2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 5
The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence
Day 5
“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.” Romans 8:5
Mindset It’s all about proper thinking. What is our mindset? What dominates our mental energies? Paul says that we are to set our “minds on things of the Spirit.” In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul told the church to “keep seeking the things above. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Keep seeking the things above by first thinking about them. The first step to righteous, godly living is proper thinking. We are to set our minds on honoring Christ and then get our body to function according to our thinking. In verse 4, Paul told us that as believers we are not to walk according to the sinful nature (flesh). We are to walk according to the Spirit. This new way of living involves getting our bodies under the authority of the Spirit of God. The first aspect of this submission to the authority of the Spirit of God begins in the mind. We must get our minds in right relationship to the priorities of the Spirit of God. We do this by seeking Him with our thoughts, seeking His priorities with our feelings, and pursuing in our minds the things that honor Him. We must protect our minds. We must protect our minds from the images of commercialism that appeal to our greed. We must protect our minds from pornography that appeals to our lust. We must protect our minds from the worries and anxieties of this present world which seek to destroy our joy, peace and confidence in Christ. We must guard our thinking from the trivial and banal passions of this temporary life. In II Corinthians 10:5, Paul told the church to destroy “speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” The purposeful work of the mind is the “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
This walk according to the Spirit involves more than stopping the process of allowing our minds dwell on things that are evil. The work of the Spirit involves more than just the removal of that which is sinful. Consider the juxtaposition of living according to the sinful nature and living according to the Spirit. Notice how Paul compares those who are “setting their minds on the sinful nature” versus those who are living according to the Spirit. Those who are living according to the Spirit are “setting their minds on the Spirit.” The goal of sanctification is not merely to produce a mind void of any evil. The goal is to fill our minds with that which is good. This involves a purposeful exchange of thoughts. We trade those baser, damaging thoughts that stimulate our sinful nature, for Christ-centered thoughts, which drive us to holy living. Instead of focusing our thoughts on earthly lusts, we trade them in for thoughts about the glory of Christ. Instead of focusing our thoughts on the trivial possessions of this life, we trade those thoughts in for thoughts about the eternal possessions that are ours in Christ. We must not set our “minds on the things of the flesh, but …the things of the Spirit.” In Philippians, Paul told the church guard their hearts and minds. He told them, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8) Walking in the Spirit begins as an exercise of the mind, allowing our minds to dwell on things that honor God. When we focus our minds on the desires of the Spirit of God, we draw ourselves closer to God through the power of His Spirit.
From a practical standpoint, in order to set our minds on the things of the Spirit and not the things of the sinful nature, we avoid places and people who push us toward destructive ways of thinking. We also purposefully fill our minds with information that drives our thinking toward the things of God. Reading, studying and memorizing the Scripture counteracts the sinful material that our minds struggle to clear. Tools, such as devotional books or listening to sermons by good Bible expositors or gathering with believers in worship and study, all help redirect our thinking toward Christ and His purposes. The Spirit of God loves it when we honor Christ with our thoughts and our words. Today, may we focus our minds on the things of the Spirit of God and may we guard our minds against the things of the sinful nature.
Prayer Focus
God, I worship You for You are good and kind. You show Your kindness in Your patience with my weaknesses. I praise You for You are great. You show Your greatness in Your transformational work in my life. Thank You for saving me. Thank You for changing me. Make me more like Jesus every day. I confess my sin to You. Forgive me for the sins I have committed with my mind. Forgive me for the fears and anxieties that I have allowed to dominate my thinking. Forgive me for the thoughts of lust that draw me away from You. Forgive me for letting the world’s thinking to impact my thinking. I give You my mind. Help me set my mind on the things of the Spirit. Bring your Word to the forefront of my thoughts today. Be glorified in my thinking.
From DL Moody’s Secret Power
The Holy Spirit is closely identified with the words of the Lord Jesus. “It is the Spirit that quickens (invigorates/strengthens/gives live); the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.” The Gospel proclamation cannot be divorced from the Holy Spirit. Unless He attend (associate with) the word in power, vain will be the attempt in preaching it. Human eloquence or persuasiveness of speech are the mere trappings of the dead, if the living Spirit be absent; the prophet may preach to the bones in the valley, but it must be the breath from Heaven which will cause the slain to live.
In the third chapter of the First Epistle of Peter, it reads,
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”
Here we see that Christ was raised up from the grave by this same Spirit, and the power exercised to raise Christ’s dead body must raise our dead souls and quicken them. No other power on earth can quicken a dead soul, but the same power that raised the body of Jesus Christ out of Joseph’s sepulcher. And if we want that power to quicken our friends who are dead in sin, we must look to God, and not be looking to man to do it. If we look alone to ministers, if we look alone to Christ’s disciples to do this work, we shall be disappointed; but if we look to the Spirit of God and expect it to come from Him and Him alone, then we shall honor the Spirit, and the Spirit will do His work.