Keep Your Mind from Drifting - Watchman Nee

"If the Christian does not relentlessly oppose his traditional way of thinking he shall unconsciously turn back to it. As he needs to deny the work of the flesh and daily follow the spirit, so he must resist the old mental way and daily think according to the renewed mind.

The Holy Spirit moves in our spirit, producing in us a spiritual sense; afterwards we exercise our brain to study and to understand the meaning of this sense. It requires the cooperation of both spirit and mind to comprehend fully the will of God. The spirit enables our inner man to know, while the mind causes our outer man to understand.

We consistently ought to refuse to allow the mind to serve as the prime element for receiving God's will, yet we must not inhibit it from serving as the secondary apparatus for understanding that will.

Whatever the mind sets itself on is what the man walks after. If it occupies itself with the flesh, we walk after that; conversely, if it sets itself upon the spirit, we follow after it. It is therefore unnecessary to ask whether or not we are walking after the spirit.

If our brain is full of prejudice towards the truth or towards the preacher, truth will not enter it nor will it extend to our life. No wonder some believers derive no help already have they decided what they would like to read or hear.

If the mind is open the individual will soon perceive the preciousness of a truth which initially appeared rather dull to him but now is illumined by the spirit's light.

Although he may not have at his command the proper words to explain it, yet inwardly he has understood perfectly.

Every part of the Christian's life needs to be under reins; that includes the mind even following its renewal. We ought not toss the reins to it lest the evil spirits take advantage. Let us remember that thought is the seed of action. Carelessness here invariably leads to sin there. An idea sown will eventually grow, however prolonged such growth may require. We can trace all our presumptuous and unconscious sins to those seed thoughts we allowed to be planted before.

Hence Peter exhorts us to "gird up (our) minds" (I Peter 1:13), by which he means to say that we must regulate all our thoughts and never let them run wild.

He should not allow his mind to drift off at random lest he provide opportunity for the evil spirits to work. It must not be lazy, doing nothing; rather should it always be functioning actively. Even after the Christian has received revelation in the spirit, he still needs to exercise his intellect to examine, to test, and to ascertain whether this is of God or of himself.

An unpeaceful mind cannot operate normally. Hence the Apostle teaches us to "have no anxiety about anything" (Phil. 4:6). Deliver all anxious thoughts to God as soon as they arise. Let the peace of God maintain your heart and mind (v. 7).

The head needs to be kept in a humble state. A proud thought easily leads one astray. Any self-righteous, self-important or self sufficient notion can bring in error. Some have a background of extensive knowledge and yet they fall into self-deceit because they think too much and too highly of themselves. Any who genuinely desires to serve the Lord must do so "with all lowliness of mind" (Acts 20:19 ASV)."

- W. Nee

The head needs to be kept in a humble state. A proud thought easily leads one astray.

Amen!

Thank you Paul for posting this. Is this from
"The Spiritual Man"?

Yes, dear brother, it is. A nice little section from the book that spoke to me this morning. "Gird up the loins of your mind", something God has been dealing with me on.

It's amazing to see how much influence our thoughts have over the direction of daily conversation and spiritual temperament. They can be likened unto the breeze that moves in the sails of our spirit to direct the course of our navigation in Christ. If we are "heavenly minded" and have "the mind of Christ" we can be said to be sailing (i.e. walking) in the spirit; if not, then we are outside God's charted course for our lives and will most assuredly run aground on the isles of carnality and flesh.

No wonder we are admonished by Paul to "be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Eph. 4:23); for here we see the relation of the spirit to the mind and how they are both linked and play a symbiotic role (spiritually speaking, for lack of a better term) in the course of our actions of abding in Christ. O, the fathomless depths of God's Word, and the endless ocean of thought and meditation it breeds within quickened spirits.

It is a true statement that many of us have heard many times that "the battle is in the mind." How many defeats have we suffered from not taking our thoughts captive?

This is not mind over matter. It is not positive thinking. It is coming into agreement with God in all that He says. It is refusing every thought that is not in the will of God.

Mike

A timely word for me, thank you.

Here's something from Matthew Henry on girding up our minds;

1. You have a journey to go, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish, and a great work to do; as the traveller, the racer, the warrior, and the labourer, gather in, and gird up, their long and loose garments, that they may be more ready, prompt, and expeditious in their business, so do you by your minds, your inner man, and affections seated there: gird them, gather them in, let them not hang loose and neglected about you; restrain their extravagances, and let the loins or strength and vigour of your minds be exerted in your duty; disengage yourselves from all that would hinder you, and go on resolutely in your obedience. Be sober, be vigilant against all your spiritual dangers and enemies, and be temperate and modest in eating, drinking, apparel, recreation, business, and in the whole of your behaviour. Be sober-mined also in opinion, as well as in practice, and humble in your judgment of yourselves.”

In Christ,

Ron

While no Christian, with his head on, will doubt that allowing ungodly thoughts to fester leads to ungodly acts, there is another (more powerful) proposition to consider.

Which of us identified Jesus as the "Son of God" without inspiration from God the Father? And which of us came to know the "Mind of Christ" without the power of the Cross?

We would do well to remember that our power does not come from the ability of man, nor the will of man. In all things Jesus will be glorified; and that to the Glory of the Father in Heaven.

Even the power we experience of bringing every thought under control of the Spirit comes from God. Nothing we accomplish toward Godliness will find it's root in man. Thus Jesus warned us that anything that does not find it's foundation in the power of Jesus will be torn down. I (as all God's children should) stand firm on one principle: Come eternity, Jesus will be glorified. And nothing of man will survive His Glory.

In the glorification of man we find every form of religion which denies the power of Christ. Therefore, it is to our benefit to set Jesus High above every convention of man (no matter how "godly" it may present itself).

I love Watchman Nee