RENEW YOUR MIND TO WALK IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 14, 2022. 

SUBJECT: RENEW YOUR MIND TO WALK IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE! 

Memory verse:  "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God." (Romans 12 vs 2.) 

READ: Second Corinthians 5 vs 16 -18:

5:16: Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

5:18: Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

INTIMATION:

God designed the human being as a tri-part being: a spirit, who has a soul, and lives in a body. The real man is a spirit. That is why at the new birth, it is the human spirit that gets recreated. When a person gets saved, that Spirit that is Christ takes the place of the former human spirit, and begin to operate in him. The human becomes a new creature, with the spirit of man replaced with the Spirit of God. 

The new spirit has the nature of God. However, it operates with body and soul that is conformed to the world, that is, ruled by sense knowledge; the things it sees, touches, smells, hears, and tastes. The sense-ruled mind is the companion of a recreated spirit, but the mind has never been renewed, so there is no real fellowship between the recreated spirit and the mind that is in contact with the world and largely ruled by it.

Therefore, for the human being to walk in the newness of life, the mind, housed in the soul, and expressing itself in the flesh, has to be transformed from its conformity with the world; its rulership by sense knowledge. This transformation is by renewing of the mind.

The only way of renewing the mind, that is, replacing the error of the world’s way of thinking, is to replace it with God’s truth, and the only infallible source of God’s truth is His revealed Word—the Bible. Transformation through renewed minds comes as believers expose themselves to God’s Word through the faithful exposition of it each week in church, personal Bible study, and group Bible study. A solid church that believes in preaching the Word, reading the Word, and singing the Word is invaluable in helping us renew our minds.

The "Sense Ruled Mind" is the unrenewed mind. It is always waging war against Christian’s belief system, ever praying for faith but never arriving; always talking unbelief yet struggling to get faith; ever confessing failure, but at the same time confessing faith in the Word and denying it in actions; trying to belief, yet never acting on the Word. That is spiritual infancy.

God knows the problem of man. And in His infinite wisdom, and great grace, He came down into the realm of the senses in the person of Christ. Then Christ arose from the dead and appeared among the disciples to let them see Him, hear Him, and feel Him. The Bible, in John 20 vs 24 - 26 gives us a pictorial account of the sense-ruled mind:

"Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (John 20 vs 24 - 26.)

Thomas was a sense knowledge believer. He had to see in order to believe. His senses had to be satisfied. He could not take the Word of God independent of his senses. We are confronted continually with that type of believer as majority of Christians are in that category.

Jesus appeared to His disciples in company of Thomas. Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." (John 20 vs 27.) The apostle John, in First John 1 vs 1 - 3, further emphasized the same issue of an unrenewed mind—the sense ruled mind: 

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life - the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us - that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also will have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ."

You notice that, "that which we have seen and heard we are telling you," is sense knowledge evidence. That was all right in the early church. During the first fifteen years, the early church lived very largely in the realm of sense knowledge faith. We have many today that cannot believe beyond what their senses register. 

Walking in the newness of life is having your mind renewed, believing God and His Word completely, and knowing that "all things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9 vs 23.) Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not be unbelieving, but believing. If God has said it, believe it, and be blessed because it will surely manifest in your life as said.  

Prayer: Abba Father, You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your Word is a commandment for a perfect life. Give me the grace to obey completely Your Word and forgive my unbelief. Help me, O Merciful God, and make Your strength perfect in my weakness, and endue me with Your excellent Spirit that I may live for You all the days of my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!