The Renewed Mind – Part Two

The Renewed Mind – Part Two

(Continued from Part One)

The Renewed Mind
is essential to

The Call to Relationship with Him

“…THEN shall I know even as also I am known”
1 Corinthians 13:12

This one scripture should set our hearts ablaze with a renewed seeking of Him. The extent of my knowing Him THEN is determined by the yielding of my heart to respond to His searching’s and correction NOW. His meaning is clear. My eternal enjoyment of Him is dependent upon His fountain and His light continually renewing my mind (see Part One).

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2

What is the temper of heart required for this ongoing and continual life of being renewed in our minds?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Romans 12:1

The presenting of ourselves to Him as a “living sacrifice” is the result of His mercies moving us to the abandonment of ourselves unto Him. Only by His Life within are we able to know this experientially. The branch must abide in the Vine to know the life of the Vine.

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
Amos 3:3

Only by growing in a renewed mind can I come into agreement with Him (where His Will and mine are the same). The more His nature is formed within me, the more significant will be my walk with Him. The real purpose of ministry is to so interact with others that we facilitate the person of Christ being “formed” in them!

“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you”
Galatians 4:19

May we hear and feel the cry of true ministry. We are not here to grow our church, enlarge a ministry, share uninspired teachings, or get someone to repeat a heartless prayer or prescribed statement. We are here to see the living Christ revealed; to be received into a life of becoming His as His nature grows and rules over the lusts of the flesh.

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would”
James 5:17

How is it we “cannot do the things” we want to? It is because the desires of the Spirit of God are greater than our own. The life of overcoming is one in which the desire of the Spirit is greater than the unruly passions of our flesh. To try to live a godly life apart from His Life invigorating and lifting us out of ourselves is not possible. No amount of effort on our part will accomplish this. Nearness to Him is secret to freedom. The proximity of the moon to the earth exerts a gravitational pull on the earth. Jupiter, though much larger, holds little or no effect because of its distance; so it is with us. May the truth of this cause us to draw near unto Him that we may be drawn out of this world and into His!

“He that saith he abideth in Him
ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked”
1 John 2:6

“Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not:
whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him”
1 John 3:6

Only a living faith can embrace the above truths. The magnificence of His earthly walk is part of His covenant with us. He that “abideth in HIM” should walk as He walked. This is not a promise relegated to heaven. The scriptures clearly speak of our walking in this earth, as He walked in this earth (1 John 4:17).

Jesus only is:
The Way
The Truth
The Life

The Way is the first step into our knowing of truth. We may read scriptures, we may attempt various strategies, but it is Jesus who makes us free. Intellectual truth may tell me what a free life in Christ looks like, but it will never produce it.

“I am the way,
the truth,
and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me”
John 14:6

Jesus sets before us the unfolding Way in Him. If I do not walk in His Way, I will never know the Truth. Without partaking of His Truth, I will never experience Him as being my Life. The scriptures continually confirm our singular need of Him.

The renewing of my mind is vital if I am to know the good, the well pleasing, and the perfect will of God. Otherwise, the Christian life remains a mystery; I go through life affected by His mercies but never fully captured by the beauty of His person.

May our hearts hear the Call of His Spirit; a hearing that culminates in a ferocity of faith to “press toward” the holy mark set before us (Philippians 3:14).

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”
Romans 12:1-2

“…let this mind be in you
that [is] also in Christ Jesus”
Philippians 2:5 (LITV)

There is a fellowship and a bonding with those who walk in this Light. The fellowship that is borne of His Light causes us to touch the vibrancy and power of the Body of Christ.

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another”
1 John 1:7

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“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as HE IS, so are we in this world”
1 John 4:17

Related Post: See Part One

Brian Troxel