Renew, Remain, Acknowledge, Ask

Send us Fan MailNote: A lot of the material is inspired by Craig Groeschel's book. Each week, I take concepts from Pastor Craig Groeschel's book, The Power To Change, and apply them to brain health.Craig Groeschel opens this section by telling a story about an old house (1910) he and his wife Amy lived in early in their marriage. In his den, he had a couch, lamp, and a little TV. One night they tried to turn on the lamp, and it wouldn’t come on. Neither would the TV. Thinking it might be a blown fuse, Craig told Amy he would try to fix it. While he was working on it they brought in extension cords that they plugged into outlets in the kitchen. These cords created an eyesore that they tripped over for three years. One day when they were getting ready to move out, they found a light switch they hadn’t seen before. [1]When they flipped the switch, all of the outlets in the den worked. For three years, they had power, they just didn’t know how to access it. [1]“That is also a fairly solid description of my early years of following Jesus. I needed God’s power. It was available to me. But I didn’t know how to access it. How to live in it. How to walk by the Spirit.” [1]“Whoever it is that you want to become or stop being, whatever it is that you want to do or stop doing, you need more than willpower. You need God’s power.” [1]God can give you the power to: [1]Love someone who is difficult to loveServe when you’d rather be servedGive when it’s scary to giveStudy when you’d rather playSpend time with your child when you would rather relax“…how do you rely on God’s power – rather than willpower to overcome the temptation to do wrong?” [1]“How do you walk in the Spirit in those moments?” [1]“Here are the four words I introduced to you at the end of the last chapter: Renew. Remain. Acknowledge. Ask.” [1]There are two for before the moment and two for in the moment. [1]RenewCraig Groeschel tells a story about a time in college when he decided he wanted to live for Jesus. He struggled with this decision because he didn’t want to give up sex. Realizing how difficult this would be, he knew he needed God’s power. He felt led to give up dating for an extended period. This time would serve as a point of renewing his way of thinking about women and relationships. [1]“To walk in the Spirit, in God’s power, we need to renew our minds: ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (Rom. 12:1-2).” [1]“The key to living out God’s ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’ is being ‘transformed by the renewing of your mind.'” [1]“When we allow God to change the way we think, it will change how we act.” [1]“When we allow God to change the way we think, it will change how we act, how we respond to opportunities and temptations, how we treat people. It will change everything.” [1]“This takes us full circle back to ‘who before do.’ You do what you do because of what you think of you. We said that how you think about yourself drives your behavior. Here’s another truth bomb: how you think about everything impacts everything.” [1]You renew your mind by consisten