Dec 17, 2002

I was talking with a patient of mine and she was indicating that she just went to stay for a week in a small town in central Mexico. She indicated that they spoke no English and that she never took any organized spanish class. However, she did indicate that she had worked at a horse stable in Germany and that all her co-workers only spoke Spanish. Consequently, she learned 2 languages during that time of work, German and Spanish. The concept is called IMMERSION. You are put in a do or die situation... actually you are put in a communicate or don't communicate situation. Basically, from a language perspective, your native language, in our case-English, is no longer useful.

I believe that one of the things that those individuals do who appear to "rise out of the ashes"... grow in the Lord and in His gifts at such a tremendous rate, is they IMMERSE themselves in God. They IMMERSE themselves in Worship and/or the Bible and/or prayer... they spend a huge amount of time focusing on Godly things and getting poured into. After all, the world has been pouring into us unchecked for how many years? This "transforming of the mind" the Bible talks about and His desire to give us His heart, cannot come while we are enjoying a movie, watching a football game, or even cooking. It comes when we focus on Him. When we passionately and openly desire Him to pour into us and reshape how we think and how we live. The Bible tells us that if we are a friend of the world, we are an enemy of Him. His purposes cannot be found in the worldly places. They are found when we put the things of this world down, so that we have more hands free to carry those things which He would give us.

This season, make a concerted effort to put some things down that God has been trying to shake loose from your controlling grip. Most likely, once you release that which you thought was so valuable, what He puts in your hand will be far greater and far more wonderful and far more useful than anything your "old mind" could have fathomed.

Mike Berglund