"Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus..."

     -          Phil 2:5

 

       The Bible tells us we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15). But that doesn't mean it is an automatic thing. Paul told the church at Philippi, "Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus..." (Phil 2:5). You are going to have to decide for yourself to let his mind be in you.  God can't decide that for you. When you step over into God's way of thinking, that is when you will begin to experience a liberty to function in the things of God like never before.  And with that will come a greater ease to move in and out of the realm of the Spirit.

       Operating in the mind of Christ is learning how to see a thing the way God sees it. This is why it is so important to develop faith. Faith can take you to a place where you start to see as he sees. It will bring you to a point where you value what he values - minding the things he minds, doing things as he would do them.  It's really learning how to live as he lives.

       One of the most profound statements the Holy Spirit ever said to me was this: "If you have received the life of God, then what is keeping you from living the life that he lives?"  Indeed, there is no greater truth that will assure our hearts of us living in connection with heaven than grasping this fact. If we have a heavenly life living in us, then we should be experiencing life as heaven has it!

       Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). The light of life is what enables us to see as God sees. That is the key to our success. It was the key to Jesus' success. He just went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. Whatever he saw his Father do, he went out and did it.

       Over in the gospel of John, Jesus said, "...the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). Now if we really believe this, then we must ask ourselves what is keeping us from doing what Jesus did? After all, is it not true that God dwells in us just as he dwelt in Christ? Are we not called "the temple of the living God...a habitation of God through the Spirit" (2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:22)? What is the purpose of him living in us, if it is not to live through us?

       If the same God that was living in Jesus is living in us, and he was responsible for doing the works of Christ, then surely, if he is living in us, then we have to look to him as our enablement. This is the very reason why Jesus went on to say, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (John 14:12). By him going to the Father, he was preparing a place for us. We are now seated with him in heavenly place (Eph. 2:6). We should view life from his perspective. Just as our mind is made up of tiny neurons that communicate thoughts and impulses to every cell of our body, heaven also has a network of signals that sends out instructions to guide us and direct us into God's divine will and purpose. If we aren't operating in the mind of Christ, then we aren't listening to the right signals, and if we aren't listening to the right signals, then we can throw everything out of sync.  

       God never intended for us to get caught up in the machinery of man, making our own way, paving our own path. Jesus taught that there was a path that led to life and a path that led to destruction. Every day we are faced with the choice of which path we intend to follow. Will it be a path of selfishness? Will it be a path of uprightness? Will it be a path of limitation, or will it be a path of limitless possibilities? Only the path that God has for us can take us to places beyond ourselves. To get on that path requires that we let his mind determine the course we take. Once we make the connection, and start seeing life from God's perspective, then faith will bring us into a liberty to move as he moves. Not only will we begin to move in the things of God more easily, but other things will begin to move for us that are required to help us carry out his will on the earth.