A small caveat: We are not speaking here of persons who need serious psychiatric attention. We are discussing average normal persons who are not living up to—otherwise—their potential as happy, well-adjusted persons.
The topic is “perception” to be distinguished from “the thoughts and intents of the heart” in Hebrews 4:12. This distinction is important if we maintain that the heart contains one’s present experience uninterpreted, unexplained, and contains both “thoughts” and “intentions” which are actionable thoughts as well as feelings and the motives behind them. God alone knows this distinction [“Shall not God search this out? for he knows the secrets of the heart.” Psalm 44:21]. The dictionary calls perception, on the other hand, as “the neurophysiological processes [of becoming aware of something through the senses], including memory, by which an organism becomes aware of and interprets external stimuli.”
When we want to explain our plans or our actions, either to ourselves or to others, we use our brains (not hearts) in which memories of previous experiences are kept and often drawn on. These explanations are “perceptions” and as suggested elsewhere need “language” to be explained. Perceptions are manufactured in the brain and as such are part of one’s carnal side and can, at times, be incorrect —or at least, not how God sees it.”
Temptations are, by their very nature, manufactured perceptions based on imagination as well as memories. They are “awake dreams” that take the heart’s thoughts and intentions to an imagined place where no future exists. Like any dream, we eventually awaken and realize where we have been, only now our future returns!
Professional counselors cannot change the heart but they can direct us into new and more wholesome experiences (through behavior changes). The job of the counselor is to change the perception, often as a coping mechanism, but all they have to work with are the client’s own experiences [heart] and memories [brain]. Counselors are goal-oriented to encourage a rethinking or reevaluating of the client’s understanding of current experiences. Christians should consider this when choosing a counselor in order to select one that allows the Scriptures to come into play as well as how God might be directing them.
To the extent a believer’s perception is a true representation of their heart, and their heart is pure [no sinful preoccupation nor hidden motive], then, they are not only well-adjusted, but they are more open to the guidance of the Spirit of God. It is a great goal to reach for.
We ask God to change our hearts and make them pure as the place where God’s Truth resides in a believer’s experience. But our brains may need help to perceive that experience from God’s perspective. Keep in mind: our Lord is a wonderful counselor (Isaiah 9:6). As Children of God, praying also, is therapeutic as a way of providing Divine insight into what we are currently living through and to help us maintain the joy and peace of God as well as keep faith and hope actively praising Him for every one of His promises which we can rightly look forward to.
