Resources > Bible Studies Engaging the Reticular Activating System : RISK: Seizing Moments (Part 2) Posted by Rev,Jeff Dixon, Senior Equipping Minister, CCC Ministries on Nov 3, 2007, 07:28

Engaging the Reticular Activating System

RISK: Seizing Moments (Part 2)

2 Samuel 23:20-23

Psalms 5:3

Colossians 4:2

* Remember, these are the actual notes that were used by Jeff Dixon as he taught this study. They are more of an outline with some illustrations more than in article form. However they should be helpful as you listen or watch the celebration worship experience. Print these notes out and then follow along with this installment of the RISK series.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab's best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

21 And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.

22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men.

23 He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

In data collected from over 20,000 Christians in 139 countries (though mostly in America) and between the ages of 15 and 88, The Obstacles to Growth Survey found that, on average, more than 4 in 10 Christians around the world say they "often" or "always" rush from task to task. About 6 in 10 Christians say that it's "often" or "always" true that "the busyness of life gets in the way of developing my relationship with God." Christians most likely to agree were from North America, Africa, and Europe.

While busyness afflicts both men and women, the distraction from God was more likely to affect men than women in every surveyed continent except North America, where 62 percent of women and 61 percent of men reported busyness as interfering with their relationship with God.

In other words we live life too busy for God
As a result we will miss the moments He places before us…

Analyze Expectations

(v.23) He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

Part of me wonders if Benaiah learned how to pray from David

I mentioned this in weeks past, but let me explain why I think it makes sense

Benaiah in his role as head of the bodyguards would never have left David’s side

When David went into the place he would go to pray

Benaiah would be the guy standing at the door…listening and watching

He couldn’t help but overhear what David was praying about

David also strikes me as the kind of guy who would probably not hesitate to pray out loud. It was a part of the daily routine of his life. I think it would have rubbed off on Benaiah

Benaiah may have learned to live in prayer mode for the prayer warrior himself, David

Psalm 5:3 reveals the way David started every single day

“In the morning O Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation”

Shortcomings

One of our greatest Spiritual shortcomings is low expectations

We don’t expect much from God because we don’t ask for much

Or we already know the things we are asking for don’t really line up with the plan God has for us

When your prayer life is pumping you have an amazing confidence in God

When you are in a prayer slump, when you have allowed your prayers to become an endless string of whining, griping, and complaining or an endless babbling about how selfish you are you have a hard time believing that God will do anything

Low expectations are a by product of a weak prayer life

But prayer has a way of God-sizing our expectations

David can’t wait to see what God is going to do next, because he is living life in prayer mode

The more you pray correctly-the higher your expectations

Activate Mental Radar

(v.22) Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men

Reticular Activating System (RAS)

At the base of your brain stem there is a cluster of nerve cells called the Reticular Activating System.

We are all bombarding with constant information and stimuli, if we had to process it all on our own, it would drive us nuttier than we already are….

Sights, sounds, sensations, and smells…constantly pouring into your life

The RAS determines what gets noticed and what doesn’t get noticed

Think of it as a mental radar system

When you purchase a new car, a new cell phone, or a new outfit….then you begin to notice how many there are out there

Why? That is the function of the RAS

You didn’t have a category for the clothing, phone, ring tone ,or car before you bought it. But once you made the purchase or the download you had a new cognitive category created in your brain…

So what does that have to do with prayer?

Everything

When we pray for someone or something it creates a category in our brains, our RAS

So all of the sudden we begin to notice anything and everything that is related to those prayers

If you are really praying…really honestly praying…something is happening

It all comes back to the Reticular Activating System

If you want to see and seize God given moments and opportunities then you have to live in prayer mode

In a sense, Benaiah’s acts of courage were unplanned…but as we have seen that doesn’t mean he was unprepared.

He of course, couldn’t predict when or how…but he had somehow been preparing for these moments over the course of his lifetime

As the lion crossed his path he didn’t see it as bad luck, he saw it as divine appointment, he had been waiting all of his life and was ready to move

Accelerate Spiritually

(v.20a) Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel

(v.22) Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men.

Col. 4:2

The name Levi Strauss is synonymous with blue jeans in American culture, but the man by the name wasn't thinking about jeans when he went to California in hopes of making his fortune during the gold strike of the 1840s and 1850s. He did make a fortune, but not the way he had planned. He set out with a load of heavy canvas fabric, from which he planned to sell sections for tents and wagon covers. Upon arrival, the first miner who saw his product said, "You should have brought pants." The seasoned miner further explained how there weren't any pants strong enough to endure the tough condition of mining. Levi Strauss immediately made the miner a pair of work pants, and thus struck gold.

He didn’t hesitate, he seized the moment!

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” Col. 4:2

The word watchful is a throwback to the Old Testament watchmen whose job it was to sit on the wall, can the horizon and keep watch.

They had to see things first and they had to learn to look for and notice things that others don’t see….

People who are living in prayer mode see opportunities that other people will never notice.

If you aren’t living in prayer mode you are actually suffering from opportunity blindness

You will live one of two ways…

In survival mode or prayer mode

Survival mode is the one that most people choose

It is a pinball existence

You react to the circumstances around you and you bounce off of them and that is all you do

It is monotonous and boring…the only thing that changes is the circumstances

You have nothing to do with that, you just react…. blah

Prayer mode is the exact opposite

Your spiritual antenna is up and the radar is on!

Your RAS is on Red Alert

Prayer puts you in a proactive posture!

In fact, one of the Aramaic words for prayer is “slotha”

It means to “set a trap”

Prayer helps us to catch the opportunities God throws our way

If Benaiah had been in survival mode, he would have run from the lion, the Moabites, and steered clear of the warriors….

But living in prayer mode made him proactive, he knew God was ordering his footprints EVEN when they were crossing pawprints

Let me take the heat off…you don’t have to manufacture opportunites

In fact, you can’t

God will place them right smack in front of you!

Adapt Accordingly

(v.23) He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

The Imperfect Conditions

There is surely a time to be cautious and a time to throw caution to the wind

A time to be prudent and a time to be valiant

And it takes tremendous wisdom and discernment to know the difference

If you are going to ever get this right, you have to choose to connect with God and follow Him with a strong healthy prayer life

But…and I know this for sure….

If you are waiting for the perfect conditions before you seize and opportunity, you will wait until the day you die…

I know so because of our excuses

I’m too busy

I’m not qualified

I’m just not at a good place in my life right now

I can’t because of (another person, event, circumstance)

I’ve got too many problems

I don’t have enough money

I’m not ready yet

Newsflash! You will never be ready

You are never going to be ready!

But don’t worry, you are in good company

Phil Briggs gave me a piece of advice when we started Covenant years ago…

He said, “Jeff, you know, you aren’t ready….but Jesus understands that, when He did His first miracle He felt the same way…remember what He said, “My time has not yet come!” But his mom loved Him enough to push Him and get her son doing the Father’s business….

The prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, was sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid's ancient prison. The dreadful, dirty, and dreary nature of the place earned it the name, "The Place of the Skull." Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never come out alive. The prince was given one book to read the entire time: the Bible.

With only one book to read, he read it hundreds and hundreds of times. The book became his constant companion. After 33 years of imprisonment, he died. When they came to clean out his cell, they found some notes he had written using nails to mark the soft stone of the prison walls. The notations were of this sort: Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible; Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter J; the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible; no word or name more than six syllables can be found in the Bible.

This individual spent 33 years of his life studying what some have described as the greatest book of all time. Yet he could only glean trivia. From all we know, he never made any religious or spiritual commitment to Christ. He simply became an expert at Bible trivia.

Information is good…

Doing something with it gives it value

What will you do with and in your next moment?!?

Now What?

Work like it depends on you (it doesn’t and we know that)

Pray like it depends on God (it does)

See what He does with that approach