LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU

To lead a victorious Christian life, we need to gain the mind of Christ. To do His work and fulfil His purpose on earth, we need the mind of Christ. Although we can demonstrate the presence of God in our daily lives through the Holy Spirit, we still need to have a renewed mind in Christ because the human mind is limited and the Christian life cannot be lived successfully or worked out with human reasonings.

Reference: Philippians 2:1-11 King James Version (KJV) 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'

Paul always presented the truth as simply as he could so that the readers' faith would be based on Christ and not in human wisdom. He addressed the Christians in Philippi, saying, 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.' The practical application of this verse is important because, although we are free from condemnation according to Romans 8:1 (KJV), we will never be totally free from the battles of the mind as long as we live on earth. The mind is the battleground where all thoughts, ideas and strongholds from outside forces assemble themselves to compete for our attention and to build our mindset.

What does the Scripture have to say about the Christian mind? Romans 12:2 (NIV) reads, 'Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.' The phrase, "the pattern of this world" is severally used in the New Testament to refer to the world system, or the way that a natural (human) being reasons, functions or behaves by default. To stop living like everyone else and establish the mind of Christ, we must feast daily on the Word. As we saturate our minds with God's truths, eventually His Word becomes stronger in our minds than any message or thoughts the enemy sends.

God wants us to renew our minds with the Word until they synchronise with the mind of Christ. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NIV), "for, 'Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ." Having the mind of Christ is establishing His Word as stronghold in our minds, such that no matter the battles we face in the mind, our stance is always one of victory. This mind of Christ is aided by the Holy Spirit, though the Word grants us access to the thoughts of Christ. Gracefully, in Christ, we have been given the ability to grasp spiritual realities and to think what Christ thinks.

The mind of Christ can discern, download or gain insight into divine truths and revelations and also understand what the Spirit of God reveals. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) says, 'The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.' In other words, no one can discern the things of the Spirit without the mind of Christ. Only the spiritually minded can comprehend what the Spirit means, because God's truth can only be received and believed through the Holy Spirit.

This is the reason unbelievers cannot easily believe the spiritual things of God or take them seriously. They view spiritual truths as foolishness (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). But to God be the glory that as Christians, we don't just have access to the mind of Christ, we have His mind in us because we feed on the Word and the precious Holy Spirit is at work in us.

Scripture Reading - 1 Corinthians 2:11; Philippians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 1:13.

Guided Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, your Word points out the value of wealth and knowledge of your truth. By meditating on the Word, my mind is constantly renewed and I'm transformed from the inside out. It changes how I think; it influences my actions and breaks me free from the pattern of the world, such that I understand your will for my life and live accordingly. Thus, I have the mind of Christ for every situation I face, and the Holy Spirit equips me to make a good, acceptable, and perfect use of my life for your eternal purpose, in Jesus' Name, Amen!