YOU’RE PROGRAMMED to BELIEVE!
(By: Neil Gass)  

Matt. 9:29 “According to your faith (belief) will it be done to you.” (NIV) 

Believing is what human beings do because we’re programmed to believe! Can you imagine the chaos life would be if you couldn't’t believe? You’d never fly on a plane because you can’t believe in the pilot. You’d never eat a meal in a restaurant because you can’t trust the chef, You’d never drive a car because you can’t trust the other drivers on the road. Life would be simply inconceivable chaos without the ability to believe! You’d struggle just to get out of bed in the morning!

God created you with the physical “equipment” for believing. A part of your brain, the reticular activating system (RAS) functions based upon your beliefs. A kind of “filter system,” your RAS blocks or admits incoming data based on what you currently believe. There appear to be two principles determining whether a piece of information gets blocked or admitted by your RAS: the principle of RELEVANCY & the principle of CONGRUENCY (AGREEMENT).

(1) If incoming data is judged relevant, it gets in, if not it is blocked. For instance, if your microwave oven becomes inoperable, you’ll notice all those ads in the paper for microwaves for sale. You didn't’t notice them in the paper before, though those same companies have offered that same microwave every day for months! You simply didn't’t need a microwave, so your RAS blocked the ad as irrelevant. No need to tie up your “lines” with useless info. Now, however, you need a microwave & your RAS admits the info because it’s now relevant.

(2) If incoming data is judged congruous, that is, in agreement with what you currently believe, it is admitted. if not it is blocked. For instance, if you believe you’re inadequate, you won’t be able to comfortably admit any feed-back that suggests you did well on a task. You’ll say, “Oh it was just luck.” Or, perhaps, “You’re just trying to make me feel good.”

Now, once we come to believe something, we tend to act in keeping with that belief. Our actions, in turn, tend to confirm & strengthen our beliefs & complete a vicious cycle, trapping us in our own destructive, depressing, fearful belief system. The more you act on any belief, positive or negative, the more you strengthen it; the more you strengthen it the more likely you are to act on it again!

Back to yourRAS.Your RAS doesn’t arbitrarily choose its beliefs or program itself! No, it operates based on beliefs you have selected & decided to believe. YOU tell it what to believe, then it operates to influence you to act congruously with those beliefs! The choice of beliefs was yours initially & is always yours. You programmed it; you can reprogram it!

Once you decide that your beliefs are not working for you, you get to choose other beliefs that will! Even if a given belief was programmed into you as a child by adults, you get to choose whether or not you will continue to act on it now! You can choose to act consistently in keeping with new beliefs that offer you the opportunity to become all God created you to be. Instead of being controlled by your negative beliefs, acting on them & in turn strengthening them, act against them, or in spite of them. When you do you’ll be doing what I call, “ACTING YOUR WAY INTO A NEW SET OF BELIEFS!”

The best way to increase your faith & decrease your fear is to act on your faith in spite of your fear. You can feel the fear & do it anyhow! You can “do it scared, till you’re not scared to do it!” Over time, you’ll be dismantling the old logic, the mental glue that holds your fear together & ultimately you’ll replace the old, obsolete beliefs with powerful, new beliefs that take you where you & God want you to go! “According to your belief will it be done to you!” Matt. 9:29( NIV) There’s no if, and or but about it. It’s a biblical PRINCIPLE & PROMISE made to you by no less an authority than Jesus Christ!