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
Erwin McManus
*source: wikipedia.org
