As A Man Thinketh #6 How to Overcome Doubt and Fear

"Thoughts of doubt and fear can never accomplish anything. They always lead to failure"

(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)

I think it's Napoleon Hill who said: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." When we spend inordinate amounts of time fearing something or event in the future (not happened yet), many times that which we fear comes upon us. When it does, we wonder why it happens to us, when in reality, we are responsible for the most part for our troubles. It all started with a thought of doubt. Then it causes an emotion of fear, which manifests itself physically as anxiety. Anxiety robs us of our power, energy, and focus. Severe anxiety will not only mess our minds but also undermine our health – and it's all brought on by a thought of doubt. It "can never accomplish anything."

There are three (3) basic ways that help me overcome thoughts of doubt. First, I change my mind about doubt and keep it changed. If I doubt whether I'm going to have enough money to make it to the end of the month, I change my mind about it. When doubt knocks, I pray and affirm to myself that: "God will always provide for me. He is good. And I always find a way to have enough of what I need." Dan Brule advised, "If you are going to doubt anything in life, doubt your limitations."

Secondly, overcome doubt and fear with massive actions. Do the thing you fear and fear will disappear (rhyming, huh?). "Inaction breeds doubt and fear," writes Dale Carnegie, "Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. go out and get busy." This action-oriented mindset will always work! Trust me. Thirdly, replace fear with faith. Some people say fear and faith cannot co-exist. I disagree. They can co-exist. What's important is which one is greater? If my fear is greater than my faith, it will eventually fail. But if my faith is greater than my fear, success is my inevitable future. Bob Proctor puts it nicely: "Faith and fear demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose." Think about it!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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What's So Amazing About Grace? (1997) by Philip Yancey, BOOK REVIEW

What's So Amazing About Grace? (1997) by Philip Yancey

What's so good about this book? Yancey ignites my understanding of God's grace and challenges me to be a dispenser of grace in my life and faith. When my friend died due to cancer, I was very frustrated but God helps me through Yancey's writing to "wrestle with God" as Jacob did when I read Where Is God When It Hurts? When I was having the crisis of faith regarding the historicity of Jesus' and the Bible, one of the books that helped me was The Jesus I Never Knew. I'm not a Yancey fan or have read every book by him, but when I do, it is timely. The same goes with What's So Amazing About Grace? When I read it, I reflect on myself and there were times (recently) when I'm un-graceful toward others. I called myself Christian, that means I'm the recipient of God's grace for the Scripture says "by grace you have been saved, through faith" (Ephesians 2:8) and yet, I'm behaving like morally-righteous believer. This book is easy to read, but hard to swallow. It is old yet still urgent. It is intellectually satisfying but with a cost: by God's Spirit, I can and must reveal the grace the world is searching for!

When Nicky Gumbel asked "What is grace?" during an interview, Philip Yancey said that he tries to explain it throughout the book, but if he were to give a definition, he said and wrote in this book: "Grace means there is nothing I can do to make God loves me more and nothing I can do to make God love me less. It means that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God's family." I love this definition. Grace doesn't depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us. We can read about this truth all over the New Testament. It's not new! "In Christian theology," explains Yancey, "Jesus reversed [the] ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace is free only because the giver himself has borne the cost." Grace, the last best word, is so desperately needed in the world today.

The church, of all places, has abused this truth. Sadly, some (if not, most) churches communicate un-grace by how we treat sinners (of different kinds), apply laws and moral legalism, judgmental and by its lack of unity. In the book, Yancey points out about his childhood church (I recommend reading his shorter book entitled Church: Why Bother?) was very racist, and other heart-breaking stories that people who have been and are in the church today reading this book would agree to some degree. I'm part of the church and so, I too, act in un-grace ways. Christians are more concern (rightly so) about homosexuality than divorce; attending religious activities than attend to AIDS patients; and quick to judge with open eyes than to listen with open ears. There are times for everything – love and hate, justice and mercy, forgiveness and punishment – but the church must remember that "dispensing God's grace is the Christian's main contribution." “…The world can do anything the church can do except one thing – it cannot show grace.”

Yancey also shares great examples of Christian ministers and churches that have the Jesus' distinguishing mark – not political correctness or moral superiority but – LOVE. I believe homosexuality is sin and so does divorce which is very prevalent in Christianity today. Abortion is another issue. Woman preaching in the church issue recently where John MacArthur, a Bible teacher, told Beth Moore, a Bible Study author, to "go home." What is this? As Yancey advice in the book and so here I say: we Christians can have firm views about ethical behavior or bold stand about the theological matter but we MUST demonstrate love foremost. Love allows us to be compassionate, vulnerable and empathy. When the church displays God's love and grace first without discounting justice and sin, we show the world: the real Jesus. The One who the world hate and at the same time attracted to. This statement by Yancey is so powerful: "The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls silent before it." Amen!

There are so many lessons that I learned from this book. I've underlined and made notes. I will reread it (together with the newer book, 2014, Vanishing Grace). Yancey is such a good story-teller. Although he is a journalist, I see him as a theologian. Usually, when I read a book, I research it: read articles, reviews, listen to podcast interviews and YouTube videos. Some people disagree with Yancey and some of his writings are controversial. No write is flawless. With that said, I want to recommend fully this book especially to Christian leaders who have greater influence in shaping the way people think about the Church and Christianity in general. If you've been hurt by the un-grace believers, read this book too. In fact, come back to God or draw near to Him. Remember this: "There is nothing [you] can do to make God love [you] more. There is nothing [you] can do to make God loves [you] less." 

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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As A Man Thinketh #5 No Victimized Mindset, Take Responsibility

“A person is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions”

(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)

One of the great weaknesses of our society today is the growing attitude of victimization. Many people claim themselves to be victims of some outside force. “I don’t know the story of the Bible because my pastor doesn’t teach me…”; “If that driver hadn’t pulled out in front of me…”; “I am like this because of my parents…”

When we are victims of circumstances, or as James Allen says, a “creature of outside conditions,” we have no power. We have given over the power in our life to the circumstances. The longer we give power to our circumstances the worst our circumstances become. In his other book, Above Life’s Turmoil, Allen writes, “You imagine your circumstances as being separate from yourself, but they are intimately related to your thought world. Nothing appears without an adequate cause.”

To get control of our circumstances we must first acknowledge personal responsibility for being where we are. That was the hardest part for me because the ‘victim’ in all of us doesn’t want to take that responsibility.

When we take responsibility, we must then take control of our thoughts. And, yes, in the beginning, that can be hard. It seems sometimes that it’s our nature to first think negatively. But that’s just because it’s the habit we’ve developed. And like any habit, it can change by replacing it with the habit of thinking the right way.

Emmet Fox once writes: “You are not happy because you are well. You are well because you are happy. You are not depressed because the trouble has come to you, but trouble has come because you are depressed. You can change your thoughts and feelings, and then the outer things will change to correspond, and indeed there is no other way of working.” Think about it!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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References:

1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen

As A Man Thinketh #4 The Most Basic and Logical Principle

“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles”

(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)

Most everyone understands the biblical concept of sowing and reaping because we can grasp the simplicity of logic. If we were to plant durian on our farm, we wouldn’t expect apple to come up. But even though we can grasp the logic, we don’t always act as if we understand the power of this principle. And we certainly don’t act as if this principle will affect us.

An example: For many years my morning ritual began with video games (or PSP to be exact). Most mornings spending an hour or more on games and morning news before dashing off the office. I haven't realized then that our minds are most impressionable immediately upon rising in the morning and just before sleep in the evening. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me that my sowing of these thoughts would reap an ‘attitude’ at my workplace (impatient, demanding, shouting, etc.).

I gave up my morning ritual seven years ago and replaced it with a habit of reading. I read my Bible or book of the week and on the way to work, I listened to motivational or self-development audiobooks. When I sow “good thoughts” and thus I’ll reap “good results.” The Apostle Paul wrote, “You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (Philippians 4:8, The Message).

We always reap what we sow and that is especially true with our thoughts. As Emmet Fox writes, “The secret of life then is to control your mental states, for if you will do this the rest will follow. To accept sickness, trouble, and failure as unavoidable, and perhaps inevitable, is folly because it is this very acceptance by you that keeps these evils in existence. Man is not limited by his environment. He creates his environments with his beliefs and feelings. To suppose otherwise is like thinking that the tail can wag the dog.” Think about it!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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References:

1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen

As A Man Thinketh #3 Don't Dwell Upon the Mistakes of Yesterday (Move On)

“Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday can prevent you from living purely today”

(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)

It’s been said that the majority of conversations by men over forty are about the past. Sometimes it’s about the ‘good old days’ and sometimes it’s about the deals gone bad, the ‘if I only had’ stories, the missed opportunities, etc.

Letting our “sins and mistakes of yesterday” dominate our thinking today robs us of our present joy and our future happiness. It causes us to miss the opportunity of today! John C. Maxwell, in his outstanding best-seller Failing Forward, gives some great practical advice: “To move forward today, you must learn to say goodbye to yesterday’s hurts, tragedies, and baggage. You can’t build a monument to past problems and fail forward.”

Take time right now to list the negative events from your past that may still be holding you hostage. For each item you list, go through the following exercise:

1)    Acknowledge the pain

2)    Grieve the loss

3)    Forgive the person

4)    Forgive yourself

5)    Determine to release the event and move on

Your best days are definitely ahead of you if you treat your “mistakes” as necessary lessons to be learned. If you understand that each lesson brings with it a certain amount of wisdom, you can understand how truly enhanced your life is becoming. Many people can’t achieve the success of their dreams because they won’t leave their past behind. They won’t tear down the monuments they’ve built to their old hurts and problems. “Don’t dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday.” Think about it!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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References:

1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen

As A Man Thinketh #2 You Are Today Due to the Books that You (or Don't) Read

“People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound”

(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)

We spend hundreds of ringgit a year for clothing, cosmetics, body products and other items to change or improve our outward appearance but very little money or time to change our inward condition. Many people easily spend hours a day online, going to gym, playing games, watching series and movies but find every reason in the world not to spend even a few minutes a day to improving their minds.

Since it is our thoughts that determine the life we will have, you must focus on doing those things that will change your thoughts, and nothing is more effective at changing your thoughts than reading the right books. Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones writes, “You are today the same you’ll be in five years from now, except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read. The people you meet can’t always be with you, but what you read in books can remain with you a lifetime. How often we hear of individuals who began a new era in their lives from the reading of a single book.”

Are you a book reader? Why not start a new habit today? Spend just 15 minutes every day in the morning or before going to bed or whenever you’re most concentrate and focus. Read from a personal development book or biography of someone you admire (ask me if you want my book suggestions on both topics). At the end of a year you will have read about 12 books – at the end of a five years about 60 books! Through your changed thoughts you will have become much more like the “vision you enthrone in your heart.”

As English writer Aldous Huxley observed, “Every person who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant, and interesting.” Think about it!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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References:

1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen

As A Man Thinketh #1 Don't Limit Your Mind

“A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses”

(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)

You are not limited to the life you now live. It has been accepted by you as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you’re ready to go beyond the limitations currently in your life, you’re capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts. Don’t limit yourself.

Cynthia Kersey author of Unstoppable writes about this amazing story of George Dantzig. As a college student, George studied very hard and always late into the night. So late that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for class. He quickly copied the two maths problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several days to work through the two problems, but finally, he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on the professor's desk the next day.

Later, on a Sunday morning, George was awakened at 6 a.m. by his excited professor. Since George was late for class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind teasers that even Albert Einstein hadn't been able to answer.  But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years. Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn't know he couldn't.

Bob Proctor tells us to “keep reminding yourself that you have tremendous reservoirs of potential within you, and therefore you are quite capable of doing anything you set your mind to. All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it’s amazing how your mind begins to figure out how.” Think about it!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

 

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References:

1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen
2. Day by Day with James Allen (2003) by Vic Johnson
3. Unstoppable: 45 Powerful Stories of Perseverance and Triumph from People Just Like You (1998) by Cynthia Kersey