Introduction to Plaitra
Welcome to Plaitra - Biblical meditation with results
You can read Plaitra on the Substack app or on plaitra.substack.com.
To learn more about Plaitra, also see the About page.
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 (ESV)
(1) OVERVIEW
(1-1) Creating great lives
This post describes Plaitra in the form of one of Plaitra’s lessons, named Plessons. Plaitra is a results focused Biblical meditation coaching service that helps people think well and have victory in life. It's been a dream of mine to provide a service that empowers people, but I couldn't do it until after I used the Word of God to get my mind straight.
One might say that the world these days is falling apart, leading to anxiety, fear, depression, or discouragement, amidst relational, financial and other types of problems. This content stems from spending years with God personally overcoming these types of forces with results, learning the Bible, and organizing a great deal of content to create the insight for others. (More on me later, if you're interested.)
(1-2) Reading and reflection
This post and my future content have a certain structure through which you can learn about a topic and then apply it to your life. Each plesson, consists of written content, questions, and evaluations. Video and audio will be integrated into Plaitra also, but writing is central to this process because it provides accountability. You can get into a plesson and get more insight and power with the Application (see below).
With this process, you can become more empowered to use the Bible to fix things such as anxiety, fear, negativity, as well as physical, relational, and financial issues. The plessons will be written considering what is going on in the world, and with input from members. The quality of the content will hopefully become evident as you put it into practice and see positive results.
(1-3) Overcoming the opposition
When you work on a plesson, you might encounter various forms of opposition. There are spiritual forces which oppose the advancement of the Kingdom of God; advancement such as working on improving your life with the Bible. Opposition might be experienced in small or larger forms of mental, physical, relational, or property type of annoyances or problems.
The way to overcome opposition is to “stand” and not be swayed by a temporary instance of trouble or pain in whatever form (Ephesians 6, and many more). Opposition can be painful, but it is temporary. In summary, the way to deal with it is to remember that it happens, and just keep moving forward.
One of the hard parts is that opposition can be discouraging, because something negative temporarily happens and gives you a distorted view of reality. But the key is to remember that the enemy (i.e., thief in the introductory verse) is trying to steal your faith, and you need to try to keep your faith as it should be. (The topic of successfully dealing with opposition will be covered in future plessons.)
(2) PRINCIPLES
(2-1) Consulting the manufacturer
Creating a better life Biblically comes from getting better at following God and living according to His rules. If you want to learn how to take better care of your car, consult the instruction manual, the manufacturer, or a related expert who has good results with cars. The same principle applies to improving your life as a whole.
God is the manufacturer of life and the Bible is an instruction manual. Striving for righteousness, or right living, so that we can have a great life is at the core of the Bible - all pointing to Jesus who offered up His righteousness to the world. It's an astounding truth, and the greatest gift we can receive - carrying with it the power to enable an incredible life (Romans 5 and many more). And incredible or great includes hardships and sacrifice that and God uses for His purposes - as we overcome them.
(2-2) Applying the material
Following God's instructions effectively requires study and application, along with a genuine desire to live how God wants us to live. Study involves getting into what the Bible actually says, often helped or guided by a reliable resource such as Plaitra. Then the main thing is to apply it by actually thinking and doing what God wants in your life.
Reading alone will do little. Afterwards, and on a regular basis, check to see if you're actually doing it right, which can include honest reflection and prayer, or getting feedback from someone else. All this can apply in a variety of ways, from starting meditation on a new verse, to doing the next task, to improving an area of life, to moving forward with a life change.
(2-3) Choosing courage
Of course, consulting God about our life might be harder than consulting a mechanic about our car, or another inanimate thing. Cars don't have flesh - the part of us that resists listening to the right thing if it damages our pride or if it is connected with having to do hard things. (Cars obviously don't have physical flesh either but the point here is about the deep spiritual topic of flesh; also the subject of future plessons.)
Will you listen to what you want to be true because it is easier temporarily or will you do the courageous thing and face what is necessary? The answer determines the kind of life you can have. Incidentally, Plaitra is a combination of three Greek New Testament words referring to putting one's life on a solid foundation (petra; e.g., Matthew 7:24), complete with Jesus (pléroó; e.g., Colossians 2:10), with the necessary pruning (kathairó; John 15:2).
(3) APPLICATION
Each plesson will have an Application like this which you can use to apply the topic to your life - as your own personal instruction. In this introductory post, I've attempted to describe what Plaitra is, while also showcasing an example of a plesson. The purpose of this Application is to help you get started with this process. If you would like to take the next step and talk to Anna, please email plaitra@substack.com.
(3-1) What’s your takeaway?
God wants people to have a great life (John 10:10 and many more). Unless you have a perfect life, you can make things better for yourself and those around you.
(3.1) What is the main thing (point or principle) you take away from this Plesson, that you want to work on doing in your life? You can list more than one thing, but then still please identify the most important thing.
(3.2) Why do you think it’s good to do this thing from 3.1? If you know the Bible, try to list a Bible reference for doing this thing. If you don’t know the Bible yet, just try to explain.
(3-2) What’s your next step?
Improving your life with the Bible requires studying it and applying it effectively. This takes commitment, including effort and time. It won't just happen by reading alone.
(3.3) What is the next step you can or will take - to do the thing from 3.1? Try to be as specific as you can. The answer can include what you will actually do or how you might change your thinking. It can be a small step, but try to identify something specific.
(3.4) What do you think should change in your life, as a result of the step in 3.3? Why do you think this change should happen? It might be hard to answer this question, but just do your best. If you don't know, then try to explain why it's hard to know.
(3-3) What challenges will you overcome?
There are various challenges to studying and applying the Bible to our lives. If you genuinely go after it, you will probably face opposition in the form of temporary annoyances or problems, as well as deeper internal resistance such as pride.
(3.5) What is something hard about taking this next step in 3.3? Try to be specific as you can. Possible challenges could come from just doing it, or from things that might happen after you do it. You can list more than one.
(3.6) How might you deal with and overcome the challenge(s) from 3.5? This might be using the Word to transform your mind, or maybe adjusting your life in some way, or maybe just pressing through. Again, the more specific the better.
Thank you for reading. If you like what you see here please spread the word. And if you like this post, please mark that you like it below.
If you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll join Plaitra and realize a greater level of life. I look forward to hopefully engaging with you here.
You can also give a greater life to someone else.
You also can learn about Plaitra on the About page.
- Anna Blaszczyk