Chemical Scale - Levels 1 and 0: Chemical Drip and In Control

This is the sixth and last article in a series on the Chemical Scale.

Level 1

Level 1 on the Chemical Scale is the Chemical Drip or Chemical Spill. This process is what gives the Scale its name. The human body has many biochemicals that it uses for many purposes. Some are called hormones, others are called neurotransmitters, and more have other names. They all have purposes and ways that they influence you. Satan has discovered how he can use some of those chemicals to mess with you and lead you towards failure.

Changes in our chemicals are very subtle, but recognizable with practice.  Early in my attempts to notice the Chemical Scale in myself I made the mistake of looking for emotions or feelings at this level.  As we discussed in the last article, feelings and emotions that make you vulnerable to attack occur at Level 2.  Eventually, I discovered that biochemicals aren't recognized by feelings or emotions, but by the physical sensations that occur with them.  Feelings and emotions will join these sensations later on, but by that point you are at Level 2.  Chemicals are so subtle and hard to notice at first that I'll provide an extreme example that I hope will be helpful.

There was a semester during my undergraduate studies where I was under immense stress.  I was working a graveyard shift and normally only got four hours of sleep a night.  That intensified the stress from classes, church responsibilities, a relationship, and preparing to be the director of a summer camp that would serve over 10,000 children and teenagers and it was not adequately staffed.  During this stressful time I attended a university devotional.  Everything was fine at first, but as I left the building I experienced my first anxiety attack.  My thoughts were racing, I had the intense urge to sprint away from the crowd as fast as I could and find a place to hide, my heart was beating hard and fast, my breaths were quick and shallow, I felt like there was immense pressure on my chest.  All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and hide.  After the anxiety attack passed, I felt extremely cold.

Looking back over the “symptoms” I experienced, almost none of them are emotional in nature.  They are physical sensations that came largely as a result of the flood of anxiety and stress related chemicals I was experiencing.  

Physical sensations also accompany the more subtle chemical shifts we experience, and we can recognize them with practice.  It takes self-awareness and analyzing what our physical bodies are experiencing.  I have known guys who, with patient practice, can recognize a chemical shift literally in their sleep.  They then trained themselves to almost automatically wake up when they experience that shift and do what they need to do to win.

While winning battles at Level 1 are not necessarily easy, they are much easier.  I like to compare these battles to fighting a seven-foot tall, 300-pound gorilla-man who has a billy club.  At Level 10 you are out cold on the ground and the gorilla-man is standing over your fallen form leering at you.  At Level 5 you are lying defenseless on the ground about to get brained with the massive club.  Level 4 is fighting in hand-to-hand combat.  Skipping the other levels, if you fight the battle at Level 1 you are 300 yards away from the gorilla-man and you have him lined up in the cross hairs of your sniper rifle.  It takes skill and practice to win at this level.  You are defeating the same enemy, the battle isn’t any smaller or less important, it’s just a lot easier to squeeze a trigger than to try and catch the gorilla-man in a choke-hold.

There are many ways to win Level 1 battles once you begin to recognize the chemical drip. But whatever you do, it should invoke Warrior Chemistry. Just like you learned in chemistry class, some chemicals cancel out others. Warrior Chemistry will eradicate the deviant chemicals in your body. It takes powerful good chemicals to defeat powerful bad chemicals. You can't just try to think positive thoughts and call it good. If you don't change your chemistry, you will soon be fighting a mood battle at Level 2.

It's important to recognize that what works for one warrior won't have the same effect for another. It takes awareness and discernment to be able to recognize what strategies will help you correct your chemicals more easily.  You can use some of the following strategies to win a Level 1 battle, but remember that they should invoke Warrior Chemistry.  It doesn’t matter if it is the aggressive and protective side (hard Warrior Chemistry) or the creative and connecting side (soft) of Warrior Chemistry, but you need to use one or both to win.  Thought Shields, memorized scriptures, or reciting your reasons for fighting all work.  You can also use your Flagpole, ministering to someone, or connect with people in another way.

Level 0

When you do these things, when you win your battles at any level, you should end back at a Level 0. This is the level where you are in control and are the steward of the life and tabernacle that God blessed you with. For those who have had the priesthood of God conferred upon them, this is the place where they can exercise not only priesthood authority but also priesthood power. This is when you have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and are most likely to recognize promptings, inspiration, and revelation.

When you are at Level 0, you are in full control of your soul.  You cannot be tempted or beguiled so long as you remain here.  Because we are all fallen creatures, we cannot (yet) stay perfectly at a Level 0 all of the time.  We will slip down the chemical scale and will need to fight our way back to a place of peace and power.  That is why maintaining an excellent Border Patrol is so crucial.  By having frequent rituals throughout the day that bring you back to a Level 0, you can be in full control more and better serve your God and those you love.  This is what the real battle, the real war is.  The war is to be able to keep the Spirit of God with you.  If you can win that battle, then you can win all of the battles that will come your way.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

Campfires and Reasons for Fighting

How skilled are you at building a campfire? In my days as a

Boy Scout we would sometimes have competitions to build what we called "A One-Match Fire." We would race to build a fire so well that it only took one match to set the whole thing ablaze. In order to build a One-Match Fire we would spend most of our attention arranging the tinder and kindling, the stuff as thick as pine needles or pencils. After that was properly arranged we would quickly place the twigs, branches, and small logs. After the fire was lit and had been burning for a while we would add the large logs that would help the fire burn for a very long time.

In my work as a life coach, I've discovered that creating motivation and developing excellent, personal reasons for fighting are a lot like building a campfire. You've got your tinder which are things that matter right now or have a deadline in a few days. You're kindling size reasons are relevant or have a deadline in a week or two. Twigs and small branches are relevant in the next four to six weeks.  The logs are further off in the future, some stretching out into eternity. Normally, the reasons for fighting that people share are the large logs. These are what bishops and parents care about the most. These are the most impressive and seem most important. The large logs are things like serving a mission, getting married in the temple, going to the Celestial kingdom, being exalted, etc.

Have you ever tried to light a log on fire using just a match? It doesn't work. You can try over and over again, but all you'll get is singed bark and burnt fingers. Even if you douse the log in gasoline and throw a match on it, it won't really light. The gas burns off really hot and fast, leaving a log that might be slightly singed if you're lucky. The same is true with reasons for fighting. If you try to start your fire with large logs like missions, temple marriage, and exaltation, you'll almost certainly have dead matches and a cold fire.  These logs are essential for long term success, but you cannot start a very good fire with them. They become the primary fuel source once a healthy blaze is going.

In other words, when a fire is just getting started there are many more small pieces of wood than large logs. After a fire has been burning for a while it is mostly made from logs and has very few smaller pieces of wood.

Consider what short term reasons and motivators you can come up with.  Think of things with clear deadlines within the next 6 weeks or less.

If that is difficult for you to find these short-term reasons for fighting, it may help to answer the question, "If you lost today, how would that impact you tomorrow?" Your list might include feelings you'll have, people who you'll tell or will somehow know, or other things.

Then you can expand on those things by answering, "If you lost today, how would that impact you next week?" For many young men, answers include participation in the sacrament, interactions with girls, impacts on school work, and more.

From there you can explore how a loss will impact you in two weeks, or a month. The more you are willing to look and discern, the more ways you will find it impacts you.

After considering these questions you should

be able to find many short term reasons for fighting. It is helpful to keep these in your thoughts, and have a countdown to significant events. For example, I encourage young men to meet with their Bishop to discuss when they will be eligible to attend the temple or participate in the sacrament. After a certain period of sobriety is decided on, I ask young men to set a target date when they want to be able to enter the temple or participate in the sacrament. Then I have them count down. If they lose, that number resets. By doing this they see some of the immediate repercussions of a loss, but the longer they win the more motivated they are to fight because that number gets smaller. They can even make an advent calendar of sorts. They can cross off days on a calendar, tear links off a paper chain, or do something else that reminds them what they are fighting for and how close they are.

One of the quickest ways to develop personally meaningful reasons for fighting is to write them down everyday. Three times a day is better. There is something about the process of putting pen to paper that grounds us, helps us to consider things more deeply and more meaningfully. We involve both mind and body, which makes it easier to remember those reasons for fighting.

Ultimately, every warrior needs to develop a unique set of reasons for fighting that are personally meaningful to them. You cannot have long term success without them, if you manage to get any success at all. However, this set of reasons develops over time. It must start in the present, and as the fire of motivation grows you can add larger pieces of fuel that stretch further off into the future. Eventually you will have a roaring blaze built from both short and long term reasons for fighting. So long as you continue to stoke the fire by reviewing old reasons for fighting and adding new ones, the large blaze within you will not die out and you will have the ability to fight for years to come.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

Thoughts on Technology: balancing restrictions and independence through accountability

I often meet with the parents of

teenagers struggling with addictions to try and answer their questions as best I can and give them a sense of hope for their child.  Some of the questions that usually get asked regard technology, parental restrictions, and safeguards.

With this discussion I think it is very helpful to understand a few principles before looking at specific things that will be "okay”, too lax, and too restrictive.  First we'll discuss the power of accountability and winning at home before looking at specifics and fostering independence.

I used to think being accountable was all about being punished when I did something wrong. I was held accountable when I received the just consequences of my disobedient behavior. This began to change when a church leader visiting my mission taught us. When I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we were part of a pilot program allowing missionaries to carry tablets. The expectation was that we should be using that technology appropriately and asking a companion to check our tablet daily to demonstrate how we were following that expectation.  This church leader, Elder Brent H. Nielson who was a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, told us that we should continue the practice of being accountable in our use of technology after our mission ended with a parent or our spouse. One missionary asked, "At what point can we stop checking in with somebody and just trust ourselves?" Elder Nielson's answer surprised me greatly and opened my eyes to what accountability is supposed to be.

In response to the missionary's question Elder Nielson quoted Genesis 2:18: "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone;"

For those members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have been endowed in one of God's temples, you will recall that accounting or reporting back is part of the pattern of heaven. On any matter of personal or eternal importance it is good to have an element of accountability. Reporting back or checking-in deepens relationships and creates motivation.

With that in mind, it is helpful to have protective measures in place so that you or whomever is struggling with appropriate use of technology is not fighting alone. That leads into the second point I wanted to make. No matter how hard you crack down on technology you cannot entirely prevent someone from misusing it. If someone is determined to lose a battle, they will find a way to get what they want. But that doesn't mean that you can't make your home an easier place to win. You can protect them from accidentally stumbling across something that will lead them to a lost battle.

There are so many young men I work with who are tempted to lose, but are not passionately seeking it out. For these boys, bumping into a Web filter or some other protection is the little push or reminder they need in order to win more of their battles.

Understanding those principles, there are a few things you can do that I would recommend. Password protect all devices with Internet access. Keep computers in publicly visible areas like the kitchen or family room. Practice "double-deep" which means they can't be on a computer unless someone else is in the room with them, even if that person is doing their own thing. Use a Web filter like K-9, Net Nanny, or Covenant Eyes. Do not give your child a mobile device (cell phone, tablet, laptop, etc.) until they can pay for their own. If you do give them a cell phone, consider having it be a ‘dumb’ phone (like a flip phone or a phone that doesn’t connect to the internet). If you do give them a smart phone, put protections on it that they can't change. Require that all phones be given to you or charged in a public place (ex: the kitchen) each night. Smart phones or other devices with Internet access should never be taken into bedrooms or bathrooms. Frequently check Web history on all devices and invite your children to check yours.

Obey all the rules you are asking your children to and be accountable to them. If you act above the rules you impose on your children, they will likely resist and resent the rules. If you explain they are part of a plan to keep your family safe, obey them yourself, and invite your children to keep you accountable, they are more likely to accept and appreciate the rules.

With these safeguards, it is important

to keep the long-term in mind. You want your child to be safe at home WHILE preparing them to safely function as an adult. I once met a mom who adamantly stated that she was the Web filter for her son. He was never allowed to be on the computer or access the Internet without her sitting right next to him the entire time. That can be a good thing to do, but what happens when this boy grows up and goes to college? What about when he gets married? It isn't practical to ask a roommate or spouse to sit with him each time he has to use the internet, they will have their own things they need to get done. Give him tools and teach him skills so that he can keep himself safe when he eventually grows up and moves out.

As your children develop and become better at exercising control, it will be appropriate to allow them greater flexibility within the protections you have established. Counsel with your children one at a time about what they are allowed to do with technology. The counseling aspect is important. Ask for and honestly consider their input. If you speak with them at a time where they are at a Level 0 on the Chemical Scale, they will know their limitations and weaknesses and may impose protections on themselves.

One of the greatest perils associated with modern technology is its tendency to isolate. Setting boundaries around what kind of technology you bring into your home, how much, how it's protected, and how often it can be used are ways that you can help your family members avoid the isolating effects of technology. By setting and abiding by standards as a family, you will experience a greater closeness with the Lord and His Spirit which will help you and your family to win your battles more easily and definitively.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

It is Not a Sin to be Tempted

For many people facing addiction, there is a shift that takes place as they begin to experience real recovery for extended periods of time. Usually, they begin to focus on healing and winning for the long term. They are often more strict with themselves as they pursue this deeper level of progress. It is not uncommon for these people to pursue the coveted state of "[having] no more disposition to do evil" (Mosiah 5:2). As unlikely or impossible as it seems, some people pursue this righteous desire so passionately that they can cause self-harm and unnecessary guilt. This happens when the boundaries between natural desire, temptation, and sin get blurred.

Natural desire, or even curiosity for that matter, and temptation are not

synonymous. When God created our bodies He provided them with a way to communicate needs, warnings, and other important messages. We feel discomfort in our abdomen that communicates the need to eat. We feel pain to tell us something is wrong and needs healing. Our mouths feel dry to communicate the need to drink life-sustaining fluids. The discomfort of not meeting these needs are balanced by pleasant messages related to fulfilling them. A cold beverage feels refreshing. Certain foods taste delicious. To have a backache massaged away feels like bliss.

The desire for deep, personal, and intimate connections are likewise natural and God-given. These desires, by themselves, are neither a temptation nor a sin. Just as it is not a sin or a temptation to desire a refreshing drink of water, the desire for human connection, whether or not it includes a sexual component, is not a temptation or a sin by itself.

That is not to say that these desires can’t be twisted and used against us. Satan will take anything he can use to destroy or torment a soul. He will take a natural desire for food and twist it into temptation while you are trying to fast or meditate. He will turn any form of pain relief into an addiction, if given the chance. So it should not be surprising that Satan will take the natural desire for deep and personal connection and try to twist it into a soulless and empty act of sexuality.

Even then, temptation is not a sin. We know from scripture that Jesus Christ was a sinless man. "...Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:21-22). But we also know that Christ was tempted, and not just the three events that came right after his fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15, emphasis added).  If Jesus Christ was tempted in all points, if he endured more temptation than any of us (which is what it sounds like), and yet remained sinless then it must not be a sin to be tempted.

One of Satan's tactics is to persuade you that to think an unclean thought is sinful and makes you vile and unworthy. He will work to convince you that because these brief but unvirtuous thoughts create sensations that feel desirable, you are sinful. If left unchecked, those thoughts can be sinful, but the desires and temptations are not sins by themselves.

Another tactic of the Enemy is that if

he can't persuade you to believe that being tempted is sinful, then he will work to blur the line between temptation and sins of the heart. There are verses in the New Testament, the Book or Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants that warn that anyone who looks on one of God's children and lusts after them has committed adultery in their heart. At some point, a typical temptation can be transformed into a sin of the heart. I don't think there is an easy or clear way to draw the line that distinguishes those. I also don't think drawing that line is helpful or important. While being tempted isn't a sin, marinating in the temptation is foolish. Trying to discover how long you can consider or enjoy temptation before it becomes sinful is just begging for trouble. Consider some of the symbolism from Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life and the path that led to it. The dark mist that arose to confuse and lead people away was temptation. If your goal is to reach the tree and remain by it, standing still in the fog is counterproductive and foolish. When temptations come, quickly leave them or banish them as the Savior did. Jesus Christ was not passive towards temptation; when Peter inadvertently tempted his Master, the Savior's response to His chief apostle was, "Get behind me, Satan."

As you fight you can learn to better recognize when you are being tempted and to not feel guilt for experiencing part of mortality that we were meant to go through. You will learn ways to quickly root the temptation out and cast it away, saying like the Savior, "Get behind me, Satan."

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

Fail to practice and you practice to fail

In spiritual warfare, it is important to act quickly. If you do not act quickly enough in the heat of battle, it will be over before you know it and you will have lost. For that reason, drills are important. A drill, in this context, is any activity that you can repeatedly practice, particularly those activities which help you win battles and return to Level Zero on the Chemical Scale.

If you have ever performed something

for a large audience, I imagine you understand the pressure to perform well. It could be blocking correctly in a high school football game, delivering your lines eloquently in a play, not squeaking while playing the clarinet with a band, or showing off your recent piece in an art show. In any of these examples, and many others, practice is the key element that allows you to perform well. If you want to perform with excellence while in the spotlight, you need to practice with diligence before ever stepping on stage.

Spiritual warfare isn't all that different. If you want to be able to use a strategy or tool with quickness and ease while under attack, you will need to practice that before you are attacked.

There seem to be two types of drills for Spiritual Warfare; I'll refer to them as basic and advanced. A basic drill is essentially what has already been described, you practice using a specific behavior that will help you win a battle. That can be reciting memorized scriptures, doing pushups, contacting a friend, or a vast number of other things. Advanced drills require intentional chemical manipulation of yourself, in addition to the basic components.

I am amazed at how God created the human brain. Its functionality and complexity is astounding. One of the cool things about the human brain is that it can't tell the difference between imagination, memory, and reality. The brain will react the same way to receiving a loving smile whether it's real, imagined, or remembered. I think it can be helpful to think of it like this: the brain is a large collection of Legos. When the brain receives input, it builds something out of Lego blocks to represent what it is experiencing and to make sense of it. Then it will take a snapshot of the model and keep the picture in a filing cabinet. Now the brain only has a certain number of Lego pieces, so it has to take the model apart in order to process the new sensations and experiences that it receives. When it wants to remember an old experience, it will pull out the picture it took and rebuild that model from scratch.

When we understand that the brain experiences reality, memories, and imagination the same way, it makes a little more sense when Jesus says, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).

This ability of the brain can be used for good as well as for evil. It is particularly helpful when creating advanced drills. By remembering what it is like to be tempted (the physical sensations, emotional experiences, etc.) you can actually recreate the chemical shift you had on a smaller and more controlled scale. By doing that and then running a drill, you can train yourself to automatically begin that drill as soon as that chemical shift occurs. I'll give an example that may help.

Let's say you are trying to establish a pattern of praying to your Father in Heaven every morning, but you are failing. When you wake up you often feel so groggy and befuddled that it seems remembering how to breathe is all you can manage. Creating a drill for this can help you to remember to pray in the morning. One way to do it would be to lie down on your bed in the afternoon when you aren't tired or sleepy. Set your normal morning alarm to go off in a few minutes, then just lay there intently remembering what it feels like when you first wake up. Remember the physical sensations, like the need to stretch a stiff limb, or the morning mouth taste, or whatever you often experience. Remember the grogginess and how it makes you feel. Remember the emotions like irritation at your alarm, "I don't want to get up," or the confusion about a weird dream. Remember as much as you can of what it is like to be just barely waking up. You'll begin to experience those things, but with a lot less intensity than normal. Then, as soon as your alarm goes off, immediately roll out of bed onto your knees into the position you pray in. Actually saying a prayer is even better. Practicing this drill several times a day will soon help create the habit of praying in the morning.

When you plan a drill you should have in mind both the desired outcome, the change you want the drill to produce, and the specific behavior you want to drill. Usually, identifying the goal of the drill helps you to figure out what behavior you need to practice. Once you know those you can figure out where, when, and how often you will perform the drill. I'll provide a humorous example later.

It is important to maintain drills, otherwise they lose their effectiveness and the behaviors you are practicing may fall apart. There are many ways to do this, and a few things to keep in mind as you prepare to maintain these drills for the long term.

Among behavioral scientists there is the term "extinction" which I think is appropriate to discuss here. Extinction typically happens when you go a long period of time without pairing the cue or reminder with the behavior. If you go long enough without drilling, the habit related to it may fall apart. If you don't practice a battle-winning-behavior then it may not happen well or at all when you are under attack.

If you are using a daily or frequent cue or reminder system help you with your drill, you will likely find that soon the reminder may lose its potency. This seems especially true for paper notes and phone alarms. This has a simple solution, change what the reminder is (ex: different ring tone or different color of paper) and when/where it occurs. By making small changes like this, reminders to help complete the drill should stay fresh and make it easier to accomplish.

Use intentional practice. In my

teenage years I had the opportunity to study Tae Kwondo and other martial arts. I was the only student similar in stature to the owner of the studio so I was invited to train with him as he prepared for his 5th Degree Blackbelt test. When he returned from taking his test he told me that the main reason that people failed their Blackbelt test was because they couldn't do the most basic skills properly. The best warriors intentionally practice getting the most basic things right, which helps them accomplish more advanced things.

As the behavior you are drilling becomes more ingrained and instinctual, it can be appropriate to drill less often. However, stopping the drill altogether will likely eventually lead to extinction of the habit.

Drills can be used for just about any behavior that you want to work on, whether it is starting something or improving it. You can do drills to help with prayers like we've talked about. You can do drills to check your chemical levels or emotional experiences throughout the day. You can drill scripture memorization, language study, journal writing, or just about any other thing you choose to. You can even drill with other people. I've included a true and funny story of how you can do a collaborative drill with family, and see positive results.

I have a friend who wanted to improve her family's scripture study. In her family they choose to do scripture study at 6 AM each morning. With several teenagers and some younger kids at home, you can imagine how unenthusiastic her children are about hearing a knock on their bedroom door at 5:55 each morning and being invited to come to the living room. This mom decided to try using drills to make mornings a little easier and, hopefully, more spiritual. One afternoon she explained the principle of drills to her kids and told them they were going to do a few to hopefully make the mornings less painful. She instructed each of her children to go to their bedrooms and lay on their beds. In a few minutes she would come by and do her normal knock-and-invite routine. They were then to immediately get out of bed, grab their scriptures, and meet in the living room. Her children thought it was silly, but complied. They drilled it once, and everyone followed the instructions and were soon together in the living room with scriptures in hand. This mother thanked her family, then instructed them to return to their rooms so they could do the drill again. Feeling this was very silly, the children again complied. Soon she came by again knocking on doors and inviting, and everyone met in the living room with their scriptures. This mom then said they were going to do it one more time. By this time, the kids thought this was an absolutely ridiculous thing to do on an afternoon, but most of them complied. For the third time, my friend went around knocking on doors and inviting, and her children got out of bed and grabbed their scriptures before heading to the living room. When the mother got to the living room she found that her two youngest were already there, having never returned to their rooms for the third time. They jokingly said they had woken up at 5:30. Once everyone was together the mom thanked her children and they were done.

The next morning, the mom's alarm clock went off and she immediately got up and began her 5:55 knock-and-invite routine. To her pleasant surprise, her kids started immediately rolling out of bed and finding their scriptures. She went down to the living room and found her two sleepy-eyed, miserable looking youngest children waiting with scriptures in hand. When she asked what was wrong, they grumpily told her that they had woken up at 5:30 and couldn't go back  to sleep.

There is great power in drilling, in practicing behaviors that will help us to improve ourselves, win battles, and overcome difficulties. As you create and practice drills, you will discover a greater mastery of yourself and an increased capacity to be the person you desire to become.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

Q6: Learning the Spiritual Gift of Prophecy

Q6: What might the enemy try in the future? What do you need to do to be prepared for such an attack?

In the book Like Dragons Did They Fight there is a list of questions called "The Captain's Log." These questions form the core of many of the services provided by Life Changing Services. These questions and the way they are phrased were carefully refined over a period of years.  Of these questions the one that gets the least attention is Question 6, or Q6 as it is commonly known among those who attend some of the LCS programs.

The purpose of Q6 is to learn the spiritual gift of prophecy. Warriors practice predicting when and how they will be attacked next, then plan how they will win that battle. Though it often is used the least, Q6 is a powerful tool that can make fighting and winning much easier when it is consistently used. Answering Q6 in a way that is accurate and helpful requires following a process and frequent practice.

I'm sure there are many ways to explain how to learn the spiritual Gift of Prophecy, but this three step process is the way that makes the most sense to me.

1. Connect with God
2. Review recent battle history/look for patterns
3. Identify vulnerabilities in near future/make best guess

Step 1. Connect with God

Because you are trying to learn a spiritual gift, it is essential that you connect with the one who gives that gift.  The prayer doesn’t have to be lengthy so long as it is sincere. For me it is helpful to approach this conversation as if I am an officer on the front lines of a battle speaking to the general who is standing on the hill with a spyglass.  That prayer might sound something like, “Heavenly Father, I know that you see a lot more than I can. I am trying to prepare for the enemy’s next attack. Will you please lend me some of your knowledge so that I may know where and how he will come at me next?”

Step 2. Review recent battle history

Often times, Satan will find a tactic that works against you and use it over and over again. By identifying the recent patterns from your battles you can gain insight on what he is likely going to use in the near future. When reviewing battles from the past days or weeks it is helpful to consider three questions.

1. Is there a common time of day that Satan likes to attack? Is it closer to when you wake up, closer to when you go to bed, or somewhere in the middle?
2. Is there a common location that the attacks begin? (Ex: at work, school, in front of the TV, in bed, in the bathroom, while driving, etc.)
3. Is there a common tactic that Satan uses? (Ex: boredom, anxiety, too tired, Midnight Ambush, Bedtime Blitz, etc.)

By reviewing these questions it becomes a lot easier to identify what patterns Satan has used in the past and which ones he is likely to use in the future.

Step 3. Identify upcoming vulnerabilities 

The final step is to look for times and places that you will be vulnerable in the coming hours or days. The patterns you just discovered in Step 2 will help you know what to look for. After you identify these vulnerabilities, make your best educated guess on where, when, and how Satan will attack. Try to notice the nudges of the Holy Ghost as he helps you refine your prediction and make it more accurate. As you practice you will become more and more accurate in your prophecies.

Once you have predicted when and how Satan will attack you, you can make plans to win the battle before it starts. I know many warriors who will create a battle plan and then set a reminder to go off before the battle is supposed to start so they can remember to get the first strike in.

An element that will help the whole process is if you write down what you learn in steps 2 and 3 as well as the prediction you make.  Writing things down helps you put more thought into it and it helps you remember it better. It also is a sign to God of how you care about the inspiration He gives you. In a talk on revelation and inspiration, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said:

When it is for the Lord’s purposes, He can bring anything to our remembrance. That should not weaken our determination to record impressions of the Spirit. Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation. Such recording of direction of the Spirit should be protected from loss or intrusion by others. (Ensign, May 2012)

As you frequently practice learning to prophesy with sincerity and act on the things you learn, the process will become easy and familiar to you. You will draw nearer to God and be more able to recognize the promptings he gives you. In very rare, sacred, and special circumstances God may even make you His instrument by giving you a prophecy on another's behalf. Whether or not this happens to you, treasure this sacred trust of the Gift of Personal Prophecy and you will see your ability to fight and win tremendously increase.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

Border Patrol: the foundation of longterm success

One of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon is the first verse of Alma chapter one: "...King Mosiah having gone the way of all the earth, having warred a good warfare, walking uprightly before God..." Because this life is a spiritual war we often use military analogies and metaphors. One way to understand how to protect yourself in this spiritual war is to think of your soul as a city. A brilliant and skilled enemy wants to conquer your city. If you want to keep his forces out then you need effective defenses and guards to watch your border. In other words, you need to have a Border Patrol.

Border Patrol is everything you do on purpose to keep yourself safe. You'll have the constant sentries on the walls (things you do every day, possibly multiple times a day, like MAN PWR goals) and you'll have the soldiers waiting in the garrison for when the enemy is actually at the gates (your "as-needed" strategies like "Notice it, Name it, Flip it, Find it"). But to keep your guards in the garrison sharp you'll need to drill them often while you're not under attack.

The best Border Patrols will protect all four walls of your city. The New Testament tells us what those four walls are. 

There are only a handful of verses in all of Scripture that tell us what Jesus Christ's teenage years were like. Of those verses, there is only one in the four gospels. This one sentence summarizes 18 years of the Savior's life. Please consider, how important this one verse must be if it's all we get for this period of His life?

The scripture is Luke 2:52 "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." In other words, He developed intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially.  If the Savior of the world needed to grow in these four areas, don't we need to do the same? If we want to be adequately protected from the armies of the Adversary, we need to have activities in place that will defend each of these walls.

Many of the people I work with, especially those just beginning their journey towards addiction recovery, tend to primarily protect their Spiritual wall. Most of them feel that if they are doing enough spiritual activities they will be fine. This is a very risky approach to war and there is a story in the Book of Mormon about what happens if we do this.

Towards the end of the war started by Amalickiah and continued by his brother Ammoron, Captain Moroni joins forces with Chief Judge Pahoran and they lay siege to the city of Nephihah. The Lamanites inside the city are too smart to leave their place of protection to attack the Nephites, so Captain Moroni finds another strategy. In the middle of the night he climbs up the city wall and spies on the Lamanite army. The entire army is camped by the Eastern wall, which is where the only way in and out of the city is located, and they are all asleep. Captain Moroni rushes back to his army, wakes everybody, and commands them to hastily prepare ropes and ladders. They then hurry to the Western wall and climb down inside. When the Lamanites wake up they discover the entire Nephite army is inside the city walls, and the only intelligent option available is to abandon the city Nephihah and flee. Captain Moroni and Chief Judge Pahoran retook the city without losing a single soldier while the Lamanites lost the city and many soldiers in the attack. (Alma 62:18-26)

Protecting your spiritual wall is crucial to defending your city, but don't go so far that it is protected at the expense of your other walls. There must be a balance. You must be learning true things, making healthy and meaningful connections with family and others, using your physical body for good, as well as reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. These things need to be done everyday, everyday, everyday.

With that understanding, it is important to know that Captain Moroni didn't fortify Zarahemla in a day. It took a long time to add each new line of defense. First Moroni's soldiers had to dig a large ditch all the way around the city and pile the dirt they dug into a tall mound. Then they built a timber wall on top of the ridge of dirt. When that was done they topped the timber wall with a picket, then built towers, then ways to keep the people in the towers safe, and lastly, they stocked the towers with rocks they could throw at attackers.

It takes time to build an effective personal Border Patrol. It helps to learn from those who came before you, but there will be some trial and error you will need to experience on your own. Analyzing the battles you lose and the close calls you manage to win will be some of your best resources as you develop and personalize your Border Patrol.

I don't want to give too many ideas for specific Border Patrol activities, using your creativity is vital to long-term success, but here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Spiritual:

• Daily prayer
• Daily scripture study
• Regular participation (not the same as attendance) in church meetings
• Frequent participation in temple ordinances

Physical:

• Flagpole drills
• Exercise
• Sport/instrument/art practice

Intellectual:

• Pursue a new hobby/Passion Project
• Study a subject that interests you
• Learn/practice a different language
• Anything that helps you learn principles of truth
• "Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms" (Doctrine and Covenants 88: 78-79)
• "....seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith;" (Doctrine and Covenants 109:7)

Social:

• Family Home Evening
• Wholesome recreational activities (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)
• Minister to someone

It is also important to note that no intelligent commander of a city would have only one guard on each wall. The best Border Patrols include several small activities for each wall. These activities should be spread throughout the day, rather than clumped together in the evening. A brilliant enemy would surely notice if the guards on the walls only patrolled once a day, but were largely absent the rest of the time. If you were a brilliant military tactician spying on a city you wanted to conquer and saw that sentries only patrolled the walls once a day, at the same time everyday, how would you take advantage of the situation?

One of Satan's primary tactics will be to try and get you to forget about your Border Patrol activities, creating a reminder system will be crucial to long-term success. Many people initially set reminders on their phone, I've discovered that for most people this works well for about three to seven days. After that time many warriors will begin to ignore their reminders, so it is important to change them up. Using physical reminders can be very helpful.

I used to place a large rock in the middle of my bedroom floor to remind me to pray. After my brother stubbed his toes on it three or four times I decided to switch it to a tripwire. I figured that since I woke up earlier than he did it would hurt him less. I also figured that if I forgot to pray then feeling the rope against my ankles would remind me. If I forgot about the rope and tripped then I could pray while I was down on the floor. That plan worked well for me (and let my brother's toes heal). Other physical reminders that work well are bracelets, hanging a string from a doorway at eye-level, notes on pillows or bathroom mirror, or similar things.

Another effective reminder system is to associate Border Patrol activities with things you already do everyday. For example, for as long as I can remember my father has read his scriptures while he was eating his breakfast. By associating those two things he almost never forgets or neglects his personal study of the scriptures.

One other way to help yourself remember is to create a specific time everyday when you will do your Border Patrol. For most of my life my mother would wake up before my siblings and I started getting ready for school so that she had some quiet time that she could communicate with God and study her scriptures. I have many memories of coming to the living room early in the morning to find my mom reading from her scriptures, already filled with red underlines from the years of study she has done.

As you practice these principles of Border Patrol you'll discover what works for you and what doesn't. By consistently living these principles you will be more available and attuned to the promptings of the Holy Ghost because you will more frequently be at a Level 0 on the Chemical Scale. You will find that you will function better in all of your roles, whether that may be parent, student, child, employee, boss, sibling, instructor, or anything else.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching