In part one we saw how Elisha had to reset himself before he could usher in his new identity, function and position. Maybe, just like me, you often wish you could similarly just hit a magic reset-button that would give you the ability to take hold of something bigger, that will enable you to break through the cold steel bars of the mental prisons we are often captured by. A reset button that will help us shed all the old burdens, fears and often torturous doubts which assails our minds from all sides, severely weakening our ability to experience the full freedom of faith, joy and peace! These are all deadly weapons custom designed and wielded by the enemy to drastically lessen our impact and effectiveness in the world.
It’s so critical that we understand this; the life you are currently living is only one of many possibilities available to you. More than two centuries of epistemological and hermeneutical research helped us to understand that we continually give birth to different possibilities of being through our own interpretations of reality. In other words, what you think determines what becomes real to you and governs your life (Proverbs 23:7). If you were able to transform your mental processes, your experience of reality would transform simultaneously. It matters less what happens to you, than what you think is happening to you! Like I said, you are currently only experiencing one mode of being in the world – there are many other modes possible if you dared.
Why should you be held prisoner by what others think of you? Why would you remain insignificant by allowing the inevitable disappointments, anger, bitterness and fear that we all accumulate over the years to rob you of an abundantly fruitful, meaningful life? What’s preventing you from breaking out of your constricting mental straitjacket and at the same time saying farewell to the stale prison air you’ve had to breathe for so long? What’s keeping you from following in Elisha’s footsteps and tearing up your old outfit and leaving it all behind in a rotting heap? Nothing, except the fear of hitting the reset-button and opening yourself up to what psychologist’s call, a personal transformative experience (read 2 Kings 2).
Truth is, very often we are the guardians of our smallness because we suffer from a Saul-complex. Saul, who was chosen to be the first king of Israel and on the verge of being anointed by Samuel in the presence of all Israel, was overcome by his own insignificance and chose to rather hide amongst the baggage instead of leading Israel (1 Sam. 10:22)! The comfort of the proverbial devils we know is often better than the devils we don’t know. Dr Justin Moseley describes the various stages of his own reset-experience as a journey. This journey had different waypoints, starting with our current position of COMFORT, followed by debilitating FEAR which is the inevitable result of pushing your life’s reset button, shrugging off those burdens and opening yourself up to God’s better plan. If you succeeded in overcoming this terror, personal GROWTH will come, followed by FLOW (competence in the new ways of thinking and acting) and eventually greater IMPACT. But be warned, this journey will demand everything from you. Just like Elisha, we will have to resist the temptation of aborting our journey before it even starts. It will demand a complete abandonment of our old, worn-out identities, our mental states and doubts that kept us prisoner for so long. Not until we do this and dare to take hold of a much larger dream, stepping out in bold faith and start praying completely differently, will we see what God really had in mind for us from the creation of the world (Eph. 2:10).
Elisha had a calling from God to have a double portion, but it was not guaranteed to happen automatically (2 Kings 2). It was just another potential reality inviting his action. He had to fan the flame of desire, faith and boldness which compelled him to step forward when the time came; to ask and to believe that it was possible at all. What do you dream about and feel simmering inside of you? Resist the fear and doubt and start praying for the courage to hit that reset button, after all did the Master not teach us that everything is possible for those who dare to believe (Mk. 11:22-24, John 3:9)?
May you a blessed month.
Dr Jurie Vermeulen
National Director,
FEBA Radio SA
