Set Our Minds on the Spirit
We have encountered the holiness of God. We repented. We turned away from our unholiness toward holiness. When we believed in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit filled us. He gave us new life. He came to live in us and we are now in the Spirit. We have been made holy, sanctified, and we are becoming holy. We are being sanctified, growing into Christlikeness. Out of love for our Lord, we want to be holy and live the new kingdom life. But in this life, our old self, under the control of the flesh, battles against our new self, under the control of the Holy Spirit. They are in conflict. They both want control of our lives. This is an ongoing, daily struggle. We try to be holy, to achieve sanctification, holiness, and live the kingdom life by our own efforts and strength. We fail. We are disappointed. We despair. It seems that although we believe that we are saved by grace through faith, we practice a sanctification by works. But the entrance to salvation and the pathway of sanctification are the same — faith in and humble dependence upon the One who saves and sanctifies us. In faith, we surrender to the Holy Spirit, and then we live by the Spirit by setting our minds on the Spirit.
1. Sanctified by Grace through Faith & Submission
We are sanctified by grace through faith and submission. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe that He has given us new life and lives in us. The Holy Spirit makes us holy. We do not achieve holiness by our own works or effort. But there is something we must do. We must surrender to the Holy Spirit. We don’t like the words surrender, submit, or yield, because we don’t want to give up control of our lives. But that is what we must do if we want to experience the fullness of the Spirit’s power in our lives. Only when we yield control, surrender our lives to the Holy Spirit can He do his holy work in us to make us holy. Only then can he empower and lead us to live holy kingdom lives.
Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn. 14:23). The Spirit is a gift from the Father, received by grace through faith. The Spirit is here, living in us, ready to influence us, empower us, and work in our lives — if and when we submit and obey Him. Thus, the sanctified life is not passive. It is a life of cooperation, where we say, “Here I am.” We surrender completely, boldly follow, and give up anything that displeases Jesus. And the Spirit empowers us with everything we need to live holy.
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25) To live Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, and Spirit-empowered lives we must daily die to self and surrender to the Spirit’s control in our lives. How do we surrender to the Spirit? How do we walk and live by the Spirit, keep in in step with the Spirit? By setting our minds on the Spirit and the things of the Spirit.
2. Setting Our Minds on the Spirit
Let us read again verses 5-8 — “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Ro 8:5-8)
To “set your mind” means to focus intentionally, to fix our attention on and keep thinking about something. The things we set our minds on guide our thinking, influence and govern, rule, our minds. And so, we develop a mindset, an attitude, a disposition, a certain view of looking at the world, life, and things. Our mindset is influenced, shaped, and controlled by the things we set our minds on. And in turn our mindset influences and controls our lives, our thinking, decisions, and actions.
What does it mean to set our minds on the Spirit? “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:14-16) We set our minds on the Spirit, the Great Teacher, by listening to Him and His Word. It is through the Holy Spirit that we know God and his will.
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things … Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature … clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience … over all these virtues put on love … Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts …Be thankful … Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly … And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:2-17) We set our minds on the Spirit by focussing on God’s kingdom, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18)
How do we set our minds on the Spirit? Daily, we must die to self, deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus. We must remain and abide in Christ all the time because we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (Gal 2:20). We should “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Php 2:5). We must allow the Spirit to cultivate the mind of Christ in us.
All the time we must be watchful, alert, and of sober mind. It is not just the devil that prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8). Our old sinful self, the flesh, lies in wait around every corner, looking for an opportunity to take back control. It attacks when we are vulnerable, especially when we are tired, stressed, and weak. So we must pray and ask the Lord to keep us watchful throughout the day, all the time.
Every day we must put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes, against the flesh, our old self, and the things of this world. Every morning we must put on the armor piece by piece as we pray.
Again, this brings us back to the spiritual disciplines. We set our minds on the Spirit by reading God’s Word, praying, fasting, practicing Christ’s presence, worship, serving others, giving, and sharing from our blessings. When we don’t practice setting our minds on the Spirit through the spiritual disciplines we will not be able to keep our minds on the Spirit during the day when we are busy with our daily activities. We will not be able to resist the attacks of the devil and the temptations of the flesh. We will lose focus and before we know it, our minds will be set on the things of the flesh again. Picture this. If we do not practice every day with the full armor on, if we do not practice how to use the shield and yield the sword, what will happen? The armor will become rusty in the closet where we store it. And when the battle comes, we will not have the strength to lift the shield and yield the sword. We will not have the endurance and energy to stand in the battle. We will quickly tire and be overwhelmed.
Every morning set your mind on the Spirit. Surrender control to the Spirit. And if during the day you feel that your mind, your focus shifts, and the old self wants to take over, stop and pray. Reset your mind on the Spirit. During the day, we may drop one of the armor pieces. Our arm becomes tired and we lower the shield of faith. In the heat of daily living we may take off the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness, and we forget that we are children of God. We may take off the belt of truth when it is uncomfortable, and fall for the lies of the world. Stop, put the armor back on, and reset your mind on the Spirit. And at the end of the day, we set our minds on the Spirit by asking Him to examine our hearts and show us where we have not been holy. And then we repent because unconfessed sin hinders obedience and the work of the Spirit in our lives. Unconfessed sin means there are areas of our lives we have not yet surrendered to the Spirit. We reset our minds on the Spirit through repentance.
3. Where Are Our Minds?
So, where are our minds? On what are we setting our minds? What are we allowing to influence and control our minds? The things of the flesh and this world or the things of the Spirt and God’s kingdom? Make no mistake, the Word is clear. The mindset of the flesh, the mind governed by the flesh, set on the things of the flesh, is death. It is hostile to God, does not submit to God, and cannot please God (vv 6-8). “If you live according to the flesh you will die” (v12).
When we set our minds, and focus only, on the media, the news media, social media, television, movies, and the Internet, we become obsessed with and are controlled by what we see and hear on our screens. When we set our minds on worldly treasures, wealth, power, and gratifying our selfish desires, we become obsessed with and are controlled by this world. And so, we become cynical, skeptical, and negative. We lose hope. We fall back into fear. We become anxious. We give in to the sins of anger, hatred, greed, lust, and pride. And we die. We die emotionally and physically as we succumb to the things of the flesh. And if we don’t repent and turn back to God, we will die spiritually.
But if we set our minds on the Spirit we will have life and peace. This is God’s promise. This is truth. So, who and what are we watching, reading, and listening to? How much time are we spending on our screens? How much time are we spending in prayer and God’s Word? We have some great Christian theologians, authors, teachers, preachers in this country and around the world. There are some excellent, biblical Christian websites out there. Are we reading Christianity Today, Alliance Life? Are we going to CT’s excellent website with news from a Christian perspective and great resources to help us set our minds on the Spirit?
Sadly, in this past year, we have again seen prominent Christian leaders fall due to moral and character failures, who abused their power. These are gifted men used powerfully by God. They were passionate about God. They served well. But along the way something happened. The success of their ministries and the worldly acclaim massaged their egos. Gradually they set their minds on the flesh and the old self gained control. They stopped setting their minds on the Spirit. They stopped putting on the full armor of God. If these spiritual giants can fall, so can we if we do not set our minds on the Spirit, if we do not live in total surrender to the Spirit.
4. We Are Children of God
We set our minds on the Spirit because we are children of God. We are not in the flesh. We are in the Spirit who dwells in us. He has made his home in us. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are not obliged to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. We are debtors to the Holy Spirit, obliged to live according to the Spirit. Let us, therefore, live according to who we are, children of God. Let us use these 40 Days of Prayer to refocus, to reset our minds on the Holy Spirit and the things of the Spirit. Take a fast from social media and the news media, or whatever you have been setting your mind on. The world will not come to an end, and if it does, we will rejoice because our Lord has come. Your life will be changed when you set your mind on the Spirit. You will experience the unspeakable joy of living a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, and Spirit-empowered life. When we say yes to the Holy Spirit, He will sanctify us for kingdom living. He will empower us for our mission and ministry to bring love and peace to the world.