When we consider God, who is a spirit and thereby invisible, and the realm of the spirit, it becomes clear that the way we operate in matters of the spirit will be different. We are used to using our natural senses to participate in the world around us; sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste. How do we participate in the spiritual world?
Where is our spiritual base of operations?
The things that are communicated from God, spirit to spirit, are still interpreted by our minds, similarly to how visual signals received by our eyes still have to be interpreted by our brains before we actually ‘see’ an image. Likewise, we need our minds to interpret spiritual events taking place within and around us, so that our understanding can be used to apply the spiritual principle to our natural environment.
This makes your mind a very important place!
Heart = Mind = Soul
When you read about your heart in the Bible, understand that the inward space being described is your soul, which is both the seat of your thoughts and the seat of your emotions. Essentially, you think and feel from the same place, we just have different kinds of thoughts and feelings.
There are levels to this.
It becomes clear, however, that this crossover exists when we examine scriptures that tell us how to think or protect our thought life. When Hebrews 4:12 explains that the word of God is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”, we notice that what we would normally attribute to the mind, the Bible says happens in the heart.
That’s because they are the same place 😀
Your Heart is a Garden
When we examine the Parable of the Sower, we discover that our hearts are actually spiritual soil where the word of God is planted. The words of God actually grow within your mind! Why? Because the word of God is alive (John 6:63, Hebrews 4:12) and you, who are made of the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7), are literally soil, and Jesus said our minds can yield fruit that grows and multiplies (Mark 4:8,20).
However, our minds can also yield thorns that choke the word of God because we are focused on obtaining the rewards of the world system (Mark 4:18-19, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
This makes surrendering to God in our minds absolutely necessary – it’s not a neutral environment! In fact, our hearts and minds need to be protected because that’s where the enemy attacks (Proverbs 4:23). Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy the abundant harvest God is planting in your mind.
Jesus Abides in Your Mind
When Jesus tells us to abide in him and let his words abide in us, the Lord is inviting us to participate in the mind-to-mind connection that makes spiritual growth, navigation, and manifestation possible in our lives (John 8:38, John 14:23-24, John 15:7-8, Philippians 2:5).
Christ lives in our mind as we allow his mind to be planted and manifest in us through a receiving and adhering to God’s word.
This abiding is necessary for us to be like Christ; while on earth, Jesus Christ did not follow the desires or understanding of his own mind, but he surrendered completely to what he saw and heard from the Father (John 8:38, John 14:23-24). If we are to be as Christ is, (Romans 8:29, 1 John 4:17) it will be because we have his mind.
What This Means for Me
Most of us treat our mind like private property. Our thoughts tend to be things we expect to belong to us, privately. We are inclined to judge ourselves and others by what we do, or maybe even what we say, but thoughts are people’s private business, right?
Your thoughts may be private with respect to other people, but your thoughts are not private before God. In fact, your thought life is where God abides and works in you to manifest his nature. Your thought life is the single most important aspect of your spirituality, as everything you do naturally and spiritually is managed through your mind.
We experience our conscious relationship with God in our thought life, so this is the place where we must surrender everything we have to God.
If the kingdom of God is within us, then our thoughts must belong to the kingdom; they are not our own to do with whatever we want. Our thoughts are how we connect and surrender to the will of God.
Key Study References
Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 4:23
Jeremiah 29:11-13
Mark 4:1-23
John 8:38
John 14:23-24
John 15:7-8
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Philippians 2:1-8
Hebrews 4:12-13
James 1:5-8
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Mark 4:1-23
The Parable of the Sower
1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, 3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The Purpose of Jesus’ Parables
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? 14 The sower soweth the word. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. 18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
John 8:38
I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
John 14:23-24
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
John 15:7-8
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Philippians 2:1-8
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 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. 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.
Hebrews 4:12-13
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
