God's Pattern = Your Purpose

Pattern Recognition
As intellectual beings, humans love to learn. One way we learn is through pattern recognition. Wikipedia defines *Pattern recognition, (PR) as "the act of taking in raw data and taking an action based on the category of the data."

Types of data use by PR are found in various fields. For example The Medical Sciences use pattern recognition as the basis for computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. You can also find uses of PR in typical applications as seen with automatic speech recognition, the automatic recognition of handwritten postal codes on postal envelopes, or the automatic recognition of images of human faces.

Not only do we use PR for learning technical information, but we also use it in everyday life. We learn to tie our shoes using a certain pattern...We use patterns to learn in all areas such as socially, vocationally, physically, financially, and spiritually.

Righteous Patterns
God gives us His patterns so that we can learn of His Righteous ways. Psalm 119.7 says the following:

I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
I'm going to do what you tell me to do;

If we want to do what God tells us to do, then we must learn His patterns. If you want to know the purpose of your life, then you must seek God and recognize His patterns.

God's Patterns = Your Purpose

You see, God reveals to us how to live. I think sometimes what happens is that we read other people's patterns or follow cultures patterns instead of God's Patterns. When that happens, our neural network gets all jacked up and we receive false signals on how to live.

Neural Network
In *neuroscience, a neural network describes a population of physically interconnected neurons or a group of disparate neurons whose inputs or signaling targets define a recognizable circuit. Communication between neurons often involves an electrochemical process.

Our communication and processing with The Holy Spirit is somewhat like this neuronal network. When we are interconnected with The Holy Counselor, He gives us inputs and signals that target and define a recognizable circuit for living according to His plans...His Patterns...the circuit of The Living God.

Don't get me wrong. I am not reducing God down to some formula...I am simply saying that just as my brain is signaling an electrochemical message to my hands to type right now, so it is with our relationship with God...our spirit receives a signal from God...a signal to recognize His Patterns and then act upon them.

Stay On Course
What has God been revealing to you lately? What patterns has He been showing you. Verses one and two of Psalm 119 say, "You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him."

Stay on Course. Seek God. Dig into His Word. Pray with every breath. Walk straight on the road He has set. Then you will begin to see how He works. And just like learning to tie your shoes, you will begin to pick up on His patterns, receiving his input and signals on how to live!

• • •

You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it. Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set; Then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel.

*source: wikipedia.org

Reconditioned Reflexes

A reflex action*, also known as a reflex, is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus.

Why am I telling you this? Because our reflexes in life determine our destiny. We have all types of stimuli bombarding us on a daily basis, and our response, our reflex to such stimuli will determine our success or our failure.

When faced with challenges, sometimes we do not even think, we just react. Fear strikes and we either shrink back or attack forward. It generally comes down to our conditioning. Have we been conditioned to always give into fear or have we been trained to go forward despite any challenge we face?

Our response to challenges is much like the "knee jerk" test the doctor applies during a routine physical exam. The doctor is testing our reflexes. Specifically, the doctor is testing what is known as our reflex arc.

The Reflex Arc
A reflex arc* is the neural pathway that mediates a reflex action. In higher animals, most sensory neurons do not pass directly into the brain, but synapse in the spinal cord. This characteristic allows reflex actions to occur relatively quickly by activating spinal motor neurons without the delay of routing signals through the brain, although the brain will receive sensory input while the reflex action occurs. The main source of the reflex action is through the bottom muscles.

In short, when a response is given, the input is so quick that the signal bypasses the brain and goes straight to the spinal cord and then back to our muscle, and that is when our "knee jerks." We don't even have to think about it. It is instantaneous.

Stimuli of Satan
The enemy, satan, loves to hit us with his stimuli. He fills our minds with lies, with doubt, guilt, fear, discouragement...he tries to make us think we are not good enough, that we are too old, too young, undertrained, overzealous... and depending on how we have been conditioned, we will either believe his crap instantaneously or we will defeat him with The Word of God.

In his awesome book, "Wild Goose Chase," Mark Batterson mentions how Jesus has come to recondition our spiritual reflexes. Batterson says, "Satan uses guilt to turn us into reactionaires. Jesus came to recondition our spiritual reflexes and turn us into revolutionaries for His cause.

So here is your homework. Whenever you are hit with a stimuli of satan, like fear, doubt, guilt from the past, lies, etc, focus instead on God's Word, God's Promises, Scripture that you have meditated on, memorized, and internalized. Remember how God has worked in your past, how He is working in you in the present, and how He will grant you victory for the future.

Allow God to recondition your reflexes so that your new automatic/instantaneous response and reflex is to move forward in God's Strength and for His Glory!

"Our courage directly affects the speed at which the future unfolds."
Erwin McManus

*source: wikipedia.org