Key Verse
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16
Aim Of The Study
Being aware that God is calling us to live, act and behave differently to the world. It has to start by the way we use or purposefully train our minds, so we can live as God intends us to and to receive the blessings as our mind is transformed so we are no longer shaped by the world but through God and HIs Word. We need to actively and intentionally use our minds to both stay from evil and to grow.
Key Questions
· Do we have a spiritual inheritance?
· What should we love the Lord our God with?
· What is our mind?
· What is the default state of our mind?
· How can be rescued from bondage in the mind?
· How does God want us to use our minds?
· Is our mind linked to our heart?
· What should we be thinking about?
· As Christians what should our minds be like?
· What are dangers we need to be aware of for our minds?
1. We have a heavenly inheritance that we are often missing as Christians.
From 1 Peter 1:3-13 we read the following
· 3 has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
· 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
· 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
· 10 He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
· 12 things which angels desire to look into.
We have a heavenly inheritance that is influenced strongly by our minds and how we capture our mind to function as God intended. We can receive and inherit now on this earth all that God has for us when we are not conformed to what the word does but our minds are transformed as we intentionally choose what we think, what we expose our minds to and what we watch, read, listen to and spend our time doing. This is a very important thing to understand if we are to receive all that God has for us.
2. We should love the Lord with all our mind
When we become a disciple of Jesus, we then are taught that the loving of Jesus requires us to love Him not just in our spare time, when we have a free moment or just on Sundays, the loving of God requires us to give Him our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. It is giving our mind completely over to Him.
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbour as yourself.’” Luke 10:27
Mathew 22;37 ,Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27 also tell this story
3. What is our mind?
In the Oxford Dictionary, mind means:
1. the element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought.
2. a person's ability to think and reason; the intellect.
1. a person's memory.
In the word wealth in Mark 12:30 the word 'mind' is defined. In Strong’s Strong's #1271 Mind is dianoia (dee-an-oy-ah) and is referring to exercising the imagination and developing understanding. It means to thing things through using the mind and thought. The word suggests understanding, insight, meditation, reflection, perception, the gift of apprehension, the faculty of thought. When this faculty is renewed by the Holy Spirit the whole mind set changes from the fearful negativism of the carnal mind to the vibrant positive thinking of the quickened spiritual mind.
In the Bible there are 92 references for mind, with 26 different words used to describe what the mind is.
4. The mind has to be brought back from a place of rebellion to a place where God is ruling over our lives and is central in everything.
We have to be careful that we are aware that our minds start in a place of rebellion and needs to be intentionally brought back to be aligned with God’s truth.
And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked G4190 (full of labours, annoyances and hardships) works, yet now he has reconciled. G604 (to bring back to a former state of harmony.) Colossians I:21
14 A obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts as in your ignorance. 1 Peter 1:14
Of the mind: also among whom we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as the others. Ephes 2:3
Understanding: having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance G4457 (stupidity, callousness:-blindness hardness.) that is in their heart. Ephesians 4:18
Understanding That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your mind being enlightened: that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of his inheritance in the Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Ephesians 1:17,18
5. Restoring and being in control of our mind is setting us free from bondage.
When our mind has not been purposefully trained we live in the bondage that happens to all those who are not living under the rule and reign of God. IN doing this we will be out of bondage and God will take out our heart of stone and put in His Spirit and He will cause us to walk in the ways He has set for us. Our heart will become flesh and we will learn to receive the blessing of having God as the only one we submit to.
5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Exodus 6:5-7
24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. Ezekiel 36:24-29
18 And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them,[a] and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. Ezekiel 11: 18-21
In Hebrews 8:7-13 we also read about a new covenant that God is making with the house of Israel. God says:
I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12
When we learn to train our minds we can be blessed by living under this new covenant.
6. How God is calling us to use the mind
In Hebrews, God is desiring to put His laws in our minds. This is an essential step in becoming God’s people.
I will put my laws into their mind and write them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. Hebrews 8:10
Protecting and using our mind is an active process. In Mind 1 Peter 1:13 we read “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober “ #G3525 (Strong’s definition means to abstain from wine, fig be discreet, watch.) This suggests full alertness of the mind as you would if you were driving a car.
We also need to be aware or ‘mindful’ of the words that Jesus and the Apostles spoke.
Beloved I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder). That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior. He then discusses the last days. 2 Peter 3:1
7. How our mind is linked to our heart
We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In Luke 1:50-51 we read “His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm: he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts”.( heart G2588 the centre and seat of spiritual life.)
8. What we should be thinking about
As Christians we need to be very careful that we meditate or think about things that are Godly, and do not get lazy in protecting our minds in what we listen to for music, watch on TV, read in books etc. We are guided in Philippians what we need to meditate on.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8
The fruit in our lives comes as we walk in the spirit not the flesh. Our minds need to be trained to walk in the Kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
9. As Christians our minds need to be:-
a. Willing
9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9
b. In Peace
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6
c. Right
35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Luke 8:35
d. Renewed.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2
e. Having Christ’s
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?”[a] But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16
f. Obedient
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Hebrews 8:10
10. The dangers to our mind for Christians.
a. Worry
29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. Luke 12:29
b. Doubt
5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. Romans 14:5
c. Disunity
2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Philippians 4:2
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; Romans 12:6
d. Mental Disturbance
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 2 Thessalonians 2:2
e. Spiritual Disturbance.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:23-25
f. Growing Weary
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Hebrews 12:3
Conclusion
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16
We need to be careful as people of God to walk as He has called us to. This has to start by actively using our minds to transform our thinking so we are not living as people in the world live. We are called out and set apart and so need to do this through not being lazy but intentionally training and using our minds to think and act as citizens of a new kingdom. We want to fully claim the inheritance God has given by loving the LORD with all our minds. This means moving from a natural state of rebellion to allowing God rule over all of our lives. This will bring us freedom from bondage from the world and allow us to live under the new covenant where we have hearts of flesh and have God’s Law written on our minds and hearts. No longer can we just allow anything to enter our minds but need to filter out everything using the guidelines in Philippians 4:8 where only things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, of virtue and praiseworthy should be meditated on. Anything else needs to be rejected as harmful and not allowing us to fully be all God is calling us to be.
Encourage each other not to do this under the spirit of the law, but to walk as Sons of God in the grace He has freely given us.