What's Neuroplasticity?

What is Neuroplasticity? What has it to do with being God’s flesh? Is it about having a plastic mind? Umm…yeah, somewhat. And it has lots to do with a powerful faith.

Neuroplasticity is the brain cells’ potential to grow and ramify, increasing the brain’s power and capacity and actually making it grow in size. Formerly, brain scientists believed the brain stopped growing during adulthood. They added that the brain deteriorated progressively at age past 50. However, a recent study on Neuroplasticity shows that the brain can actually increase in size and power, and God’s Flesh believes this can go even to the extent of literally commanding the body to perform astounding feats—like heal itself, repair injuries or defects in and on the body, and do incredible superhuman exploits. And in an extreme sense, (God’s Flesh loves being extreme!) even affect or control things outside the body—like command mountains to be thrown to the sea! Sounds cultic, huh? The more I love it, then! Well, it’s not really cultic. Remember, only God has power; the devil has none. So, being powerless is cultic. Powerless churches are cultic!

How does this development fit into our spiritual life and ministry? Fits a lot! Remember, God is The Life Author. He is the Author of Neuroplasticity, and with an urgent reason: so we can go back to our original call in Genesis, which is to be created in the very image and likeness of God. We are designed to command creation (have dominion, remember?)--through the (spoken) Word--and make awesome and supernatural things happen--first to ourselves, to our immediate surroundings, then to the environment at large. All through God’s powerful and creative spoken Word (rhema and dabar), straight from God’s mouth to us, and now, through a little help from Neuroplasticity, which is God's scientific gift to us. This is powerfully God’s Flesh!

Neurons and Electrons Grow

What is Neuroplasticity? Brain cells can grow and multiply. Brain neurons can proliferate and produce (or create) other neurons more powerful than the original ones—if used right. When new neurons are produced, new cell networks or pathways are established so that a new and probably more radical way of brain wave transmission can become possible. Simply put, in a road network, the more roads built, the farther we can travel, the more places we can reach! Hence, a paralytic, when practiced repeatedly to walk and move, is able to do so eventually. Brain transmission to the body blocked somewhere along the traditional brain routes (so that brain signals to command limbs to work are hindered) are now given new paths to travel. Healthy and more powerful brain signal transmission is then re-established, reaching limbs, and making them work again. It's some kind of a brain signal transmission bypass.

As this progress is taken to the next level through more practice (and as the brain wills incapacitated limbs to work), the brain's capacity and size enlarges, making the process of commanding limbs more powerful. We’re not aware of it, but our mind works extra hard when we’re trying to perform physical feats. Restoration and healing are thus effected. This can also be applied to athletic performances. With more practice, the brain's power to command the body becomes stronger, so that the body is able to perform etraordinary feats.

Apply That to Faith

Faith is believing, especially the impossible. The impossible is something beyond what traditional thinking can imagine. The road to impossibilities has never been passed through by a traditional mind. Thus, the brain needs to build new paths to the impossible. Jesus said, nothing would be impossible for us, if we believed. NOTHING! Now, “If we believe” means we have to build a new brain network to reach the new brain capability for the impossible. The reason why many supernatural acts of God in the bible are nowhere in church today is because our brain is suppressed to think radically and limited to think only in terms of traditional patterns acceptable to church denominational norms. The brain is brain-washed by human denominational theologies to strictly think earthly and shun or fear anything supernatural (like how they say that spiritual gifts are "dangerous" or "demonic").

When the brain cells are not challenged and merely take the same old traditional paths or routes daily--like, we just do the same things or think the same things daily, year in and year out--its capacity and size will never grow. It may even shrink—thus the narrow-minded or short-sighted folks. Pray all you want and even cry; if the mind cannot believe and imagine the impossible really happening, nothing will happen. Jesus asked a sick man, "Do you believe I can do this?" It was like saying, “Can you build new paths in your brain for this thing?” Hebrews 11 says, Moses saw the invisible God. 

While still young, we "dare" do things and are bold to try new and radical things, so our brain cells are active and ready for expansive growth. But growing old (and being fed trash by human norms and expectations which enslave), we begin to hold on to traditions or "accepted" norms, or what they call “safe and sound doctrine—which is really nothing but men’s comfort zones) or form inhibiting ideas about life, and these hinder us from trying new things, from becoming more radical,  and from challenging our brain cells to work in different or improvised ways. When you begin to be too careful (in short, you begin to love your comfort zone), your neurons stop growing and re-producing. You begin to be an old dog with only old and musty tricks to show. You become old wine that cannot be put into new wine skins. 

A traditional mindset has limited brain cell networks to work with. There aren't many transmission pathways except one or two routes used for years or a lifetime. Pretty soon, when a road is overused, it wastes and becomes impassable. Faith is affected in this way. The brain cannot believe what is beyond the acceptable. It cannot imagine beyond what it sees physically. Remember, faith for the impossible takes seeing a vision. Do you see it happening in your mind (or in your spirit)? If not, then forget it. It won't happen. 

Elijah told Elisha that if Elisha saw with his eyes the radical and out-of-this world supernatural chariot of fire taking Elijah up to heaven, then the double portion would be his. He saw it. Under Elijah's discipleship, he was trained to think beyond what was the norm. Prophetic discipleship should b radical.

What Do You See?

For instance, God kept asking Ezekiel and Jeremiah, "What do you see?" If your brain is not trained to get used to seeing and believing things other than what is physically seen, it won't have any vision except what pictures or concepts the world has "downloaded" into it. Many churches are like that today. All they see and believe is what can be seen around them (what the world has downloaded into their minds), like money, sound systems, microphones, and church buildings and properties and material possessions. Jesus says this is spiritual blindness. 

But once you train your mind (with the Spirit's power) to think beyond earthly standards and images, your brain cells will produce neurons more powerful than their original sources, build extensive and radical brain networks, and begin to "command" faith that easily moves mountains. The key is to have the brain capacity of God's mind—or have God’s brain cells, as it were. To have His mindset, His imagination. That’s why God’s Flesh believes in getting Jesus’ DNA! Can you imagine that? And we can never get this if we go on thinking traditional human patterns. Or, if we remain human in thinking. The bible says, have the mind of Christ. 

"My thoughts are not your thoughts." 

The above popular verse is a clear pronouncement that we can never do God's Will unless we begin to think like He does. So throw away all your earthly mind patterns and begin to get used to thinking beyond earthly dimensions. Jesus said, "If you do not believe my earthly teachings, how can you believe my heavenly teachings?" 

We begin with His earthly teachings, and then onward to His heavenly teachings. We DO NOT stop with Jesus’ earthly teachings. “Let’s forget the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” says Hebrews.

His earthly teachings are NOT the same as our views of the world and the life here. It's NOT the same as how denominational doctrines see life, and the world, and ministry, and the church, and God. Jesus' earthly teachings are super radical teachings, though still earth-bound. And they were so radical that Nicodemus, titled and degreed, initiated in primitive and below-earth’s-surface teachings, scratched his head in confusion and asked, "How could this be?" Jesus told him, "You dare call yourself a religious teacher of Israel and not know these things?" Today, many denominational pastors and theologians always scratch their heads and ask, “How could this be?” but still feel very intellectual about it all. 

In short, Jesus was saying, His earthly teachings can be grasped only if we think radically like God does. And applying the principles of Neuroplasticity to our faith can help tremendously. After all, God is its Author. The devil owns and authors nothing. So, what is Neuroplasticity? It is God’s mind, the Mind of Christ, working in human minds. It is getting God’s DNA cells—as it were—so we can be God’s flesh on earth!