Stepping Stones: Freedom: 100% Mental

Transformational Thought

Pro athletes have such amazing physical skills. Tremendous coordination and deep-seated muscle memory have been developed through many years of intense, and intentional training. Hours of drills, techniques, and exercises. Reviewing and repeating the same actions with on-the-spot coaching and guidance have developed them into athletic machines, permitting them to maximize their physical potential. Given all that physical preparation, when they get onto the field a very significant physical organ will determine their success. The brain!

They say sports are 90% mental, meaning, what’s between their ears … their intellectual, psychological, stress management, relational, and emotional skills … really determine if they will maximize their physical abilities. In fact, to develop physical skills at such a high level many more mental skills are vital to success: perseverance, self-discipline, hard work, maintaining the integrity of the drills without taking short cuts, dietary self-control, studying plays, observation and application, and learning from mistakes. Life works the same way.

Freedom of speech … freedom to choose the vocation we want … freedom to practice any religion. But how free are we? How many of us are actually prisoners of our own hearts and minds? How many of us are “driven” to be something we are not. How often do we sabotage the path designed specifically for us. In an odd paradox, freedom really comes from having only one Master … the only one qualified to be the Master. Most of our troubles come from trying to blend masters (self, world, others, God) for our life … thus devising and implementing our own game plan and ignoring His. You will maximize your abilities and your life, in other words, achieve your God-given potential, when you realize your life is 100% mental and you humbly let all-powerful and all-knowing God be your coach and authority. That is when my life really turned around.

Here’s the bottom line. Life all comes down to decision-making. First come decisions you make in preparation, practice, skill acquisition and development. Then come the decisions to be made when real life is going on … how you apply these skills. This is the reason we push decision-making skills so often, as they are the key to life.

Today, find freedom by seeking to please God above all else. When you are angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, or experience some other uncomfortable feeling, just stop. Don’t act yet. Think of God and His big picture of salvation and eternity, or ponder Biblical passages that calm you. Let this soothe you. Then get back to the situation that was upsetting you. Now that you are calmer, think through a better solution than the one that initially went through your mind while you were upset. This is how you can be victorious in the mental aspect of your everyday living. Concentrate on staying close to Him at all times and humbling yourself to His instructions for your conduct. To develop practical skills to strengthen your mind and put God on the throne of your heart in your decisions, click here. Your decision, choose well today!

Prayer
Dear Father God, I come to You with a thankful, yet penitent heart. I confess, Lord, that I have let worship of others’ and my own expectations drive me, scattering my energy and focus. My desire to “look good’ in the eyes of others is also draining my energy. Help me, Lord, to focus on You. I know that this is the only way to achieve true freedom. Help me focus on serving the one and only Master, You. Help me, Father, to develop discipline in my life, taking my thoughts captive, so I can master the mental game that goes on inside of me and be victorious in this spiritual war for my soul. I pray, Father, that today and always I will let You direct my next step so that I will be free to enjoy You and to look forward to what You have prepared for me this day. These things I ask boldly, through the love and work of Christ Jesus for us, and all God’s children say, – AMEN!

The Truth
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:8-10

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16