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Message #3 from my series Nurturing Spiritual Desires.
“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace”
Have You Ever Wondered How To Think Spiritually?
Spiritual thinking isn't necessarily when you're hearing God tell you mysteries, or you hear angels singing and secrets about other people, spiritual thought is merely coming into agreement with how God thinks.
God gave us lots of instruction on how to think and what to think about. In fact, in Romans 8, we learn that the focus of our thoughts ultimately determines whether we'll experience life or death.
If we think as God instructed us to think, we will have life. If we use only our five natural senses to inform our thoughts, it will produce flesh-based thinking that will always lead to death. It's death because we're trusting in our own effort, and we can not bring ourselves into spiritual life.
Here are a few passages on how to think and what to think about. If you not only know them but also apply them, you can radically change your life and experience what God has given you in spiritual form.
Romans 12:2 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.
Your life is a reflection of what you think about, good or bad. When you allow God's spiritual seeds of truth and wisdom to take root in your heart and mind, you will experience radical transformation.
Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law (instruction) always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Meditating in God's divine prescriptions (Law) is not a flesh-based effort to do everything perfectly. It's planting God's instruction and wisdom in your heart to the point that they bear fruit in your life. The harvest is success and prosperity.
Philippians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true... and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
This is a life application exercise in and of itself. No matter what you are facing, you can ask yourself what the truth is in this situation? What is God's truth? What is the honorable thing to do? What is the good report in this circumstance? And so on…
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Christ isn't necessarily located at God's right hand, "right hand" is a position of authority. The instruction is to set your mind on the supremacy and authority of Christ. And when you do, remember that you are a co-heir with him, he gave you the keys to his kingdom. You share in Christ's inheritance. Maybe you can find a few other passages that speak of your authority in Christ.
Ephesians 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The attitude of your mind. That's another facet of thinking. Not only does he instruct you on how to think and what to think about, but also how you feel about what you're thinking about.
You must own your identity in Christ. As you do, you experience the harvest of his spirit in your life. Jesus explains the mystery of the kingdom in Mark 4. The bottom line is this, the receptiveness of your heart to his word will determine the degree of the kingdom you will experience in this life. So how do you make that happen? He explains that too. It's like a farmer that plants a seed, he sleeps and wakes up, and the seed produces after its own kind.
Thinking according to these instructions is like planting seeds. They WILL bear fruit after their own kind. It's THE mystery of the kingdom.
How to Think Spiritually and Have Life and Peace
To overcome the deceitful desires of flesh-based thinking, you have to walk in the spirit. To walk in the spirit you must first have to think spiritually. Being spiritually minded simply means to be mindful of spirit. A life-view that places the kingdom of God as your true reality is the kind of view that lends itself to spiritual thinking.
You don't have to figure out how to get into a different dimension, instead become mindful that God placed a different dimension in you. As you nurture spiritual desires and turn away from improperly fulfilling natural desires, God's nature takes over more and more of your being.
In spirit, you are complete in him, but as you are mindful of spirit and apply these instructions regarding thought, your spiritual identity will grow its way into the rest of your being.
Watch the sermon above. I walk you through a group exercise of how to turn away from a deceptive desire and nurture a spiritual desire by holding God's word in your heart and mind.
