You Can Be Free From Your SELF: The Grace of Soul Transformation

by David Alsobrook

I was “to know that [He is] God” more deeply…to know God as my “Everything”—my Supplier, my Lover, my King, my All-in-All (Col. 3:11).

I was to “let go, cease striving, and relax” about everything in surface life.

They did not know that the Lord was telling me that He wanted me to let go of everything that needed to be done, to relax in Him, and “behold the beauty of the Lord” (Psa. 27:4).

I intuitively sensed that I was simply to abide in quiet trust in God and not lean upon my unreliable understanding.

For someone who knows so much you are unusually humble.” The problem with their well-meaning statements was that I believed them. I became proud that though so greatly gifted by God I had remained so deeply humble!

“be still and know

there was something deeply damaged in me that only God could fix.

I noticed how my mind had operated as a ruthless tyrant all my life.

I would be suddenly outside the mind, looking at it from a deeper place--my spirit.

Observing your thoughts is a big key to unlocking the awareness of who you are and who you are not. This will be discussed later, but we all have had a false sense of who we are. This is a direct result of the Fall of man. This impostor within us is called by different terms in the New Testament. In this book, we mainly use the word self to describe the identity within us that we wrongly call “us”. In other words, self is who you think you are, but is not who you truly are.

It was a special grace from God enabling me to see what was going on inside my mind.

The Lord was showing me how my mind operated so I could see the operation of self in my life. Something deep inside assured me He could free me from this inner tyrant. As I waited upon the Lord, He made it clear that I was not to allow myself to be distracted by any thought that came near and begged for my attention. I knew from deeply within my spirit that the Lord wanted me to give my full attention to the matter of observing my mind to see how it worked whenever He impressed me to do so. Silence Increases God’s Presence

As I became smaller, He became bigger.

God did not change at all. It was my view of Him that was enlarging.)

“Silence is praise to You”

The deepest worship happens during silent adoration of our lovely Lord.

Being Beside Self

It is when you are beside yourself that you see your self.

You see how the false self in you has jumbled up your mind and caused it to become disordered.

I now understand the Lord was showing me my true state of mind through practicing silence in His Presence so He could detach me from my false sense of self. This is part of what Jesus meant when He told His disciples that they had to deny self.

Past and Future are Unattainable

they were also continually focused either on the past or the future.

I had tried to live in three time zones at once, and two of them were non-existent!

Over the years I had wasted countless hours worrying about the future and things that may or may not happen. I would “what if” different scenarios over and over in my mind, like a never ending circle.

All the years I was lost in thought I was also disengaged from reality and from what was happening in the present moment.

the “what ifs”

It appeared to her that there was a churning going on inside of me all the time. Decades later, I realized she had been correct.

I became aware that I could become more like Him by becoming still inside my mind.

Practicing Stillness with God Helped

with the aid of your Helper, the Holy Spirit, your mental weaknesses will be strengthened (Rom. 8:26).

One of the reasons the Holy Spirit has been given to us is to produce a “sound mind” in us (2 Tim. 1:7).

With His help, you will become skilled in the art of thinking only when needed. The ability not to think is a glorious freedom.

Jesus cautioned us to be “wise as serpents, but harmless as doves”, so you do not need to share your ability not to think with others (Matt. 10:16).

if you choose to think, you are able to choose only to think about things that are pure, lovely, virtuous, and noble (Phil. 4:8). Eventually earth people are drawn to citizens of Heaven when we are able to maintain “thoughtlessness” in our daily lives due to the abundance of peace we enjoy (Psa. 37:11; 72:7; Eph. 2:6). Our serenity is our sanity.

It is as if God is saying it is better not to “take thought” most of the time. This is especially true if the only mind you have is the carnal-mind.

This art of inner stillness is an art the carnal-mind resists since it thrives on continuous mental activity, creating unceasing inner noise even during sleep.

The carnal-mind, the thinking part of the unt...

the carnal-mind is the thinking part of the parasite of self in you.

In its place will be the spiritual-mind, full of “life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

Self is not the true you that you already are, but ha...

Self is a foreign entity, an invader from the world system under the influence of its god, ruler o...

Self’s thinking part is the c...

Ask your Father to forgive you as you did not know what you were doing just then (Luke 23:34).

Stillness Becomes as Natural as Breathing

The concepts of “past” and “future” are carnal-mind realities only.

“now is the acceptable time” became a living creed within me (2 Cor. 6:2).

If surface life is negative now, it will again turn positive, just wait and see. It will not stay positive forever, and you should not expect that. It will repeat its negative turn and vice-versa. This is the manner of surface life, just as Jesus promised it would be (John 16:33).

Things simply are what they are, and that is all. You need not allow outward disturbances to get inside you. People are so deeply attached to surface life as their primary source of meaning that they become easily affected by whatever happens.

Your true life is beneath the surface events that are continually occurring. Do not allow outward things to dictate inner happiness.

Today there is an ever-abiding peace that keeps my soul anchored in t...