Biblical lessons in mind management for Christian lawyers
The fourth instalment of our Mental Health Series.
Taking every thought captive to Christ Jesus: Biblical lessons in mind management for Christian lawyers
Paul Blackham writes: "Jesus does not "magically" deliver us from all our temptations and bad habits... just by praying all our problems away. All too often we live and act as if we need only achieve a prayer of a certain sincerity or emotional intensity and then we would break free of our sins & temptations. Or perhaps we believe that if we only could gain understanding of some deep doctrine or "Bible truth", then we would be set free from our bad habits and obsessions. However, the Bible teaches us to live life one day at a time – to listen to His voice EVERY day; to crucify our flesh EVERY DAY. We do this by capturing our thoughts, our focus, the desires of our heart... setting our gaze/focus on "what is above"... on the Kingdom of Heaven, on the Father on the throne of the highest heaven with Jesus at His side and the glorious flow of the Spirit of life. We are set free from sin not normally in some instantaneous existential moment of "understanding" or "emotional intensity" but in constant, enduring daily capturing of our hearts and minds for Jesus – step by step following in His steps and setting our hearts to love Him, trust Him and even obey Him."
Speakers
Ordained in 1997, Paul Blackham served at All Souls Langham Place as Associate Minister for Theology until 2008, and has since led church plants in both Lancashire and South Wales. He is currently Vicar of St Crispin's Church in Highbury, London. Writer of the Book by Book study guides and series co-presenter, Paul was one of the original trustees of Biblical Frameworks, the charity that administers and funds the series. He is also author of 'The Great Unknown' by Christian Focus publications.
Nicola Rout is a Solicitor with Thompson Smith and Puxon, where she advises clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters but specialises in insolvency and restructuring. She obtained her law degree from Oxford University in 1998 before gaining her Diploma in Legal Practice from Nottingham Law School in 1999. She then joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to undertake her training contract, qualifying into the Restructuring and Insolvency team. Nicola has a wealth of experience acting for companies, investment banks and hedge funds, including acting on debt for equity swaps, debt restructurings and pre-pack administrations. Her experience highlights include acting for stakeholders in the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 during her time as senior associate at Latham & Watkins and then more recently, advising a FTSE 100 company and a global professional body on GDPR compliance issues. She is a trustee of Biblical Frameworks.