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Authors: Casey Treat

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Renewal Is Not a Secret
There are many popular philosophies today that claim they hold the keys to a person’s spiritual, emotional, relational, and financial success. Many authors collectively making billions of dollars through their books and accompanying teaching resources brag they have the secret of the universe: “If you will simply follow these five easy steps, order my latest DVD, and join my monthly e-mail blast, you, too, can find spiritual enlightenment!” Then depending upon what famous movie star, athlete, or talk show host endorses the product, more and more of the masses thoughtlessly believe it as truth; thus, a new spiritual movement is born. But as quickly as these new philosophies rise to popularity is as quickly as they fade into the past as people begin to realize they didn’t transform their lives like they had hoped. While some success might have been apparent for a while, the emptiness deep within their hearts still was not satisfied. They begin to look for the next big wave.
Renewing the mind is not, and will never be, part of this transient wave. It’s not mind over matter, it’s not just thinking happy thoughts, and it’s not the law of attraction. It’s not even disciplining yourself to become aware of every negative thought and replace it with a positive one. It’s so much more powerful than that. Renewing the mind is exchanging the thoughts you have learned from the world for the life-changing thoughts of the One who created the universe. It’s not just deciding to believe in whatever wind of doctrine happens to be popular at the time. These are man-made principles and ultimately lifeless. Renewing the mind is choosing as truth the very Word of God, which is alive and powerful, and making His Word our way of thinking. Hebrews 4:12 declares, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Renewing the mind is exchanging the thoughts you have learned from the world for the life-changing thoughts of the One who created the universe.
There is amazing, life-changing power in God’s Word, and when we begin to conform our way of thinking to the realities of His Word, everything that once seemed impossible by the standards of the world become possible! Those areas of our life that once weighed us down, that appeared hopeless to change, now begin to lift. The dreams and visions for our lives we saw as unattainable now are right before our eyes, ready for the taking! We rise above the limitations of the world and begin to experience a supernatural way of life. The opportunity to possess a life such as this is within the reach of every Christian. It takes new knowledge and new beliefs. It takes renewing the mind.
12
The Age-Old Battle
I
saw a commercial on TV the other day that was promoting the latest and greatest drug therapy for a better sex life. The images were of several couples, all happy and romantic, dancing and enjoying their marriages. The voiceover, however, was quite the opposite as it listed the many side effects for the drug: increased risk of heart attack, loss of hearing, nausea, vision changes, and possibly blindness. I laughed. So the guy will have a better sex life, but he might go blind and deaf while he’s having a heart attack. Great. At least he’ll have a smile on his face.
The gurus in the world do not know how to answer the problems so many are facing today. Their solution is simply to prescribe a new drug to numb the anger, the depression, and the pain. They are eager to promote the newest program to lose weight, manage your emotions, and fix your addictions. They are even referring to the natural process of aging as a disease and are offering various medications and procedures to fight the “disease of aging”! You take the drug, but then you need another drug to offset the side effects of the first drug, and when it’s time for you to go off these drugs, you need a third drug to help you with the withdrawal symptoms of the other two drugs. When does it end?
As Christians, let’s not go for the remedies the world has to offer. Instead, let’s decide to pursue God’s perfect will for our lives. Let’s walk in His plan for our spirit, soul, and body so that we can enjoy all the pleasures of life, including a fulfilling marriage and sexual relationship, without the cost (physical and financial) of a dozen prescription drugs. Living in God’s perfect will, as we have already discussed, begins with becoming born again. This moves us toward salvation and an eternity spent in the presence of Jesus. However, just because we now have an open relationship with God doesn’t mean we will have success in life or that our day-to-day experiences will become any better. This requires the next step: using our faith and vision to renew our minds. It’s a lifelong process that moves us toward His perfect and acceptable will for our lives here on Earth.
Flesh Versus Spirit
Have you ever been in a situation when you knew what the right and honorable thing to do was but instead you responded in exactly the opposite way? Every person alive (or has ever lived since the beginning of time for that matter) has found themselves acting in a way contrary to what they believe. We’re driving into the office, and we think,
I’m not going to let the stress of work affect me today. I’m going to lead my staff with grace and kindness.
And then, the first moment someone makes a mistake, we’re screaming our heads off. Or we pick up the phone to call a friend and we think,
I promised I would not say anything to anyone about Jane’s personal problems, and I will not breathe a word of it to my friend.
The next thing we know, we’re blabbering Jane’s confidences to another person. Then we feel terrible for doing what we did and think,
Why did I do that?
Paul gives us the answer in Romans 7:18-25. Even for the Christian there exists a war between the sin that resides in our flesh and the spirit that is born again: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
The battle every Christian must engage in daily is one with the flesh in one corner squaring off with the spirit in the other. Every human is composed of three entities: spirit, soul, and body (flesh). Our flesh, or our body, operates solely through our senses, what we taste, see, hear, smell, and touch. It is what makes us desire things like alcohol, drugs, pornography, adultery, and other types of destructive lusts or behaviors. On the other hand, our spirits are our life force, and the moment we choose to believe in Jesus, our spirits become united with God. In this union of holiness, our spirits now only desire those things that bring life, joy, and peace. The flesh and the spirit stand contrary to each other, unable and unwilling to compromise. This standstill brings us to the deciding factor, the third entity of our triune being: the soul. The soul casts the swing vote, the one that determines the outcome of this war. If our soul votes for the flesh, we choose to live in the realm of our senses. If our soul votes for the spirit, we open up our lives to experience the realm of faith.
The battle every Christian must engage in daily is one with the flesh in one corner squaring off with the spirit in the other.
Our soul also has three ingredients: our mind and how we think, our will and what we desire, and our emotions and how we feel about every aspect of our lives. The mind is the leader of the three, and where it goes, the will and the emotions will follow. Can you see why it is so important to renew our minds and learn how to think according to God’s Word? If we want to win the war between the spirit and the flesh, we must sharpen our most vital weapon—our minds.
Every one of us has a body of flesh, and no matter how mature we become as Christians, this flesh will never stop trying to tempt us away from the things of God. At any point in our walk with God, if we become lazy in this fight, our flesh will take over. In the Northwest, we have blackberry bushes that spring up everywhere. The branches are thick and thorny things and if not pruned back, they will spread fast and furious. At the beginning of spring, they look nice with their pretty white flowers, but if left to themselves, by the end of the summer you can lose your entire backyard to this bush. And once a blackberry bush has become overgrown, it takes a whole lot of work (and very thick gloves) to chop it down. The flesh is the same way. If we don’t keep a close watch over it, it will try to take over our lives.
The incredible news is we have a choice! As Paul wrote, “Thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord” we are not victims of our flesh (Romans 7:25). When we make the choice to renew our minds to God’s Word, we move from the back of the car to the driver’s seat, and we can steer the path of our decisions. Admittedly, change and renewal can sometimes be difficult, as “battles” usually are, but this should not detract from the knowledge of the power within us to change.
Paul goes on to explain this battle further in Romans 8:5-7: “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. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”
The victory lies in our minds, and where we set, or focus, our minds. If we set our minds on the flesh—worldly perspectives, fears, resentments, jealousies, lusts—the results will bring death or destruction to our lives. Even if we are saved, if our minds are carnal, they are enmity against God, and we will live separated from the strength and blessings of God. As a result, we will not have what it takes to live successfully and to overcome bad habits, negative attitudes, health issues, and relational problems. Our mind-sets actually push us away from our Father in Heaven, and we cannot draw upon His power to move forward in life.
So many of us Christians love the Lord but still struggle in some, or even all, aspects of life because we won’t renew our minds to the things of God. We allow our minds to feed on the same newspapers, television programs, and general attitudes that the world does, and so we have the same worldly, carnal mind-set. We live under the authority of the flesh, when biblically speaking, we should be living as people who have been set free from the dominion of the flesh. We should be experiencing life at a higher level in every area.
So many of us Christians love the Lord but still struggle in some, or even all, aspects of life because we won’t renew our minds to the things of God.
If we desire results that produce life, then we must set our minds on the things of the spirit—love, blessing, joy, faith, and God’s Word. We need to cultivate a spiritual mind-set if we want to walk in God’s perfect will for our lives. What does being “spiritually minded” really mean? Many Christians start to get weird when this topic comes up. They imagine pictures of porky little angels and horned evil demons, and their voices become all singsong-y and breathy. And then we wonder why the world thinks we’re one bubble off center. Having a spiritual mind does not mean you will start seeing ghosts or hearing voices. If this were the case, then I used to be a
very
spiritually minded teenager whenever I smoked enough pot. In addition, it’s not walking around thinking about Heaven all the time. If you’re too busy picturing the pearly gates and the throne room while you’re driving to work, you’re going to end up with your bumper wrapped around a tree.
Being spiritually minded and having a renewed mind means, practically speaking, that we possess thoughts that line up with the scriptures. It’s choosing to have principles, attitudes, and beliefs that are in agreement with the Word of God. It means whatever you are doing, you do it with a godly perspective. For instance, when you are at work, you work with discipline and integrity; you are the very best because you represent Jesus on the job. When you are interacting with your wife, you treat her as Jesus loves and treats the church. When you are raising your children, you teach them the ways of the Lord; you are leading them as unto the Lord. Instead of operating with a carnal mind, focused only upon your own personal needs and wants, you operate with a spiritual mind, seeking to be unselfish, generous, and loving.
Are you spiritually minded or carnally minded? When stress or temptation arises, do you obey the flesh and respond with anger, gluttony, greed, lust, fear, and depression? Or do you obey the spirit and operate in love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and self-control? Galatians 5:16 teaches, “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” To be spiritually minded, we need to walk
daily
, plugged into what the Spirit of God is saying to us and how He is leading and guiding us instead of fulfilling the suggestions of the flesh.
It is vital we realize that while our spirits are born again, our flesh never received salvation and it can never be renewed. It will always be drawn to negative addictions and to worldly beliefs, so we must keep it disciplined at all times. Even if we’ve been walking with God for twenty-five years, we’ll never get the luxury of relaxing in the battle of our flesh. It’s just like in the training of our kids. We would never say to them, “You guys have been so good about telling the truth all week. You did such a great job not telling any lies. Today for your reward, you can tell all the lies you want. You can do whatever you wish—you deserve it—and tomorrow, we’ll get back to telling the truth.” This would never happen! Similarly, so must we be consistent with regards to our Christianity and the battle between the spirit and the flesh.

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