Taking On The Mind Of Christ

WOMEN IN CHRIST

The following is a word that the Lord gave me for the Men's Conference. However, I believe that it is fitting for us women as well. Therefore, I have taken the basic truths given in this word and modified its framework for the Women's Conference.

A Word From Jesus

Ladies, you try to love the Father and maintain your own mind at the same time. That is impossible. There is no way flesh is going to maintain its reputation and the love of God flow freely from it. The only way to love the Father is to take on the mind of Christ. When our desires, emotions, dispositions, thoughts and ways are prevalent, the reputation of flesh is maintained. Christ sought no reputation for Himself. He operated in the Father's mind and will. His love for the Father was revealed through self-denial. Love is revealed in humiliation, obedience and longsuffering, not the strength of the flesh.

Offended With God’s Way:

The truth is, you are offended by the criteria of God’s love for His people. To you, the Father seems weak and vulnerable as He works the ministry of reconciliation with man. This does not conform to the image you have of yourself. You do not want to appear weak in any area. Neither will you allow yourself to be placed in any vulnerable situations. Protecting your mindset is more important than pleasing our Father.

“I am a grown woman,” you say. “I have decided to be a certain way.” “I have to be strong and unyielding when it comes to my agenda or my preferences.” This is indeed the way of the flesh. Therefore, there is great offense with the attributes of godliness. You might as well admit to where you appear in this my sisters. Those who have failed in loving our Father and His people are those who are offended with becoming the Express Image of His first begotten Son. We often say that we want to be like Christ but in reality, we do not. We are fine as long as being like Him does not interfere with our own plans and our way of doing things.

Philippians 2:1 KJV

If there be therefore any CONSOLATION IN CHRIST, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

There Is Comfort In The Spirit

There is power in the gospel. Love should be a comfort, not a burden. Mercy is an attribute of the Spirit and being in the Spirit affords us the ability to be merciful. We often see the power of the gospel in the working of miracles and healing of the sick, but the power of the gospel is displayed in the comfort of the Spirit. Love, mercy and grace should be without anguish. Otherwise, we are not walking in the power of the gospel that Jesus Christ brought to us, but in the captivity of flesh.

Fellowship With God and Man:

You should be at peace with God and man. Your fellowship with God and His Body must be in the Spirit. It is the New Creature who can obtain this consolation and fellowship. The man of the flesh cannot fellowship with those of the Spirit.

Darkness has No Communion With Light

This statement is a fact that will never change. For this cause, there is much contention between those who walk in the light and those who walk in darkness. Those who walk in darkness cannot understand the attributes of the Light. They can give mental ascension to truth pertaining to the Light, but deem that same truth as abrasive and offensive when it becomes a mandate for their lives.

This is the evidence of a lack of fellowship in the Spirit. Oftentimes, those who have not obtained or maintained a walk in the Spirit will condemn those who have. This is not to say that everyone walks in condemnation or judgment of his or her peers. However, there are some who have not come into true and consistent fellowship with God and have become frustrated. Furthermore, that frustration is manifested in their interaction with others in the Body. It is that frustration that is often manifested as resentment, condemnation or judgment.

The Deceptions:

When we are walking in darkness it is easy for the enemy to deceive us into thinking that because we have not maintained our walk in the Spirit, neither have others.When we walk in the flesh the enemy has access to our mind. He can deceive us into thinking that we can never change. This is disastrous because if the enemy can convince us of this, we will never change .Because we are convinced we can never change, we will assume the same of others. Therefore, the truth of the gospel is of no effect in our life.

Let us examine Philippians Chapter Two (2) :

Philippians 2 V 2-4 KJV

2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let us look at these verses in their Amplified version of this scripture

Philippians 2 V 2-4 AMP

2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same [a]love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ].

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves.

4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Jesus Speaking:

All who walk in the flesh walk in vanity and death. There is no fellowship with God or the Body of Christ. There is no unity of the faith and no singleness of mind, for the mind of the Body is the Holy Ghost. To walk in the flesh is to compete with my mind.

Philippians 2:5-8 KJV

5 LET this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a SERVANT, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

This is the problem. You do think robbery to be equal with the Father in character. You are offended by my mind. That is why you will not allow it. But this is the mind the Father gave Me to govern My flesh. It was fashioned by the laws of God. I accepted those laws as meat for My life. My mind seeks out no reputation. I am My Father’s servant. Therefore, I humbled Myself to submit to the will and the way of our God.

I learned the power of obedience through the things I suffered. I found that it was more profitable to obey the Father. He is not slack in His rewards or His revenge.

Philippians 2:9-11 KJV

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Daughters of Zion, if you are to achieve the righteousness of God, you must renew your mind

Romans 12:1-2 KJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

It is possible to do so. Yes, it is possible to cause your mind to fall in love with Me and my Father. First, you must accept that there is no good thing in the flesh. Your brother Paul told you this.

Romans 7:18 KJV

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

You must understand that your members are at WAR with My Spirit. They are even at war with your own mind. In the 7th chapter of Romans, Paul further says:

Romans 7 V 22- 23 KJV

22 For I delight in the law of God after the INWARD man:

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.

The New Creature desires to obey the laws My Father gave us. But the body of death (your members) craves for the pleasures of this world. They are at war with the laws our Father wrote in your mind and He did write them you know. He said He would and He did.Paul tells us in the book of Hebrews that God did indeed put His laws in our hearts and minds.

Hebrews 8:10 KJV

I will PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MIND, and WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

The law of God was written by God in your minds the day you were born again. Your mind and heart (soul) delight in the laws of God. It is the members of your body that crave sin. It is the members, your physical body, that is under the Law of Sin and Death. It challenges your mind with the memory of sin. If your mind is not allowed to experience the way of our Father, it will always compete with My mind for it is no match alone against the evil concupiscence of the flesh. That is why you must walk in the Spirit.

With the Spirit came another law that is more powerful than the Law of Sin and Death. It is the Law of the Spirit of Life. It is the only thing that is powerful enough to subdue the cravings of the flesh. However, if you do not walk in the Spirit by obeying My Father’s Word, you will have no weapon to fight the lust of the flesh. The mind of the flesh will surrender. It will surrender because you have not renewed it with the experiences of the new life in Me. You have not allowed it to suffer truth in every situation. You have avoided truth and sought to find other solutions to your daily endeavors. If you do not expose your mind to My Word and allow your senses to be exercised you will always lose this war.

Hebrews 5:14 KJV

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Now let us read this scripture in the Amplified version.

Hebrews 5:14 AMP

But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.

Your senses are the gates to your fleshy mind. You must exercise them in the strong meat of the Word in order for the mind to comprehend good and evil. The mind must be allowed to function inside the boundaries of a sound and sure Word. It is then that the mind will see good and evil as God sees it.

It is unprofitable for you to assume that the mind will prefer evil. The Father has written His laws in your mind. You simply have to allow that law to live in your trials. That is the only way that it will come into agreement with the will of God for your life.

Already you have trained your mind to desire to serve the Father. You enjoy the services of God. You can train it to desire righteousness as well, but you must expose it to truth and life. It must be allowed to function inside that life. Then it will come to know its fellowship in the mystery of God.

Daughters you can live holy if you choose to, but you must disciple your mind in the same manner as My first disciples. They listened to My words, hid them in their hearts and waited for My Spirit to empower them to live My Word before men. You can do the same.

Practice truth and honesty. Challenge your thoughts and bring them under submission to our Father’s will.

My Word is effectual. It will make you into another being. You have received power to become the Sons of God. You will find joy in obeying our Father. You will be happy and full of life in My Spirit.

Apostle Mary Banks