Members Bakershalfdozen Posted July 8, 2008 Members Share Posted July 8, 2008 Our pastor has been preaching through John on Sunday mornings and has spent the past several weeks on the Upper Room Discourse. The past 3 weeks he has been at the end of John 15 and the beginning of John 16.John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members speerjp1 Posted July 8, 2008 Members Share Posted July 8, 2008 Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Simply stated, I believe that it means we care more about spiritual things than physical things. We are motivated by a love for God and his word to do the things that change lives (ours and others) eternally when we are spiritually minded. In this, we will not be constantly under the conviction of the Holy Ghost and will be spiritually alive and at peace. To be carnally minded is to be so focused on the physical (temporal) that we disregard the spiritual (eternal). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bakershalfdozen Posted July 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 8, 2008 Right, but when you "unpack" the verse, what are some practical applications for setting one's mind on the things of the Spirit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators HappyChristian Posted July 8, 2008 Administrators Share Posted July 8, 2008 Right' date=' but when you "unpack" the verse, what are some practical applications for setting one's mind on the things of the Spirit?[/quote'] Practical things to set one's mind on the things of the Spirit...could it be things like cutting out tv watching, reading things other than the Bible, etc.? Is this the kind of thing you're meaning? I know of a revivalist (he does not call himself evangelist, because his heart is for revival of Christians) who starts his meetings by asking people to not watch tv or read newspapers or even books other than the Bible for the duration of the revival, because he wants them to really give the Spirit a chance to speak to their hearts - and their minds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John81 Posted July 8, 2008 Members Share Posted July 8, 2008 :goodpost: LuAnne! We are told to "seek ye first the kingdom of God". If we are truly seeking His kingdom first, that means we must be putting spiritual matters ahead of all else. God has promised to provide all our needs and to take care of us as we put His will ahead of our own. Separating ourselves from those things that distract us from walking in the Spirit, from keeping our eyes on Jesus, is necessary for us to really keep our minds on spiritual matters. If we fill our minds with TV news for hours then our minds are going to be filled with these matters. If we choose rather to fill our minds with the Bible, Bible study, reading a truly good Christian book, communing with God in prayer, and the like then our minds are going to be filled with the things of God. For years my Bible reading was rather haphazard :sad I didn't make time for reading the Bible, I just read it "when I could" or when I felt like it. When I finally paid heed to the Lord and established a regular time for Bible reading I experienced a dramatic change in my thoughts which dramatically changed my daily walk. We are to take "every thought captive to the obedience of Christ". We can't do that if we are busy thinking about the Atlanta Braves, flipping channels between the sports channel and the news channel, are busy worrying about the economic climate, etc. We have to sumit our hearts to Christ and live by His commands and not allow ourselves to be caught up in worldly matters and not allow ourselves to be distracted by our own desires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members speerjp1 Posted July 8, 2008 Members Share Posted July 8, 2008 Right' date=' but when you "unpack" the verse, what are some practical applications for setting one's mind on the things of the Spirit?[/quote'] Well, the verse really doesn't say to "think on the things of the Spirit" so to be more accurate we should seek to be spiritually minded. :saint The difference is that thinking on things of the Spirit is something we do, while being spiritually minded is something we are. If we think on the things of the Spirit, we won't necessarily be spiritually minded. Even some atheists have a good head knowledge of the Bible. We do not become spiritually minded until we allow those things that we've thought upon integrate with who we are. Having said that, we must come to the conclusion that thinking on the things of the Spirit is just a first step to becoming spiritually minded. The most practical way I can think of to think on the things of the Spirit is to first filter everything we think about through the Bible. Philippians 4:8 is a good place to start. If a thought or idea doesn't measure up to God's word, then it isn't worth the time to think on, or meditate upon. When we place the things we are accustomed to thinking upon next to God's word, we will realize that much of what we spend our time thinking about is vanity. Speaking of vanity, Ecclesiastes is another good place in the Bible to help us put things into perspective so that we can make better choices about what is worth our time and what is truly vain. Conversely, when we meditate upon the law of the Lord, his word, his ways, his great salvation, his mercy, his justice, his righteousness, his love, his power, his longsuffering, his joy, his plan, his wisdom, and the rest of the ways he has shown us his infinite greatness, then we will realize the value of applying the principles of his word to our lives and the importance of being spiritually minded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators HappyChristian Posted July 8, 2008 Administrators Share Posted July 8, 2008 ...we must come to the conclusion that thinking on the things of the Spirit is just a first step to becoming spiritually minded. The most practical way I can think of to think on the things of the Spirit is to first filter everything we think about through the Bible. Philippians 4:8 is a good place to start. If a thought or idea doesn't measure up to God's word, then it isn't worth the time to think on, or meditate upon. When we place the things we are accustomed to thinking upon next to God's word, we will realize that much of what we spend our time thinking about is vanity. Speaking of vanity, Ecclesiastes is another good place in the Bible to help us put things into perspective so that we can make better choices about what is worth our time and what is truly vain. Conversely, when we meditate upon the law of the Lord, his word, his ways, his great salvation, his mercy, his justice, his righteousness, his love, his power, his longsuffering, his joy, his plan, his wisdom, and the rest of the ways he has shown us his infinite greatness, then we will realize the value of applying the principles of his word to our lives and the importance of being spiritually minded. The whole thought is great, speerj! It dovetails with what I mentioned. If we filter everything through the Word, we would be so much more discerning! Removing the things I mentioned wouldn't be an all the time thing, because they aren't evil in and of themselves. But, if we removed them from our mind's access for a time, to allow the Word and Spirit to really speak to us, and then continued to filter everything through the Word...what a difference we'd see in Christianity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pneu-engine Posted July 8, 2008 Members Share Posted July 8, 2008 Right' date=' but when you "unpack" the verse, what are some practical applications for setting one's mind on the things of the Spirit?[/quote'] My take on it goes like this::::::::: ***We know from John 1:12 that we born-again believers have been given the power (ability and authority) to please God with our thoughts and actions. This is our decision. ***We know that the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Forbearance, Gentleness, Brotherly Kindness, etc. This is His Work. So then, minding the things of the Spirit could be simply promoting those things in our daily walk (by our own decision-making volition) that permit the Holy Spirit to perform His work and bear His fruit in our lives. We need to always remember that even though it is His Work He will not do it without our willingness. He is already willing, but sometimes we human creatures fall down in this category. :sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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