Amygdala Hijack

Sunday, ‎July ‎17, ‎2022

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Colossians 2:9-10

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Memory verse: Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Today's reading: PSALM 18-19 ACTS 20:17-38

Amygdala Hijack

Have you ever 'blown up' on another person under stress? Have you ever 'lost control' and said harsh things that you later regret? A lot of us must say yes.

The amygdala is the part of the brain that controls our 'fight or flight' responses. Under stress, our own natural chemicals are released that can be helpful in escaping danger or can be the reason we take a swing at someone-either verbally or physically. (Many other things can happen but we are going to keep it simple to make a point.)

We can learn to develop our own inner defenses to curb the results of our 'stressful reactions'.

New air pilot trainees go through much training to learn how to not 'lose their heads' in bad situations. Flight simulations of all kinds of failures are repeated time and again until trainees develop natural responses to regain control of their aircraft.

We have all seen it. Folks who seem to 'go off' and 'never learn'. I had a friend who came to a business meeting at a church I served in years ago. Afterwards, she was impressed that the meeting was so calm. She stated that she had come from a discipline(used loosely) where many times the attendees would resolve disagreements 'on the parking lot' after their meetings. As I responded, "How awful", I caught myself before judgement remembering my own experiences before I learned better.

Learn better? How do we learn better? There are no flight simulators for interpersonal relationships.

I just made the statement, "I caught myself before judgement" meaning I took the moment captive and stopped myself from judging someone else's bad behavior. How had I learned that?

Coming from years as a basketball player, I remember the years of day by day training. There is a saying, "If you are the best player in the gym, find another gym". As an athlete, one must strive to find the hardest competition to train with. Weight-lifters say, "Always lift with someone stronger than you". The people who said these things first were invested in seeing folks get better knowing that there are competitors of all levels.

In life as a Christ-follower, we must maintain healthy relationships with folks that we hold in high regard while we intentionally work with folks who are coming up-some of these thinking they 'know-it'all' already. This takes a lot of patience and self-control to deal peacefully and joyfully with people in divine love.

The goodness and kindness of the Holy Spirit do not come to the Christ follower naturally but must be harnessed and seen by those observing. The faithfulness of Job and Moses is a goal for us all. To keep striving for better through victory and failure. Folks will observe how they see us recover after a failure. (King David's people loved him because he was so transparent after he sinned and King David never stopped striving for 'better'-in full view of all.)

Gentleness comes from repeatedly being in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 4:5 ►Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

All of the fruit of the Spirit will be observed in our lives as well as their opposites in our failures.

The amygdala hijack can be trained out of all of us-but some become addicted to the adverse results of their own natural chemicals. These are what many of us call bullies and other things(because of our quick and sinful judgements).

The point is our reactions must be trained by the Holy Spirit. Over and over, the Holy Spirit repeats encouragement and correction and reminders-reminders of what Jesus taught and has written on the walls of our hearts.

None of this will happen to those who are not continually surrendering to the Lordship of Christ Jesus.

Lift with the stronger;lift up the weaker; repeat and never give in to weakness or fatigue or laziness.

My control cannot be hijacked unless I allow it.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me for not learning Your control. I need so much training, Lord, don't let me get lazy.

Our ultimately consistent Lord and God.

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen