It’s All in Your Mind

] ] ] ] ] ] ] Hebrews 11:6, "(Bul willtouJ. laiJI,, iL it imfwu.d,h f.o- pl,m, [{µdj." So, a spiritually minded believer will please God because of faith. The spiritually minded Christian will be one who exercises faith. Romans 8:10 reminds us, "obu/. ii f21uul he i.n (JO«, du.. IMd.JJ, u dead btttuu, ol- nn; /ml llu Jpim it /ile btttuu, o/ ~" Now this does not say the same thing as verse six when it speaks of life. A spiritually minded believer produces in his life righteousness that can be seen outwardly. You will be concerned about your conduct. A spiritually minded person will crucify the deeds of the body. The believer is to mortify the actions of the body. It does not say destroy the body, it says destroy the deed or actions of the body. Galatians 5:16 says, "... walk in llu. cSpi,iL" A spiritually minded believer crucifies, deadens, mortifies the deeds of the flesh because he walks in the Spirit. "...walk in du 3pi,il., mu/,,µ ihal.l RM /ui/ill IJu lu.d o/. tlu.. flnJ,,." It does not say, "maybe," or "possibly." It says, "shall not." Then, conversely, if we do not walk in the Spirit, we are susceptible to the lusts of the flesh. Again, it has nothing to do with our salvation; it has to do with the believer's walk. Also. if we are walking in the lust of the flesh. we cannot be walking in the Spirit. Colossians 3 gives us the same thought beginning with verse five. Here the word mortify appears again. The verse begins, "..lll.o#li/i.J, ~--" It is based on the previous verses that tell us that we are risen with Christ and that we are to set our affections on things above. Affection happens to be a mental word, not a heart word. Love is a heart word. I have to think about the things above if I am going to set my affection on them. We are reminded that we are dead and that our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and that Christ will return. All this precedes the command to mortify. The word is not preceded by a subject. It is the imperative you. This is not something God or the Holy Spirit is going to do. Nor does Paul say, «wait for the power to do it.» He just says, "You mortify the deeds of the flesh." Then he lists the deeds of the flesh. These are as common today as they were in Paul's time. In fact, in Paul's day the mental temptations were about the same as they are today. Paul lists those temptations of the physical body and the passions and desires of the mind. Only the spiritual mind will be able to kill, crucify the many temptations it faces by sight and sound today. All the advertising, all the TV, all the magazines of today are aimed at seducing the mind; and the spiritual mind has to take over and destroy that which tries to reach us. But God knew that some people would be able to get by most of those things listed in Colossians 3:5 until we get to covetousness. That is extremely difficult to mortify in this day and age. Covetousness is the norm and the average today. It is placed before us to give us incentive. The hardest thing for a believer to do is to destroy the desire for things. Now, a spiritually minded person, has to find himself destroying this sin. But lest you get· proud, read verses eight and nine. There is no place for untruth in the spiritually minded Christian. We want to get to verse fifteen, "obuJ.. hl du p.mtt 6/ .(jBd ml1.. i.n fJOll¥- h.to.m.,. " We cannot come to this verse without passing and practicing the spiritually minded traits of putting to death the conduct ofthe body. 35