REV. EKOW ESHUN
TOPIC : CONDITION YOUR MIND FOR YOUR OWN PROGRESS
SCRIPTURE: ROMANS 8:6 (NKJV) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
At the time of the new birth or salvation, the spirit of a man is recreated completely and made new. That is why II Corinthians tells us that, ”if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…” (KJV)
Indeed, this new creature is the human spirit. Usually, great joy and enthusiasm accompany this experience. It is like the feeling you get when you acquire something new and very valuable. This joy and enthusiasm, however, are not coming from the mind, emotions or the physical being. They are coming from the new born spirit where the Holy Spirit now lives and imparts the fruit of joy.
Incidentally, at the time of the new birth, nothing happens to the mind. Remember that your mind always gets its information from the five senses which are in the physical body. That is how the mind gets conditioned by the senses. So what happens to your mind or thinking after you experience the new birth?
Nothing really happens to the mind after the new birth until you do something about it. Why? Because the conditioning of your mind is part of your responsibility as a child of God. Romans 12, verse 2 makes it quite clear
that; “….and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,…” This verse talks about conformity to the world’s way of life or a life of transformation in Christ Jesus through the renewing of your thinking. This renewal of the thinking is a daily process that involves the hearing, believing, meditation and constant practice of God’s Word. This is progressive and takes you from one level of glory to another and also empowers you to experience continual victory. As you can see, this lifestyle of victory through character transformation is not spontaneous. The price is paid daily.
You and I therefore, have one of two choices to make as this verse reveals. You either renew your mind or thinking and be transformed into the likeness of Christ Jesus in your whole lifestyle or remain the same, without changing your old thinking and lifestyle and remain a carnal believer. The carnal believer is the one who is born again, but does not renew his or her mind and is therefore ruled by the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste instead of the Word of God.
Today’s verse clearly describes the life of the believer with the renewed mind and the one without the renewed mind. A Spirit-filled life of true peace and dominion belongs to the believer with the renewed mind. On the other hand, the carnally minded believer is usually worldly, lacks the constant enabling power of the Spirit-filled life and often struggles to walk in faith and enjoy the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER
I bless you Father for the grace you have given me in Christ Jesus. I thank you therefore for the strength to live victoriously day by day. Your Word enables me to be taught, guided and empowered to change my thinking so that I can experience transformation into Christlikeness and refuse to submit to anything worldly or carnal. I lay hold of my victory through your Word in Jesus’s name, Amen.
FURTHER READING (NKJV) ROMANS 8:5-10
[5]For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
[6]For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
[7]Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
[8]So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[9]But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
[10]And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
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