Colossians 3:1-2 NKJV (1) If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Mindset: a mental attitude or inclination, a fixed state of mind
Some may think that you are living out of your spirit. You actually are living out of your thoughts. Your actions always follow your thinking.
Proverbs 23:6-8 TPT (6) Be sensible when you dine with a stingy man and don’t eat more than you should. (7) For as he thinks within himself, so is he. He will grudgingly say, “Go ahead and eat all you want,” but in his heart he resents the fact that he has to pay for your meal. (8) You’ll be sorry you ate anything at all, and all your compliments will be wasted.
Isaiah 55:7 NKJV (7) Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
The way that someone returns unto the Lord is in your thoughts first.
As a believer you have a choice to think in line with your spirit or in line with your five physical senses.
Which way the mind swings determines the direction of your life.
What controls your dedication to the things of God is your thinking.
What changes you from being shaped like the world is your thinking.
What you believe about Jesus determines your eternal outcome but your behavior determines the quality of life you experience now as a believer in the earth.
Our behavior produces the kind of life that we have and if we will adapt our behavior to the standard of God’s Word, we will enjoy His blessing and involvement in our lives.
We make hundreds of decisions every day – about 20% are conscious decisions and the other 80% are reflexive. This speaks to the need for preconditioning in our lives to make sure that we reflexively respond the way should and make good decisions.
The things that exercise the greatest amount of influence in our lives, are the things that help shape the decisions that we make on a regular basis.
God labors through your recreated spirit to influence your decision-making process. (1 John 4:15)
Your body is influenced by the sensory perceptions it has to provide influences in your decision-making process.
Your soul is the seat of your decision-making process.
Your soul is comprised of your mind, will, and your emotions.
Your mind is the deciding factor in which course you will follow.
Romans 8:5-6 NKJV (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.
How do we get from being carnally minded to being spiritually minded?
The process is called to renewing your mind.
Romans 12:2 NKJV (2) 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 12:2 TPT (2) Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.
The transformation of our lives is contingent upon the renewing of our minds.
Some think that renewing the mind is simply replacing the worldly value system that you have had and replace it with God’s value system or removing old standards and replacing with new ones.
Renewing does not mean learning. Paul was writing to people who were Born Again and had a basic knowledge of the Word of God.
Renewing the mind means taking what you already know and refilling and replenishing in the continuous present sense.
Refilling and replenishing the mind with things that you have already learned is a continual ongoing process.
How do you renew your mind?
It is a process of taking out and putting in. (Housecleaning and refurnishing)
Don’t have a mental garage sale, just burn it.
You would not go out and buy new furniture and then squeeze it in next to the old furniture and make it fit, no you get rid of the old and replace it with the new.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 KJV (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Four Levels of Mental Activity:
- Thoughts
- Imaginations
- High things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
- Strongholds
There is no place in the Bible that says that Satan is able to place thoughts in our minds. That premise implies that he is omniscient.
There is only One who knows the thoughts and intents of the human heart and that is the Lord.
1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV (7) But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Satan is a fallen angel and is not all powerful, everywhere at once and does not know what you are thinking.
Our thoughts are a process of moving through the circumstances of our everyday life.
There is no such thing as a blank mind. Your mind is in operation all the time.
Thoughts are introduced to you by observation, association, teachings, and the circumstances of life.
Matthew 6:25 KJV (25) Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
You determine the thoughts that you take or reject.