The mind PDF Print E-mail

 

 

Article: by Jim Alexander

 

Jesus asked the rich man to leave his treasure behind, but he's not asking you to leave your mind behind also, as many have felt they must do.


It stands to reason your mind has to be allowed to do its thing: your mind is the first to alert you that God is giving you revelation, and it screens out irrational thought.

As Christian monk and author Watchman Nee put it in his book, 'The Spiritual Man in Three Volumes', the mind comprehends from your spirit what God speaks to your spirit. The mind becomes a kind of translator, as Nee puts it. And that has definitely been my experience as well. Only once did I hear from God in a way that the translation was all done, when God spoke to me, not in my ear, of course, and said, "You don't have to prove I exist".

 

I was totally flabbergasted. I was putt zing around my work bench looking for some spare parts and pieces to fix something, focused on that when it struck! I had no idea I was always trying to prove he exists. Next, a reminder from Romans 1, where God has put it into all of us knowledge that there is a creator God.

 

Up to that point I would first get a rush, not knowing what was coming other than God was getting me ready to interpret something. Then I would next be trying to put words to an experience, re-wording and re-wording to get the closest match while going back in my memory for the experience.

 

See how well those functions work for you once you've set your mind aside!

 

Your mind processes revelation partly because it has an innate, but faulty at times, sense of the presence of God. The Pharisees' minds were obviously not working in that area, since they were blinded by their own minds' egos. We can screen out the presence of God too when we don't see the 'bloodline' on the hearts of Christians and treat them accordingly, or when 'we don't do it unto these, the least of my brethren'

 

Your mind also discerns God's voice and it depends on experience for this. One way this works is by the experience of prophetic revelation once it has been proved out by the prophesied event taking place. Also of key importance is the rhema revelation needed to understand God's word as you study it. Both have the same 'voice signature' of God on them and your mind needs this 'voice recognition experience' to help it with revelation.

God's voice is distinctive, yes; however, it is not the only voice out there in the spirit realm. As with gold and it's many jewelry alloys, it takes experience; the experience of feeling the weight of even a small bar of gold bar in your hands, after prying it off a countertop with the fingers of both hands, to tell the difference between alloy and the real thing. Even then it can be difficult to be absolutely certain, but it becomes easier with experience.

 

 

Your mind is renewed with the word of God, and your whole mind is what is needed to worship God, along with all your heart, soul and strength.

 

So don't throw out your mind trying to please God.

 

Forcing your mind to believe something is true when it has not had time to do its thing is asking for mental illness. Your mind is quite capable of being convinced of what is revelation from God, and it is needed to protect you from delusion. If you train it to accept delusion, it will accept delusion, but in the process you become mindless.

 

Although some would disagree, I can't say I've 'been there, done that' with being mindless. However, because I allowed my mind to ask the questions for which it needed an answer and, in turn, I passed those questions along to the Lord, I kept my mind. Literally.


The doubt battle was never as fierce as when I first entered the spirit realm at the point called baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the battle kept my mind busy while I helped that process out with the essential reading of the bible. The relevance of the bible to warfare is evidenced in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 where Jesus responds to Satan's use of scripture with scripture from another part of the bible.


Jesus knew the scriptures thoroughly, and if we are to move in Christ's likeness, how can we do that without reading or listening to the bible?

 

Return to index

Note:  You will see articles like this on a regular basis.  These articles are submitted by the congregation.  Hope you not only enjoy them but prayerfully consider what God is saying through them.