Spiritual Muscle for the five BIG MISTAKES Class 1 – Who’s Going to Win? Class 2 – Too Much or Too Little? Class 3 – I Don’t Want Any Help! Class 4 – No Substitutions Allowed Exhortation – Don’t Miss Out on This One! Class 5 – Vertical vs Horizontal

Review Revenge doesn’t go well - drop the jawbone! Leave room for God’s wrath The keeping of books by God and us are the torture chamber Throw out the books! (I brought a paper shredder) Don’t forget verse 27B in our lives.

Definition: Reframing changing the conceptual and/or emotional viewpoint in relation to which a situation is experienced and placing it in a different frame that fits the "facts" of a concrete situation equally well, thereby changing its entire meaning.

Example: Joseph – Gen 50:19-20 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Example: Abraham – Heb 11:15-16 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

These 2 women lost their husbands after 20 years of marriage These 2 women lost their husbands after 20 years of marriage. They are dealing with their grief: Woman #1. The pain of my loss, my grief, has forced me to question my beliefs. My faith is being stretched and enlarged. The God I now believe in at age 45 is different from the God I believed in at age 25. I wonder, though, which of us has changed.? Woman #2. It has been a long time since my loss and things ought to be getting better. I don’t want my friends around, not even my ecclesial friends. Where is God in all my pain?

CS Lewis “A Grief Observed” Re: death of his wife “I thought I could make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process. It needs not a map but a history. Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.”

Look at techniques from other 5 classes Class 1 – what’s the missing knowledge, or spirit of God? Class 2 – Not wanting enough – visualizing an escape or better way Class 3 – see God in your life better – be audacious in your dependence on God Class 4 – increase devotional time, treat substitute gods with techniques and fervor of those who fight addictions Class 5 – Throw out the books! Do it in your mind, and in a minute with the shredder. No more self-torture!!

When bad things happen or we make mistakes -- It is a trigger to reframe our outlook!!

Ps 24:7-9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Ps 3:2-3 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

Review Four BIG mistakes are related to each other and they, in turn, are related to most other mistakes.  The BIG mistake is losing your connection to God.  The muscle building techniques are all interconnected too;  ways to reconnect with God and reframe to think like Him. Mistakes are opportunities to learn to reframe our view to God’s view of things. Use the 24 Activities of Forgiveness to work on forgiving someone who has wronged you.

Forgiveness is the great reconnection to God Forgiveness is the great reconnection to God. Love is the most God-like trait because God, of course, is love.  Forgiveness is a "department" of love. It is the choice and the trait that restores us to Him and His love. It redirects our thinking to thinking like God. As much as you are desiring to connect with God,  He is wishing to connect with you even more! The phrase,  “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” has never been more appropriate!  Let’s change our thinking!

GOD WILL LIFT UP YOUR HEAD traditional words by Paul Gerhardt (trans GOD WILL LIFT UP YOUR HEAD traditional words by Paul Gerhardt (trans. John Wesley, alt. by Jars of Clay)/ music by Jars of Clay Give to the wind your fear Hope and be undismayed God hears your sighs and counts your tears God will lift up, God will lift up, lift up your head God will lift up your head God will lift up your head God will lift up your head Lift up your head Leave to His sovereign sway To choose and to command Then shall we wandering on His way Know how wise and how strong How wise and how strong

God will lift up your head God will lift up your head God will lift up your head Lift up your head Through waves and clouds and storms, He gently clears the way Wait because in His time, so shall this night Soon end in joy, soon end in joy Soon end in joy, soon end in joy God will lift up your head God will lift up your head God will lift up your head