THE RENEWED MIND

THE RENEWED MIND
THERE has never been a great deal of teaching in regard to the necessity of a renewed mind. We have stressed the need of being converted, being Born Again, but we have left the convert hanging in the air, as it were. Great enthusiasm and joy comes at the New Birth, but unless that is cared for and fed by the mind being renewed through feeding on the Word and practicing it, that joy will die out.
When you are Born Again your spirit is Recreated. It receives the Nature and Life of the Father, but the mind that has held your spirit in captivity is the same old mind.
It receives a mighty impetus when the spirit receives Eternal Life, but that is all.
You understand that all the knowledge the mind had, comes from the senses and the senses can never be renewed. They are a part of the physical body.
They can be brought into subjection; they can be controlled, but they can't be renewed.
The spirit is Recreated, but the mind, this brain of ours that receives its knowledge from the five senses, can be brought into subjection to the Word. I have come to believe that it can be purified by meditation in the Word. I don't mean purified like the blood of Christ has cleansed us, but I mean that it drops off much that is unnecessary and unwise.
In itself it may not be harmful but it is unnecessary. It takes up time. The mind slowly but surely as it feeds on the Word, meditates in the Word, practices and lives the Word, comes into the fellowship of the Recreated spirit. In Rom. 12:1, 2 we have one of the most important Scriptures in regard to the physical body and its thinking processes: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service."
Notice it very carefully now. He is asking you to present your body which holds the five senses. They are the most important part of that body, the seeing part, the hearing part, the feeling part, the tasting and smelling parts. They are the five channels to the brain over which travel all the impulses that have taught the brain all that it knows. Now He says, I want you to give this home of your five senses to the Lord. I want you to lay that body of yours, as it were, upon the altar.
As the Jew laid a dead offering upon the altar, you are to lay your living body upon the altar in the sense that you are dedicating it, giving it over to the Lordship of the Word.
Then He says in the second verse, "And be not fashioned according to this age, but be ye transformed (or transfigured) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Your mind has been fashioned after the things of this world.
The world's ideals probably have been yours. Now your mind must come under the dominion of your Re¬created spirit through the Word. Your mind must recognize the three-fold Lordship through your Recreated spirit, the Lordship of the Word, the Lordship of Jesus and the Lordship of Love. It may be difficult for your mind to assimilate this ; to allow Love to become a part of yourself: to allow the Word to utterly dominate; to recognize the Love Lordship of Jesus.
I know how hard that is, but that must come or else the believer is going to live on the borderland between right and wrong, never knowing whether this is wrong, or that is wrong. He will be asking his friends, "Is it wrong to do this? Should I do that?" The reason is, his mind has never been renewed and he is living on the borderland in a sort of semi-spiritual darkness. But as his mind is renewed he will come to know the will of the Father. He will walk in the light of the Word.
He will get to know that three-fold will-the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of the Father. He will be claiming the highest will of the Father. He will not be satisfied with "the acceptable and the good," but will want the perfect and the well-pleasing will of the Father. In John 8:28 Jesus said, "I always do the things that are pleasing to my Father."
This New Creation man craves that kind of a life.
His spirit is reaching out, sometimes really agonizing in him to become well-pleasing to the Father. In Col. 3:5-10 He is unveiling the inner workings of the senses and their control of the mind. Read it carefully. He says, "For which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience."
He shows the uncleanness of the natural mind as it is dominated by the senses.
In the 9th verse He is speaking to you. He said, I don't want you to lie to one another any more, since you have put off the old man with his doings. You see, you are a New Creation and you put on the New Man, that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him.
This is a message to the new convert primarily. Old believers have already done this thing.
He wants that New Man to be brought into perfect harmony with his thinking faculties, and that can't be until his mind is re¬newed, until it comes to recognize its position in Christ.
You notice it said, "Put on the new man that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of film."
That will be Revelation Knowledge. You will know your responsibilities and your ability to meet them. You see, the small faith man is almost invariably a man whose mind has not yet been renewed. If you find a believer that doesn't walk in love, it is because his mind has not yet been renewed. His mind can't be renewed by simply studying the Bible. He will have to live it. It has to become a part of His mind. Many of our Bible teachers have never seen this and their senses govern their mind.
That means their senses govern their teaching; that their Re¬created spirit has a very small place in their lives. 2 Cor. 4:16, "Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day." The inward man is your spirit that is feeding on the Word, that is being renewed continually. Your mind should feed on the Word too. There should he meditation in the Word.
You remember in Joshua 1 :8 Jehovah told him that he was to "meditate in the word day and night, and that he might observe to do according to all that there is written therein ; for then thou shalt make they way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
The same rule that God laid down for Joshua should govern the New Creation, this new man who has the mind of Christ.
Another Scripture that might help us a bit is Eph. 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." He has prepared you to walk in His will. His ability has been given to you.
His strength is at your disposal. The good deeds that He would have you perform are within the range of your ability, that is, the ability that He has given to you.
He expects you to pray for sick folks.
You will teach the Word; witness to the unsaved ; walk in Love, and you will walk in the light of the Word and be a blessing to those around you, because your mind now is in perfect harmony with the Recreated spirit. The New Commandment "that you love one another" has become the very heart life of your conduct.
New Creation Realities,BY E.W KENYON