He is on and in my mind!

Is it possible that an aging mind often becomes an extreme version of the way a person thinks most of their earlier life? My mom has Alzheimer’s and in the early stages we talked about it. I told her I didn’t dwell on the past and my memory of early events was dim, so if/when I lost my short-term memory, my mind would be a total blank. We both laughed.

This morning’s devotional reading is about the power of the mind to choose. It gives this as an example:

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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:5–6)

I almost laughed when I read it. My mind is what some call scattered. I’m easily distracted and focus has always been a challenge. However, the Lord has taught me His solution. To be able to think clearly and focus on Him, I must be filled with the Spirit. That means all known sin is confessed, and I trust Him to put in my head what He wants me to think about, to say, and to do. This is a freedom. 

I’ve had situations where I said something that just “popped out” and later wondered where that came from, yet it was always appropriate and fit with the fruit of the Spirit. No setting my mind or thinking what was the right thing; it was just there.

Now as I read these verses, it seems more a description of two ways to think rather than a choice of what to think. That is, if I am filled with the Spirit of God, I will be thinking as the Spirit thinks. If I am not filled, I will be thinking fleshy thoughts, always self-focused, trying to impress listeners, promote myself, and so on. 

Selfish living is separated from God, and the word of God calls that spiritual death. Abiding in Him in total faith and under His control sets my mind on the Spirit and that is life and peace.

And for me, being filled with His Spirit can leave my body entirely exhausted, which I cannot explain. I just know that when I am trusting the Lord, conversations with others seem to take energy out of me and I become very tired. Perhaps this is because the energy of the Spirit is no longer needed and I’m left with that old self? Not sure. Opinions and thoughts are welcome. 
Yesterday was an example. I went to bed early and slept soundly, and hours longer than normal, but woke up feeling renewed. God gave me fresh ideas in my sleep about being organized even if I have memory problems, and how to practice hospitality without many resources. The sense of having worshiped in my sleep was strong. What a gift…

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9–11)
For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

PRAY: How awesome. It is true that You are all that I need. I only need to believe You and give You my heart and mind, and You fill me with whatever You want me to think, say, and do. You alway amaze and even surprise me. Truly, to live is Christ! Thank You.
 

Thinking God’s thoughts

One of my high school teachers told the class, “Do not think about a red apple.” Of course, none of us could obey her. Our minds tend to go where we are told not to go, as this teacher illustrated. The opposite is also true. Had she said to think about the apple, we would be able to do it, but all sorts of other thoughts would immediately vie for our attention.

God knows all about this. He commands that we think pure and healthy thoughts, but merely telling us to do that does not make it happen. Our sinful nature is not interested or able to totally control what we think about. However, there is good news . . .

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:3–8)

There are two ways to look at these verses. One view considers this a black and white issue; a person is either in Christ and therefore in the Spirit, or not a believer and therefore in the flesh.

The other view is that Christians can live according to the Spirit because they are yielded to Him and controlled by Him, or we can live according to the flesh because we have yielded to sin and are controlled by our own desires.

Theologically, the first interpretation seems correct, but experientially, most Christians will recognize that the second is more like what happens. We are God’s holy people, but like newly drafted solders, we have to learn to act like what we are. Sometimes we ‘tip over’ and our old fleshy nature has its way, drawing us into sinful thinking. This does not mean we go in and out of a saved state, but it does mean we go in and out of who and what is running our lives.

The answer to this problem after the tipping over is 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God graciously forgives those lapses into sin and sinful thinking, yet the command remains; we are to think His thoughts. How can that happen? 

Tozer says that the best way to control our thoughts is to offer our minds to God in complete surrender and the Holy Spirit will accept that offer and take immediate control. He adds that thinking on spiritual things will become easier, especially if we train our thought by long periods of daily prayer. As the Bible says, prayer without ceasing is the spiritual discipline of mentally talking to God, and this helps to form the habit of holy thinking.

For me, this has not been easy. My scattered mind, vivid imagination, interest in everything, and so on, have been my excuses, yet now I understand something that was unclear in the past. Much of my thought-life has been based on the stuff unyielded to God. Anything I wanted to control or thought that I could do myself without His help interfered with setting my mind on Him. He changed that notion by proving He controls all things. My entire life is by His grace, including every breath that I take. I cannot control or do anything without His permission and help.

Tozer says: “This is what the Holy Spirit brings to us, the vision of the Lord, power to see divine things as God sees them.” And this makes a difference. God sees my helpless estate and my foolish ambitions. He knows the strongholds in my mind and knows how to break them down, releasing me from the bondage of always wanting my own way and thinking that I can do whatever I please.

Tozer also says that, “The Spirit also thinks in us by giving us divine instincts, intuitions and enablements.” This is the most wonderful experience — to know the will of God. This is not about continually searching the Scriptures (even though that is a good idea), but about His thoughts flowing through my head, there because my own thoughts have been exposed and whisked away.

In the long run, the prayer without ceasing part is not so much a cause of mental discipline, but the result of the Holy Spirit’s working in my mind. He puts my focus on what is important, and all other thoughts lose their appeal. I could not do that without His enabling.  

^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, this change is wonderful, but rather than focus on the change, my mind is on You. You are the center, the reason and the source of all that is pure and good. Hold and fill my thoughts with the goodness of You.

Taking every thought captive

The motivational gift of teacher (Romans 12) has been defined as “having a deep desire for people to think biblically.” This ‘gift’ involves gathering information and presenting it in a way that empowers Christians to think with the mind of Christ. Of course those who have that gift must think biblically themselves.

For me, this means knowing Scripture and focusing on truth from the Word of God. It means not being “conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of my mind” so I can discern the will of God. (Romans 12:2) It also means obedience to Paul’s exhortation about how I think:

“Finally . . .   whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

This is a challenge. Satan uses lies tangled up in media, memories, and appeals to unmet human desires. Just as he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he nags at me and I need to fight back, but must remember . . .

“The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . . .” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5)

Besides putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-18) which includes prayer, I need to recognize what I am up against. From 2 Corinthians 10, Paul summarizes a worldly and sinful thought life . . .

Arguments = logical conclusions reached by false reasoning, arguing with words that are not true.

Lofty opinions = an exaggerated evaluation of who I am or what I have done, particularly in competition with what God says about me and my deeds.

Thought = the content of what I am thinking about.

These three cover any sort of logic that goes against the Word of God, anything that flows out of pride rather than humility, and whatever else I might think about that motivates a resistance to God. Remembering why Christ died helps me with some of it, as does reading the Bible and worshiping God in words and singing.

Dreams sometimes mess with godly thinking. One college professor told me that if a person remembers a dream, it usually means that dream relates to unresolved issues or conflicts in their life. This is helpful because dreams can push me to examine stuff that I have pushed away.

“We are apt to forget that a man is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation; he is committed to Jesus Christ’s view of God, of the world, of sin and of the devil, and this will mean that he must recognize the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of his mind.” Oswald Chambers

Another wise person told me that Christian maturity requires bringing to the conscious mind that which was repressed, and then rethinking it biblically and putting it back. Since subconscious thoughts affect behavior, this process helps me understand why I do things. It also is part of what God does in renewing my mind.

But I cannot do this myself or make it happen, or even want it to happen. Only the Holy Spirit knows what and how to do it, and when. He can bring up repressed thoughts and events, help me examine them in the light of God’s Word, and gently resolve those buried issues.

This is what the Bible says about using divine power to destroy strongholds and bring every thought captive. 

More about imagination

Imagination is simply the ability to think of something that is not there. It can be a truthful imagination in the sense that it could actually exist or happen, such picturing in my mind how my walls would look in a different color. It can also be fictional imagination, such as elves cooking my supper.

God wants me to set my imagination on Him. This is not easy. He is a Spirit so cannot be seen or even described, but He does give me the ability to sense His presence. He also revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, so by the New Testament narratives, I can imagine a man who heals the sick, raises the dead, and loves me unconditionally, although this latter one is difficult at times.

He also wants me to imagine what He has done and can do. Looking at creation helps me do that. Focusing on answers to prayer or the changed lives of other Christians is also helpful, even though the main source for my imaginative thoughts is the Word of God where I can read about what He has done and has promised. Yet there is far more to God than what has been recorded even in the Bible. This verse of benediction hints it:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think (imagine), according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

God is able to do more than I can ask or imagine. No one can second-guessed Him or know for certain what He is going to do, even in answer to prayer. He is full of surprises. He says His thoughts are beyond my thoughts. At the same time, He tells me to have a mind that is changed, that leans toward His thoughts, His will, His ideas.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

In renewing my mind, I must turn from the old stuff. That is, whatever held my imagination before I became a Christian has to be put off, discarded, and rejected. I’ve been given a new way to think, even given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). For this reason, God tells me to abandon the thoughts of those who do not know Him and whose minds cannot grasp the life of God because their hearts are hard. Their thoughts are “sensual, greedy . . . and impure.”

He tells me that is not the way that I learned Christ — assuming that I have heard about Him and have been taught in him. As the truth is in Jesus, I am to put off my old self which belongs to my former manner of life which is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of my mind, putting on the new self which has been created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20–24)

I am to set my mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. He says, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:2–4)

Another helpful way to keep my imagination where it should be is to trust God instead of anything else, including my ideas and imagination. Trust is key to being at peace . . .

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

An added thought from Chambers is that an imagination that is not fixed on God in trust will produce exhaustion. Of course, hard work will do the same, but waiting on God renews my strength and overcomes fatigue and weakness, another good reason to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

A rich and godly imagination will not only keep me filled with spiritual energy, but also deepens my affection for God and keeps my heart settled in perfect peace.

A most incredible mind

One of the most destructive things I ever said to my children is, “You make me so mad” or “You make me so happy.” By doing this, I reinforced the notion that they are responsible for my emotional well-being. Of course that philosophy is quickly converted to their own lives and they make everyone else responsible for how they feel, what they do, and the mistakes they make.

Our son had a t-shirt that said “San Andreas” on the front, and on the back, “It’s not my fault.” I used to think it was a cute pun, but have since changed my mind. It’s important to own up to what is our fault. Otherwise, if the problem lies in the lap of others, then we are stuck with it. Unless I can say this is my fault, I cannot confess it or be forgiven and cleansed by God. I’m also helpless to do anything about it and am making myself a victim.

Worse yet, when I start thinking I’m a victim, I easily become angry at God for “letting this happen to me,” passing the buck from me, to “whoever did this,” and then to God. It is as the writer of Proverbs says, “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.” (Proverbs 19:3)

All of this started with the first sin. Eve blamed the snake who told her to eat the forbidden fruit. Adam blamed Eve who invited him to eat it with her, but he added, “the woman You gave me” as he offered his puny excuse to God, as if God hadn’t made Eve, none of this would have happened.

If I could put a trail on my complaining, excuses and blame-shifting, all of it would eventually wind its way back to God. If God hadn’t allowed this . . .  if God had of done things differently . . .  if God gave me more courage, or wisdom, or whatever, then I’d be better off.

Jesus never did any of that. He knew the Cross was before Him. He prayed that it would not happen, but He also said, “Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.” When the soldiers drove the nails into His hands and feet, He said, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

Speaking to those who were suffering without deserving it, Peter reminded them: “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:19–23)

All good things come from the hand of God: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17) When good comes, do I pat myself on the back instead of praising God? Sometimes. But when bad comes, particularly when it is my fault, do I point my fingers at me? Or do I moan and complain as if someone else or even God is responsible for my folly?

Thinking with the mind of Christ means trusting God when things go well, and trusting God when they don’t. it means no whining, blame-shifting, or what-iffing. It means taking life as it comes, perhaps on my knees, but not with anxiety, bitterness, or frustration. Truly, Jesus has a most incredible mind!