How Does it Happen?

All scripture quoted is from the New Living Translation. Other quotations are from Ellen White, unless otherwise credited.

All through the Bible you have people making promises to serve God, yet breaking those promises repeatedly. The same thing happens in our life. We have good intentions yet end up going in another direction. This study seeks to find out Why and How it Happens.

The illustration above has three people representing the different Christian journeys people take in life.

1. All are believers in Jesus as the way, truth, and life. But one group builds their life actions on conforming to the world around them. That leads them to a sinful lifestyle, and although they believe in Jesus, they deny Him in practice and end up lost.
2. A second group although believers in Jesus, build their life on compromise with sin, so also end up denying Jesus as Lord of their life.
3. The third group believe in Jesus and obey Him, no matter what the price. They live by faith and experience and ongoing relationship with Jesus. As His child, He gives them the gift of eternal life.

QUESTION: WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE IN A PERSON’S LIFE THAT CAUSES THEM TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN COMPROMISE WITH SIN AND CONFORM TO WHAT IS POPULAR?

• It is an ongoing process all through life.
• It is equally true for men and women and for those in all walks of life.

Let’s illustrate the process so we can understand it better. Just knowing about it is not enough. We need to understand how it happens in our life. Head = our mind is the collector of every experience of life.

Testimonies for the Church 3:69 – The brain is the capital of the body, the seat of all the nervous forces and of mental action. The nerves proceeding from the brain control the body. By the brain nerves, mental impressions are conveyed to all the nerves of the body as by telegraph wires, and they control the vital action of every part of the system. All the organs of motion are governed by the communications they receive from the brain.

Testimonies for the Church 2:347 – The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life.

What are the sources of information the brain collects?

1. Genetic heritage.

1 Mind Character and Personality 144 – Children inherit inclinations to wrong, but they also have many lovely traits of character. These should be strengthened and developed, while the tendencies to evil should be carefully guarded against and repressed.

• Prenatal effects.

Patriarchs and Prophets 561 – Both parents transmit their own characteristics, mental and physical, their dispositions and appetites, to their children….

• What we see.
• What we hear.
• What we touch.
• What we taste.
• What we read.

The Youth Instructor, October 9, 1902 – Resolutely discard all trashy reading. It will not strengthen your spirituality, but will introduce into the mind sentiments that pervert the imagination, causing you to think less of Jesus and to dwell less upon his precious lessons. Keep the mind free from everything that would lead it in a wrong direction. Do not encumber it with trashy stories, which impart no strength to the mental powers. 

• Parents.

Child Guidance 193 – Too much importance cannot be placed on the early training of children. The lessons that the child learns during the first seven years of life have more to do with forming his character than all that it learns in future years. The impressions made on the heart early in life are seen in after years. They may be buried, but they will seldom be obliterated.

1. Mind formation.

Special Testimonies On Education 71 – The mind will never cease to be active. It is open to influences, good or bad. As the human countenance is stamped by the sunbeam on the polished plate of the artist, so are thoughts and impressions stamped on the mind of the child; and whether these impressions are of the earth earthy, or moral and religious, they are well-nigh permanent. When reason is awakening, the mind is most susceptible; and so, the very first lessons are of great importance. These lessons have a powerful influence on the formation of character. If they are of the right stamp, and if, as the child advances in years, they are followed up with patient perseverance, the earthly and eternal destinies will be shaped for good.

• Friends.

James 4:4 – Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

• Siblings.
• Teachers.
• Leaders.

Christian Service, 177 – The spirit manifested by the leader will be, to a great extent, reflected by the people. If the leaders professing to believe the solemn, important truths that are to test the world at this time, manifest no ardent zeal to prepare a people to stand in the day of God, we must expect the church to be careless, indolent, and pleasure-loving.

Darkness Before Dawn 38 – Satan is constantly endeavoring to attract attention to man in the place of God. He leads the people to look to bishops, to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides, instead of searching the Scriptures to learn their duty for themselves. Then, by controlling the minds of these leaders, he can influence the multitudes according to his will….

• Television.
• Movies.
• Video games.
• Internet.
• Pornography.
• Social media.

7 Negative Effects of Social Media on People and Users according to Anya Zhukova

Anya Zhukova – If you can’t imagine your life without social media, that’s a sign that you’ve fallen a victim to the evil power and impact of social networking as well as the attention economy. It also means that you’ve experienced one (or more) of the negative effects of social media on society.

How Social Media Is Bad for You

Let’s explore the darker side of social media and exactly how (and why) it’s bad for you. You’ll be surprised to learn the negative effects of social media are both physical and mental. It can change your perception of the world and yourself, and not always for the better.

1. Depression and Anxiety

Do you spend more than two hours per day on social media? Spending too long on social networking sites could be adversely affecting your mood. In fact, you’re more likely to report poor mental health, including symptoms of anxiety and depression.

2. Cyberbullying

Before social media, bullying was something only done face-to-face. However, now, someone can be bullied online anonymously. Today everyone knows what cyberbullying is, and most of us have seen what it can do to a person. And since screens hide our faces, you can end up being a jerk on social media and other websites without realizing it.

3. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a phenomenon that was born at the same time as Facebook—and it’s one of the most common negative effects of social media. FOMO is basically a form of anxiety that you get when you’re scared of missing out on a positive experience or emotions that someone else is getting.

4. Unrealistic Expectations

This one probably comes as no surprise, but social media helps you to form unrealistic expectations of life and friendships. The networks that do it most are Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Those are the social media platforms that severely lack online authenticity.

5. Negative Body Image

Speaking of Instagram celebrities, if you look at popular Instagram accounts, you’ll find beautiful people wearing expensive clothes on their perfect bodies.

Today, body image is an issue for many people of both sexes. Of course, seeing those perfect in accordance with the society standards people on a daily basis makes you conscious about how different you look from those pictures. And not everyone comes to the right conclusions in this situation.

6. Unhealthy Sleep Patterns

On top of increased rates of anxiety and depression, spending too much time on social media can lead to poor sleep. Numerous studies have shown that increased use of social media has a negative effect on your

7. General Addiction

Social media is often described as being more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol, with the worst social media apps being Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok when it comes to addiction.

• Peer pressure.
• Music.

QUESTION: HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT OVERCOMING THE SINFUL JUNK IN YOUR MIND?  

1. T/F – IT IS POSSIBLE TO OVERCOME ALL SINFUL THOUGHTS? False

Rom 7:22-25: I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Can’t erase. Only the Word of God set into our mind with the Holy Spirit can overcome the pull of sinful material and help us chart a godly course. Obedience to the thinking of God can only happen through an ongoing miracle of transformation as a result of Holy Spirit power. My part is to request the power and stop strengthening the sinful sources coming into my mind.

Testimonies for the Church 3:22 – The mind must be trained through daily tests to habits of fidelity, to a sense of the claims of right and duty above inclination and pleasure. Minds thus trained do not waver between right and wrong, as the reed trembles in the wind; but as soon as matters come before them, they discern at once that principle is involved, and they instinctively choose the right without long debating the matter. They are loyal because they have trained themselves in habits of faithfulness and truth.

Christian Education, p. 122 – Let no one suppose that conversion is the beginning and end of the Christian life. There is a science of Christianity that must be mastered. There is to be growth in grace, that is constant progress and improvement. The mind is to be disciplined, trained, educated; for the child of God is to do service for God in ways that are not natural, or in harmony with inborn inclination. Those who become the followers of Christ find that new motives of action are supplied, new thoughts arise, and new actions must result. But they can make advancement only through conflict; for there is an enemy that ever contends against them, presenting temptations to cause the soul to doubt and sin. Besides this ever vigilant foe, there are hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil that must be overcome. The training and education of a lifetime must often be discarded that the Christian may become a learner in the school of Christ, and in him who would be a partaker of the divine nature, appetite and passion must be brought under the control of the Holy Spirit. There is to be no end to this warfare this side of eternity, but while there are constant battles to fight, there are also precious victories to gain, and the triumph over self and sin is of more value than the mind can estimate.

• T/F – THERE ARE ONLY TWO THINGS YOU NEED TO OVERCOME SIN? False – three things are needed. WHAT ARE THEY?
  • HOLY SPIRIT
  • BIBLE INSTRUCTION
  • STAYING AWAY FROM SIN

Gal 5:16 – So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

The Holy Spirit comes in and changes my character so that now in this dimension I represent the character of God.

Ministry of Healing 175 – Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held in bondage to the lower nature, they are to rule every appetite and passion. God has not left us to battle with evil in our own finite strength. Whatever may be our inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He is ready to impart.

The cure for sin is found in scripture, which points out sin. The cure is found in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to transform my mind.

 Rom 12:2 – Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Lift Him Up 229 – To love God with all the heart, to be a partaker with Christ in His humiliation and suffering, means more than many understand. The atonement of Christ is the great central truth around which cluster all the truths that pertain to the great work of redemption. The mind of man is to blend with the mind of Christ. This union sanctifies the understanding, giving the thoughts clearness and force.

1. All I can do is accept the salvation of Jesus. He takes me the rest of the way to heaven.
   1. He gives me the Holy Spirit to begin the lifelong process of transformation of thinking. One area at a time. A work that will never end.
   1. Only the Holy Spirit can shut the door of sinful thoughts and desires that enter my mind. Only He can close the door to Satan’s temptations.

1 Mind, Character and Personality 22 – When the mind is not under the direct influence of the Spirit of God, Satan can mold it as he chooses. All the rational powers which he controls he will carnalize. He is directly opposed to God in his tastes, views, preferences, likes and dislikes, choice of things and pursuits; there is no relish for what God loves or approves, but a delight in those things which He despises; therefore, a course is maintained which is offensive to Him. This leads to controversy with those who are trying to walk in the way of the Lord. They [those who oppose truth] will call light darkness, and darkness light; good evil, and evil good. — Letter 8, 1891

I am no match for Satan, no matter how hard I try or determined I am to overcome. But only I can decide whether or not to take the medicine the physician prescribes and provides.

That I May Know Him 115 – It is a fatal mistake to think that there is nothing for you to do in obtaining salvation. You are to cooperate with the agencies of heaven. … There is a cross to be lifted in the pathway, a wall to be scaled before you enter the eternal city, a ladder to be climbed before the gate of pearl is reached, and as you realize your inability and weakness and cry for help, a divine voice will come to you from the battlements of heaven saying, “Take hold of my strength” ( Isaiah 27:5)….The controversy that was waged between Christ and Satan is renewed over every soul that leaves the black banner of the prince of darkness to march under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. The evil one will present the most subtle allurements to draw those away from their allegiance who would be true to Heaven, but we must yield all the powers of our being into the service of God, and then we shall be kept from falling into the snares of the enemy….

Lift Him Up 17 – Do you believe that Jesus is your Saviour, and that he has manifested his love for you in giving his precious life for your salvation? Take Jesus as your personal Saviour. Come to him just as you are; give yourself to him; grasp his promise by living faith, and he will be to you all that you desire. To everyone inquiring, “What must I do to be saved?” I answer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Do not for one moment doubt that he will save you just as you are, if you will only come to him.

QUESTION: T/F – THE ONLY SOLUTION TO EVIL TRAITS OF CHARACTER IS SELF-CONTROL? True, but only through divine power God gives us.

Gal 5:22-26 – But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

2 Peter 1:3-4 – By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Christs Object Lessons 98 – The leaven hidden in the flour works invisibly to bring the whole mass under its leavening process; so the leaven of truth works secretly, silently, steadily, to transform the soul. The natural inclinations are softened and subdued. New thoughts, new feelings, new motives, are implanted. A new standard of character is set up—the life of Christ. The mind is changed; the faculties are roused to action in new lines. Man is not endowed with new faculties, but the faculties he has are sanctified. The conscience is awakened. We are endowed with traits of character that enable us to do service for God.

Steps to self-control:

2 Peter 1:5-9 – In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

Temperance 113 – Your part is to put your will on the side of Christ. When you yield your will to His, He immediately takes possession of you, and works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Your nature is brought under the control of His Spirit. Even your thoughts are subject to Him. If you cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire, you can control the will, and thus an entire change will be wrought in your life. When you yield up your will to Christ, your life is hid with Christ in God. It is allied to the power which is above all principalities and powers. You have a strength from God that holds you fast to His strength; and a new life, even the life of faith, is possible to you