Lesson for April 21, 2024
The Power of Thought
Lesson 6
Philippians 2:5, says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
The Christian Way of Life is a life of thinking the way that Jesus Christ thought. The mind of Christ is the doctrine found in the Word of God, the only source of absolute truth. To have the proper thinking, believers must be consistently learning, believing, and applying the Word of God to every circumstance in life.
God has given all believers a command to grow spiritually, and He never gives us a command without giving us the means necessary to obey it. God, therefore, has provided His written instruction book (the Bible) and the filling (control) of the Holy Spirit. Both are grace functions for every believer in this age, regardless of education or I.Q. Any believer with a positive attitude towards Bible doctrine can learn, believe, and apply it accurately. At salvation,
all believers are placed into union with Jesus Christ and become complete in Him (positionally). (Colossians 2:10) However, experientially we are not complete. For this reason, all believers are commanded to grow spiritually and to advance toward spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity should be the goal of every person who has trusted Christ as Savior. (Ephesians 4:14-15; II Peter 3:18)
Spiritual maturity does not happen overnight. It takes a lifetime of persistent and consistent study to learn Bible doctrine. God’s Word likens spiritual growth to building a house. Often expressed as edification, the concept is to build or to build up. For the Christian, this occurs in their soul as they expose themselves to accurate Bible teaching and apply the truth they learn. As with any building, we must be careful to first lay the right foundation before we build on it. The Scripture is clear that the only foundation for believers is Jesus Christ Himself. The foundation is the written Word of God, which is the mind of Christ, the Living Word. The written Word of God is meant to be understood and utilized as a blueprint for building your spiritual building (the Christian Way of Life).
The Greek word for edification is “oikodome,” meaning the act of building or erecting a structure. (Ephesians 4:11-29) Like any structure, our “building” in the soul must have the firm foundation and properly constructed “floors.” Our foundation is Jesus Christ, and the “floors” are categories of Bible doctrine. Once the foundation is in place, then believers can begin to build on it with full confidence that their spiritual building will “stand.” The foundation is received at salvation, but the floors must be built over time, as Bible doctrine is learned, believed, and properly applied. (Ephesians 4:12,16,29; Colossians 2:7; I Timothy 1:4; James 1:4)
The basis for any system from God is always grace. The word grace itself makes it clear that God’s system for building our spiritual building is void of any human merit, human works, human ability, or human viewpoint. The reason that God planned it this way is to eliminate Human Viewpoint Thinking and/or human production as the means for building anything spiritual. Instead, He provided a non-meritorious system for both learning and living the Christian Way of Life, which is faith. We learn how to erect this building in our souls by believing accurately taught Bible doctrine (faith) and by applying it by mixing our faith with the promises and doctrines from God. This grace method is the only one that can bring honor and glory to God since He is doing all the work. (Hebrews 11:6)
The spiritual building is built using the stored Bible doctrine in the mind of the believer to live the Christian life. This spiritual building is literally Christ being formed in the souls of believers. Positionally, Christ is “in” every believer, but He is not immediately “formed” in every believer. Jesus Christ had this spiritual building formed in His soul. He had all the characteristics of spiritual maturity: 1) He was full of grace and truth 2) He had a relaxed mental attitude (thinking) 3) He was free from mental attitude sins 4) He had capacity for love and 5) He had divine inner happiness. Christ erected His spiritual building in His soul as a demonstration to all believers that it is possible for them to do the same.
With Christ as our example, we simply follow His pattern. Christ, as a perfect human being, built this building under the filling of the Holy Spirit as He learned and applied the Word of God. As we abide in Him (fellowship with God) and His word abides in us (Bible doctrine), we are allowing God the Holy Spirit to produce the character of Christ in our lives. (John 15:10)
The Bible uses a number of terms to refer to this building process. For example, walking in the light (I John 2:3-11), walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-23), imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1), Christ at home in your hearts (Ephesians 3:17), and Christ formed in you. (Galatians 4:19)
The true function of a believer-priest’s spiritual life is the development of a relationship with God. This relationship is our unseen, private life with God. You and you alone know what that relationship is like. (I Corinthians 2:9-16)
There are many counterfeits to the spiritual life. It is therefore of extreme importance for each of us to learn, understand, and live the true spiritual life. Without a correct understanding of the Biblical spiritual life, believers will go through life executing some form of legalism or religion that will lead to only misery and unhappiness. The spiritual life is not what you do for God, the church, or other people. The true spiritual life is your invisible relationship with God. (Galatians 4:19; John 1:14)
We must also understand that there is a difference between our function as Royal Priests and our function as Royal Ambassadors. As priests, we represent ourselves before God (invisible) but as ambassadors we represent God before others (visible). Before a believer can be an effective representative for God, they must have a maturing relationship with God.
Building our spiritual complex is a process of transformation (not reformation), which takes place in the mind of believers as they think Bible doctrine. (Romans 12:1-2) As our spiritual complex is being built, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is being produced in our life. (Galatians 5:22-23) Your way of life right now is being influenced by what you think. Since you have free will, you can think whatever you want to think. According to Proverbs 23:7, you are what you think. God’s thinking is found in the Word of God. (I Corinthians 2:16; Hebrews 3:7, 4:12; II Peter 1:12-21)
To think divine viewpoint, you must know the doctrines taught in the Bible. The more Bible doctrine you know, the more divine viewpoint you will be able to think. The less Bible doctrine you know, the more human viewpoint you are going to think.
Consistent study of God’s Word keeps Divine Viewpoint Thinking fresh in our minds and helps us counteract Human Viewpoint Thinking. (Psalms 119:129-135) Thinking our way through life with Divine Viewpoint Thinking will bring victory, peace, power, and stability. (Isaiah 26:3-4, 33:6) It also eliminates mental attitude sinning, such as maligning, character assassination, gossiping, jealousy, self-pity, etc. Vacillating between Divine Viewpoint Thinking and Human Viewpoint Thinking makes us unstable, according to James 1:8. And an unstable believer is an unhappy believer. (II Timothy 2:15)
The Christian Way of Life is a supernatural way of life, which cannot be lived apart from knowledge of Bible doctrine and the guidance and power of God the Holy Spirit (our two power options). (Romans 7:6, 8:2; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18) This way of life requires doctrinal thinking. All changes in our lives must come from the inside. The true character of a believer is determined by what they think, not by what they do. God never forces us into any course of action. We determine what our own spiritual lives are going to look like based on what we allow ourselves to think.
I Corinthians 2:14-16, “But the natural [unbelieving] person does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to them; and they are incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and they are unqualified to judge spiritual matters]. But the spiritual person [the spiritually mature Christian] judges all things [questions, examines, and applies what the Holy Spirit reveals], yet are themselves judged by no one [unbelievers cannot judge and understand a believer’s spiritual nature]. For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].”