3 24 26 – The Hidden Becomes Visible

I am going to be a little cryptic this morning. Do you notice anything interesting in the two verses below?

And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward (saphon) before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.
(Lev. 1:11)

Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy.
(Lev. 6:25)

Today, I want to take you on a technical thought trip on how to think. Are you ready? Let me warn you ahead of time—do not freak out about learning how to visualize, because you do it all the time already, and the results are evident.

Your brain has a reticular activating system (RAS), which is composed of a network of neurons. It acts as a filter system by allowing certain things into your brain and keeping others out. Unfortunately, we and the people of our past are responsible for this filter (Prov. 23:7). For instance, if you feel unloved (Gen. 37:4), your RAS is going to take every piece of information from your day and confirm that belief in you. If you feel people do not like you at work, then your RAS is going to work all day long to confirm that negative belief! This is where the "confirmation bias" comes from that we have talked about so often. Our minds love to read, watch, and listen to things we agree with—hence our political issues of the day and many more divisive realities. Reading things you agree with confirms your RAS filter.

The RAS only lets things in that you agree with. If this were not the case and everything in your environment were treated with equal value, your brain would have a meltdown with too much information (John 21:25). If you are not where you want to be emotionally, relationally, spiritually, or physically, there is a need to reprogram your RAS filter, and it begins with visualization.

We need to get our brain thinking differently. We want it to see opportunity. We want it to see patterns that are no longer coincidences so we can build momentum. These techniques can be learned through NLP—well worth the time :-)

Many of us have set goals for ourselves for this year, but here on the 24th of March—the first month in God's prophetic calendar—most have had those slip away. Why does that happen every year to the majority of people? Maybe it is time to reprogram that God-given RAS with a two-step process. Are you ready?

Take that list of goals that you have, and let us get started. Let us say, for instance, that one of your goals is to improve your self-worth (yes, that is spiritual thinking :-). Visualize! Close your eyes—yes, close your eyes—and picture what you are going to look like and feel like when your self-worth has improved. Can you see yourself speaking up at work in meetings? Having people listen to you? Going to the gym? Making those phone calls? Sharing your faith? Waking up early? Breaking off bad relationships? The RAS needs to be re-filtered!

Now think about what it will feel like in your emotions. Happy, proud, standing taller, grateful that you made the change. Marry the specific change you have made. Become one with it. Can you see it? There you are, raising your hand in a meeting, sharing an insight, signing up another customer, going back to school, or whatever. By doing this, you are actually reprogramming your RAS filter. And yes, this is very biblical.

What is important to know is that your brain does not distinguish the difference between reality and imagination. It does not make a distinction between the bad that really happened to you and the imagined memory that you are creating. Visualization encodes into your brain as though it is a real memory. That is what changes the RAS.

Neurological research has taught us many things, but here are two to consider: the more you visualize, the greater your confidence is going to be—whether positive or negative. And when you do this for just thirty seconds a day, visualizing that it is going to be a great day and how it is going to feel, you will "shine brighter" to the world (Matt. 5:13–16) than ever before. By visualizing an activity, you actually develop the skill, and it helps you improve the skill as though you were actually doing it—crazy, but true. This process reprograms the RAS by changing the neurological patterns within our filter system.

Instead of being a light that has a basket covering it, you will find yourself handling life's situations in a more God-centered way. You will be looking for opportunities to grow spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally, and financially than ever before.

Go through all your goals. Spend thirty seconds, close your eyes, visualize what it looks like when you have achieved your monetary goals: going to the bank and seeing it there, putting a down payment on your dream home, saving enough money to give to orphanages and more.

In time, you will be more confident and capable. It is time to change that "GIGO" system—garbage in, garbage out—into good in and good out!

Enjoy the short video :-)

Shalom,
Alan

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