Food  4 Thoughts

This course is not meant to replace your regular time with God. No growth can happen outside of a relationship with God!

Every session has a built-in PERSONAL APPLICATION. That is where you get to put into practice that which is taught. This is an essential part of the teaching. Please don't rush it, because that is where true growth will sprout from!

PERSONAL APPLICATION - how it works: 

• IMAGING: From the very 1st session, you will be asked to use your imagination to activate the imparted truths. It is called imaging because we use our imagination to create an image of the truth that we want to make ours. This may be a new approach for you, but think about it this way: every time that you read a book, you automatically create pictures in your imagination that bring the story to life for you. It is a capacity that God has built into you in order to allow you to access dimensions that we can not access with our physical body. These imaging sessions are meant to help you activate Godly goals and habits in your life. Once you will start to get the hang of it, you will be able to initiate imaging sessions on your own. The most important thing is to always do imaging from the Secret Place (close relationship with God) and ideally after a time of worship, so as to really be focussed on Him and not on your flesh. Put on some worship music, settle into a comfortable position and, after worshiping God in your own words for a while, allow your imagination to lead you into the activation. It is important to try and integrate yourself into the imagined setting before continuing the exercise: 'see' your surroundings, 'hear' sounds, 'touch' things and even try to 'smell' perfumes. Remember that Holy Spirit may decide to lead you into a different setting than what is 'prescribed' in this manual. That's okay, He gets to choose lol!! Rest assured that this is a natural and Scriptural technique. For example: Jesus said He only did what He saw the Father do, yet the Father did not appear to Him in a physical way. So how did He see what Father God was doing? Having perfected and sanctified His imagination, Jesus had access to Heavenly realms by using the eyes of his heart. 

• NOTES: at the end of every session, there is a space provided to write down your thoughts and experiences. I almost want to say that this is a compulsory part of the exercise! We so easily forget detail and what you experience on day 1 may become relevant again on another day during the journey. Linking back to previous experiences is important because it helps you to see the puzzle that God is building inside of you! When you look back on the journey at a later stage, it will serve as proof of your progress. So do it!!

There may be EXTERNAL SOURCES linked to some of the sessions:

• The TEACHINGS that I link are ones that I have personally benefitted from. Remember however that every single teacher is a human being and that personal interpretation always influence to some degree what we teach. If you encounter something in a teaching that you do not agree with, do not judge the teacher too harshly, just push that part aside and listen to the rest. When the priests of old had to sacrifice pigeons, they discarded the feathers and sacrificed the essential part of the bird. We must do the same: discard what we don't (yet?) understand or agree with and keep the essential message.

• Some linked elements serve as ADDITIONAL RESOURCES, such as articles. These are meant to broaden your horizon regarding the topic at hand. They are to be read in a broad sense and not to be considered necessarily as "Gospel Truth". You HAVE to learn to apply discernment for yourself, as much in your daily life as when you are watching or reading things on the internet. You do not always have someone to hold your hand, but you have Holy Spirit and the more you become aware of His guidance, the more you will be able to discern the Truth from the lie accurately.

TROUBLE SHOOTING: 

• It is normal to struggle with the exercise of imaging if it is your first time doing it. If you should struggle to activate your imagination, try putting on some instrumental worship, or even some classical music, to help you relax (words can be distracting to some, but if the words don't bother you, you can use regular worship of any kind as long as it honours Jesus as the Son of God!). Don't allow frustration to set in! If you need to, take a break and try again later, but it is important that you do try until you get it right. If you find yourself incapable of engaging, remember that condemnation is a 'no-no'! Rather contact the person who is accompanying you in this discipleship course to talk it over and determine the reason for your mental block, or post a question in the feed of the  Facebook group. 

• Falling asleep on the job…lol. When we do activations, the ideal is to move into a place of total surrender. The problem with total surrender, and the fact that our flesh is week, is that we have a tendency to become sleepy! The good news is that, as your spirit man grows more and more, your capacity to resist the desire of the flesh to sleep will also increase. Sometimes a catnap before you start will help you resist. If it is really hard for you to stay awake, try and do the activation in a less comfortable position or even standing up.

• You might encounter sessions that you do not feel ready for… You see, a journey with Jesus is one that is constantly challenging us to think "outside of the box". Man has a tendency to hold on to legalism, dogma and preconceived ideas and to reject anything that does not fit into our 'box'. I have found that God does not seem to fit into any of my boxes…duh! So if you encounter a concept that you perceive as 'strange', you have two options: Either just put it aside and move on (you might find yourself coming back to it at a later stage) or take the time to explore the topic asking yourself: is this glorifying Jesus? If it does, then you owe it to yourself to at least give it a chance before judging it too quickly as 'not your cup of tea' or 'certainly not of God'.