I’ve been posting about the power of God at work in us. This is the power that changes us and others. We saw that the first component of the Holy Spirit’s power in us is love. It’s this love of Christ that provides the spiritual pressure that propels us forward.
We started by looking at Paul’s view of this power.
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7
The second component of power is described here as self-discipline. Actually the word translated self-discipline is literally a saved mind in the Greek. I believe that the two components of power in the Word of God are love and a saved mind. If we follow this through we find that the rest of Scripture confirms this.
Remember what I said about electrical power. The two parts were voltage and current. How does electrical current relate to the truth of a saved mind? Physically speaking, current is electrical movement. Current is how fast the electrons are moving through the wires. In the verse we read from Second Timothy, Paul said that the components of spiritual power were love and a saved mind. Just how important is it to possess a “saved mind?”
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2
Without a saved mind, a mind that has been washed and renewed by the Word of God, we will never grasp what God’s will is for our lives. The problem is that most modern Christians don’t place a priority upon renewing their minds. We want to think and act the way the world does.
This makes for a very interesting dilemma. Most Christians seem to want to know God’s will for their lives. Yet, we don’t prepare our minds to receive it. According to this verse the only way to know God’s will, is to renew your mind.
This was evident in the ministry of Christ.
“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
John 6:38
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
John 4:34
In natural terms, electrical current is the movement of electricity in the lines. Power requires movement or action. Jesus was able to move and act because His mind was attuned to God’s will. It’s clear from Scripture and the life of Christ that a saved mind is spiritual current because it produces action. We know from the Word of God that “faith without works [action] is dead.” (James 2:17) A saved mind is a mind that is full of faith THAT ACTS upon that faith.
Question: Is renewing your mind a priority in your walk with Christ? What do you do to accomplish this?
© Nick Zaccardi 2012
The Spirit and the Word 