How television affects your brain

I have been thinking about the impact of TV on us as Christians lately and I googled in the phrase, 'How TV affects the brain' and came across the video.

My husband and I managed to get out of the habit of TV watching a couple of years ago, we fall back into it when we are on holidays, and I always look forward to getting back into routine and there being less TV!

This video proves to me that it does affect your brain. I just know for me that when the TV is on I don't have the capacity to think about anything else. I may not actually be thinking about what the shows about either, its like it dulls my brain. I used to just put it on to help me relax, but I found it sucked me in and I felt lazy and unproductive for the rest of the afternoon or evening.

It requires a complete change of thinking to stop turning the TV on and to instead turn on some uplifting music or to even just go and lie down if I am feeling tired, at least my brain is not going to zone out. I will often find that even though I may be completely exhausted, if I go lie down or just listen to some worshipful music, within around 30 minutes of resting I start think productive thoughts like reading a book, calling a friend, or doing the ironing! But if I was just watching TV there would be no chance for those thoughts to enter my head!

Anyway, check out this video and see what you think!



I have been thinking about these verses from Psalm 1 lately and how they relate to TV watching.

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1;1-2

When we watch something on TV and it's not from a godly perspective, aren't we exposing ourselves to the wicked, sinners, and mockers? And if we are watching TV more than we are delighting in and meditating on the word of God, we won't be like that tree planted by the waters.

I am continually challenged and convicted about Psalm 1, I pray daily that my delight would be in the word of God.

I need to abide

"I am the vine you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruits; for without Me you can do nothing."

Sometimes I get so busy, and think I am doing well...cause I am doing lots of stuff, but I am not abiding, I don't take the time to really connect with the vine, to linger at the Saviours feet.

In Bible Study today we learned about abiding, and how we are not going to bear 'much fruit' by doing more, by working longer and harder. The 'much fruit' is only produced when we are 'abiding' in Him. I need to spend less time working for Christ and more time with Christ.

That challenging passage about Mary and Martha was brought up, "And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving........'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.'" Luke 10:39-42

Mary wasn't being lazy, she just knew the one thing that was needed, to spend time with Jesus, that was more important than doing things for Him, she wanted to be with Him, and the amazing part is that He wanted to be with her too!

My time with Jesus is a huge priority for me every day, each morning I delight in spending time with Him before everyone else is awake, but its through my day that I need to put that time aside for Him as well.

There are many times I hear Him prompting me.. 'just sit down and talk to Me, don't worry about folding the washing, the dishes, I will provide you with the opportunity to do them later, right now while the children are happily playing outside, sit down with Me, read My word and listen to what I have to say to you. I want to give you an abundant life, full of joy in Me...'

It is so hard to stop sometimes, but every time I do it, my soul is deeply satisfied, my strength is renewed, my heart is refreshed, I am no longer 'worried and troubled about many things'.

"Do you face seemingly insurmountable obstacles to abiding? Remember Mary's choice, the circumstances in which it happened, and the favour it brought her. Remember Susannah Wesley. A busy mother of more than a dozen boisterous kids (John and Charles among them), Susannah found a way to abide. Whenever she put a bag over her head every Wesley child knew not to interrupt - Mother was spending time with God. And the fruit from Susannah Wesley's life (she's one of the most important figures in revival history) is still being counted.

Maybe today you should go looking for an old grocery bag!"
(Taken from Secrets of the Vine devotional)

Love the Word

I love the Word of God. I never really used to, up until only a year or so ago, I have to admit that I found it hard to open up my Bible, it felt like a task to do, something that I should do, and when I didn't do it, I felt guilty!

But I am so thankful to God that He has given me a hunger for His Word. Over the weekend I didn't read it much at all, and I felt hungry, and somewhat weak. But the past few days I have been feeding on it again, and I feel stronger, satisfied again, in God alone.

We have just started a book club and the first book we are reading is called Lies Young Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Dannah Gresh. Have you ever considered how many lies you believe? There are so many bombarding messages surrounding us that are full of lies, and our country is so materialistic that we easily believe the messages that Satan is trying to mislead us with. With so many different forms of media out there (my blog included!) we can so easily fall into the trap of thinking we need to watch TV, we need to read magazines and books, we need to go on the Internet every free moment we have. I know sometimes I go to these things when I need inspiration, encouragement, instruction, when I am down or even just to enjoy myself - there's nothing wrong with doing that, but if these places are the first place I go to, and not the Bible for answers, encouragement, inspiration, satisfaction etc. then maybe they are wrong for me.

We get trapped into thinking the lie that God's word is not enough, that its irrelevant to our current situation, that its boring and hard work! But its not, here is a list of some of what God's word does for us taken from Psalm 119.

• It blesses us (v1,2)
• It keeps our way pure and helps us not to sin (v9,11)
• It delights us, counsels us, revives us, strengthens us (v 24-28)
• It gives us life (v50)
• It teaches us good knowledge and judgement (v66)
• It is better than thousands of coins of gold and silver (v72)
• It is faithful (v86)
• It makes us wiser than our enemies (v98)
• It gives us understanding more than our teachers (v99)
• It makes us hate every false way (v104)
• It is sweeter than honey (v103)
• It is a light to our path (v105)
• It makes our heart rejoice (v111)
• It is pure, everlasting, truth (v129,144,160)
• It is a great treasure (v162)
• It gives peace (v165)
• It causes us not to stumble (v165)
• It delivers us (v169)
• and so much more.....

Isn't the Word of God amazing! And as I was reminded when I started reading the book I mentioned above, we need to be in it so much more than ever before so we can discern what those lies are and whether they are true.

Sometimes we may not even see that we are believing a lie, until we start reading the Word, it starts to expose the lies and shine the truth, because the Holy Spirit is working through us as we read His Word. The word of God is a weapon to fight off Satan and the lies we are bombarded with.

I have been challenged lately to take more time to read the Word, I know I love reading it when I have my time in the morning, so why don't I long for it more during the day? I know for me I need to cultivate that habit and ask God to prompt me to turn to His word instead of the computer, a book, a magazine, even if its just to have some down time, how much more enriched my mind will be if I choose to meditate on the Word instead.

And for the sake of my children, I am their teacher, and the words that come from my mouth need to reflect an understanding and a delight in God's Word.

I have rejoiced in Your testimonies, as much as in all riches... Psalm 119:14

This verse reminds me that there is nothing more precious and satisfying than rejoicing in the Word of God.

If you don't have a love for the Word of God, ask God to give you a hunger for it, I am confident He will answer your prayer.

Filling our bodies with light

For the past 3 weeks I have been on a book fast! This was a hard thing for me to do, as I love reading books. I always have at least 3-4 books on the go, and throughout my day I will often consult my books as thoughts, issues, and problems arise. However, few weeks ago, I became challenged about what I was feeding my mind. When it comes to books, I am a rather fussy reader. I tend to only read books which have been recommended to me or that I find on the bookshelves of my friends. But I was challenged about how I will easily pick up a book over my Bible! Now the majority of books I read are Christian and are filled with scripture, so often when I consult a book for direction I am led by the Word of God. However I was challenged to be more discerning when I read that even if scripture is part of the solution to what is written in a book, I need to check it out for myself. To study the context and background and be willing to delve further into the scriptures and allow God to lead me through His word. So I decided to put my book reading on hold for a while to increase my need for the word of God and to ensure I am being governed by the word of God, not by the words of man. The other reason is, I am starting up a Book club for our young adult girls in a month and I was challenged about the need for me to lead by example and be a discerning reader!

I must admit that it has been hard for me to stay away from books! There were many times when something would come up and there was the temptation to consult a book, but when I remembered that I was fasting from them, I was prompted to consult the word of God first. I also found that the a lot of the passages I was reading in my daily readings were coming up in the sermons I was hearing at church. I had already been meditating on these passages and then I would come to church and our pastor would expand on them further!

As is so happened, my husband preached last night on the Churches in Pergamum and Thyatira in Revelation who were led astray by false teachings and philosophies, and our need to know the truth, so we can discern false teachings. Here's a quote from his message.

"Heresy in the church is alive today as it has ever been. The dangerous thing about heresy or false teaching is that it looks like it could be the truth. In fact most heresy has a strong element of truth in it and that's what makes it so dangerous. Many well meaning Christians hear something or read something that looks pretty good, that uses bible verse to prove its point, the problem comes when you take that heresy to its end point it's always a lot further from the truth than you first thought. If it looked obviously wrong right from the start, no one would fall for it, but because it has an element of truth in it many get sucked in. I remember going through Bible college and the thing that struck out about church history and the many different cults and sects of the Christian church was that most of them started out wanting to correct some error that had crept in. Unfortunately they took their stand too far and ended up just teaching heresy."

He went on to talk about the plethora of books out there that are full of heresy and so many of us easily pick them up because they look good, they have a catchy title or nice cover or they are on the best sellers list. When it comes to non-fiction Christian books my reason for picking them up should be to draw me into a greater understanding of God and His word. I don't want to be easily persuaded by the ideas and teachings of man, the word of God is what should persuade me to change an attitude or action.

Over the weekend I made the decision to pick up books again, and I didn't realise how much I missed them! But I have learned how important it is to pray over what I am reading, to question what I am reading, and to search the scriptures to see things for myself and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me into His truth.

I was reading and praying through the following prayer from Matthew Henry's "Method for Prayer" this morning.

Let our wisdom not be from beneath, which is earthly, sensual, devilish; but wisdom from above, which is first pure, than peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

O that we may always have our conversation in the world, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God.

Lord, uphold us in our integrity, and set us before thy face for ever, and let integrity and uprightness preserve us, for we wait on thee.

Let our hearts be found in thy statutes, that we be not ashamed, and let our eye be single, that our whole body may be full of light.

All of this prayer has been based on scripture and the last line stood out to me, it comes from Matthew 6:22-23.

"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!."

These verses are a challenge to make sure we expose our eyes to that which is good so that our bodies may be filled with light so that we can be lights in this dark world.