Chpt 18 – Mind Your Spirit
Through spiritual dyslexia, most people perceive Gal. 5:16 completely backwards! They recognize that the flesh and the spirit are contrary but assume that they’re automatically walking in the spirit if they just deny their flesh. Therefore they put all of their focus on quitting this and rejecting that, thinking, “If we can just stop doing these bad things and having these foul thoughts, then we’ll be in the spirit.” Wrong! This scripture declares just the opposite. “Walk in the spirit and we won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh!”
Darkness is the absence of light. We can’t get rid of darkness by shoveling it out of the room. However, if we turn on a light, it will flee! When we walk in the spirit (turn on the light), by default – as a byproduct – we won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh (darkness flees).
Willpower is the shovel of the flesh. Lay the shovel down and turn on the light! Flip the switch! Get into God’s Word and start recognizing and meditating on who we are in Christ. As we focus our attention continually on the reality of our new identity, the brightness of who we are in the spirit will begin to shine in and through us to such a degree that it’ll break the control of the flesh and deliver us from these external problems. Light always overwhelms and chases away the dark!
Center our attention on discovering who we are in Christ and all that Jesus has done for us! As those things become reality, we will finally come to a place where God will lead us out of this lifestyle.
God wants us to come to Him just as we are! After we’re born again and changed inside, renew our mind to who we are in Christ. As we find out who we are in our spirit, we’ll change outwardly as a result. If we’ll just start walking in the spirit by focusing our attention on the things of God, regardless of what our flesh is like, we’ll break its dominion over us!
Focus: Quality & Quantity
We can know whether we’re walking in the spirit or not by what our attention is on (Rom. 8:5). What we’re thinking about will tell us whether we’re in the flesh or in the spirit!
Where is our focus? Spirit or flesh? By learning to keep our mind stayed on God, our spirit will dominate and control our flesh. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Rom. 8:6).” This isn’t just quality time; it’s both quality and quantity of time spent focused on the things of God.
Flesh mindedness = death.
Spirit mindedness = life and peace.
Whose Report Will You Believe?
We need to get to where we believe God’s report more than the world’s! We’ve crossed over into the spirit when God’s Word dominates us more than what we can see, taste, hear, smell and feel. Focus our attention on what God says about us, what He says we have, and what He says we can do. Once we do that, we’ll find it’ll break the dominion, the power, and the control of the flesh over us.
Physical healing was purchased through Christ’s atonement. It’s not just a “P.S.” to forgiveness of sin; healing is an integral part of what Jesus died to produce. In fact, His sacrifice provides physical healing just as much as forgiveness of sin. God would no more give someone sickness than lead them into sin. Why? Jesus shed His precious blood to completely redeem us from both!
The spirit declared “By His stripes I was healed (1 Pet. 2:24); it’s already done (Eph. 1:18)” and “The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is inside of me (Eph. 1:19-20).” Let’s determine in our heart that we will not give up or give in until we see with our physical eyes the truth of God’s Word manifest in our body. Be committed to the fact that what God said about us is true! Believe it!
Cracking the Dam
James 2:17,20,26 (NKJV) “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…. 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
Let’s determine in our heart that we are going to fight this thing! Quote scriptures on healing, on provision! Confess them out loud! When our body or checkbook counter, say “Oh, no, you’re not!” Answer “Yes, I am! The Word says so!” Let’s fight until we receive our major break! Until the dam of our flesh is cracked and God’s life can flow in us. We will see our spirit begin to dominate from that point forward little by little.
The Test
When we come face to face with negative report, declare “I don’t believe these results!”
Overcome Your Flesh
We overcome by being mindful of what God’s Word says about us – especially the New Testament. When we’re Word minded, we’re spiritually minded. Because God’s Words are spirit of life (John 6:63). In our spirit, we’re completely changed, eternal, sanctified, holy and perfected forever. As Jesus is, so are we! Let’s dominate ourselves with these thoughts! Then all we will produce is life and peace!
We will receive the victory He’s already achieved and provided for us by focusing our attention on the spirit. When we do that, we’ll overcome. Let’s keep our focus on the things of God. To get different results, we have to do something differently.
(Rom. 8:8) We won’t be able to please God or experience the factory that’s available to us if we let the physical realm dominate us. In order to release God’s power and life, we MUST overcome the flesh by continually focusing our mind on who we are and what we have in the spirit.
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