us a glimpse into David’s self seeder relationship with the Lord. It says, “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.”

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” He is our Seed-Provider through His word.

When we hide God’s word in our heart it becomes a reservoir for the Holy Spirit to draw from. Jeremiah 1:11 says that God watches over His word to perform it. The Hebrew word for watches means: anticipating the return of fruit, alert, diligent. He loves His word that is hidden in our heart. He often uses it when He intercepts us with a paga.

 
Evil thoughts (Matthew 15:19) self seed. They are like weed seeds that propagate in the garden of our heart. They choke out His word. We have to be diligent to overcome evil with good. I encourage you to watch what you are self seeding. You will reap what kind of seed you sow. Back to my ‘paga’ flower. The old made ready for the new. Renewing our mind with truth that will set us free and keep us free, causes the old to fall off and the new to self sow.

This is not my flower, but it gives you a clear picture of the ‘star’ that holds the seeds

Yesterday the Lord sent a paga that literally fell right before my eyes. Sunday morning I had picked two stems from my borage, and put them in a vase on my table. Each had a flower. Yesterday morning the two flowers were still perky. When I sat down to eat my lunch I noticed one had begun to shrivel. It was hanging and sort of shaking. I watched and it fell onto the table. By the time I finished eating it had begun to shrivel and a seed popped out. As you can see in the picture, the ‘star’ holds the seeds.

Borage is a self seeder. I brought the flowers in so I could see how they drop their seed. I watched God’s incredible creation go through its cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth. What is the spiritual lesson in this paga? John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the flory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Translate all of this above into this thought: we become the embodiment of God’s word when we hide it in our heart. His word is a self seeder. When His seed-word falls into good ground, Mark 4:20 says that it will, “…bear fruit: some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Maybe you understood this before, but it is a new revelation for me through His paga.

The Lord is always speaking to us. Do we live in that awareness? He always speaks through His word when we have ears to hear. He often uses people, places, things, or circumstances. It is all through His creative orchestrations. Watch today to see what He is doing. Open your ears to hear His words. Look, and may He open your eyes to see beyond the visual, obvious, and the obstacles in your path. He is actively intervening moment by moment.

Tomorrow I will take this paga in another direction.

I’ve been thinking about Elijah on the mountain. God displayed His mighty power through the wind, earthquake, and fire. 1 Kings 19:11 says of the wind that it, “…tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces…” Elijah just stood there watching a GodShow. However it was God’s still small voice that caused Elijah to wrap his mantle around his face. It was then that the Lord spoke to Elijah’s despondent heart and gave him a new commission. 

The power in silence is the dynamic impact His still small voice has on our heart. Job 26 revealed some of God’s power through very picturesque words. Verse 14 says, “Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!” Our whole being is awakened when the Lord whispers His wisdom. We are never the same. 

The Lord gave me a new song in 2002. The words still impact me. Here are three more verses: Your words like oil penetrate the places in my heart that were hardened through fear. You say My child don’t be afraid. I’ve been there all along to shield and protect. Let go of that which you clutch so tight. That I might fulfill the deepest longings of your heart.

Don’t let the cares of this life choke out My words. Open your heart to hear the beat of My own heart. I desire oneness with you but I won’t compete with that to which you give yourself. I will but wait until you tire of your own pursuits. And nestle down in My love.

Be still now and quiet your heart before Me. I have so much to share to reveal the depths of My counsel. For in Me is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I have all and hold all.​ ​Through the power of My Word.

​Part of my prayer for myself each morning is that I will have ears to hear His still small voice. Why? It sets me up to have the ears of a learner inclining to receive. It is my heart posturing. I want to grasp and comprehend​ His wisdom so that I can put it into practice. It is in our still time that our heart is most receptive. 

However, the Lord will speak at any time and in any situation. We just need to be ready. If we have the attitude of a learner, we will hear Him. The other day I was about to do a good work that I do every morning. Just before I did, I sighed. Immediately the Lord dropped these words into my heart: do not be weary in well doing, for you will reap if you don’t lose heart. It comes from Galatians 6:9

When the Lord speaks to us in the midst of what we are doing, it is called a paga. It is a Hebrew word that means to meet, light upon, join, or encounter. It is like when a butterfly flits upon a flower to drink nectar. The Lord’s word intercepts our thought process to bring us His nectar. It may be an insight, a name of someone that He wants you to pray for, or to contact in some way. It may be an illumination as you are reading His word. It may be a phrase from a verse that slips right into your prayer or conversation. A learner is attentive at all times, and ready to receive.

An essential part of learning is to be attentive. A learner is a student. Their attitude is one of intent. They come with a humble heart to learn about something they don’t know, or enhance what they do know. Proverbs 9:9 says, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” Proverbs 1:5 says, “A wise man will hear and increase learning…”

Learning something new requires our full attention. We have to stay focused which will heighten our awareness. Proverbs 16:23 says, “The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.” Our heart is our belief center. We have to wholeheartedly listen in order to hear what is being taught.

The neuroscientists have coined a phrase. The neurons that fire together wire together. When we give our full attention to what is being taught, our brain and body work together. If we are not paying attention, what we hear will not remain. Isaiah 50:4 was written about the Lord. It says, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.”

I want to use Mary and Martha as an example of a learner. Luke 10:38 said that Martha welcomed Jesus and His men into her house. Verse 39 says, “And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Verse 40 says that Martha was distracted with much serving. Remember that worry means divided in thought. In verse 41-42 Jesus said, “…you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

In order to learn to be still as we sit at the feet of Jesus, we need to lay aside our serving. Calming our mind will calm our body. Just thinking about being still will affect our body. It isn’t trying, which will cause us to be tense and jammed up, but being. 

Recognize and acknowledge that you are a learner. Don’t set yourself up in your mind that this will be a pass or fail situation. Any perceived past failures have passed. Acknowledge that this is a new opportunity. There is much grace. Begin by setting aside a little time to practice being still. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you relax and be attentive.

Last night I was reading about Esau and Jacob. The Holy Spirit connected the narrative to being still. Esau’s self-absorption led to his momentary self-gratification. He gave up his birthright. He forfeited his right, power, authority, and privileges as Jacob’s firstborn.

When it comes to your quiet time, what activity distracts you and causes you to forfeit that time to sit at Jesus’ feet? The enemy of our soul knows that our quiet time gives us inner strength. His intent is to distract us and pull us away from that time. We have to contend all distractions! Being still restores because we cease from our labors and enter His rest.

When I was younger I kept noise going all the time. I even had my front door light switch connected to my radio. The moment I walked in, I flipped the switch and instant noise. I know now what I didn’t know then. I was blocking the buried emotional pain that was crying out for release. Can you relate? The pain that we bury is very alive. It seeps into our thought process no matter how much we deny it exists.

Having an agenda is the background noise of pride. Another block to silence is a negative dialogue. Anything, that is from your past, that you continue to rehearse is noise. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is a great verse to memorize that will help overthrow that prideful noise. It says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The past has passed. It is over. Your noisy negative dialogue does not change one thing.

Anxiety and worry are very noisy. They are always pushing forward in your thoughts. They are also pride, and reveal our ‘self’ grappling for control. Anything that has to do with ‘self’ is noisy. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Years ago I heard a father say to his rebellious son, “I said no. What part of no don’t you understand, the N or the O?” I’ve never forgotten that! 

Sitting quiet before the Lord takes practice. It is applying the instruction of 2 Corinthians 10:5 which says to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It is like learning anything new. It is trial and error, but always moving forward. You may try to be still, but a thought jumps in. Then you take that thought captive through refocusing back on the Lord. 

 Unforgiveness is a huge barrier to stillness. It is sin, and hidden sin is very noisy. Matthew 18:34 is about the torturers that come with unforgiveness. Verse 35 says, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” One being tortured is not usually silent.

It is true that our minds are a battlefield. Isaiah 28:6 says that the Lord gives, “….strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.” I like to think of the gate being my mind. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the things in your life that block you from being still. Mark 4:22 says, “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.”

Proverbs 8:34 was written about wisdom. It says, “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord.”