Five Levels Of Learning
Let me overview quickly what I call the five levels of learning. This is the pedagogy of discipleship that I have used for thirty years. Its a major reason why our church has been able to bring so many people in the front door and send so many out the back door on ministry and mission. I believe you can judge the health of a church not by its seating capacity but by its sending capacity.
You dont judge the health of an army by how many soldiers sit in the mess hall and eat every week and listen to your Bible study. You judge the health of an army by how many are on frontlines doing battle in the world. We want to be able to bring them in, build them up, train them forward, and send them out. And to do so, we must be able to teach people not only to love the Word but also to do the Word . Here are what I call the five levels of learning:
1) Knowledge2) Perspective 3) Conviction4) Character5) Skill
The first two have to do with knowing. The second two have to do with being. And the third one has to do with doing. You can use these as a template for all of your discipleship moving people from come and see to come and die.
Newts World Episode : Battle For The American Mind
An interview with Newt Gingrich: After 16,000 hours of K-12 indoctrination, our kids come out of government schools hating America. They roll their eyes at religion and disdain our history. We spend more money on education than ever, but kids can barely read and write, let alone reason with discernment. Western culture is on the ropes. Kids are bored and aimless, flailing for purpose in a system that says racial and gender identity is everything. Newt is joined by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin. In their new book, Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation, they layout a field guide for remaking schools in the United States.
Let God Stretch Your Imagination
One final area I would like to address before closing this chapter is the imagination. If we are going to learn, and teach others, how to fight the battle for the mind, we must learn how to let God stretch our imaginations. This is a part of the battle. This is part of thinking. Everything that happens in life begins with a dream. Somebody has to imagine it first.
This is a gift that God gave to us: the ability to dream and envision and imagine something before it comes into reality. Every building we see was first imagined by an architect before it was built. Every piece of art was imagined before it was painted. Every song was imagined before it was written. Every athletic award, every gold medal, the athlete imagined before it ever happened. Every church thats been started, somebody either a group of people or a single church planter imagined that church first. Rarely does anything happen until somebody starts dreaming.
Interpretation without application is abortion.
We need to become great, godly dreamers. Proverbs 29:18 says, Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint. The word vision relates to dreaming. It means a kind of revelation, a vision from God. And where theres not this vision, this God-directed dreaming, the people cast off restraint literally, they get out of control. When we do not have an overarching vision or dream or goal for our lives, our lives are out of control. What we need today are great dreamers.
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Battlefield Of The Mind Summary Part : Signs That Our Mind Is Under Attack
Weâve reviewed Meyerâs imagery of our mind as a battlefield between positive and negative forces. Weâve discussed how the Devil makes it his job to attack our minds with negative thoughts while our job is to align our minds with the Holy Spirit and the power of Godâs positivity. Part 2 of our summary will mirror Part 2 of Battlefield of the Mind, in which Meyer outlines âconditionsâ indicating that our mind is out of balance with the Holy Spirit and under attack from the Devil.
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Battlefield Of The Mind: Winning The Battle In Your Mind
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Worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger and feelings of condemnation: all these are attacks on the mind. If readers suffer from negative thoughts, they can take heart Joyce Meyer has helped millions win these all-important battles. In her most popular bestseller ever, the beloved author and minister shows readers how to change their lives by changing their minds.
She teaches how to deal with thousands of thoughts that people think every day and how to focus the mind the way God thinks. And she shares the trials, tragedies, and ultimate victories from her own marriage, family, and ministry that led her to wondrous, life-transforming truth–and reveals her thoughts and feelings every step of the way.
This special updated edition includes an additional introduction and updated content throughout the book.
Weve All Tried To Think Our Way Out Of Bad Habits And Unhealthy Thought Patterns Only To Find Ourselves Stuck With An Out
Pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel knows from personal experience the daily battle against self-doubt and negative thinking. In Winning the War in Your Mind, he offers practical advice and biblical insight that will lead to a brighter, healthier future.
Drawing on Scripture and the latest findings of brain science, Groeschel lays out strategies that will free you from the grip of destructive thinking and enable you to live the life of joy and peace that God intends you to live. Winning the War in Your Mind will help you:
Learn how your brain works and see how to rewire it
Identify the lies your enemy wants you to believe
Recognize and short-circuit your mental triggers for destructive thinking
See how prayer and praise will transform your mind
Develop practices that allow Gods thoughts to shape your thoughts
God has something better for your life than your old ways of thinking. Its time to change your mind so God can change your life.
If youre like me and have struggled with anxiety or negative thought patterns, Winning the War in Your Mind is for you. Pastor Craig does an incredible job of relaying how we can change our thinking so that God can transform our lives. The best part is that he uses psychology AND the Word to bring us truths! This book will show you how to envision your new life and stop believing the lies of the enemy.
Sadie Robertson HuffAuthor, speaker, founder of Live Original
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Battlefield Of The Mind Summary Part : Common Negative Mindsets
Weâve discussed Meyerâs ideas about how Satan attacks our minds with negative thoughts and have reviewed signs that he is succeeding. Part 3 will cover Meyerâs ideas about what a mind that succumbs to negative thoughts looks like.
Meyer describes a mind lost in negativity as lost in the âwilderness.â If we’re trapped in a negative mindset, our lives can feel chaotic and unnavigable, even if our circumstances arenât actually terrible. She uses the term âwilderness mentalityâ as a reference to the Israelites, who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years on what should have been an 11 day trip to the promised land .
Meyer argues that if the Devil can lure us into a negative mindset, he can keep us lost in a cycle of negativity indefinitely, impeding our ability to move forward in our relationship with God, relationships with other people, and our goals in life. She outlines 10 common negative mindsets that can trap people and some insights on how to escape them.
A Negative Thought, or Negative Thinking?
Thereâs a difference between having negative thoughts and becoming trapped in a cycle of negative…
Shortform Exercise: Explore How Your Thoughts Precede Your Actions
Meyer explains that negative thoughts precede negative words and actions. Other people use those words and actions to form their opinions about us.
Think about the last time you were disappointed with your choice of words and actions while interacting with another person. What did you say or do that you wish you hadnât?
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Think: The Life Of The Mind And The Love Of God
This message appears as a chapter in Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind.
A violent battle is raging around us twenty-four hours per day.
In 1965, Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote a book about it called The Invisible War. It is the battle for your mind, and that battle is vicious. It is intense. It is unrelenting, and it is unfair because Satan never plays fair. And the reason why it is so intense is that your greatest asset is your mind.
Battle Mind: Performing Under Pressure
Among other statements, the reviewers said the following:
Why do some people perform with grace under fire, while others lose their grip?
According to corporate psychologist Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg, PhD, the answer can be found in that specific state of mind called Battle Mind. It is state of mind, which hopefully eventuates, when we are in a situation that requires immediate actions or decisions. In this state of mind, it becomes possible to perform with extraordinary clout and efficiency.
The book teaches you to make the most of the enormous power lodged in Battle Mind, and hence prepares you to meet the challenges you face in your working life. When you master Battle Mind, you improve your abilities to deal with adversity. This is an ability not reserved for the lucky few, on the contrary, it can be practiced and mastered by all who really want to have this skill.
The book addresses managers in particular, but may also inspire people who in their work life face a time of changing demands under pressure, and at a high pace.
The book is very well written. It is wonderfully concrete and the language is very clear.
A powerful book on management, which not only tells the success stories.
The book is a refreshing contribution in a time where stress, mindfulness, and coaching are all the rage. Here is a book that puts things straight. Well done!
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Our Thoughts Shape Our Reality
Meyer explains that our thoughts shape our lives because they guide our words and actions. A positive mindset produces positivity that spreads throughout our lives, which brings positivity back to us and in turn helps us be even more positive. Likewise, a negative mindset produces negativity thatâs likely to…
Shortform Exercise: Is Your Mind Lost
If our mind is trapped in a negative mindset we can feel lost in our own lives. Even if our circumstances are objectively pretty good, a negative mindset can make us feel miserable, frustrated, and hopeless. It might take a thorough inventory of our thought processes to realize that a negative mindset, rather than our circumstances, is causing our problems.
Is there an area where you have felt âtrappedâ or âstuckâ in your life?
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Taking Every Thought Captive
Now look at the very last phrase in the passage: take every thought captive to obey Christ. Take captive every thought. The Greek word aichmaløtizø there means to control, to conquer, to bring into submission. We take captive. We make it submit. Every thought obedient to Christ. Make it obedient. Hupakøe means to bring into submission, to bring under control.
But how do you do that? And how do you teach other people to do that? How do I make my mind mind? I have noticed that my mind doesnt always mind. It is often disobedient. It is often very rebellious. It wants to go in a different direction. When I want to think a certain way, it wants to go another way. When I need to ponder, it wants to wander. When I need to pray, my thoughts want to float away.
The battle for sin always starts in the mind.
Paul talks about this in Romans 7, and he says, I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. . . . Wretched man that I am! . The fact is, the reason we have so many ineffective Christians today is that they do not know how to fight the battle of the mind. And I blame pastors like me for that. We must spend more time teaching our people how to fight the battle of the mind.
Battlefield Of The Mind Summary Shortform Introduction
If we hope to live the positive life that God intends for us, we must first win the battle for our minds. Satan tries to trap us in a negative life by convincing us to focus on negative thoughts. In Battlefield of the Mind, best-selling author, speaker, and Bible teacher Joyce Meyer teaches that Satan tries to trap us in a negative life by filling our minds with negative thoughts, but that we can thwart Satanâs attempts by focusing on God and His teachings. She explains that by aligning our minds with the Holy Spirit and using Jesus as our role model, we can learn to focus on and cultivate the positive thoughts that will lead to a happy, fulfilling, and faithful life.
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A Challenge To Thinkers And To Doers
Many of you are natural thinkers and love the world of thoughts and ideas. You may not really like people, but you love the world of thoughts and ideas. Maybe your idea of growth and of ministry is to stay in a study all week. For some pastors, this would mean going through a vacuum tube out to the pulpit, then preaching, and then taking the vacuum tube back to their study. That would be heaven for them.
Perhaps you are naturally a great thinker God wired you that way. And then others of you are naturally great doers. Youre figuring out how to do it winning people to Christ, baptizing them in large numbers, planting churches, equipping servant leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick, educating the next generation, going out into the hurts and highways and byways of life and taking up the cross where people least expect it. Youre a doer.
Heres what I want to say to you, friend. Those of you who are thinkers, you need to do more. Those of you who are doers, you need to think more. Its not one or the other. Its both-and.
Dont Believe Everything You Think
We naturally feel that if we think something, it must be true because it comes from within us. But just because you think something does not make it true. As I said above, I have seen the face of mental illness. So many different suggestions can come into the mind. The world puts suggestions in our minds that are false, and we are bombarded with those false ideas all the time. And, of course, Satan makes suggestions all the time. But your problem is much deeper than Satan. Everybody has a mental illness. We are all mentally ill. The mental illness is called sin. And the Bible uses at least a dozen different phrases for the condition of our minds under sin. Our minds are:
- anxious, closed
The Bible talks about:
- a troubled mind
- a depraved mind
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Never Let Up On Learning
The third thing to learn and teach to others in this battle for the mind is to never let up on learning. Become a lifelong learner. Love knowledge. Love wisdom. Learn to love the act of learning. The word disciple means learner. You cannot be a disciple of Christ without being a learner. Jesus said, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me . What do you do when you take on a yoke? You share a burden with another animal. You lighten a load. And Jesus wants us to learn from him.
God expects not only faithfulness but also fruitfulness.
Many people act as though their education ended at their last graduation. I have met some pastors who have not cracked a book since seminary. They have never studied anything else. They have never taken another class since finishing school. Are you kidding me? To be a disciple means to be a learner. All leaders must first be disciples. So leaders must first be learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. Growing churches require growing pastors. The moment you stop growing, your church stops growing.
Battlefield Of The Mind Summary Part : A Positive Life Requires A Positive Mind
The central tenet of Meyerâs book is that the state of our lives mirrors the state of our minds. A negative mindset produces a negative life, while a positive mindset produces a positive life. According to Meyer, a âpositive mindsetâ is one that is focused on God. She argues that when we put God at the center of our minds and spirits, we’re happier, more successful, more fulfilled, and we positively impact those around us.
Meyer seesSatan as the source of our difficulties, arguing that he creates our negative mindsets by keeping us apart from God, which he does by controlling our minds. In Part 1, weâll explore Meyerâs ideas about how our mindset shapes our reality, her view of Satan as the source of our negative thoughts, and her imagery of our minds as a battlefield between Godâs positivity and Satanâs negativity.
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