“You have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:21-24, ESV
The key to putting off our old nature and putting on our new nature is in the center verse – we need to “be renewed in the spirit of our minds.” The message of Ephesians is that the Christian has been transformed. We were dead in our sins, defined and controlled by our passions, but God rescued us, united us with Christ, raised us up to new life in Him and filled us with His own Spirit, life and power! Now, in Christ, the believer is loved, alive, free and united in one body, the church.
Neil Anderson’s book, Victory over the Darkness, is a classic work that helps the believer realize the power of his new identity in Christ. If you remain unclear about what God has done for you in Christ and if you do not understand the fact of your gospel transformation, you will continue to live in your old ways, remaining captive to powers that should not control you anymore!
First, Anderson shows God’s original creation – how every part of Adam and Eve was in perfect harmony with God. The couple had significance, security and belonging – all of their needs perfectly met in God and each other. There was no tension between their physical desires and their spiritual needs – every part of them was focused on God and in tune with Him. Until the fall.
Everything changed when Adam and Eve rebelled against God. Their relationship with God was severed by their sin and they were cast out of the garden. The perfect sense of belonging that came from peace with God was replaced by deep inner turmoil and spiritual conflict. The harmonious integration of body, mind and spirit was replaced by conflict, tension, confusion and fear. Every part of life was tainted by sin. And so death and evil came into the world. “But God…”
At the moment of salvation, the Christian is transformed – born again – “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Your heart of stone that resisted God and His will was replaced by a new heart of flesh that delights in God and His will, and you became the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in your soul. This spiritual, central part of you is indestructible and unchangeable and is the essence of who you are. The Holy Spirit, who lives in you, is constantly working to shape our mind, fill our emotions, guide our will and empower our bodies to obey the Lord. But the Christian must choose to “walk according to the Spirit” and not according to the flesh (Rom. 8:1-15). And the key to this is our minds. We must choose to focus our minds on the Holy Spirit and not on the flesh – our old ways of thinking and acting.
This means that while sin no longer reigns over the Christian, it still remains, and therefore we must learn to fight against it through the renewal of our minds. This is where the battle must be fought and won. It is with our minds that we choose to listen to and walk with the Spirit or it is with our minds that we allow ourselves to drift or flat out choose to focus on the world, the flesh or the devil. Moment by moment, day by day, we must learn to “take captive every thought,” directing it to the Lord.
It is possible, however, to “walk according to the flesh,” by resisting the Holy Spirit and following the patterns of our old life. The true believer will not stay in this condition for long, as the Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts and calls us back to Himself. But all of us can fall into this “fleshly” state if we do not discipline ourselves to keep our minds focused on the truth.
And the central truth to win the battle for our minds is the truth of who you are now in Christ. If the devil can convince you that you are defined by your bad choices rather than by Jesus he can gain a foothold in your life. The power of the enemy is in the lies he tells us. And the cure for deception is truth. Walk in the light of the truth of who you are now in Christ. That is how to win the battle for your mind!
- Belonging – in Christ, I am accepted. “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Eph. 1:5-6
- Security – in Christ, I am safe. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Eph. 1:13-14
- Significance – in Christ, I have purpose. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:8-10