The Sub-conscience unbelief and conscience belief of God
Sounds strange to say on one hand you love God while deep down in the subconscious there is a disbelief about God’s existence. How can this be? Let me explain this as lucidly as I can. First, this is a concern of forgiveness for things experienced, or adverse things happening to you or what happened to you. Let’s say that during an incident in life you lose everything you have, and this loss was not something you contributed to: It was the result of someone else doing something that caused you to lose control emotionally and put your mind into a tailspin and where there seems to be no answer for God. So far we have a tragic event in one’s life that leaves one feeling alone, abandoned, forgotten, and violated: What happens next is anyone’s guess, and if you are a believer you could forsake your self-restraint and seek pleasure to anesthetize the hurt, or you could dive deeper into religious philosophy and view everyone else as lost and out of touch with God—or something like that and fall into a toxic faith situation.
Confused understandings and the loss of self:
Betty: I know this one individual, a mother of five who is a happy go lucky person with a bubbling personality: She is a fantastic mother and friend to her children; always positive, always happy, always easy going and content. However, subconsciously she is screaming for help, and it shows outwardly: She is overweight uses food to anesthetize an emptiness inside and I call this “love hunger.” What’s interesting is this subconscious emptiness produces fallout that affects others and in her case her children. She has four of them who are overweight and act much as their mother does. You see, they come from a broken home where the father and mother split up and never settled the reason and the children assuming the fault for the divorce. On top of this, Betty claims to believe in God and I began to wonder which god she believes in. I’m working with her and with God’s help, she will see that this emptiness can unhappiness she has buried inside can be overcome.
Annie: There is another young woman who says she believes but her lifestyle tells a different story. This individual is remarkable: She is divorced and raised three sons all on her own. Her sons are adults and support their mom with all their energy. However, this woman has been through the meat grinder while she was raising these boys. Things got so bad for her that she attempted suicide several times and thankfully, failed. She is a highly intelligent, beautiful, and thoughtful individual who takes care of everyone but herself. While navigating the meat grinder her life put her through her anesthetizing agent wasn’t food. Her anesthetizing agent(s) were alcohol, smoking, and friends. She gave her life to Jesus at an early age, says she believes, takes care of her sons, grandchildren and all her friends and misses herself. Her lifestyle mimics the biblical nuances of “love your neighbor as yourself,” except the “yourself” part. What I find strange with Annie is that she is lonely even though she has her boys, grandchildren, and many friends. She seldom talks about herself, and evades any discussion about her feelings, happiness, joy, and love. To this day, she appears outwardly organized, busy, tired, sad, and private.
My reason for telling these stories is what I see in a lot of people who claim to be a Christian. Who claim they love God? Who claims they believe in His word and the promises within? However, deep in their subconscious there is a different story. It is as if Betty and Annie each have two different personalities: One where in public they have it all together, and second when alone life is empty, and being with self is almost unbearable. The conscious and subconscious are like yin and yang either in harmony or in chaos when not in harmony. Betty and Annie are not in harmony with their confessed beliefs resulting in confusion, uncertainty, disbelief, and despair.
While leading Sunday school on the book of Galatians we discussed faith, the fruit of the flesh verses the fruit of the spirit, and even deviated to works and gifts. What I saw and heard from the attendees was an understanding of what the letter states with a lot of under the breath doubt and confusion when presented with the facts surrounding the letter and what it means to be a follower of Christ. I have seen this many times and it frightens me for those who claim to believe in Christ while deep in their subconscious they do not believe their own conscious confession. Again, it is like speaking with two different individuals: On the surface they acknowledge they believe, and agree with what the scripture presents, and then when confronted with the deeds of the flesh verses the deeds of the spirit where the differences strain the attendees and you see this sinking of posture in the chairs, and you can almost see the question mark in their expressions. Here again the conscious and subconscious are like yin and yang either in harmony or in chaos when not in harmony. Believers, followers of Christ should have their conscious and subconscious in total agreement with Christ: If they are not in total agreement, what remains are people being guided by their own shadow and not the Spirit of the Lord.
One With Christ:
Heather: This young woman used to work for me, and one day she came to work and told me she had Cervical cancer, I look at Heather and asked her if she trusted the Lord and believed He could help. Her answer was yes without a doubt. We prayed that Jesus would intervene and reveal His glory in Heather. After the prayer we went about the day and every day after that we never talked about the problem, both of us simply trusted that the Lord would help her. A few weeks after Heather had an appointment to determine her treatment regimen. It was late afternoon and Heather came running in carrying a large envelope smiling and waving the envelope and when she reached me, with tears in her eyes, she said: It’s gone, the cancer is gone. I hugged Heather and said praise the Lord!
Sam: This young man just out of the Navy was searching for purpose with his life. Sam had many questions and over the course of several months Sam gave his life to Christ. It was not easy for Sam: There was a lot of self to be dealt with, and a lot of need for intimacy that needed to be overcome. Eventually, Sam dealt with his unbalanced life and surrendered everything to the Lord. At first Sam’s conscious and subconscious were fighting against one another for control, and, as usual, one or the other would win the day. Finally, after a bit of struggle Sam overcame these self-afflicted and self-condemning adventures and totally trusted and relied on Jesus to see him through each day. Today, after forty-five years of being with the Lord Sam is a remarkable prayer warrior, he prays for everyone he can and has seen many miracles take place. Sam has seen how God moves through a person who is totally committed to following Jesus.
My reason for sharing Heather’s and Sam’s story was to show the contrasting behaviors between those who claim to believe and those who do believe. Betty and Annie consciously believe while subconsciously they do not: this is what is called a carnal Christian, or someone who follows the deeds of the flesh rather than the deeds of the Spirit. A carnal Christian is not a true follower of Christ they are not a believer at all. It is only when both your conscious and subconscious are one with Christ that His glory is witnessed through you.
Galatians 5:19-23 (NASB) lays it out for us to understand more clearly the difference between a carnal person and a spiritual person:
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
The battle between the flesh and the Spirit is synonymous with what I call in this post “subconscious and conscious.” Galatians 5:16-17 (NASB) gives us a visual of these differences for us:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
Finally, Galatians 5:25-26 (NASB) conveys to us how we should be because a true follower of Christ does not seek the things of the flesh but of the Spirit:
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”
Wrapping it up:
Your Choice:
Deuteronomy 30:19 (MSG) — “I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.”
The Message of Salvation to All
Romans 10:5-13 (MSG) —For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (That is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If you have questions about your salvation read 1 John chapter 2.
You may also wish to check out Intouch Ministries concerning salvation:
Mike
22 March 2022
The Christian Underground Journal
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