August 2016 Part II — A Mood Therapy Handbook - "Come, follow me, Jesus said". Paul's words to the Ephesians in 4:22 . . .put off the old self to be made new in the attitude of your mind, and put on the new self.

5 Minute Read Bible Verses NIV

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, . . .” – Matthew 4:19

Part II

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity [fear], but of power and of love and of self-discipline.” – 2Timothy 1:7

When an inanimate object is thrown at you, you put out your hands to block the item from hitting you. This act of physical defense is an automatic behavior to protect yourself. The mind will react against anything you believe is harmful, such as:

a verbal assault by someone you care about, or don’t know
a statement that reminds you of negative language said by a parent, guardian, or someone close
someone whose physical appearance reminds you of a person that treated you badly
a sound, a smell
being in a certain place

All the above may direct the brain to produce an automatic reaction of defense, or attitude. Psychological research has identified defenses to protect you as – immature and mature defense mechanisms. Mature and immature defense mechanisms were learned as a child and continued to be used throughout adolescence and on into adulthood (Steiner, Araujo and Koopman, 2001). The immature defenses tend to distort reality in accordance with expected outcomes, leading to less adaptive functioning (Steiner et.al 2001). Your automatic defense may be the negative language, thoughts, an immature defensive response, ungodly attitude, or all four.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?” – Psalms 27:1

A defense to run from a scary reality is a good innate defense. But a fear that is unwarranted and activated by a non-threatening situation, person, or event is not healthy – physically, or mentally. An immature defense and ungodly attitude is activated, when you think you have been offended; and need to protect yourself, without using the whole armor of God (discussed in a later article). For example, mentally healthy individuals make an effort to reach out to others to become friends. They take actions to cultivate the friendship, and know that there is a possibility of the friendship growing to a life long relationship; or acknowledge that a relationship may just be a passing encounter – all without fear. The use of an immature defense and ungodly attitude will strain the very best of any encounter, or relationship and is based on fear/anxiety. The immature/ungodly way of protecting yourself causes conflict with family, friends, co-workers, or associates you might want to be a part of your life.

“I will instruct you and teach you . . .” – Psalms 32:8

To become more like Jesus, you have to remove the ungodly thoughts, language, defenses and attitudes. The September article will present a list of these, and you may recognize your use of one, or a few. Your first reaction will be to mobilize your automatic way of protecting and justify the reason you use it. For others, it may be new knowledge – an aha moment of knowing that you need to work this out. Either way, you are defending self instead of resting in God’s peace. There is no justification for using ungodly responses. Working on transformation pleases God immensely, and the Holy Spirit is telling you this is something He wants you to leave behind as the old self.

This human way of adapting to fear is an inherent way of responding. To make it more interesting, I enjoy applying biblical references to these ungodly ways of responding. Because we are all descendants of Adam, God’s word tells us stories of His imperfect children; to learn from our biblical ancestors – the error of their ways, or their positive characteristics. Biblical examples of using mature and immature defenses, Godly and ungodly attitudes are in the next section.

Mature Defense and Godly Attitude

One of the mature defenses is idealization – it is available for use by children to attach themselves to certain qualities, emotions, and attitudes of someone else; hopefully a positive role model. It’s especially expressed, during the modeling period, between eight and thirteen years of age. Adults will also use this defense by idealizing another adult. People identify with a parent, teacher, musician, athletes, or others that have characteristics they admire.

The idealization of Jesus and the apostle Paul, with the modeling of their messages are paramount for Christian growth. Their positive qualities are not exaggerated, but true, which is why they are great models to idealize – Godly defense.
Humility is one attitude that is idealized and admired by most Christians. The message from the apostle Paul is, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” – Philippians 2:3. If you struggle with humility, this is a characteristic to work towards, because you idealize the ones with this trait – Godly attitudes.

Immature Defense and Ungodly Attitude

An example of an immature defense is acting out, and you will probably apply this defense to others, or yourself. Most mothers recognize that their toddlers and very young children will cry, then hit others; before they learn to use their words, to express their feelings. This immature defense of acting out behavior also pertains to adolescents and adults. When adolescents and adults have not learned to communicate their emotions, they physically react. This is seen in fighting; slapping others (assault); screaming/yelling at someone; slamming doors; hanging up the phone on someone (without saying goodbye); damaging property (yours, or others); and includes domestic violence – man against woman, or woman against man.

One biblical example of acting out is: Saul reacted to the people when they sang a song for David, “ . . . Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands” – 1Samuel 18:7. Saul became jealous of David, and spent years trying to kill him. Saul was definitely acting out – ungodly defense of wanting to kill; initiated by an ungodly attitude of jealousy.
Anger Issues: Mark's girlfriend breaks up with him, because he is unable to control his anger. He does not think he has anger issues and blames his girlfriend for every negative event in their relationship. Not acknowledging his anger issues – ungodly attitude; and blaming others - ungodly defense.

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.” – Job 42:2

To change the critical voice, ungodly defense, and attitude to the positive, you must engage in the process that brings both into awareness; recognize that the negative is false and the positive is truth; and use the PPP as a reprogramming of the brain. The critical thought and voice are always false, because the thoughts are distortions, which are not true and produce the negative statement. (A list of the most common cognitive distortions is provided in the September article). PPP utilizes a few steps to train the brain, to think positive thoughts and learn new positive ways to respond. If you can get into the habit of performing the first “P” (praying continually), and believe the positive as truth, then you can begin transforming to a new self. In the words of Solomon: “He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends”- Proverbs 17:9.

Whatever you are dealing with, please open your mind and heart to let God in, to recognize your negative language, thoughts, immature defenses, and ungodly attitudes. Remember no one can be like Christ completely, because Christ was a perfect human being on earth. But the program of the brain can be scanned over many times, to recognize and delete the ungodly. (The negative events can’t be completely erased, because the brain will usually remember; and not the focus of your reprogramming. Like your computer, the old files of the mind need to be scanned, with an extraction of old stuff and replaced with the new.

When you find the work hard, you have someone that can help you in the process. All you have to do is call on Jesus to assist and the Holy Spirit will respond. Calling means praying. How often do you find yourself praying? Do you call on God often, or only out of fear/anxiety? Are you, “ . . . pray[ing] in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. . .” – Ephesians 6:18? Praying on all occasions daily will begin the transformation leading to peace in your heart and mind, with hope of becoming a better disciple of Christ.

Until next month – Give God the Glory,

Dr. Terri L Thompson