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Self-Centered

Although recent episodes have spoken heavily on developing a positive self-image, Stephen briefly touches on the issue of self-centeredness, implying that majority of our problems stem from being overly concerned with self. Self-centeredness often manifests from the pain of feeling unworthy, and it is fueled by anxiety. It is the root of many psychological illnesses such as depression, personality disorders, and addiction. The overwhelming insecurity of being in your own skin induces self-sabotage and relational disconnect. You can assess whether or not you deal with self-centeredness based on your level of service to something other than yourself.

Service and Ambition

Stephen addressed the issue of idleness and productivity in Episode 5, directly relating a lack of servitude to depression and a sense of worthlessness. He further elaborates in this episode how service becomes the first place to start when aspiring to change. It takes ambition, an earnest desire, to be part of a service or organization. In your day to day life, is there anything you’re doing that may be of benefit to someone else? Do you make a practice out of helping others in some way? If not, in what way can you be helpful to someone from now on?

Service is defined as the action of helping or doing work for someone. Just as the host prompted the audience to look around the room, I advise you to pause and look at your surroundings. What objects do you see that have been created by someone else? The phone or laptop you may be reading this blog from, the shirt you’re wearing, or the chap-stick in your pocket, these are all examples of someone else’s service to mankind. Each of these things exists because someone had an ambition to create their imaginations and share them with the world.

With any business, there tends to be a star, or face of the show. What you don’t always see are those in the back-office doing the paperwork. Does this mean those behind the scenes are less important? Absolutely not! I firmly believe that God has not designed us to do life alone, nor did he design us to be a one-man show. As Stephen said, even the Messiah Himself had disciples. Not only did He have disciples, but Luke 8:2-3 speaks of a few women who walked with Jesus and supported His ministry with their own means.

In your journey to implement change, start with finding a place where you can serve. Being of service to mankind will make your life worthwhile. Aspire to be part of something unforgettable, something that will leave a mark on the world. After all, you will be remembered for how you served.

Producing Change

We can talk about change until we’re blue in the face. But how do you actually produce it? What good is it to have the knowledge and realization of a need for change without any means to implement it? Stephen suggests that knowledge without action becomes more damaging than not having the knowledge at all. He gives the example of recognizing anxious tendencies, knowing not to be anxious, yet swelling with anxiety and panic over every uncertainty. It creates dissonance within you to know what to do but continue on without doing it.

In Episode 8, the host spoke of creating new neurological pathways in the mind. In order to produce change, there must be a practice within the mind of abandoning habitual psychological pathways while re-wiring the brain to create new pathways through the act of repentance. Many of us have been falsely taught that repentance is simply a heartfelt “I’m sorry” to God. Stephen describes repentance as Jesus trying to help you rewire your brain. Repentance in itself is powerful enough to change you at the core.

Repentance

We tend to believe that man is incapable of change. We grow up hearing idioms like “Once a thief, always a thief,” with that word “thief” being interchangeable with liar, cheater, drunk, etc. Although past behavior can be a good indicator of future behavior, there is a God who can make all things new. We are all guilty of sin, however, without sin, there would be no need for a Savior. Repentance becomes not only the acknowledgement of doing what is in opposition to the laws of God, but the desire to turn from sin and no longer walk in the psychological pathways that lead to death. True repentance is illustrated by the once addict who no longer has cravings due to the new way of thinking given by God through deliverance. The new neural pathways created in the mind allow you to deny the things that once held you captive.

Worthy of Deliverance

“If You are willing, You can make me clean,” says the leper in Matthew 8 who comes to the Messiah for healing. The leper believed his leprosy was from God. Our handicap is we believe our illnesses, sicknesses, disfunctions, anxieties, and depressions are part of God’s plan for our lives when it’s not. The host says many profound statements in this segment of the podcast such as, “We believe it’s God’s choice to heal us but rather it is your choice to believe you can be healed,” and, “Even though it’s God’s will to heal you, it may not be your will to believe that you can be healed.” The truth is, God actually does want to heal you. The real issue is you don’t think you’re worthy of being healed.

There is a woman with an issue of blood in Matthew 9. For twelve years, she suffered greatly, spending all of her life’s earnings on doctors who not only could not heal her, but left her in worse condition than she was initially. The woman spots Jesus in the midst of a crowd and forces her way through. Upon touching the hem of His garment, her issue of blood is dried up. In this text, we do not see Jesus choosing to heal her. Rather, we see a woman who quite literally takes her healing into her own hands. Immediately, Jesus recognized power had gone out of Him. The woman announces she was the one to touch Him and He responds to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” The conclusion? God had already chosen to heal her.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He had already chosen to heal the woman with the issue of blood, He has already chosen to heal you as well. You are only worthy of whatever you can believe. Can you actually believe that you’re worthy of being healed from your addiction, depression, anxiety, fear, doubt, disease? You may think your sin counts you as unworthy, thus prohibiting you from ever changing. But has God not said your sins can be forgiven? Is this not the reason He sent His Son to take on the sins of the world so that yours can be forgotten? Your righteousness is not what constitutes your miracle, your mustard seed of faith is. Your belief is what makes you worthy, just as your unbelief makes you unworthy. The way you think plays a significant role in your deliverance.

Victim Mentality

The main reason you haven’t changed is because you’ve not taken responsibility for your actions. Until you can recognize that you feel the way you feel because of your own choices, you’ll never see a need for change. Just as was said in the beginning of the podcast, majority of your issues are because you only focus on you. You’ve shaped the image of yourself based on how others have treated you or made you feel. You’ve allowed your circumstances to make you the victim rather than the conqueror. Come away from this. Stop blaming other people for your lack of growth. As said in the previous episode, you are the decider of your own destiny. Stand up, and keep fighting.

Little gods

Scripture says that He has called us gods to whom the Word of God comes. To some it seems blasphemous, but is it really? The word says it. Just as a king’s heir is a prince, God’s heirs are gods. We’ve been carefully crafted in His image, in His likeness, with the ability to create and design, and to speak life into the world around us. We’ve been given the authority to create our own reality. Whatever reality you live in has been created by your own thoughts, actions, and words. Stephen encourages us to whom the word is being given, “There is greatness in you.” Aspire to challenge yourself to be more.

Something Has to Change

Over the course of this podcast series, the “something” that has to change has been multiple somethings. If you’ve tuned in thus far, what has changed in you? Have you learned to recondition your mind to not be dictated by every desire of the body? Have you learned to control your thoughts and emotions? If you’re just tuning in, have you recognized a need for a change in your life? I encourage you to look back at everything that has been said. So easily we can hear a good message, but not take anything away from it. Take a moment and measure your growth. Look at how far you’ve come, and keep going.

Contemporary Speaks, a live-audience weekly podcast, has created a table of opportunity for the listener to be used by God for something bigger than themselves. The host, Stephen, is continually encouraging those who are desperate for change with relevant discussions and applicable practices for self-betterment. Each week, he pulls back another layer of the onion, taking the audience deeper into the root of life’s issues, influencing growth on the most intimate levels. The ninth episode of Something Has to Change opens with three questions. Am I happy and content with my life? Does something need to change? If so, where do I start?

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