| The Grapevine June 10, 2002 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. IITimothy 2:15 Feeding the Mind by Jack Northart After a person gets born again of God's Spirit, he receives eternal life and is heaven bound. He has passed from death unto life and now has the spiritual ability to operate the power of God in his life. So why is it then that so few Christians really get to the point of living a victorious and powerful life? The answer is that we must carry out God's Word in what it instructs us to do. Let's start in the book of Romans. Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect, will of God. The key to power for Christian believers is to be transformed, completely changed, by the renewing of their minds. To renew or change the mind, one must feed the mind with the proper thoughts. The word in the Greek text for transformed is metamorphoomai. And we know metamorphosis is the biological process whereby a caterpillar is changed into a beautiful butterfly. As we CHANGE what we think, from carnal thoughts, to the thoughts of God's Word, our lives become transformed. After a person is born again of God's Spirit, he has the same mind that he had before. But a believer has two ways to feed his mind: with natural knowledge and with spiritual knowledge. Natural knowledge comes from the works and words of man. It is received via the five senses and is, therefore, limited and not necessarily reliable. Spiritual knowledge is received either by means of the spirit of God or from the revealed Word of God, both of which are perfect and reliable. When a believer first decides to renew his mind in life's situations, he finds that it is more difficult than expected. It's much easier to follow the emotional path that natural knowledge has led him down all of his life. However like anything, the more he practices the renewed mind, the easier it becomes, but he must continue to feed his mind the thoughts of God in those situations. And this doesn't happen without having God's Word in his mind to begin with. This means that there must be some study and meditation on the Word of God on a regular basis. And not just studying, but also believing God's Word. Philippians 2:5 Let this mind (thoughts) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. The thoughts that Christ Jesus had are to be in our minds. To discover his thoughts we must again go to God's Word and read. By feeding our minds with the accuracy of God's Word, and then believing them, our lives become more and more victorious and power filled. In our society, there is so much emphasis put on physical fitness and wellbeing. In our country, we spend billions of dollars a year on so-called "health" programs and fitness programs and eating the "right" food. Yet hardly anyone regards the importance of their spiritual wellbeing and fitness. There is no spiritual "health spa" that people go to for two weeks to get their life back on track with God. There are few spiritual "spring training camps" that you can attend in order to get back on top of your spiritual game. But there should be more. Imagine paying your dues of $400 a year to be able to go exercise 5 times a week to get your spiritual life in shape and then keeping it there. Well, you can do that yourself and skip the $400 part of the process too. It's just a matter of starting to spend each day in God's Word. Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart [innermost part of the mind]. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart [innermost part of the mind] with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. We cannot change our entire mind all at once. It has to be done one thought at a time. To renew the mind, we must change the thoughts that we hold or entertain and this, in turn, affects the whole mind. Colossians 3: 15-17 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. After we have fed our minds with God's Word, we think about it and allow it to dwell in us richly. We begin to see and recognize our positions in Christ as sons of God. Then our actions will begin to correspond to spiritual realities. Our lives will become powerful and victorious. |
| Return to main page |
 |