Pushing Peanuts

This blog builds on “Is it possible to pray without words?”

Went to the gym yesterday and did a little swimming. I would go underwater and come back up. The thought came to mind, “You can pray underwater.” I thought, “Hmm, yep that is possible.”

Then I thought some more and I remembered a topic of discussion I have from time to time with a friend of mine. That is, we can also pray in our dreams. We can receive revelation in our dreams as well.

I recently learned that I pray continually as Paul says in 1 Thess. 5:17.

In one instance, prayer can be a verbal supplication of spoken words.

It can also be a spiritual continuous flow of consciousness and awareness of Christ and God the Father.

The continuous spiritual consciousness and communication is motivated by grace and not my self-strength.

I found an interesting article in Time magazine that says,

“they glimpsed a revolutionary idea about the brain: the ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter”

“Mental practice resulted in a similar reorganization” of the brain, Pascual-Leone later wrote.”

“Even more profound, the discovery showed that mental training had the power to change the physical structure of the brain.”

This tells me that as revelation grows in me by the quickening of the Holy Spirit, my mind or soul is sanctified. It is set apart to be what it was created or designed to be unto the fullest by grace. It is supernaturally set apart to be like the mind of the Last Adamic pattern, Christ.

To me, the “fullest”, according to God, is infinite measure.

This is what I believe Paul says in 1 Thess. 5:23. Whole triune sanctification.

2 Cor. 10:5 (NIV) says, ” We demolish arguments and every pretension (imagination) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

When thinking of 2 Cor. 10:5 years ago I thought that whenever a non-beneficial thought came to my mind I needed to wrestle with it. This does not harmonize with Rom. 8:6, “…to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.” Also, if I am spiritually minded in Christ the will and desire to think unhealthy thoughts dissipates in Him. I believe this is what 2 Cor. 10:5 is saying.

Wrestling actually empowered those types of thoughts and my mind became more entangled with what it was wrestling with. Embracing the unhealthy, non-beneficial, negative thoughts brings death and enmity with God.

So, to apply 2 Cor. 10:5 as something that I actively do on my own part by myself is not accurate. In doing so, my mind leans towards the first part of Rom. 8:6, “For to be carnally minded [is] death…”

I think the demolition of arguments, pretensions, and imaginations is done in Christ. He sat down at right hand of the Father because He said at the cross, “It is finished.”

If it is done then there is no one to wrestle. If I am not under condemnation, Rom. 8:1, or the judgment and guilt of the law, then who am I wrestling with? Paul says in Rom. 7:24-25 that Christ has separated me from this body of death. What body of death? The old nature or who I was prior to Christ on the cross. He is dead. In Christ, I am alive and a new creature.

So, years ago I believe I was wrestling with the dead me. I was trying to fix or even save him when I didn’t have to because he already was saved.

Got off on a tangent, but a good one.

Another thought came to mind in the pool.

We can pray in our sleep.

The consciousness of Christ does not stop if we pray without ceasing. If we can pray in our dreams then we have the Christ-given authority in dreams as well.

Christ is the High Priest all the time or forever even in our dreams.